The Total Economic Impact™ Of Google Workspace 11-16-23

Improved Collaboration

Evidence and data. All interviewees emphasized that improved collaboration was a top benefit of transitioning to Workspace and the collaborative capabilities of the platform were significantly more robust than those of their legacy solutions. They noted a wide array of improvements, such as AI automation, better and faster communication, greater and easier information sharing, and improved use of data, which were brought by Workspace. These improvements drove collaboration, leading to significant time savings for office and frontline workers alike. The time savings during collaborative activities due to Workspace varied at interviewees’ organizations but was typically 30% and, in some cases, over 50%.

• Interviewees reported that improved collaboration due to Workspace was widespread across all types of workers. The change management leader in manufacturing stated: “In the last survey we did, around 85% of our employees said Workspace was improving their day-to-day collaboration. … Approximately 60% of our workers are what we would call frontline workers, either on the shop floor or visiting customers for maintenance. We have several support functions as well — sales, marketing, communications, and so on.”
• The AI functionality embedded in Workspace contributed to the improved collaboration. The director of IT in retail explained, “Automatic completion of sentences, translations, suggested calendar times, and suggested email recipients based on historical trends are really useful and simplify daily activities.” The VP of operations in healthcare added: “The AI capabilities in Workspace are beneficial for quick email replies or automatic sentence completion. Our team members have come to rely on them and probably don’t even think about it anymore.”
• Interviewees said that the Workspace apps were well integrated, and their functionalities worked smoothly in concert as employees executed their daily tasks.

• Workspace brought about a cultural shift toward sharing more information at interviewees’ organizations. The director of IT in the retail space said: “Workspace changed the ways we are working in terms of collaboration — sharing information, product presentations, documents, data in Sheets. For sure, it’s a smarter way of working.”
• Several interviewees identified Drive as a key enabler of increased collaboration. Employees saved time and ensured version control by sharing files with Drive links, as opposed to email attachments or traditional shared folder hierarchies. Drive offered flexibility as files could be shared internally or externally and as view-only or with editing privileges. The VP of operations in healthcare described the app as collaborative and easy to use, concluding, “Google Drive single-handedly is a game changer.”
• Version control was repeatedly highlighted as a benefit of Workspace. The head of emerging technologies in technology explained: “We have version control with Sheets, Docs, and Slides. No more merging files or emails [back and forth]. We can also provide comments and assign tasks.” The change management leader in manufacturing added: “One click of a button, and you can bring someone into the document. This really breaks down barriers. Co-editing is something the vast majority use.”

• Chat, Meet, and Gmail became primary communication channels at interviewees’ organizations, allowing both office and frontline workers to continually collaborate and align on work using any device. Directors, managers, and coworkers regularly used the apps to convey information and get messages out, whether one-on-one or to larger groups. Interviewees also noted that the apps kept workers connected and made them feel more like a team.
• Employees utilized features in Meet such as voice captioning and translations of the captions into a wide number of languages. Interviewees said this facilitated communication, fostered inclusion, and added value to the day-to-day operations of their organizations.
• Several interviewees explained that Workspace enabled collaboration between frontline and officer workers, resulting in more efficient work. The head of IT in technology said: “Workspace is more collaborative, and developers understand what’s going on in the field. Developers and the infrastructure guys can work together to build or maintain applications and see what’s working well. Our teams have shifted to Google Chat spaces to work faster. There’s a clear impact because of Workspace.”

• The director of IT in retail laid out how Workspace specifically benefited individual frontline workers across several key metrics, stating, “Engagement, inclusion, communication, transparency, retention — these are the reasons why we are still using Workspace even after six years.”

• The same interviewee noted how store locations benefited from Workspace: “We use Google Meet to connect headquarters to the shops. The most important appointments for the shops, like monthly inventory or expense deadlines, are in Calendar and everyone can access it.”
• Interviewees observed that the time savings was particularly beneficial because employees tended to use it for higher-value work. Time previously consumed by building slides, spreadsheets, and reports was instead often dedicated to analyzing data and communicating presentations more effectively.
• Workspace supported the interviewees’ organizations’ larger efforts to be more data driven as it made data accessible so that multiple users could benefit. Interviewees said information flowed smoothly and more detail and data was available for employees to leverage.

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• There are 10,000 users in highly collaborative roles that spend an average of 8 hours a week in collaborative activities.
• There are 10,000 users in intermediately collaborative roles that spend an average of 2 hours a week in collaborative activities.
• Due to Workspace, users save 30% of their time spent in collaborative activities.
• The productivity recapture rate for employees is 50%. Employees convert 50% of hours saved into productive time.
• The average fully burdened salary of employees is $30 per hour.

