Google Workspace Essentials

Score9.2 out of 10

40 Reviews and Ratings

What is Google Workspace Essentials?

Google now offers Google Workspace Essentials (formerly G Suite Essentials), providing a solution for users of Outlook or Office whose teams want to use Google Meet and Google Apps without needing to involve a personal gmail account. Google Workspace Essentails includes Google Slides, Sheets, and Docs, as well as Google Meet, Google Drive, Forms, Sites, and Keep, in a bundle minus a gmail account. Basic Essentials supports (via Meet) meetings with up to 150 participants, and Google Drive with 100GB per user and 2TB pooled. The Enterprise edition supports 250 participants in a meeting, as well as up to 100k viewers of a Live Streamed event, and 1TB per user of Drive space (25TB pooled).

Categories & Use Cases

Verified User

C-Level Executive in Corporate (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Google Workspace Essentials for all our daily corporate needs, including email, calendars, documentation, financial processing, virtual meetings, storage, website domain registration and billing, organizational/team groups and structures, contacts and directories, device and end point management, networks management, apps management, security management, data management and compliance, usage reporting, cost reporting, and account management. Google Workspace is the only organizational software that we use.

Pros

Emailing
Domain registrations
Google Meet
Documentation and Storage
User management
Endpoint Security

Cons

Google Voice
Apps management

Return on Investment

Vast amount of time saved sharing files internally and externally
Efficient scheduling of video meetings
Effective use of Generative AI
Top notch security
Ease of bill payments

Usability

Other Software Used

Slack, Google Cloud Platform

Dan Clark View profile

Senior Network and Security Administrator in Information Technology at MDaudit (51-200 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Google Workspace Essentials to monitor and administer Google Chrome browser. It allows us to configure the add-ins and extensions our users are installing, to better protect them from malicious extensions. We also are able to create a bookmark folder and have all of the relevant work related sites already saved in there when an employee starts. Every machine that goes out the door for our users is preconfigured with Google Chrome all set up the same way, and provisioned for efficient use.

Pros

Chrome browser configuration
Browser updates
Usage reporting

Cons

There are a LOT of configurable settings, I'd like to see them sorted and grouped better

Return on Investment

We've blocked malicious extensions and add-ins from 4 users' brosers.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Entra ID

Other Software Used

Automox, CrowdStrike Falcon, Egress Intelligent Email Security

David Calvert View profile

Pastor for Creative Arts at Grace Community Church (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We were early adopters of G Suite in order to take advantage of the email address extensions and shared storage space. Even with the change over to Google Workspace Essentials, and increased fees, we find great value in the ability to use our church web address in our email with the security of Google. We have continued to use Google Docs and other workspace tools for collaboration in staff meetings and in shared storage of files.

Pros

Email management
Shared storage
Collaboration
Document editing

Cons

Pricing for services
Integration of personal/business accounts
Consistent branding (no more name changes!)

Most Important Features

Email
File storage
Document editing

Return on Investment

Time-saving collaboration on documents
Easy-to-use email features
Consistent up-time for email (no loss of time/data)

Alternatives Considered

Dropbox Business, Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) and Apache OpenOffice

Other Software Used

Planning Center, vMix Live Streaming Software, Vimeo Enterprise (Vimeo Livestream), Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365)

Tania Gallegos View profile

HR Generalist / Talent Recruiter in Human Resources at Rockpoint Legal Funding (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Google Workspace Essentials is how our company ensures the productivity and visibility of our remote team. Google Workspace Essentials also allows bringing the team together by allowing us to work on and share documents, sheets, and/or presentations in real-time. One of the big issues Google Workspace Essentials has solved for our operations, and the HR department is being able to keep track of where each document goes. Being able to see who manipulated the document and how and when has been a big plus when it comes to making decisions based on what our team has worked on.

Pros

Sharing documents
Visibility on last changes
Document tracking
Google Sheets makes us want to say Excel who?

Cons

Make it easier to configure to desktop
Alerts when shared documents are being deleted

Most Important Features

Sheets
Documents
Email
Connectivity to other apps

Return on Investment

Saved a ton of money by not having to buy MS Office Licenses
Easy to deactivate accounts
Control over company owned documents and information

Alternatives Considered

Outlook4Gmail

Other Software Used

Workable, LinkedIn Jobs, Deputy

Robin Anderson View profile

Program Manager/Operations in Sales at Smarter Divorce Solutions (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our business uses Google Workspace for internal and external communications, along with calendaring and managing staff email accounts. We love having the ability to instant message important information fast and secure with our team members. Additionally, having the ability to organize folders and subfolders helps us stay organized and on task.

Pros

Instant Messaging.
Calendaring and calendar integrations.
Ease of organizing important content in folders and subfolders.
The ability to contain multiple emails in one thread.

Cons

The workspace could be less busy - more simplified.

Most Important Features

Instant Messaging.
Calendaring.
Easy set up.

Return on Investment

Since using the Google Workspace platform, we are able to use it to market our business better.

Other Software Used

Trainual, LastPass for Business, Canva, Less Annoying CRM