Back in the early to mid teens, we were experiencing a shift to the "cloud" which allowed us to store files, previously hosted on local hard disks. This was before SSDs were good/cheap enough.. at the time, this was really amazing stuff. You see, if we had a "road warrior" as we use to call them, someone who wasn't in the office. They had the hardest of time getting those files that were hosted on the local server in our office. VPN's were the solution, give them a method to get back to our office, and act as if they are on our local network. Of course, this was also a challenge. Internet for the mobile user was quite spotty back in these none 5g days.
OneDrive presented what we would call, "hybrid-cloud" allowing now high-speed internet output to connect to an HTML website to access our files.
At the time, when VPN's suffered from low upload-speeds (thus, low speeds for remote users) OneDrive allowed the removal of VPN workflows. Often a constant connect to VPN, disconnect from VPN as internet speeds were slowed by the VPN due to the local office's slow internet.
This was not however "cloud native" as files & their structure, were still based on 1980's & 1990's local file formats such as ".docx" for word documents.
Psychologically, this was an easy transition for workers as it was virtually no change. But, it also presented challenges for cybersecurity.
Along the way, some rather clever people figured out that if I encrypt local file type files on the "cloud" I can demand a payment to restore them! This hit home users first. Depending on your age, you might remember grandma & grandpa talking about how they had to pay with something called "bitcoin" to some bad person who had encrypted their family photos. They paid a few hundred, and got them back.
The problem was, hackers did not want to have to teach your grandparents how to buy a bitcoin. You see, hackers were now having to run full on support desks. Legit, grandma and grandpa support desks to show our grandparents how to send them $500 so they can get their photos back. Low pay, high stress.
Businesses were richer, had or could pay an IT person to figure out how to send a bitcoin, they now reduced their costs from running a full on helpdesk dealing with old hard of hearing Americans who were angry they were being extorted. A solid win..
As a business owner you might think, hey, Microsoft 365 sounds great. There is little change. My users will love that!
That is one perspective, and it's a solid one. But it also can be damaging in the long-term.
Microsoft 365 starts to hurt you the most when you look at how it works. Which is simply a build-upon legacy 80's & 90's IT. With local applications, providing local files to be saved. Word files, Excel files, PowerPoint files. All these files now live on a SSD in a data center somewhere that Microsoft owns & is easy to access due to the HTML or "file synchronization".
Quick! Name a modern app you locally install - oh right, most apps are cloud now...
Canva, Gong, Lavender, do you download and still Hubspot? No, of course not. And thus, we never see what a canva file is. Maybe it's .van or maybe it's .can who know right? We don't live in the 80's anymore where we store these files locally.
Since 83% of USA K-12 uses Google Workspace, you might have kids who use chromebooks, or, you might have been a kid who used chromebooks! (GenZ will be over 25% of the workforce next year) which means you might be aware that Google, obviously a cloud age company, arguably, the cloud age company, does not give you local files. GASP!
But what if you need to work on an important file while your on a plain, Alexander!?
Well, that's easy. Modern applications are umbrellaed under what we call "progressive web applications" and these applications can save your edits to the file, to be synchronized at a later time.
You see, Google Drive files operate on servers, and essentially are bookmarks if you "install Google Drive" onto a Mac or PC.
As you might guess, you can save the bookmark of this page, you can encrypt it, and rather unshockingly, literally everyone can still see the page just fine. Because you are not accessing this webpage directly, but a little copy of the code is sent to your PC.
Well, you might be able to guess now, but I am about to tell you that this is why Google Workspace files do not get ransomware...
Now if you put a good old 1980's inspired .docx file and encrypt it, sure.. but that's the point isn't it. Modern vs legacy methods. Microsoft isn't really cloud native, it's hybrid computing.
That is where switching to cloud native, means more security. And, our next topic!
Step into a classroom today & you will likely find one Google Document open, and 20 kids in it.
What are they doing? Taking notes of the class. Well, that would have been handy for me as a kid!
The photo was taken in 2016, so many of these kids are now entering the local job market around Tulsa.
