Entering the cloud..Office 365 or Google Apps
As a result of a client’s issues with VPN over a slow internet connection and another wanting to incorporate a satellite business across several sites, I am doing some research into cloud solutions and plan to migrate MBS to the cloud as well given that I spend less and less time in the office now and more time mobile, whether on my 3G netbook, laptop, iPhone or working at my clients premises.
After using Dropbox and Trend Micro SafeSync for some time, it is apparent that file synchronisation between unconnected systems causes conflicts and duplicate or missing files when in a multi user environment i.e. one user at site A opens file “Excel” and starts editing it, one user at site B opens the same “Excel” file, gets no warning that A is editing it and starts editing it too. Both users save the file, which is synchronised via the conduit and it is pot luck as to which is the synchronised file. NOT A SOLUTION in my opinion.
We have signed up for both trial accounts of Office 365 and Google Apps for business. Having already attempted email migration to Google and ran into issues straight away, I re-attempted this with success and that will be the basis of my reviews. All results are based on using a Windows PC with Office 2007 and Office 2010 installed. For mobile support, I will be using my iPhone 4 but am already aware Android devices are 100% compatible with Google Apps
Firstly, the costs:
- Google Apps – £33 per user per year (£3.30 per month)
- Microsoft 365 – A variety of plans, but lets choose P1 (up to 25 users) £4.50 per user per month=£54 per year
OK so Microsoft is slightly more expensive and if you wish to bundle extras like Office Professional Plus, then add an extra £10/user per month – noting that you can edit Word, Excel, Powerpoint and One-Note documents online and access your email via Outlook Web Access so not all users may need the extra functionality of a desktop package.
So that I can be objective, I will cover each section side by side in seperate articles. Please fee free to comment on anything I have said or ask any questions.
Topics (to be) covered: Setup, Email, Document Access, Document Editing, File Sharing, Anything Else, Final Choice
Next: Setup
12 Responses to Entering the cloud..Office 365 or Google Apps
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Interesting post at least I think so. Thank u a lot for sharing that info.
Craig Torson
Very interesting topic ,
Another Google vs 365 article can be found here:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/enterprise/2011/06/google-apps-office-365-zoho.php
Once again it appears Google is the winner!
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