THE IT GUIDE

How to Choose the Right Productivity Software For Your Business

The must-do list item to get your business up and running

Let’s be honest:

In many cases, people have a preference for working with Microsoft Office or G-Suite, and they tend to choose the most affordable plan they qualify for.

As an SMB, we know the allure of choosing the budget-friendly options, with the intent to upgrade once it’s absolutely necessary. The truth is, the free option works! But free comes with its limitations and some of our SMB clients eventually find that the @hotmail.com email doesn’t look as professional as they would like, or onboarding requires too much work, and just why can’t I share a document without giving my staff the password to the account?

Budget limitations are very realistic, so we always encourage leaders to evaluate how they work with their team and choose the options that best meet those needs.

— Here are some questions to consider:

  • 1.0

    How important is real-time collaboration on documents for your team?

  • 2.0

    Do you anticipate needing to archive or backup inboxes, such as for compliance or auditing purposes?

  • 3.0

    Is it important for your team to be able to work offline on desktop apps?

— There’s no Right or Wrong!

These answers can change as a business grows or experiences a major change in how people are working — for example, a major industry shift to WFH on short notice might require a more supportive collaborative platform. These questions are meant to help teams consider a plan that best matches their need. 

These are some questions we review with our clients to help guide them towards making a decision that fits their budget and needs.

It’s worth keeping in mind that while the two are often compared, for a SMB, it’s really not a 1v1 competition between Microsoft and Google. It all comes down to identifying the specific functions of parameters that a client needs in the ecosystem

Microsoft Business

 

  • Luckily, there are no minimums for Microsoft’s Business plans, and each license can be used in up to 5 devices. Teams can purchase a mix of different licenses so that they only pay for what they need. Purchasing licenses through a partner (like an MSP), you can upgrade or downgrade licenses at any time - all changes will be reflected on your next invoice.

  • While the licenses for the whole Office suite will be more economical than purchasing a la carte, we understand that every SMB’s needs are different. Teams is one of the Microsoft apps that do have a la carte licenses and can be purchased as needed.

  • All Business plans offer 1TB of storage per user, separate from storage earmarked for email archiving. Inboxes and email archiving each gets 50gb, even at the Basic level.

  • There are major differences between Basic and Standard+Premium security functions. Price-conscious teams can augment a more affordable license with the specific security features they need a la carte, like advanced filtering and data loss prevention, so they don’t have to give up security just because it’s out of their budget.

  • The Basic option may seem like an economical solution, but Microsoft’s web-apps do not deliver the full functionality of their desktop counterparts. If your team is already using the desktop apps, having them transition to web-only versions could hinder productivity beyond the savings gained.

 
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Google Workspace

 

  • Free accounts start with less storage, and do not include a number of features and services available with Workspace Business, like custom business emails and 24/7 phone and email support, which is only available through administrator accounts. One of the biggest differences is that Google Meet allows group calls for up to 24 hours, compared to the 60 minute cap for free accounts.

  • With every plan, you get all the Workspace apps like Docs, Sheets, Calendar, as well as email and Drive, and the main differences are in storage size, Drive permissions and management, security features, device management, and additional interactive Google Meet features. Your MSP can help you assign, remove, upgrade, or downgrade licenses.

  • Keep in mind that unlike Microsoft Business plans, Workspace does not allocate storage for inbox and email archive storage. The Starter plans offer 30GB allocated to each user, and storage per user increases immensely with the Standard and Plus plans (1-2TB and 5TB, respectively). In the Standard and Plus tiers, Shared Drives and pooled storage become available to the entire team, enabling more flexibility and ease in managing your organization’s files.

  • The Plus plans have the most comprehensive tools, but the Starter and Standard include the major essential features: 2-step verification and security keys, enforced SSL connections, security issue notifications, and password monitoring.

  • Yes! Although Workspace is delivered as a web-app, there are Chrome extensions to enable offline editing for Docs, Sheets, and Slides on computers as long as administrators permit this within their organization. Offline availability for files can be toggled on mobile devices through the Drive app.

 
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