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reviewer1450485 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager, Engineering at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
A user-friendly and reliable mail engine that is scalable, easy to install, and has a good calendar
Pros and Cons
  • "The calendar is the most valuable feature."
  • "The synchronization is a bit of an issue."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case of this solution is our mailbox engine.

What is most valuable?

The calendar is the most valuable feature. 

The mail and many other options can be managed on Gmail. 

The calendar is something that we are using extensively.

The interface is user-friendly.

What needs improvement?

The synchronization is a bit of an issue. In Gmail and the G Suite, there is synchronization in the inbox and at times it doesn't sync the way it's supposed to.

Synchronization is an issue that I would like to see resolved.

Also, there are issues when you have an attachment. It may be a problem with my company or an issue with the policy of my company, but it is a universal issue. For example, if you are on your Google account and there are attachments on your calendar, then when you do the synchronization, the calendar attachment won't attach.

This is a problem that occurs some of the time but not always. It would be helpful to correct this issue.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using G Suite Enterprise for one year.

Buyer's Guide
Google Workspace
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Google Workspace. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

You can scale it easily. Internally they use Google Cloud, which has several features to increase it.

We have more than 10,000 users in our organization. 

How are customer service and support?

We have not had the need to contact technical support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

G Suite is not great when you compare it to Microsoft Outlook, but it works.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was very straightforward.

It took a couple of hours to deploy.

What about the implementation team?

The deployment was done in-house.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Licensing costs are on a yearly basis.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have not evaluated other solutions. We knew this was the one we wanted.

What other advice do I have?

I absolutely recommend this solution to others.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Founder CEO at Stacqdale
Real User
Great for collaboration, extremely scalable, and reasonable pricing
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the capabilities for collaboration on any platform. For example, I might be on an iPad whereas the person next to me is on a laptop and the person next to them is on their phone. We can all collaborate together and update documentation in real-time."
  • "Better integration without visual misrepresentation with the Microsoft suite is required."

What is our primary use case?

It's a wonderful solution for an organization that is changing in size dramatically. I find it super easy to add, delete, or replace users. From an administrative perspective, that's really nice. It provides all the collaboration and integration needed for teams and uses the Microsoft Suite of solutions quite nicely.

What is most valuable?

I like the capabilities for collaboration on any platform. For example, I might be on an iPad whereas the person next to me is on a laptop and the person next to them is on their phone. We can all collaborate together and update documentation in real-time. 

Working on documentation and the revalidation of formulas in their sheets application are both hugely valuable. I don't use as much some of their native version management. I tend to have my own system for that, so I don't use it for that, however, I do like the ability for multi-user real-time collaboration. That's a critical value point on G Suite.

What needs improvement?

Better integration without visual misrepresentation with the Microsoft suite is required. Right now, I'm paying for everything from my website and everything else under Google suite. I really like it. However, on occasion, when I have to interact, especially back and forth, and particularly on legal terms documents, there's always some formatting or structural issues between G Suite documents and Microsoft Word, for example. 

When you're copying files from one location to another and they say, "Oh, there are already files there. Would you like to just overwrite them? Or would you like to choose them one by one?" I would like, when I'm looking to integrate with a Microsoft user, to be able to make my selections on a selection by selection basis, and then be able to save that as a configuration for that communication between myself on G Suite and them on Microsoft Office. That would be an amazing feature.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for 20 years. It's been two decades.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I've never seen a limit to the solution in terms of how high it can scale. I've never seen an upper-end issue. I'm also talking about users to the maximum of hundreds. I haven't needed the solution for tens of thousands of people. I'm assuming that there is some sort of upper limit, however, for now, both the limit from an individual user or for small and medium-size organizations, the ability to quickly adjust your limits on the storage isn't a problem. 

For example, I'm using Google storage as my primary cloud storage provider. I find it fantastic. And I get a lot of warnings as to when I'm getting close to the limit. I can just up my program, increase my storage and it's done. I don't have to do anything more.

How are customer service and technical support?

