Exclusive: Microsoft continues to crush Google in a key battleground
Microsoft is still the indisputable leader in the office software market
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Microsoftcontinues to maintain a stranglehold over theoffice softwaremarket, despite the best efforts of Google and the effects of the pandemic, new data shows.
According to a 500-person survey conducted byOnePulseon behalf ofTechRadar Pro,Microsoft 365is the chosenproductivity suiteof the majority of US businesses (58.20%), whereasGoogle Workspaceis used by only 15%.
The poll also highlighted the extent of headwinds faced by smaller players, with alternatives likeZoho Workplace,Polaris OfficeandLibreOfficeall used by fewer than 3% of respondents.
Microsoft 365 vs. Google Workspace
It is perhaps news to no one that Microsoft leads the way in the office software market with its famous Microsoft 365 suite, but theextentof that lead may come as some surprise, given the reputation of apps likeGoogle Docs,Google Sheets,Google Slidesand more.
One of the defining features of Microsoft’s offering is tight integration between apps and services, extending all the way out to the Windowsoperating systemon which mostbusiness computersrun.
However,Googlestole a march on Microsoft when it came to the real-timecollaborationmodel, whereby software is served up via thecloud, which has proved all-important since the transition to remote andhybrid working.
In 2020, Google also rebranded G Suite to Workspace, signalling an increase in investment in the software suite. As part of this process, the company announced it would make a concerted effort to create a more “deeply integrated user experience”, closing the gap on its rival.
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Since then, Google has rolled out hundreds of upgrades in an attempt to deliver on this objective and further fine-tune its services for the post-pandemic working environment.
However, the new data provided toTechRadar Prosuggests these efforts have ultimately translated into limited user growth.
Although the survey is far from comprehensive and doesn’t provide a global picture, the results are backed up by the financials. In Q1 2022, Google’s cloud services (which includes Workspace) accounted for $5 billion in revenue, whereas Microsoft’s productivity segment took in $15 billion.
In other words, Google has a long way to go before it can genuinely challenge for the market lead.
Joel Khalili is the News and Features Editor at TechRadar Pro, covering cybersecurity, data privacy, cloud, AI, blockchain, internet infrastructure, 5G, data storage and computing. He’s responsible for curating our news content, as well as commissioning and producing features on the technologies that are transforming the way the world does business.
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