G Suite Gains Enterprise Momentum as IT Teams Embrace the Cloud

G Suite has long been the underdog compared to Microsoft Office 365, but that gap is narrowing as businesses grow more comfortable with the cloud. While Microsoft’s suite has dominated enterprise workflows for decades, Google’s cloud‑native platform offers a fresh approach to collaboration, file sharing, and productivity that aligns with today’s digital‑first mindset.

Many organizations have built complex customizations around Office products—think of how long it has taken teams to calculate the best Excel formulas for daily operations. These entrenched workflows make the prospect of moving away from a familiar suite a tough decision. As Gartner Senior Research Analyst Joe Marino notes, “One of the biggest hurdles for Google achieving broader enterprise adoption is just the fact that the company’s products aren’t identical to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and other Microsoft Office apps.” That’s the reality: legacy tools feel like home, so change is uncomfortable.

Yet there are compelling reasons to switch. G Suite launched as a truly cloud‑native stack, which gives it an edge in today’s digital‑transformation climate. Google delivers an average of six new features and updates per week, demonstrating a relentless focus on evolving the product for enterprise needs—an approach that can be both exciting and unsettling for IT teams navigating new SaaS landscapes.

Technology Trends Are Changing the Way We Work

Cloud adoption is reshaping how businesses operate, and the shift is affecting the competitive dynamics between G Suite and Office 365.

A recent study of 949 IT professionals worldwide highlighted several key insights:

• Organizations that use G Suite are more likely to run their IT operations entirely in the cloud. By 2020, 50% of G Suite users will be 100% cloud‑run, compared with only 34% of Office 365 users.
• Although G Suite has yet to dominate the large‑enterprise space, it’s embraced by sizable firms: in 2018, 50% of G Suite organizations with more than 5,001 employees used more than 11 SaaS applications, versus 38% for Office 365.
• Adopting SaaS can be a double‑edged sword. While it promises flexibility, many IT professionals feel the transition is challenging. Only 56% of G Suite users reported increased difficulty with SaaS adoption, compared to 62% for Office 365.

How to Make IT Happy with G Suite

In a cloud‑centric world, G Suite’s growing popularity means IT teams must adopt new strategies to keep the platform running smoothly.

The same study identified the top criteria for selecting SaaS solutions: administration, management, and customer support. These factors are crucial because SaaS tools live outside the firewall and directly influence daily productivity—any hiccup is immediately felt by users.

To maintain a positive user experience, IT should invest in robust application monitoring. Such visibility enables:

• Proactive alerts that prevent disruptions before users notice.
• Advanced troubleshooting tools that resolve ghost issues, lost emails, or missing Google Docs quickly.
• Benchmarks that define expected response times for each service, ensuring consistent performance.

If your organization is using or considering a switch to G Suite, download our white paper, Monitoring Business‑Critical SaaS Applications: Ensure Performance to Boost ROI, to learn how to deliver a productivity platform that meets user expectations without overspending.