One of the most common questions we hear from companies looking to move into cloud-based collaboration is whether Google Apps or Microsoft Office 365 is the betteroption.
Both systems have their positives, and we’ve gotten plenty of businesses running on both. There isn’t a wrong choice here, although certain setups will be more beneficial to certain companies. So, we wanted to briefly run down the highlights for each, and talk about who would find value in them.
Office 365 or Google Apps?
1 – If It Ain’t Broke Don’t Fix It
First, as more of an advisory: If your business is already comfortably settled on Microsoft or Google products, there’s rarely a good reason to switch teams. Just stick with what’s working, and what your employees are comfortable with, unless significant problems arise.
2 – Ease Of Use
There’s no contest here. Google’s offerings require almost no tech-savvyness, and just about every service they offer can be accessed through a standard web interface without any extra software. If someone has a Google account, they can use and access anything on Google’s system.
Microsoft’s systems are more complex. For example, full mobile compatibility requires the installation of three separate apps, plus system changes. Their apps and web portals are also substantially more involved than Google’s.
3 – Feature Set
The Office 365 apps are somewhat stripped down compared to offline Office, but not by much. Microsoft still makes the most functional productivity software on the market, with features no one else offers. Plus, Microsoft’s file formats like DOC and PPT are the industry standards.
Google offers stripped down collaboration tools aimed at providing the most common or useful features, without niche or esoteric features added in. They also try to maintain compatibility with Microsoft’s formats, but it’s imperfect. Still, for regular businesses, Google’s offerings are usually still sufficient.
4 – Price
This is a you-get-what-you-pay-for situation. Even Google’s Premium offerings cost far less than Microsoft, and a huge range of their most common and useful services are free. Microsoft charges a premium for their more-advanced services, and you also get more out of it, such as larger per-user cloud storage areas.
5 – Reliability
This is basically a wash. While our gut instinct is to say Google has fewer service outages in total, Microsoft still has incredibly reliable cloud services. When you’re dealing with two of the largest computing firms in the world, you can be assured their services will be available when needed.
Which Cloud Collaboration Option Is Right For You?
For most small and growing businesses, Google Apps provides necessary functionality, with minimal cruft, at a lower price. For more established businesses, or those already deeply invested in Microsoft systems, Office 365 offers more tools and functionality.
If you’d like more personalized advice, or a free consultation on your cloud collaboration needs, just contact Bi101. Our experts have decades of experience matching companies to the perfect blend of online software services!
