And there are solutions to this. From what I understand (which isn't very much), the SolidWorks (a 3d CAD tool) team has their own version control system, called PDM, which works with the Microsoft office suite.

next is organizations getting over the hurdle of educating people how to use version control.

Also - I think the current generation of office stores everything in XML, which can then be processed through git, svn, etc.