Dive Brief:
- Microsoft is more popular than Google when it comes to enterprise cloud email, according to recent analysis from Gartner.
- The analyst firm examined the email routing records of 40,000 public companies and found that 8.5% of enterprises use Microsoft Office 365 cloud email, compared to Google Apps for Work's 4.7%.
- Jeffrey Mann, research vice president at Gartner, said Microsoft is more popular with larger organizations, while Google is more popular with smaller companies.
Dive Insight:
More than 80% of companies with revenue above $10 billion using cloud email use Microsoft. Google, on the other hand, has focused primarily on marketing to mid-market companies with up to 3,000 employees. Around 50% of companies with less than $50 million in sales use Google, according to Mann.
Gartner analysts said Microsoft may be more popular because many companies already have long-term histories with the company and may be wary of making drastic changes. However, Google is appealing to companies looking to make a fresh start with a more cloud-enabled infrastructure.
Google and Microsoft have been battling to attract business customers to their respective cloud-based productivity tools for the last several months.
In October, Google said it would offer Google Apps for Work for free to companies while they are finishing out current enterprise agreement with other providers, and offer data migration and training tools as well. Last month, Microsoft said it would extend a service called FastTrack – which was previously only available to larger companies -- to small and mid-sized businesses. The service helps businesses migrate to Office 365 and onboard users.