I've taken to interviewing some of these younger workers. Past research shows that workers across ages are more likely to accept jobs with organizations using Google Workspace. But not all of those kids literally had Google painted on their school walls... How did these kids feel about employers using Microsoft?
They were angry. Noticeably.
I have interviewed a fair share of people over the years as a Psychologist. I also don't find all that many topics in the workplace that give quite such strong sentiments as those who frankly, view employers using Microsoft as "dumb", "outdated", "ridiculous" and other strong sentiments that shall go without writing.
Our kids were taught to collaborate in schools. They were given chromebooks, meant to be shared. Often, to parents dismay and expense, kids love to "trade" their laptops. Endlessly. With parents on the hook at many schools for damages their kids didn't do to their traded laptop.
We give them Google software, which is designed to be collaborative. And then, we let them graduate!
And then we say here's some great software from Microsoft that is hybrid, heres some local file stuff you have never seen before, and collaboration is less accessible, if it is there at all!
No, your workforce does not like this.
Yes, you are increasing your employee costs.
After many interviews with workers, other than boomers, it's pretty common knowledge that Google Workspace is easier to collaborate on I have determined.
So, unless you're of a certain age range, none of this should come as a sudden shock!
It would be remiss to not talk about costs after talking about employees willing to leave because you use Microsoft 365!
Now, here is where as a vCIO one has to switch hats. I put down my IT hat, and I pull out my Workplace Psychologist hat. Here we go...
Employees are insanely expensive to replace. I spoke with the legendary HR veteran and consultant LindaAnn Rogers with Aspire to Align about these costs. LindaAnn says that our future workforce is looking very closely at how supportive potential employers are. And whether it is a collaborative environment. With costs of replacing an employee ranging on average she said, from 50 to over 200% of their salary to replace the employee.
LindaAnn also said you have to give the employee a great onboarding experience. Or, an employee is likely to leave within 3 to 6 months! Ensuring major loss every single quarter to the organization to on-board & then off-board employees for the same role.
As a former CIO, and now as a vCIO for hire by subscription, I am looking very closely at your talent.
As a frequent voice on the Society of Evidence Based Consulting podcast, I believe we must look holistically at your costs, and how your IT systems will be affecting employees. As a psychologist who researches how IT affects your workforce, I uniquely understand these costs & how to address them.
Do employees prefer Google Workspace over Microsoft 365?
Well, yes. And as discussed, you don't listen at your own costs.
Research from 2022 across US colleges shows that students, by a large majority prefer Google Workspace from their future employers.
Thinking back to LindaAnn's comment about the importance of the first day on the job, it's very important to think of what you're providing your younger workers. And if the technologies you employ will be helping you recruit & retain talent.
Within Oklahoma, 82,000 jobs are projected to be left unfilled by 2029. This will be due to the shortage of skilled, bachelors level educated workers.
Smart organizations will be looking at this type of data to attract talent to their roles with tools like Google Workspace.
Tulsa is unique, we are intersected by numerous tribal lands. With that, many indigenous beliefs about sustainability are present in our local community. That is why it's important to understand how the cloud you use will affect not only the environment, but your workforce who will be obligated to use it.
Google has invested heavily into its cloud sustainability.
It's also the only platform to offer you real data on how much carbon you're emitting from working on productivity applications.
Opening, saving, deleting documents has a real carbon footprint as your data is used on servers hosted by AWS, Azure, or Google. Knowing how much you're emitting is vital for businesses as they calculate their carbon footprints.
This is a feature noticeably lacking within Microsoft 365.
And shows where their priorities are on helping their customers reduce their carbon footprints.
With banks giving more favorable loans to organizations that are B-Corp certified, and working on becoming or are, carbon neutral, this is a special feature that helps not just employee morale, but financial benefits across the organization and the local community.
Google has built the world's second largest data center in Pryor Oklahoma.
Just 45 Minutes from downtown Tulsa.
Google might seem like a far flung conglomerate from California, with Apple, and others. But they are one of our states largest employers & investors. With over 4.4 billion invested in us. And, employing over 800 Metro citizens.
When you choose Google Workspace, you're not just choosing the safer, smarter, and preferred option. You're supporting our local economy. Helping keep local jobs.
That is something we can all be celebrating!