Item: Google Workspace
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Google Workspace [(formerly G Suite)] as our primary email, chat/messaging, video call and office productivity system across our organization.

The system provides a robust set of tools making remote work scenarios and collaboration easier than many competing solutions. With strong MS-Office compatibility now available we have dramatically reduced the usage of MS Office in our organization.

We removed many phone extensions from employees who were instead able to communicate using Google’s tools, for a dramatic telephony cost savings.

Pros and Cons

Video meetings and collaboration for teams
Quickly searchable document folders (team drives etc) which can reduce the need for traditional file shares
Robust and broadly supported email
Best in class multi user document collaboration

More granular security controls
More robust DLP

Most Important Features

Google Meet (video calls)
Google Apps (Docs, Sheets, Slides)
Email

Return on Investment

Real-time collaboration on documents led to less back and forth with revisions and email, improving timeliness and reducing clutter of old versions etc
Less time spent managing software and licensing - the system is seamlessly updated on a regular basis and allows for simple user administration
Savings in reduced licenses for other productivity software

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365)

Office365 did not exist when we moved to Google. At this point they are quite similar in capabilities.

0365 has slightly more granular administration and compliance features and slightly lower barrier to entry for existing orgs that are already heavy users of Microsoft products. I think it is likely to be a better fit for larger organizations.

Key Insights

Do you think Google Workspace delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Google Workspace's feature set?

Yes

Did Google Workspace live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Google Workspace go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Google Workspace again?

Other Software Used

ADP Workforce Now, Cloudflare, Google Cloud Pub/Sub

Likelihood to Recommend

[Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) is] extremely well suited to startups, small orgs etc with low barrier to entry and many productivity features.
While still useful for larger enterprises, existing larger orgs may find it challenging to migrate to a new solution, particularly if you are a Microsoft-heavy org. Office365 has less barrier to entry for these orgs due to app familiarity of Office, Excel etc. While Google have good alternatives in Docs, Sheets, Slides etc re-training of employees is required and it would be a cultural shift.

Usability

Very easy for end users. Perhaps too simple administrative functions

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar	None

Difficult Tasks

Mobile Interface Availability and Impressions

Yes - Top notch

A strong contender

Overall Satisfaction with Google Workspace (formerly G Suite)