Google makes projections that its heavily discounted productivity software will convince business and government clients to switch from Office to its offering, due to Microsoft Corp.’s very visible cybersecurity missteps.
According to Andy Wen, senior director of product management for Workspace, government agencies who move 500 or more users to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus for three years would receive a free year and be qualified for a “significant discount” for the remaining year of the contract.
Corporate clients who sign a three-year contract with the Alphabet Inc. subsidiary will receive 18 months free, a significant discount thereafter, and incident response services from Google’s Mandiant security firm. To assist them in making the move, complimentary consultation services will be provided to every customer.
On Monday, Google also published a white paper detailing the security flaws of its competitor. The company is also thinking of releasing social media and advertising campaigns with a similar topic.
“The repeated security challenges with Microsoft call for a better alternative for enterprises and public-sector organizations alike,” Google stated in its white paper.
“We believe Google Workspace presents a safer alternative, with a proven track record of engineering excellence, deep investment in cutting edge defenses, and a transparent culture where providing security for customers is treated as a profound responsibility.”
Last month, the US Cyber Safety Review Board produced a damning report detailing Microsoft’s failure to prevent China-linked hackers from hacking into the email accounts of US officials last year.
The report urged Microsoft to implement rapid adjustments, which the company has promised to do as part of its most comprehensive security makeover in more than two decades.
Read more: Microsoft, beset by hacks, grapples with problem years in the making. Google has struggled to persuade users to abandon Office but claims Microsoft’s cybersecurity issues have made them more willing to leave.
According to Wen, during a recent Google conference, corporate clients said that their boards and executives had set them a deadline to stop using Microsoft because they could “no longer sustain the risk.”
We also stated that Google completed its own security overhaul following a 2009 hack in which Chinese-linked attackers breached the company’s servers and gained access to a database storing information about US surveillance targets.
The timing can be good. People are becoming more familiar with Google’s products after using them at home and school, while some businesses are dissatisfied with Office pricing increases and additional costs to access new artificial intelligence features.
According to Jeanette Manfra, a former Department of Homeland Security official who now oversees Google’s worldwide risk and compliance division, there is a desire to lessen government agencies’ reliance on a single vendor, particularly one with security difficulties.
Google will still have to overcome cultural resistance, she said, in part because many government chief information officers have only been in their positions for a few years and are hesitant to take on significant new projects.
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