Office 365 vs. Google Apps

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In these times of smartphones and tablets, the ability to integrate mobile devices plays an important role in enterprises of any size. By automatically identifying server settings in Exchange Online, Office 365 provides a more user-friendly solution than Google Apps when it comes to setting up the way mail, contacts, and tasks are synchronized. For example, Office 365 only requires the email address and password and then automatically discovers the server details. To do this, it uses a simple DNS record (autodiscover. yourdomain .com ), which uses the Exchange Online Autodiscover function as its target. This function is also supported by Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 7.

Google Apps also supports the integration of mobile devices; however, users are expected to enter the server settings themselves. The exception is the use of Android devices, for which Google Apps only expects you to enter the email address and password. Because both solutions support Microsoft’s ActiveSync protocol, mail, appointment requests, and all new contacts created in Outlook are synchronized immediately, almost in real time, with mobile devices.

^Conclusions

For small companies in particular, but also for medium-sized companies with very little IT staff, migrating to Microsoft’s new cloud service makes sense. Although Office 365 costs more than Google Apps, the learning curve is much easier on users because of its familiar visuals. For more complex structures and large-scale enterprises, Google Apps is currently the preferred option for migrating digital communication and collaboration into the cloud because of its greater flexibility and lower costs.

Before you commit to migrating into the cloud, you can test both products for free. Doing so will help you determine which of these solutions is best suited to your enterprise needs.