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Photo: AP

Google to Expand Classroom Software to Business Customers

Photo: Photo: AP

Google has established itself as a force in the education software market through its free Google Classroom app. Now, it is hoping to capitalize on the software’s popularity by offering a reconfigured version to business customers looking to train employees, said two people who have been briefed on the plans. The move could help Google Cloud fend off competitors including Adobe, Workday and potentially Amazon Web Services in a lucrative area of the cloud market.

Google is planning to add the business-focused version of Google Classroom to its G Suite productivity applications, one of the people said. Adding the software to G Suite would represent the latest of several efforts by Google to make its productivity apps more attractive to large companies. By signing up more corporate users to G Suite, Google could pitch them on higher-end Google Cloud services such as machine learning and analytics.

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