Choosing between Gmail and Office 365
If you are running a business, choosing an office platform to use will have powerful impact on your team’s productivity. On LEAP Managed IT’s latest webinar, our partners, Michael Thomas and Gary Thomas took time to discuss what the best productivity suite you can use for your business. Gmail and Office 365 are highlighted as both come out strong and feature-filled. What are their differences? They will break down the pros and cons of each suite to guide you to decide which is right for your business.
For starters, LEAP Managed IT is Indianapolis’s leading provider of IT, tech training and IT managed services. Together with their partners, they have achieved and continue to work to share useful information and guidelines about anything concerning IT Services. Through these initiatives, IT continues to play a big part in running businesses rather than becoming a source of stress for the team. For instance, one important part to ensure teams productivity is which office suite to use. It should provide better communication tools among team member that goes beyond email function. Especially, when working from home and virtual meetings are in demand.
Thinking of Migrating?
When talking about Gmail vs. Office 365 however, many people think of just the email functions of the two. There is actually so much more. Choosing between Gmail vs. Office 365 will solely depend on what works for you, the team and your business. Now, your team might be using one and would like to eventually, migrate to the other suite or vice versa. It is recommended for users with businesses to use the paid versions for both suites. It is vital that you do not lose any calendar entries, emails and notes in the process of migration. Especially for the important schedules and vital email exchanges.
When thinking about migrating, let LEAP Managed IT assist you in setting up the migration path, to ensure that all-important data is intact. What platform are you coming from and where you are going are handled properly, making a successful transition.
The Common Ground for Gmail vs. Office 365
- Ease of use and implementation. Both have well designed systems that makes it easier for users to adapt.
- Management and administrative controls. Both have controls in place. Key things like privileges and pre- setting to keep all data safe and in place.
- Both Gmail and Office 365 have solid security features. They have dual factor authentication, encryption are options for both these programs.
- Both have branded domain, for example @leapmit.com, to use in your business. You can easily have your own branded domain instead of using @gmail.com or @outlook.com. Having a specific domain name makes it more professional and gives a sense of confidence to your clients.
- Full range of complimentary apps. Every business has different needs, certain apps might have a greater value on a certain app and vice versa. Other companies are big in word processing and email, while some need a powerful spreadsheet program above everything else available.
App by App: Gmail vs. Office 365
For word processing, Google has Docs while Office 365 has Word. For spreadsheets, Google has Sheets and Office 365 have Excel. Each Google app has a counterpart in Office 365.Let’s break it down:
Presentation: Google Slides – Office 365 PowerPoint
Email: Gmail – Outlook
Calendar: Calendar – Outlook
Contacts: Contacts – Outlook
Storage: Google Drive – OneDrive
Group Collaboration: Sites – SharePoint
Conferencing: Google Hangouts – Microsoft Teams are both wonderful programs especially when everything is done remotely. These programs allow you to stay in contact with your team virtually and be able to share files and instant meetings.
Our Experience
In the past weeks, we have been transitioning to work from home environments. Communicating with the team is vital for the business to move forward amidst the pandemic. Using Microsoft Teams is becoming a game changer as a seamless communication tool and getting information quickly by sharing documents and receiving them, real-time. Teams are built for business and works better for collaboration. Bottom line is, it will depend on what your team and organization needs.
G Suite
One thing notable about G Suite is being very user-friendly and easy to use. The design is simple, eliminating complication when using it. They also have a simple pricing with only 3 options.
- Realtime Collaborations
- 3rd Party App Integrations (CRM, Marketing)
- Search functionality
Office 365
- Microsoft Heritage/ Familiarity
- Power user friendly/ Full featured apps
- ERP Integrations
- Rapidly improving Features
Wrapping Up
In conclusion, both platforms have powerful and sophisticated features. Both are good for business, communication and team collaboration. It is a decision between Gmail vs. Office 365. However, deciding which office suite is best for your business, will depend on the needs of your business and organization. Hence, learn more and evaluate. For more information, feel contact info@leapmanagedit.com. Also, watch or webinar on Gmail vs. Office 365 at https://www.leapmanagedit.com/indianapolis-tech-events/
