Before choosing either Office 365 or G Suite for your cloud-based application software, learn about the features of each service and how they compare.
At first glance in the Office 365 vs G Suite debate, each platform seems to offer similar software. After all, they both give you access to cloud-based apps designed for writing documents, making spreadsheets, sending messages and collaborating with colleagues.
But as you learn more about Office 365 and its features as compared to G Suite, you will likely discover that Office 365 will better meet your business needs. Before you make a decision, however, it’s important to be informed about what each set of collaboration apps has to offer.
To make it easier for you to determine which product will best suit your needs, we’ve put together a list of features that each service offers and how they compare:
Security Standards
Every new piece of software has potential flaws that criminals can use to steal information from the cloud. As cyberthreats develop and become more advanced, high security standards are fast becoming the number one priority for business IT.
Reports in 2019 show that criminals most often use phishing emails to gain access to Office 365 users. Some attempts are successful, but they rely on email recipients clicking dangerous links or downloading attachments. Proper security training for your staff can help eliminate this threat.
Google, however, admits that a bug caused it to keep unhashed passwords on a disk from 2005 to 2019. Though the company says no unauthorized people accessed the data, Google itself put its users at tremendous risk. Gmail users can also fall prey to the same phishing attempts that target Office 365.
Online and Offline Access
Since G Suite only uses cloud-based apps, you need the Internet to access your documents. This works well most of the time, but there’s always the chance that an outage will make it impossible for your employees to work and collaborate.
Office 365 gives you online and offline access, which makes it a great option for companies that want to move gradually to the cloud. If you’re not certain that cloud technology is the right move for your business, then Office 365 will let you test the waters without making an initial commitment.
Prices and Flexibility
In some cases, Office 365 costs a little more than G Suite. In return, you get to choose which apps and services you want to use. For example, companies that don’t want desktop versions of Office 365 can save money by choosing Office 365 Business Essentials. Those that want access to all of Office 365’s services and apps can spend slightly more to get Office 365 Business Apps.
G Suite has a few different plans you can consider, but you don’t get much for the cheapest Basic plan. The Basic plan includes mostly apps that individuals can use for free, so spending a monthly fee for the package feels wasteful. By the time you reach the G Suite Enterprise plan, you’ll have already spent more than you would have for a similar Office 365 subscription.
Familiarity
G Suite does its best to mimic apps that Microsoft has been developing for decades. Google Docs, for example, has a lot of similarities to Microsoft Word.
Unfortunately, G Suite deviates enough from Microsoft Office that some features may prove difficult to learn for employees. That means you will need to spend time and money teaching your team how to get the most out of G Suite’s apps. That said, most users are more familiar with Gmail than with Outlook, so prioritizing your business needs will help you know which service includes the most useful apps and tools for your business.
For the most part, though, your staff will already know how to use Office 365 apps and maximize their functions. Collaboration apps, such as PowerPoint, Word and Excel, are typically much more familiar to users than G Suite’s collaboration tools.
Service Level Agreements
It’s not very often that a major tech corporation promises to penalize itself when it doesn’t reach expectations, but Office 365 has done just that.
Office 365 sets a new industry standard by committing to a service level agreement that ensures 99.9% availability. If the software’s availability falls below 99.9%, Microsoft will refund some of your money.
Google doesn’t seem to have a transparent service level agreement. The company doesn’t even start to count its downtime until 5% of G Suite users are affected. In this regard, Microsoft’s apps are much more reliable, especially considering they offer both online and offline access.
Get Help Starting Office 365 at Your Business
While there’s plenty to debate when it comes to selecting either Office 365 or G Suite for your office, many Indianapolis businesses find that Office 365 better meets their needs while charging a reasonable price.
If you’d like to learn more about how Office 365 can be beneficial for your business, contact AxiaTP today. Our Managed IT Services includes IT consulting where we’ll work with you to find the best solutions for your business. As a Silver Microsoft Partner, AxiaTP can provide the support you need to optimize use of Office applications.