Microsoft vs. Google: Let the Cloud Email Wars Begin

Microsoft and Google have both been in the news of late as they compete for the hearts, minds and wallets of the public sector email market.

According to the AP, federal, state and local government agencies combined spend more than "$120 billion annually on computers, software and other technology." As budget deficits widen, many government officials are looking to reduce their expenses by considering money-saving options such as cloud computing.

Let’s look at these recent developments, round by round.

Round 1: Google has already started making some inroads having won several large government contracts, including a five-year deal with the city of Los Angeles in which it outbid Microsoft.  The City of Los Angeles drew a lot of attention given that it would be replacing Microsoft’s on-premise Exchange-based services with Google’s cloud-based email services for all of the city’s 30,000 employees. However, the implementation plan hit a snag over security protocols that have not been met by Google, which the department needs to protect sensitive police data.

Round 2: Microsoft has also built out it’s cloud story over the last two years, including the introduction of Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (aka BPOS).  The suite includes: Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Communications Online and Office Live Meeting. At Microsoft’s most recent big events – TechEd (aimed at corporate IT end users) and the Worldwide Partner Conference (aimed at Microsoft partners who resell its technology), cloud computing and BPOS specifically was THE topic of conversation.

Round 3: Now, Google and Microsoft are vying to take over the job of providing email to the General Services Administration, the U.S. agency that oversees government procurement and manages federal property. Besides the contract's size —some 15,000 employee email accounts—the bidding is being closely watched because the GSA often helps shape how other agencies acquire new technology. The GSA contract offers Google a golden opportunity to build a beachhead in a market Microsoft has long dominated (i.e., more than 90% of the federal government uses Microsoft Exchange for email).

So why haven’t more government agencies bit on cloud-based services?

Concerns about security are probably the largest hurdle facing most cloud email and service providers because they store confidential data on behalf of customers. There are also clear signs that migration concerns (migrating your email from your on-premise solution to the cloud) and vendor exposure (i.e., having a single repository for all of your email) weigh heavy on the minds of email and IT administrators considering the cloud.

The good news is that we are addressing these issues head-on. Cloud computing providers of all stripes (including LiveOffice) have had to bolster their security infrastructure and now often provide far better security than their clients could affordably implement themselves on-premise.  Plus, online security has been enhanced by having stringent SLA guarantees for security, reliability and access.

The real beneficiary in this battle of the clouds will be savvy businesses that embrace the opportunity, flexbility, scalability and enhanced security that cloud-based email can offer.