We use Google Workspace primarily for email communication, Google Chat features, and various email groups. Employees utilize Gmail as the main product, and we manage emails and communication tools within Google Workspace.
Director / Web Developer / Administrator at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Efficient email management with beneficial admin features and increases productivity
Pros and Cons
- "The most beneficial feature is Gmail, which we use extensively."
- "It would be a lot nicer if the default Gmail came with features that we currently need add-ons for, such as tables, automatic BCC, resizing of the panel on the left-hand side, email highlighting, and configuring the display of time and date against each email."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Google Workspace has positively impacted our operational costs and productivity. It has made communication more efficient and reduced my workload significantly by being easy to configure and deploy. The tools provided, especially Google Vault, have been very valuable and efficient for data management and security.
What is most valuable?
The most beneficial feature is Gmail, which we use extensively. We also appreciate Google Vault for its efficiency and value. The search facility within Gmail is outstanding. The ability to manage employees' emails and email groups easily and the comprehensive help section for administrators are also very valuable.
What needs improvement?
It would be a lot nicer if the default Gmail came with features that we currently need add-ons for, such as tables, automatic BCC, resizing of the panel on the left-hand side, email highlighting, and configuring the display of time and date against each email. Although these add-ons work fine without issues, it would simplify the process if they were included by default.
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Google Workspace
January 2025
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For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Google Workspace for about five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability a ten because we have not encountered any issues around the stability of the system in the entire time we have been using it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would also rate scalability a ten. We can easily add or remove users and adjust costs accordingly. Managing and controlling employees’ data is very fluid, and features such as Google Takeout allow for easy data export and backup when an employee leaves.
How are customer service and support?
I have only had a few occasions to contact Google technical support, and I always received very quick responses. I would rate their support a ten as well.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before using Google Workspace, I managed an in-house email exchange server called MDemon a long time ago, around fifteen years ago.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was very straightforward, and I had everything ready within a day. It was an easy deployment process.
What about the implementation team?
I handle the technical side regarding Google Workspace myself.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I would rate pricing a seven. While Google Workspace is cost-effective, Microsoft Exchange (part of Microsoft 365) might seem to offer better value due to the inclusion of widely-used Office applications like Excel and Word. However, the advantages of Google Workspace keep me satisfied with our choice.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I currently manage Microsoft Exchange for another company and have experience with Office 365, but I prefer the advantages of Google Workspace.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend Google Workspace to other organizations due to its ease of setup, excellent help section for administrators, and outstanding searching facility within Gmail. The platform is very user-friendly and significantly reduces the workload of managing emails and data.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Google
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Sep 29, 2024
Flag as inappropriateIT Professional at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real-time editing enhances workflow and good functionalities but some features need refinement
Pros and Cons
- "The real-time editing feature is valuable."
- "Google could integrate Gemini AI with Google Workspace to enhance user experience."
What is our primary use case?
We are using Google Workspace for email communication, calendar, Google Drive, spreadsheets, and documents. The main usage includes cloud computing, online spreadsheets, and word documents for meetings and daily work.
How has it helped my organization?
It hasn't contributed a lot to improvements as I have reservations about using Google documents. However, it allows integrated email and calendar functionality.
What is most valuable?
I appreciate the ability to have Google applications as standalone apps instead of just using a browser. This allows me to manage my space effectively without losing focus by splitting windows. The real-time editing feature is valuable as well.
What needs improvement?
I prefer Microsoft Word over Google documents as it has more functionalities. For Google spreadsheets, certain functions available in Excel are missing, making it less efficient. Google could integrate Gemini AI with Google Workspace to enhance user experience.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Google Workspace for about one year and a half.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The system is stable unless the internet connection is slow.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I can't comment on scalability as I am not in a management position. However, from a user perspective, it has been seamless.
How are customer service and support?
I have never had direct interaction with Google technical support as we have an internal IT team that handles any issues.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is simple. You log in to your email account and access features through the menu.
What about the implementation team?