Risks. The benefit of improved collaboration will vary based on:

• The adoption rate of Workspace and the amount of time users spend in collaborative activities.
• The tools used for collaboration prior to the implementation of Workspace.
• The average fully burdened salary of employees.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $49.5 million.

Improved Speed Of Searching For And Finding Information

Evidence and data. Workspace made information easily accessible at interviewees’ organizations and this — together with the platform’s advanced search capabilities — allowed individual users to quickly find the files and information they needed. Among interviewees who could quantify this benefit, on average, there was a time savings of 40% when searching for information with Workspace.

• Interviewees described the search functionality of Workspace as strong and able to quickly surface the information being sought. For example, the VP of operations in healthcare said, “Workspace has made searching for and finding information significantly easier … finding things that I can’t seem to put my fingers on easily has probably gotten 75% easier.”
• The extent to which employees realized time savings depended on how much they needed to search for information throughout their workweeks. However, interviewees described the benefit as widespread because a wide mix of roles, both office and frontline, required referencing earlier conversations or existing documents.
• In some cases, the robust search functionality in Workspace was used to foster an open culture, as it could facilitate broad and easy access to documents for all employees across the organization. The change management leader in manufacturing described how this worked: “Before Workspace, we didn’t have a way of indicating a document should come up in the search results for anyone at our company. Now we’re able to do that. We’re trying to foster a culture where you make this your default setting on each file, and you only restrict it if you really need to. [Workers in all roles] don’t have to build something from scratch; they can start with something already prepared.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• There are 10,000 users who need to regularly search for and find information, and they spend an average of 1 hour a week doing so.
• Due to Workspace, users save 40% of their time spent searching for and finding information.
• The productivity recapture rate for employees is 50%. Employees convert 50% of hours saved into productive time.
• The average fully burdened salary of employees is $30 per hour.

Risks. The benefit of improved speed of searching for and finding information will vary based on:

• The adoption rate of Workspace and the amount of time users spend searching for and finding information.
• The search tools and approaches used prior to the implementation of Workspace.
• The average fully burdened salary of employees.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $6.6 million.

More Efficient Workflows And Decreasing Application Development Time

Evidence and data. Some interviewees’ organizations included AppSheet as part of their Workspace implementation, greatly increasing the speed of app development. Additionally, as an easy-to-use, no-code platform, AppSheet empowered the end users to build and modify apps. Though AppSheet was used to create apps of all kinds, interviewees highlighted those that automated processes and streamlined workflows. At interviewees’ organizations, AppSheet led to 80% faster app development on average. Moreover, AppSheet and other Workspace apps improved the efficiency of defined workflows by 20%, although this time savings varied significantly based on the use case.

• For interviewees’ organizations that added it to their Workspace plans, the use of AppSheet was widespread. For example, one interviewee reported that every month, over 300 AppSheet applications were developed, while another reported that over 1,000 were actively used at their organization.
• The apps had multiple use cases, described as both enterprisewide and niche, as teams across the organization created apps to suit their purposes. Interviewees tended to highlight apps that orchestrated workflows and provided significant time savings.
• The head of emerging technologies in technology discussed some specific examples: “Over time we are getting more complex [in what we accomplish with AppSheet]. We created an app that predicts cell outages due to weather events. We were able to create an [internal employee] e-commerce app. It’s end-to-end — from inventory to delivery, everything is done through the app.”

• The same interviewee said AppSheet empowered the end user to create apps, which often led to more effective solutions: “What AppSheet does is focus on the real problem because the one who is creating the application is the end user. They really understand the problem and they really understand what needs to be solved.”
• The change management leader in manufacturing emphasized that AppSheet benefited frontline workers as well: “AppSheet allows us to automate a lot of processes on the shop floor. We have processes that were previously manually done with paper, which are now being managed with scanning a QR code on a smartphone, and it brings up a no-code application that was written in AppSheet. All the data is then stored inside Sheets. Those on the shop floor, on the factory floor, benefit.”
• The ease of using AppSheet made it more possible to test and innovate. The head of IT in technology explained: “An underrated feature of Workspace is you can prototype things faster. With AppSheet, we can progressively launch an application. We can test it, and after a few days, add more features once we understand the impact of the application.”
• Interviewees’ organizations without AppSheet could also streamline workflows using core Workspace apps and noted several efficiencies that were not possible in their prior environment. Examples included improvements to workflows related to payroll, medical verifications, and the distribution of supplies. The senior consultant in professional services said process enhancements and attendant productivity gains ultimately improved their organization’s competitive advantage.

