When you choose a productivity platform like Microsoft 365 / Office 365 or Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), the main focus is on the functionality of the platform: does it do what you need it to do?
This is critical, of course, but once you have chosen a platform, you have to manage it. This is why management capabilities should be part of your assessment of not only user-oriented functionality, but also a productivity and collaboration platform.
As Google and Microsoft products mature, so do their administrative capabilities – and the way those functions are presented to administrators. Let’s take a look at the different aspects of each office suite from the perspective of the administrator’s experience.
Before we get started, a note about Microsoft’s productivity tools: By mid-2020, Microsoft had rebranded many of its Office 365 plans; All small business and customer subscriptions now plan Microsoft 365. At the enterprise level, the company continues to offer both Office 365 plans, including major Office productivity apps and services, and Microsoft 365 plans, adding Windows and advanced security to the mix. (Older plans a few years ago for which continued payments may use inherited names or letters, numbers, and a confusing combination of the words “Microsoft” and “Office”.) This story uses “Microsoft 365” abbreviated for both Office 365 And the Microsoft 365 plan, and it covers both small business and enterprise plans.