In recent years, different cloud based technologies have revolutionized the way businesses function. Many cloud based communication suites have come up that have made businesses more productive than ever by making them more efficient, flexible and accessible from anywhere.
Today, to keep pace with latest technologies, both large and small enterprises are very rapidly adopting these cloud based productivity suites.
According to a recent research by Bitglass, the adoption of cloud-based productivity suites among businesses has increased from 28% in 2014 to 48% in 2015.1
Microsoft Office 365 Vs Google Apps for Work – An Introduction
“Microsoft Office 365” and “Google Apps for Work” have emerged as the most popular cloud based business productivity solutions.
Microsoft Office 365 is a completely integrated business productivity suite that supports many business features and comes integrated with Skype for Business, OneDrive, Microsoft Email and Office Apps.
Google Apps for Work is an integration of solutions like Google Docs, Hangout and few other applications.
Microsoft Office 365: The Most Preferred Cloud Productivity Solution
A new research study conducted by Bitglass has shown that Office 365 – Business Productivity Suite is the most preferred cloud based productivity solution among businesses. It has taken a lead over Google Apps by a fair margin.
The report states that the market share of Office 365 has increased from 7.7% in 2014 to 25.2% in 2015. On the other hand, market share of Google Apps for Work has registered a small increase from 16.3% to 22.8%.1
Additionally, the report says that MS Office 365 has taken a lead of more than 12% in the segment of larger enterprises.
Microsoft Office 365 has emerged as a preferred choice for businesses because of its high resourcefulness and broad range of features and capabilities.
Let’s take a look into the major reasons that have made Microsoft Office 365 the clear winner today.
#1 Better Productivity Booster
This is probably the biggest reason why Office 365 is more popular as a better productivity booster than Google Apps.
This is because of the reason that Microsoft Office has been around for decades. Hence, most of your staff must already be familiar with Microsoft Office and thus there is no need to retrain your staff for providing better results using Office 365. They already know that 🙂
And this has also turned about to be the negative most aspect affecting Google Apps. Since, Google Apps for Work has been relatively new, so most of the people in an organization are unaware about its functioning and need time in adapting to it to make its better utilization.
This aspect is even more fueled with the fact that over 1 billion people all over the world are using Microsoft Office.2
#2 Highly Compatible & Efficient
The compatibility and efficiency are the other major positive aspects of Office 365. It is highly compatible with most software and applications and that makes it easier to exchange data between different applications. It even syncs with multiple devices like PCs, Macs, Tablets and Mobiles both online and offline very easily and let you collaborate with your team over different devices from anywhere, anytime.
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Compatibility is a major concern with Google Apps. Google Apps are compatible with only few other applications that are powered by Google. This leads to time wastage in converting one file format from another for your clients, partners, etc. who are not using Google Apps. Also, Google Apps for Business largely remains a web based application and its offline working is very limited.
#3 Better Online Meetings and Collaboration
Microsoft Office 365 comes with Skype for Business that offers great features for conducting unlimited audio/video online meetings with up to 300 participants at a time. Skype for Business also creates a private social network in your office using which your employees can check each other’s presence, send Instant Messages (IM), share files & screen and much more.
In Google Apps for Work, the feature of online meetings is limited to 15 participants at a time with Google Hangout and it provides no ease of usage features as available in Skype for Business. Also, there is a restriction on the number of online meetings that you can hold in a month.
#4 Best Email & Cloud Storage Solution
Microsoft Office 365 comes with Business Class Email and 1 TB cloud storage on OneDrive for each employee of your organization. The email provides easy synchronization between different platforms and devices.
With Outlook, you can manage your email with integrated features like calendaring, contact and task management. The cloud storage space on OneDrive allows for seamless storing and sharing of files between your employees.
The email that you get with Google Apps does not have such integration and synchronization features. Also, you only get cloud storage space limited to 30 GB with Google Apps and you need to pay extra for additional space.
Conclusion
From the above comparison, it is evident that Microsoft Office 365 has many capabilities that have made it the best choice as a cloud based productivity suite for enterprises.
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Do share your feedback in the comments and feel free to ask if you have any query or need more information.
References
1 Source – Enterprises Prefer Microsoft Office 365 Over Google Apps: Report – The WHIR
2 Source – Microsoft Sees Big Opportunities for Partners With Upcoming Wave of New Products and Services – Microsoft News Center
Relevant Blogs
- Microsoft office 365 Vs Google Apps – A Quick Comparison
- Introducing Business Productivity Suite – powered by Office 365
- Why Email on Your Own Domain is Important for Your Business?
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