The results are in. If you work for an enterprise that uses a cloud email platform, chances are it’s an Office 365 solution.
That’s according to Gartner’s latest enterprise cloud email adoption report, which identifies Office 365 as the cloud email platform of choice for organisations worldwide.
In this post we will:
- highlight the report’s key findings
- explore why Office 365 is popular with larger organisations
- take a brief look at the rise of enterprise email.
What the report found
Gartner studied nearly 40,000 freely available email routing records. It’s goal: to identify trends in enterprise cloud email adoption via the two main vendors, Microsoft and Google.
The study revealed that Microsoft’s Office 365 is more popular than Google when it comes to enterprise cloud email. In fact, a massive 80 percent of enterprise cloud email users with over US$10 billion in annual revenue choose Office 365.
Among companies using cloud email, Gartner says Microsoft is ahead in most industries, especially across regulated areas including aerospace, energy and utilities.
Why enterprise cloud users prefer Office 365
When it comes to attracting bigger companies, Microsoft is the clear cloud email winner. But why do enterprises prefer Office 365 to rival platforms like Google Apps for Work?
While Microsoft and Google have been locked in a battle to attract business customers to their cloud email tools, Gartner’s research shows Office 365 is leading the charge. Large enterprises choose Microsoft’s cloud email options almost twice as often as Google’s.
We all know that competition between Microsoft and Google to attract business clients to their cloud-based tools is fierce. But Gartner analysts attribute Microsoft’s popularity to its long-term client histories.
Gartner Research Vice President, Nikos Drakos, told eWeek that Google had the first-mover advantage. Despite this, the search giant's cloud email service has failed to gain traction.
He said businesses have already invested in the Microsoft Office ecosystem over the years. They are reluctant to switch to an unfamiliar platform.
"You have stuff from Microsoft anyway. It's an undeniable advantage for Microsoft," he said.
The rise of enterprise cloud email
Gartner’s report shows that although the cloud email market is still in its infancy, it is gaining considerable traction with businesses worldwide.
Businesses are increasingly recognising the value of using cloud services to:
- reduce initial and ongoing IT costs
- provide a better user experience
- foster innovation and collaboration
- increase flexibility.
This trend is expected to continue as more businesses recognise the benefits of cloud-based services.
However, there is still a long way to go. The same Gartner report found that the majority of organisations (87%) still use on-premise email services, or email services supervised by smaller vendors.
Read more about Professional Advantage and Office 365 here.
