<p>IDG News Service - In another example of how the lines between business and personal computing are blurring, Whirlpool has decided to use Google Apps because it's convinced that Google's focus on consumers gives it an innovation edge in 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>"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 the IDG News Service after Google announced the deal.</p><p>Over the coming year, Whirlpool will move about 30,000 employees globally from an on-premises IBM Lotus Notes email and collaboration system to the cloud-based Google Apps suite, which includes Gmail, Calendar, Sites, Docs and Drive.</p><p><a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9243710/">Keep reading...</a></p>