We have an internal IT team managing technical issues.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I'm not satisfied with the cost because I feel these services should be free as they use our data.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
What other advice do I have?
Improvements are needed in the area of document functionalities where Microsoft Word is still superior to Google documents.
I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Google
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Oct 22, 2024
Flag as inappropriateBuyer's Guide
Google Workspace
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about Google Workspace. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Senior Project Manager at Webellion
Difficulty with file management despite useful and smart sheet features
Pros and Cons
- "I find smart sheets in Google Sheets to be useful."
- "Google Workspace lacks the ability to copy and move files from one folder to another easily."
What is our primary use case?
I use Google Workspace for mail, chat, documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.
What is most valuable?
I find smart sheets in Google Sheets to be useful. It is very well-working.
What needs improvement?
Google Workspace lacks the ability to copy and move files from one folder to another easily. I also find it challenging to perform many operations using the context menu in Google Sheets, Google Docs, and Google Presentation. I have to go to the menu to adjust many parameters of the cells or text, which I don't have to do in Microsoft Office.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Google Workspace for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of Google Workspace has improved. Although there were some problems in the past, I have not encountered any issues since I started using it again from April this year.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used Microsoft Office previously and find it more comfortable to work with than Google Workspace.
How was the initial setup?
I did not need to install anything as it is a cloud solution. I just opened it, and it was ready to use.
What other advice do I have?
I'd rate the solution five out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Oct 21, 2024
Flag as inappropriateCountry Manager at CloudFabrix Software
Easy to use with lots of great features and good stability
Pros and Cons
- "I like everything that Google does. They have good products."
- "The solution could always be more secure, although that doesn't affect me so much."
What is our primary use case?
I mainly use it for interaction with customers. For internal use, we mostly use Slack. There's hardly any email internally. External emails, however, require Gmail.
What is most valuable?
I like everything that Google does. They have good products.
It's easy to use.
The solution is stable.
The scalability is good.
It's smarter than I am. There are always more features that I need to explore.
I'm happy with its current integration capabilities.
What needs improvement?
The solution could always be more secure, although that doesn't affect me so much.
The next trend in email is automation, as email becomes hard when you need to do maintenance, put in the files, and remember where you put stuff. Automation can take away the noise, so to speak.
That said, for us, since a lot of the communication is done on Slack, email is not used as much anymore. It used to be distribution lists and it was difficult to maintain the inbox. However, now, using Slack, it's not a big issue anymore.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been at my current company for about three months and have used it since then.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of G-suite is good. There are no bugs or glitches. There is no crashing or freezing. It's reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is very scalable. If you need to scale up, you can do so with Google.
We don't have a lot of users. We're a small company. It's probably close to a hundred users in total.
How are customer service and support?
I've never been in touch with technical support. I haven't had any issues. Therefore, I would not be able to rate the level of service they provide.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used Office 365 before. I can't say that there's a major difference between the two options, or that one is good and one is bad. They're both very good, very advanced.
How was the initial setup?
As it's a cloud-based solution, there isn't really an implementation that happens. It's very simple and straightforward to start using it.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don't know how much it costs due to the fact that I'm just a user. I'm a sales guy, I'm not the IT guy. I don't handle any aspect of licensing.
What other advice do I have?
Our company is a client and an end-user. We don't have a business relationship with Google.
As we are using the cloud version of the solution, we're always on the latest version of the product.
I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten. It does what it needs to do in a very good way, so it gets a high mark from me.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Google
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Account Executive - Special Accounts at Iron Mountain Incorporated
A useful solution for email, worksheets, documents and presentations, but it could be more user-friendly
Pros and Cons
- "The initial setup is easy because it's all pre-configured."
- "The solution needs to be more user-friendly and improve its tools and features."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case for the solution is for email, worksheets, documents and presentations. We deploy the solution on cloud.
What is most valuable?
We find the practicality of the solution valuable.
What needs improvement?