We've never had to deal with technical support. I'm capable of doing it all myself and or one or two of the other people in our office can handle any problems as well. Since we've ever had to deal with technical support, I can't speak to their quality of service.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I've used Office 365 and related solutions from Microsoft almost as much as G Suite. I also use communications platforms, such as Zoom.

I only use Zoom when I have to. It's not one of my favorite platforms. I prefer others. I prefer the Google Suite communications platform. If I look on my phone, I've got Google Hangouts, Google duo, and I'll tend to use those over Zoom. 

Zoom is getting better. The security is getting better. However, I still use Google and WebEx and any number of different platforms depending on what is the preferred platform of my customers.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I do not know the licensing costs off the top of my head. It's been months since I've looked at it. Due to the fact that we're on a per-user basis, I consider the pricing to be very reasonable. However, it fluctuates up and down with the number of employees.

What other advice do I have?

We're just customers; we don't have a business relationship with Google.

There's always going to be a decision to either go with a G Suite, Microsoft Office, or some other open-source platform like Open Office. I would suggest G Suite to someone who's considering making a move, especially if they are a new enterprise. They need to consider carefully who they're going to be interacting with in terms of clients. 

Does it make sense for them to pay the premium price and go to the Microsoft Suite because of the nature of the work they're doing? It depends on the situation. If I was doing a lot of legal work with a lot of documentation back and forth, I wouldn't even think twice. I'd only use Microsoft. 

However, if I'm doing a lot of other sorts of work where I need to have collaboration, I would hands down choose G Suite. If I'm not worried about collaboration and I just want cheap and cheerful, I would probably go to Open Office.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Google Workspace
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Google Workspace. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Tomasz Piwonski - PeerSpot reviewer
Sales representative at LizardFS
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
A platform that requires very little technical expertise to use
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is easy to use, and you don't need a lot of knowledge for it."
  • "Google needs to improve its support."

What is most valuable?

The solution is easy to use, and you don't need a lot of knowledge for it. Also, if anyone changes a document in the workspace, you can set up messages telling you if someone changes a document.

What needs improvement?

Google needs to improve its support.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for around ten years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the solution's stability an eight out of ten because it can always be improved.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable since it's just software. We have about ten users in my company on the solution, and we plan to increase the number of users. We have people in IT, the manager, and the sales department using the solution.

How are customer service and support?

The quality of support depends because sometimes they are very fast. By contrast, if I want to change a registered number from mobile to landline, Google tells me it's impossible because it violates their rules. I must then send them proof that the landline belongs to the company. But I should be able to change it without questions since I own the account. I have a similar problem with changing the location because Google has set my location to the next building. I've tried five times already, but it only shows the proper building for 20 minutes before returning to the other one.

Tech support either doesn't answer requests, or you have to open a new ticket.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. It took five minutes to deploy the solution. To deploy the solution, I needed to create a login, and then I got access to spreadsheets or any other documents.

What about the implementation team?

You don't need any IT people to deploy the service. You can do it yourself. In my company, two people in the IT department are looking at deployment and maintenance, helping with IT problems.

What other advice do I have?

Google Workspace is good for everybody. Everyone can participate in editing documents. Moreover, you don't have to send any documents. You just need to log into your Google account, and you will have access. Likewise, you can access documents from anywhere if you have the Internet.

I rate the solution an eight out of ten and recommend others use it.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Shailesh Patil - PeerSpot reviewer
Sales Director at CloudCompanions Technology Pvt. Ltd
Real User
A stable solution with features like email and Google Drive
Pros and Cons
  • "We find Google Drive and mail useful for our services."
  • "The tool should improve its on-prem capabilities to include people who are working offline. The pricing is also a challenge for both the Indian and overseas markets. The tool has a cap of 300 licenses. The product's price has also increased by 10 percent. Businesses are struggling to justify the ROI. Users cannot block emails unless they have a strong firewall."

What is our primary use case?

We use the tool for email and Google Drive. 

What is most valuable?

We find Google Drive and mail useful for our services. 

What needs improvement?

