Google just launched a tool for businesses to build simple cloud apps (GOOG, GOOGL)

Google is launching a new tool that will help companies
build custom business apps that run on Google’s cloud
platform.

Called App Maker, the tool promises to let businesses build
simple cloud apps in a couple of days using a drag-and-drop
environment, with minimal coding experience required. It’s geared
toward customers of Google’s G Suite (formerly Google Apps), and
seems most useful for organizations that need apps that
integrate with information stored in G Suite, such as contacts or
mapping data, but can be used for other simple cloud apps as
well. 

In a video accompanying the
launch blog, for instance, a developer at the State of
Wyoming talk about how it took him only 5 weeks with App Maker to
build an app to monitor logins for suspicious activity.

Google

Google wrote in a blog post announcing the news that it’s
already tested the tool with some of its larger enterprise
clients, who have built apps for tracking suspicious login
activity, tracking office inventory orders, and digitizing claims
processes. 

App Maker is available starting Wednesday through Google’s
Early Adopter Program. 

Back in September, Google changed the name of its productivity tools —
which includes Gmail, Drive, Hangouts, and Calendar — to G Suite.
Google is also adding new “recommended for G Suite”
partners like DocuSign and Asana, writing on its
blog that the new features will help “customize
and extend” the experience of using G Suite.