The solution needs to be more user-friendly and improve its tools and features. Additionally, access to the specific tools inside the application is not easy to understand, so you need to go through many menus to find out what is needed for particular tasks. It's not easy in Microsoft Office because everything you see can be visualized. It's faster and simpler to use the tools, but in Google Docs, we need to work around many of them and understand how they work and the functions required for the Worksheet application.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the solution for approximately two years and are currently using the latest version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable. I rate the scalability a ten out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
We do not have experience with customer service and support.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy because it's all pre-configured, so there's no problem configuring the tool. I rate the initial setup a ten out of ten.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the initial setup a seven out of ten. I recommend the solution for users considering it because it is easy to use but doesn't have other features from Microsoft Office.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Chief Innovation Officer at eMotion
Straightforward to implement and offers good pricing but not as robust as some Microsoft options
Pros and Cons
- "It has saved us money."
- "G Suite is not as powerful as Microsoft Office Suite, so sometimes we have to change to Excel and PowerPoint."
What is our primary use case?
We use this for everything. We use Slides for presentations, Sheets for analysis, Google Data Studio for reports, Google Sites internally on our internet and for our clients as well, to show them some financial reports. We don't use the Google Docs. Primarily we use Sheets, Slides, Data Studio, and Sites.
How has it helped my organization?
It has saved us money. We choose Google Suite due to the price. It's not due to the fact that it's better than Microsoft Suite. The thing is that we use Google Chat and Google Docs, and take advantage of the integration and the power of the search of Google - which is very good for us. We can find everything very fast.
What is most valuable?
We like that we have everything together, connected to Google Drive. This is very useful. The integration is very good with Google Drive. All this stuff that we have, we can use together in the same place, which is very good.
The initial setup is very straightforward.
What needs improvement?
G Suite is not as powerful as Microsoft Office Suite, so sometimes we have to change to Excel and PowerPoint.
Google Slides and Google Sheets have a lot of room for improvement. Also, Google Data Studio is not great when compared to Power BI. Power BI is much better than Google Data Studio.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've used the solution for maybe two or three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We've never had an issue with stability. Overall, it's been quite good. There are no bugs or glitches.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is my understanding that the solution can scale. We have 100 to 130 people on the product right now. Almost everybody uses G Suite here.
We do plan to expand as we explore using more AI.
How are customer service and support?
We use a third party and that team would contact Google if they had issues. However, our experience with the third party has been okay.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We always have used G Suite. We never used Microsoft Suite. Since the beginning of the company, we've been on this particular product. I've used Microsoft in the past at other companies.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is simple to set up. It's not difficult at all.
I do not recall exactly how long the deployment took.
We have two staff members, trainees, that are handling any maintenance tasks.
What about the implementation team?
We used a third party during the implementation process. There is a company in Sao Paulo that helped us to set up everything.
What was our ROI?
We have seen a pretty good ROI on the product, based on how inexpensive it is.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is pretty good. It's cheaper than Microsoft. I'd rate it a four out of five in terms of affordability.
In the past, we had to buy a Microsoft OneDrive license, and it was very expensive. And we chose G Suite, and the price was very good.
What other advice do I have?
We are using the latest version of the product.
If your company is heavily into Excel or Powerpoint, it's best to stay with Microsoft. However, Google is a decent option for those who do not need these two applications so much.
I'd rate it seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Technology Competency and Solution Head at LearningMate
A stable and scalable solution for our emails, documents, and internal meetings
Pros and Cons
- "It is quite a useful tool. It allows many people to work on a document. You can actually provide review comments and tag anybody to make the comment changes. You can also attach a document in Google Chat."
- "We use Zoom most of the time for official meetings, and we use Google Meet only for internal meetings. I would like to get an improvised Google Meet. It would be good if they can make Google Meet more clear in communication and more scalable like Zoom."
What is our primary use case?
We are using the complete G Suite Enterprise. It includes Google Email, Google Drive, Google Meet, Google Docs, and Google Sites. For our internal meetings, we are using Google Meet. For our email services, Google Email is there, and for our documents, we use Google Drive Enterprise. We are using the latest version of G Suite Enterprise.