The tool should improve its on-prem capabilities to include people who are working offline. The pricing is also a challenge for both the Indian and overseas markets. The tool has a cap of 300 licenses. The product's price has also increased by 10 percent. Businesses are struggling to justify the ROI. Users cannot block emails unless they have a strong firewall. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the tool for twenty years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is stable. 

What other advice do I have?

I would rate the product a nine out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2071371 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior ERP System Admin at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
Real User
It's easy to control the admin settings, but the price is too high
Pros and Cons
  • "It's easy to control the admin settings, like updating the SDS, NIK, etc. I"
  • "I don't recommend Google Workspace to others. It's expensive. Also, Google doesn't have enough oversight on their partners, so you will face some difficulties dealing with them instead of directly with Google."

What is most valuable?

It's easy to control the admin settings, like updating the SDS, NIK, etc. I

What needs improvement?

I don't recommend Google Workspace to others. It's expensive. Also, Google doesn't have enough oversight on their partners, so you will face some difficulties dealing with them instead of directly with Google.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have worked at this company for three years, but they have used Google Workspace for more than 10 years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate Google Workspace seven out of 10 for stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate Google Workspace five out of 10 for scalability.

How are customer service and support?

I rate Google support eight out of 10. When we were having issues with security and email, they were perfect. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

Deploying Google Workspace is straightforward. We deployed in-house with two IT staff.

What was our ROI?

Google Workspace isn't worth the money.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I rate Workspace 1 out of 10 for affordability. We pay a yearly license

What other advice do I have?

I rate Google Workplace seven out of 10. It's useful for enterprises of any size.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user1360752 - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Owner at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Good email service, however, no technical support and needs to be more automated
Pros and Cons
  • "In terms of email, I could probably do the same things with other programs, however, I find 90% of my usage is Gmail."
  • "The solution is not user-friendly and it doesn't integrate that well with Microsoft Office, which is one of the bigger business apps on the market, compared to Google Sheets and applications of that sort."

What is our primary use case?

I use it for various aspects of my business (scheduling/calendar, email, etc.).

What is most valuable?

The two best aspects of the solution for me are the calendar and the email (Gmail).

In terms of email, I could probably do the same things with other programs, however, I find 90% of my usage is Gmail.

What needs improvement?

If I were to think about what could be improved for G Suite for business, if you're talking about automated processes or that kind of functionality, that would be great. If there were pre-programmable items, I think that would be very helpful for me. For instance, there's a lot of steps that I take to line up an agreement. I get a signed agreement, I scan it, it goes onto my computer (which is OneDrive), and then I need to open my email and email my administrator. 

That's a pretty repetitive task. If it is easier to create automated-type items or templated forms, that would be fantastic. 

The solution is not user-friendly and it doesn't integrate that well with Microsoft Office, which is one of the bigger business apps on the market, compared to Google Sheets and applications of that sort.

There needs to be more intuitive support on offer. I want to integrate more features into my business to get more use out of the solution without having to take hours and hours of time that I just don't have. How to integrate what and where requires research. I don't want to research how to work the solution. I want it to be clear about what it is I can build out and how to do it quickly.

If there was a better way to integrate the solution into all of my other devices, like my phone, I'd be happier with it. I'm using a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 device. If there was a way for all of this to be vertically integrated with Chat, Hangouts, and all the different items associated with the solution, where it would be in one place rather than all over, that would probably make it easier, and make it feel more integrated.

I also do not like how Google tracks every email I send.

With Google, I used to have to log in and pull it up and do everything on a webpage. I just find it much easier to work right off the desktop rather than on a web page, which is why I prefer the Microsoft Office suite.

For how long have I used the solution?

In terms of using the solution personally for my business, I have been using it for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I've found the stability to be not that great. The reason is that I've had opportunities early on where, instead of using OneDrive and my Microsoft account, I was going to move everything over to my Google Drive, but I got to a place where it would start blinking and flash, and I couldn't pull a document. I couldn't access my G Drive. It was just acting weird. For a while, it would freeze up and it wouldn't do anything.

