When it comes to picking the best software as a service on the market, G Suite and Microsoft 365 are among the top contenders for businesses. But how do you know which one is right for your organization? And what if you end up wanting to switch from one to the other?
Fortunately, our co-founder, co-owner, and CEO, John Prejean, has plenty of expert insight and experience on the matter. Discover why he recommends Microsoft 365 for most businesses and how Guardian Computer can make the migration process as streamlined as possible for your organization.
G Suite vs. Microsoft 365
While we generally find ourselves recommending Microsoft 365 to organizations, as John said, “It just depends on how you work, what you need, and the apps you use.”
In fact, G Suite might better suit your needs if you are working from more minimal, less powerful computers or if you frequently need to collaborate on documents with users who aren’t using Microsoft products. But that may not be the case in the future, as Microsoft is already improving its online versions of apps and document collaboration.
Microsoft 365, on the other hand, facilitates easy integration with Microsoft apps, access to apps offline, seamless login and authentication, and much more. Not only that, but Microsoft has a platform that is constantly adapting to succeed in new markets with more advanced technology.
According to Forbes, Microsoft “continue[s] to produce hundreds of new products every year. They utilize thousands of developers and partners in their network.” It’s no wonder why Microsoft is the industry standard, claiming about 90% of the market share and remaining the top choice for most organizations.
The Microsoft Advantage
Consider some of the key advantages that the Microsoft suite has to offer, outlined below.
One-Stop Shop: Azure Active Directory
Azure Active Directory is Microsoft’s solution to a cloud-based, serverless migration that suits the needs of most companies, especially ones that have transitioned to more remote work.
Azure AD not only enables employees to access internal data and resources across multiple devices, but also offers features such as threat detection and multi-factor authentication, which make managing your business IT easier. By contrast, this level of security is much more difficult when using G Suite. Microsoft is a significantly more secure option that gears its features towards user efficiency and control.
Users need only one login to access all of the applications in the Microsoft suite. By changing the user consent, they can even use Azure AD to access third-party applications as well. From a management standpoint, Azure AD creates a central place to alter user permissions, create groups and attributes, and even assign licenses to certain users or entire groups.
“Login is huge,” said John. “Companies need to have more control of the logins and for their equipment, especially when it comes to HIPAA compliance.”
Integration with All Microsoft Applications
Microsoft Office 365 applications are the industry standard across a variety of fields, making it necessary for most organizations to be able to integrate with these apps. By exclusively operating on the Microsoft platform, you can ensure that your email, contacts, and calendar sync automatically on all devices and all of your apps are tied neatly together.
According to John, “Microsoft makes life so much easier for its users. You want Excel, you want PowerPoint, you want Word? The direction to go in is definitely with Microsoft. It’s all in one.”
True Desktop Applications
With Microsoft, users can also download desktop versions of all the applications that Office 365 has to offer. For companies that need to work anytime, from anywhere, this is a major advantage. Employees can experience uninterrupted productivity while 100% offline, a feature that web-based apps simply can’t promise.
“The web-based applications in general have fewer features,” adds John. “They just can’t do certain things. You can’t have all the bells and whistles that a full-blown desktop app can have.”
Microsoft 365 Compliance Center
While migrating to Microsoft 365 can be beneficial to any business, those that must adhere to strict compliance requirements will find the most use out of Microsoft’s built-in compliance feature, the Microsoft 365 Compliance Center.
Often, one of the major pain points of compliance is keeping up to date with the constantly changing regulations, accountability standards, and demanding nature of cyber resilience. Through Microsoft 365, you can have a space to assess your current data compliance and manage your company’s privacy.
The Microsoft 365 Compliance Center allows you to institute policies to govern your data, set data retention parameters, manage user permissions, and so much more. For instance, John said, “You can set up a policy saying that if you type in the wrong password three times, the account or the document gets locked.”
The ability for companies to discern who has access to which data is vital in maintaining compliance. Another way Microsoft helps organizations remain compliant is by offering a means to encrypt data and communication. Companies can reduce communication risk with encrypted emails and file transfers and protect sensitive information within their organization.
Data Migration Made Easy
Even if you think there may be a better option for your business, migrating your data can be intimidating. Often, business owners find it easier to outsource at least some aspects of their IT, especially when it comes to data migrations.
In particular, there aren’t a lot of guides or advice for moving from G Suite to Microsoft 365. Yet the issues you could encounter are countless, most notably:
- The cost of network downtime due to user disruption
- Difficulty training employees on how to utilize new programs
- Difficulty setting up Microsoft Authenticator on personal devices
Employees who are accustomed to one way of doing things may be resistant to new software. When migrating from G Suite to Microsoft 365, it’s important to note that users should anticipate having to recreate their shortcuts, and there may be formatting issues with some files. Moreover, G Suite doesn’t allow the export of files from Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites, or Google Maps from Drive, so users will need to have conversion or recreation steps in place.
Worried about tackling these issues yourself? The knowledgeable team at Guardian Computer has developed a streamlined, proven process for migrating from G Suite to Microsoft 365. “We have it down to a science,” said John.
Contact us today and find out how our migration process can help you!
