<p>IDG News Service - In another example of the blurred lines between business and personal computing, Whirlpool chose Google Apps because it's convinced Google's focus on consumers gives it a special innovation edge as a provider of enterprise software.</p><p>The way Whirlpool sees it, battling in the ferociously competitive and fast-changing consumer Internet market forces Google to innovate at breakneck speed and to stretch its technology vision into the future.</p><p>"With Google, you get the relentless consumer-based innovation pressure on the products that can then be promoted into the enterprise suite," Whirlpool CIO Mike Heim told IDG News Service after Google announced his decision last week.</p><p>Over the coming year, Whirlpool, the home appliances giant, will move about 30,000 employees globally from an on-premises IBM Lotus Notes email and collaboration system to Google Apps, which is cloud-based and includes Gmail, Calendar, Sites, Docs and Drive.</p><p><a href="http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/101613-whirlpool-cio-google39s-consumer-driven-innovation-274915.html">Keep reading...</a></p>