I haven't had the issue lately. It was a problem which led me to stay with Microsoft. Right now I'm using Microsoft Outlook as my primary platform when I'm sitting at my desktop. It also seems to syncs with Google. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I can't comment on the effectiveness of scaling the solution because I haven't really tried to scale it that much.

I've got an admin person that does a little bit for me, however, I mostly just use the email functionality.

My main thing that I do is sales and marketing. I'm not an IT guy, and I don't want to be an IT guy. If I have to go in and I have to figure it out for myself, then I'm not going to take that time to do it. I'll continue doing what I'm doing, which is to focus on revenue-generating activities. G Suite does not make it easy for a one-person business to go in and figure this stuff out and make it easy.

How are customer service and technical support?

I do not find their support to be very useful.

They try to send you to a tutorial of some sort and these tutorials are not that intuitive for what I would call a lay person like me. There is no real service where you can get on the phone with an individual to walk you through it. It's pretty much self-discovery.

I don't have time to do that. If I have a problem, I need to solve it now and the way they have their support set up, what should take five minutes takes two hours because it takes an hour and 55 minutes to find what you need and it takes five minutes to fix it.

How was the initial setup?

I went into G Suite, and signed up. I got a little help from my web developer, but I pretty much, I did it myself.

Once you are signed up, the one thing I don't like about Google is if you try to find any information, it is not really laid out that well. I've had some problems and I have spent hours trying to get it fixed. And when I finally find the answer, it's like, well, that wasn't that difficult, but it's really not easy to find stuff on Google. And I find their support to be lacking.

What about the implementation team?

I handled the implementation myself.

What other advice do I have?

I'm just a customer. 

I'm not sure of the version I'm currently using. I just use the business G Suite. I believe it's always the latest version that's available.

The only thing I use in G Suite is Gmail, Drive and the Calendar and that's about it. I'm not really using Google Ads. I do a little bit of YouTube stuff, but I'm fixing to convert that into putting the videos on my website. I just recently also used Google Voice.

In terms of advice to other companies, I'd caution that it's very difficult to use effectively. Users need to really make sure they're going to have to be able to vertically integrate it. If you're using Microsoft Office and Google together, you might want to just consider how to stay within the Microsoft Office platform. If you're going to use Google, you need to consider how you integrate that entirely inside your business.

I would rate the solution five out of ten.

There's a lot of opportunity in Google, however, their biggest two problems are that they don't do a very good job of protecting the privacy of the individual that's using G Suite, and it needs to be more intuitive and easier to implement.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user997845 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager at Zeste Informatique
Real User
Built-in multifactor authentication for single sign-on with precise technical support and documentation
Pros and Cons
  • "G Suite and all of Google were the first to have a built-in multifactor authentication without needing to purchase another product."
  • "If you use a name with a special character like a slash in the folder, it will crash the migration, with no warning. There is no pre-warning or anything to tell you that if you use characters in a file name that it will crash the migration."

What is our primary use case?

I deployed this for a public administration with two hundred accounts. They were replacing Office 365 with this solution because of the price.

What is most valuable?

The features that I like the most are the centralized contacts, labels, the way that you can use Gmail from the web browser directly, and the accessibility from Chrome. 

Gmail has been made for Chrome. When you have Chrome, you don't have to add mail software.

There is a feature that people don't use a lot, and that is the multi-factor authentication. MultiPass Fido Security keys were the first to propose this built-in feature, but if you are using Microsoft, for a single sign-on authentication, you have to purchase another product like Okta to get a single sign-on and high-security authentication. 

G Suite and all of Google were the first to have a built-in multifactor authentication without needing to purchase another product.

What needs improvement?

Compared to Office 365, you lose many functionalities. For Example, G Suites cannot share contacts between users.

With Office, particularly with Outlook, people are not using labels but folders. They tend to create folders in folders, and this fails the mailbox migration.

When migrating, we were using iMac migration and people were using special characters in their subfolders. If you use a name with a special character like a slash in the folder, it will crash the migration, with no warning.

