Loved by billions of users, Google Workspace works seamlessly with Microsoft Office and gives your team access to modern collaboration tools.

Introduction

At the start of the pandemic, a massive 88% of organizations suddenly shifted to working from home.1 While some organizations have made the transition to remote and hybrid work without too much disruption, those saddled with legacy infrastructure were much slower to adapt. In fact, 49% were unable to maintain DFOductivity on collaborative tasks following the shift.

Indeed, the massive migration to remote and hybrid work highlighted something savvy organizations already knew. To enable innovation and growth in an increasingly competitive and demanding business environment, these organizations had implemented flexible, easy-to-use, and innovative tools to drive collaboration, engagement, productivity, and creativity. Their workers could keep doing great work across teams and time zones, and could work effectively from home, the office, or a mix of both.

On the flip side, organizations with incompatible, inflexible productivity and collaboration tools struggled. Staff couldn’t access the files they needed from their personal devices; teams from different departments struggled to collaborate; time was wasted converting files and documents to suit different platforms.

In this guide, we explore how Google Workspace solves challenges like these with a flexible and interoperable platform that works with the tools you already use — from anywhere, on any device.

Challenge #1

We need to be able to work with Microsoft Office files

Solution

Many organizations have been using Microsoft Office for a long time, and have created countless files and documents in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

All that time and effort spent on Office files doesn’t need to go to waste. With Google Workspace, you can easily switch between Docs and Word, Sheets and Excel, or Slides and PowerPoint without the hassle of future converting files. Plus, you can tap into the enhanced collaborative and assistive features of Google Workspace to help your employees work smarter and faster.

Working with Microsoft Excel is a great example. Your finance team may have spent dozens of hours building and refining macros to make their jobs easier. They won’t want to let that work go. Google Workspace has a Macro Conversion add-on that helps users migrate macros from Excel to Sheets, while making the most of existing work.

With Google Workspace, you can unleash the value of legacy systems while gradually transitioning to a more connected, productive, and collaborative future — all with minimal disruption to the business.

Challenge #2

We need to be able to effectively collaborate with external customers, partners, and suppliers

Solution

Too often, files shared by customers, partners, or even colleagues are created on platforms that your team doesn’t use.

The time it takes to convert these incompatible files into a format you can work with quickly adds up. So does the time it takes to hunt down the files you’ve converted. As a result, productivity plummets.

 With Google Workspace, you can open, edit and share Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files directly from Gmail without the hassle of converting them. Once opened, you can store and comment on these files directly in Drive. You can also edit and collaborate real-time on your Office files using Docs, Sheets, or Slides — eliminating the issue of version control. It’s all available on the mobile apps as well, so your employees can easily and securely work on the go, too.

The benefits extend beyond the convenience of being able to edit Office documents in Google Workspace. Productivity gets a boost thanks to simple and intuitive features you won’t find in Office — like assigning action items via comment, writing faster with Smart Compose, and accelerating data entry with Sheets Smart Fill. And you can find files nearly 50% faster with Priority and Quick Access in Drive.

Ready to get started?

Google Workspace gives your employees everything they need to connect, create, and collaborate, while complementing your existing technology investments, including Microsoft Office.