Companies considering a move to the cloud to improve their collaborative efforts probably choose between Google Apps and Office 365. However similar, both suites have their pros and cons which can prove helpful or troublesome to certain categories of businesses.
Though Google Apps kept its word about giving us collaborative applications, Office 365 has an advantage with its Microsoft Office suite and its background associated with every type and size of business. As a company that has used Microsoft’s applications for a considerable period, following are 10 reasons why Office 365 could improve your business:
1. Recognisable applications:
While Google Apps is user friendly and really simple to use, most staff have relied on Microsoft Office to carry out their work for years. More often than not, the fact that a company is better acquainted with a solution is already a strong selling point. This invariably indicates that the business will continue to be productive immediately after introducing the solution, instead of a period of transition due to a learning curve.
2. PowerPoint beats Google Slides:
We cannot refute the fact that in making eye-catching presentations, we’ve depended solely on Powerpoint & won’t consider anything else. While PowerPoint can be converted to Google Slides, Google Slides can’t beat PowerPoint when it comes to functionality. An example is PowerPoint’s SmartArt graphics, which we utilise to arrange data on a slide.
3. Most utilise MS Office:
It’s an exception to locate a business that doesn’t have MS Office installed. It results in easier sharing of Office files outside of the business, especially for companies that facilitate collaboration with customers and associates.
4. Don’t ever lose formatting:
Google Docs is easy for drawing up standard documentation, however exporting it to Office format for sharing to outside the business can be troublesome. Formatting is often lost in the exporting process, giving you more work to do. Doesn’t that justify staying with Office, which can be used to collaborate and access both online and offline?
5. Master complex editing and formatting:
Once the majority that choose to move from Office to Google Docs start using Google Docs, they begin to question where the formatting options are and how to configure it in Google’s system. Even straightforward jobs in Word, for example; amending the header and footer of a document become an issue in Google Docs.
6. Excel’s pivot tables are more powerful than Google spreadsheets:
Working with significant amounts of information requires the use of pivot tables, which both suites have implemented in their online systems. However, Google spreadsheets cannot yet provide the full functionality of Excel’s pivot tables.
7. You can control your data with Office:
Google Apps plant adverts on Gmail that are based on your information held by Google, but Office 365 does not allow your information to be accessed, even by their system. Office 365 allows you to fully own and control your data, so you can download it at any time without reason and help from Microsoft.
8. Office 365 is accessed online and offline:
Google Apps and Office 365 don’t depend completely on an Internet connection as they each provide offline access. However, Google Apps doesn’t have a desktop programme counterpart, which results in the requirement for installation of another app on Chrome to enable offline access. Even so, there remain files that you can’t edit offline, including files in Google spreadsheets. In contrast, should you purchase an Office 365 plan that includes the desktop version of Office, you automatically acquire both online and offline access to documents.
9. Office 365 – No strings attached:
One of the main downsides of choosing Google Apps is the necessity of creating an account in order to make use of the service, especially with Google+. In order to provide online conferencing using Google Hangouts, you have to sign up with Google+. This isn’t the case with Lync, which allows online conferencing for up to 250 users.
10. Only pay for what you need:
Based on your needs, Office 365 enables you to choose to operate on a browser, or a desktop and pay for it, thereby providing more flexibility than the web-based Google Apps. Cost-wise, Google Apps is a little cheaper than Office 365, however considering the functionality, privacy and practicality of Microsoft’s suite, it outweighs the pricing issue.
Bonus reason: Office 365 has mobile accessibility with its free app for Android, iOS and Windows:
While Google Apps also provides mobile access, Office 365 apps for mobile devices allows you to continue working where you finished on your PC with its Resume Reading feature, which prevents wasting time looking. Files are also sorted according to date, so you can find your most recent file without delay. Google Drive doesn’t have this feature and displays the folders above the most recently opened documents.