There is no pre-warning or anything to tell you that if you use characters in a file name that it will crash the migration. There should be some kind of warning, notification, or awareness regarding bad practices.

There should be a check of the account that you have to migrate that tells you if the Unicode Encoding of the subfolders is valid, and that bad names won't work.

To find the webpage information regarding the migration with email servers, you have to search the website documentation to locate it. This information should be on the front page.

When you migrate with Gmail, there is a lot of information with different functions of what we lost and what we will get. Office or iMaps and several other service line products are displayed as part of it. This section is large and should be in the frontline of the documentation.

In the search, whenever you type migration with Gmail or G Suite, it should be on the first page.

In the next release, personal contact sharing should be included. With Google, you can share documentation, presentation links, almost everything, but not contacts.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been familiar with this solution for four years.

I am not a user but an administrator of this product.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This solution is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is scalable.

How are customer service and technical support?

I contacted technical support regarding the issue that I was having with sub-folders and special characters in file names. They helped resolve the issues. I like the support.

They are precise.

At one time when I had a mail server to migrate, I called Microsoft support and I spent several hours performing tests with the support team. In the end, the technician told me that I was correct, that there was an error in the official Microsoft documentation, and closed the case. My migration had an issue and the only answer that I received from Microsoft was that the documentation had errors.

When you are calling Google support, they have no issues in their documentation. If a function doesn't exist, they just sent you an email with the documentation.

The G Suite documentation is not complex, you don't have issues, but with Microsoft, there are many, an insane amount.

You document all of the migration stages, and there are many ways to do it, so your documentation should reflect that accurately to avoid finding issues when you are halfway through the migration.

I don't have the same issues with Google support and the documentation as I had with Microsoft support and documentation.

How was the initial setup?

The complexity of the initial setup depends on the person. For me, it was easy and straightforward because of my experience. I have been using mail servers for almost twenty years.

It is easy for people who have set up mail servers at the start of the internet.

What about the implementation team?

I deployed this solution for two hundred people with the assistance of some program users. There were at least two full days of preparation and two presentation meetings. 

After two days of implementation and stopped production, which was done during the weekend, it took one week to fix issues for users.

What other advice do I have?

Many people don't understand that when you are migrating to a company, you don't need to use software for mail, and you don't need to have software to open Gmail. It's the main feature.

For me, this solution and the setup is easy, but for some people who do not have the experience, they see features and don't know what they are used for.

For the Cloud, people are using Active Directory or Outlook, but they should also consider Gmail.

As an administrator, you don't have to manage mail software and local mail storage.

When people are using Office 365 Suites online and they come from Outlook to the online version, they don't like it.

Gmail is made specifically to be used through a web browser. For some people, it's a con, but for me, it's a pro.

In France, many people are using old products and they have to use Microsoft Office, but for new companies, they are using new online modern software. When I meet with some of these companies, I push them toward using G Suite and Gmail.

Microsoft was the top in IT, and they were beaten by Okta with regards to the single sign-on, and Gmail could do a single-sign-on earlier than Microsoft.

I would recommend this product.

I would rate this solution 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.
PeerSpot user
MansoorNathani - PeerSpot reviewer
Product & Migration Specialist at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Excellent solution for document sharing
Pros and Cons
  • "We haven't had any issues with scalability - we have over a thousand employees, and G Suite just scales."
  • "Improvements to G Suite would be the ability to collaborate more easily and better quality video compression in Google Meet."

What is our primary use case?

I mainly use G Suite for collaboration, online meetings, document sharing, and email.

What is most valuable?

G Suite's most valuable feature is document sharing.

What needs improvement?

Improvements to G Suite would be the ability to collaborate more easily and better quality video compression in Google Meet. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using G Suite Enterprise for about five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

G Suite is very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We haven't had any issues with scalability - we have over a thousand employees, and G Suite just scales.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward.

What was our ROI?

We're seeing a good ROI as we use G Suite for many purposes.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

G Suite is affordable.

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.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Google Workspace Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: December 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Google Workspace Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.