What is most valuable?
It is quite a useful tool. It allows many people to work on a document. You can actually provide review comments and tag anybody to make the comment changes. You can also attach a document in Google Chat.
What needs improvement?
We use Zoom most of the time for official meetings, and we use Google Meet only for internal meetings. I would like to get an improvised Google Meet. It would be good if they can make Google Meet more clear in communication and more scalable like Zoom.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for eight years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Being a cloud solution, it is very scalable. We have around 1,000 or 1,200 users.
How are customer service and technical support?
There is very little requirement for technical support because the solution is scalable and flexible. We don't really require any offline support from them except when there is a downtime.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using our in-house exchange server for emails and document management. As we were growing, we needed a cloud-based solution.
How was the initial setup?
It is a cloud-based solution, so there is no on-premises installation.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend G Suite for everybody. We plan to keep using this solution.
I would rate G Suite Enterprise a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Head of IT at Prerana Motors India
The ability to create mail forwarding rules based on the subject line is very useful
Pros and Cons
- "If I'm addressing certain emails from banks — automatic emails, like OTP, etc. — I can create rules and forward that OTP to the specific email IDs. You can create rules and deliver mail to different groups using the forwarding feature. It's handy."
- "Google Mail's spam filter needs improvement. If I'm sending mail to another email user, sometimes it goes to the spam folder, and they won't know unless they check because they aren't seeing it in the primary inbox. They may miss important emails. At the same time, I'm receiving spam that shouldn't go to my inbox."
What is our primary use case?
We use G Suite to send daily operational emails for internal and external purposes.
How has it helped my organization?
If I'm addressing certain emails from banks — automatic emails, like OTP, etc. — I can create rules and forward that OTP to the specific email IDs. You can create rules and deliver mail to different groups using the forwarding feature. It's handy. If I'm getting a message from the bank about paycheck processing, I can forward it to every user who has asked about their paychecks.
When I'm away, I can automatically forward my email to another user taking over for me. A copy of the email goes to the second user, so they can take action in my absence. Any case IDs or other emails related to organizational requirements go to second-level people.
What is most valuable?
The best feature in G Suite is Google Mail forwarding and the ability to create rules based on the subject line. I found it very useful, and you can store additional data in Google Drive.
What needs improvement?
Google Mail's spam filter needs improvement. If I'm sending mail to another email user, sometimes it goes to the spam folder, and they won't know unless they check because they aren't seeing it in the primary inbox. They may miss important emails. At the same time, I'm receiving spam that shouldn't go to my inbox.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been dealing with G Suite and Google Mail for 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
G Suite is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
G Suite is scalable. You can add as much space as you want. We have more than 200 users working with it.
How are customer service and support?
We get technical support from a third-party provider, not Google, which is difficult to contact. That is one crucial area for improvement. Google should take care of this. They have a customer care number, but it isn't easy to get immediate service. Even though my company is a paid customer, we have to go through third-party vendors. We cannot contact Google when we have any issues. With Microsoft and other vendors, I can call them directly with any problems, but it's hard to contact Google when we need technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used Yahoo Business Mail in the past, and they had the same problems with technical support as Google, but the storage costs were cheaper. It was 1 TB per user.
How was the initial setup?
The email setup is very easy. It took less than 10 minutes to create my email account and configure it.
What was our ROI?
G-Suite is a costly investment, but it is better than other solutions in terms of features, functions, usability, and uptime.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The license is based on the number of users, and it's annual. There aren't any additional costs. Sometimes we have automation people who need to access an email ID, so we allocate the old ID to the new employee.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have other solutions also, but they're not a user-friendly as Google Mail. Some of the features I wanted weren't present, so I didn't recommend these solutions for my organization.
What other advice do I have?
I rate G Suite nine out of 10. It is pretty good. Aside from a few small things, I don't have any issues.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Google
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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