Office 365 overtakes Google Apps for cloud-based productivity adoption: Bitglass

Microsoft Office 365 has overtaken Google Apps as the top vendor of cloud-based office productivity software, according to a new survey by cloud security vendor Bitglass.

The findings are part of Bitglass's annual cloud adoption report, for which the company says it used cloud-based analysis of traffic data to survey nearly 120,000 global organizations.

The focus of the report includes major enterprise cloud applications, including Microsoft Office 365, Google Apps, SalesForce and Box. The report suggests that enterprise adoption of numerous cloud applications has almost doubled -- and in some cases even tripled -- since 2014.

Last year, Google had more than double the market share of Microsoft, with 16.3 percent. But over the last 15 months Microsoft managed to pull off a dramatic leapfrog and now leads Google with a 25.2 percent market share. Google claims a 22.8 percent share.

The report also reveals how larger companies with more than 500 employees are choosing Office 365 over Google Apps at an even greater rate: 34.3 percent to 21.9 percent, respectively.

Other findings show that overall adoption of cloud-based email in organizations with more than 1,000 employees rose drastically, from 18 percent to 57 percent. Meanwhile, organizations with fewer than 500 employees nearly doubled, from 24 percent to 44 percent during the past year.

Google Apps and Office 365 also enjoyed growth in regulated industries and organizations with more than 1,000 employees. Since 2014, Google Apps has shown a 200 percent increase and Office 365 has shown a 500 percent increase (from 5 percent to 30 percent) in this area.

The obvious takeaway from the report is that the market for cloud-based productivity is growing faster than ever before. As for Google, however, the report should ignite some concern and force the company to prove itself as more business segments adopt cloud solutions.