Google pitches Workspace tools for ‘when, not if’ Microsoft 365 fails

Google is trying to capitalize on what it calls “frequent and severe” Microsoft 365 outages by offering up services like email, storage, and videoconferencing to businesses in the event of a Microsoft outage. The search giant’s new Business Continuity plan runs a Google Workspace in parallel with Microsoft 365, so if there’s an outage then businesses just switch over to Gmail and Google Meet instead of Outlook and Microsoft Teams.

“Workspace, with support from our partners, will sync emails, calendars, chat, and more with Microsoft 365, so customer data is right where organizations need it, without requiring migration,” explains Google. “This can protect against disruptions to the core business and impacts to customers.”

Google says “it’s a question of when and for how long, not if,” Microsoft 365 goes down, and points to the company’s Microsoft 365 Status account on X that regularly posts outages. The last Microsoft 365 outage occurred on October 8th, just days after a problematic configuration change impacted mailbox connectivity for users.

Alongside the continuity option of running a parallel instance of Gmail, Google is also offering up a Work Transformation Set that acts as a replacement for Microsoft 365 customers that are “ready to leave behind Microsoft’s lock-in and security incidents.” It combines Workspace and Gemini with options to pair them with identity solutions like Okta.

Microsoft and Google have a long history of trading blows publicly like this. Both companies returned to battle each other last year, after Microsoft accused Google of being behind what it calls “shadow campaigns” to undermine and discredit Microsoft’s cloud business. More than a decade ago, Microsoft even ran attack ads that treated Google like a political opponent with its Scroogled campaign, accusing Google of snooping on consumers.