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• Each year, 30 apps are developed with AppSheet.
• Before the implementation of AppSheet, on average, it required 5,200 employee hours to develop an app (i.e., five FTEs working for six months).
• Due to AppSheet, there is an 80% reduction in the hours needed to develop an app.
• The average fully burdened salary of employees developing apps is $60 per hour.
• There are 10 defined workflows orchestrated with Workspace.
• Before the implementation of Workspace, executing each workflow required an average of 20,800 employee hours annually (i.e., 10 FTEs).
• Due to Workspace, there is a 20% reduction in the hours needed to execute the workflows.
• The average fully burdened salary of employees executing these workflows is $30 per hour.
• The productivity recapture rate for employees is 50%. Employees convert 50% of hours saved into productive time.

Risks. The benefit of more efficient workflows and decreasing application development time will vary based on:

• The adoption rate of AppSheet and the number of apps developed.
• Tools and processes in place prior to the implementation of AppSheet to develop apps.
• The number and types of workflows, the employee hours required to execute them, and the extent to which Workspace is used.
• The optimization applied to workflows prior to Workspace.
• The organization’s ability to identify workflows that can be improved with Workspace.
• The average fully burdened salary of employees.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 20%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $8.7 million.

Enhanced Security Resulting In Security Tool Cost Savings

Evidence and data. All interviewees identified enhanced security as a key value proposition of Workspace. Interviewees’ organizations were less reliant on their third-party antispam, antiphishing, encryption, ransomware, and data loss solutions given the superior security features built into Workspace. In some cases, organizations retired security solutions after adopting Workspace and realized cost savings.

• The senior consultant in professional services summarized: “Google provides enhanced functionalities. Workspace is much more secure, and [ever since implementation] we have not had any actual issues related to security and related concerns.”
• Interviewees experienced a financial benefit from the enhanced security with Workspace, as they could discontinue using and paying for third-party solutions for antispam, antiphishing, and email encryption. Instead, they were able to rely on the security built into Workspace.
• The director of IT in retail said: “We are using a lot of antiphishing from Google and have found it very valuable. It’s included in Workspace and is really powerful, strong, and simple to use and configure. It delivers new features every week. It’s incredible, you don’t have to do anything.”
• The change management leader in manufacturing said of their organization discontinuing its encryption solution, “We don’t have to maintain that specific software or even that specific server that was running the encryption keys because we can do that all in the Google environment.”
• The same interviewee said their organization experienced no ransomware or data loss with Workspace.

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• Due to the enhanced security of Workspace, third-party antiphishing solutions are decommissioned over time. The cost savings from decommissioning these tools is $250,000 in Year 1, $375,000 in Year 2, and $500,000 in Year 3.
• Due to the enhanced security of Workspace, third-party encryption solutions are decommissioned over time. The cost savings from decommissioning these tools is $300,000 in Year 1, $450,000 in Year 2, and $600,000 in Year 3.

Risks. The benefit of enhanced security resulting in security tool cost savings will vary based on:

• The number and cost of third-party security solutions and what the organization decides to decommission given the enhanced security of Workspace.
• The security strategy and needs of the organization.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $1.8 million.

Enhanced Security Resulting In Security Team And IT Team Productivity

Evidence and data. IT teams at interviewees’ organizations found it easy to administer Workspace as it was straightforward to create and manage accounts, integrate the platform with their active directories, onboard and offboard staff members, and flag problem accounts. Additionally, single sign-on (SSO) provided simplicity for IT as well as end users, and a lack of outages prevented downtime. While it was not possible for interviewees to quantify all of these benefits, interviewees did calculate a 90% reduction in the time needed to set up new workstations and a 20% reduction in tickets on average.

• The setup of Workspace accounts, which was cloud-based and device-agnostic, took considerably less time than with legacy solutions. One interviewee, for example, quantified that with their legacy tools, a new workstation could be set up in approximately 2 hours, but it only took five or 10 minutes with Workspace.
• Interviewees noted that there were far fewer technology issues with Workspace compared to their legacy environments, and this similarly translated into a time savings. For example, the senior consultant in professional services reported: “There’s around a 20% reduction of tickets with Workspace. Issues pertaining to the browser are very limited. Also, issue resolution is much faster.”
• When there were issues, coworkers could often provide a quick solution. The change management leader in manufacturing said: “Communities have appeared inside Google Chat. If they have a problem with Workspace, they’re asking the community and 90% of the time they’re getting their answer.”
• Interviewees explained that Workspace empowered IT teams as it allowed them to act quickly. For instance, an account could be deactivated immediately when needed. Interviewees explained that not only Google apps, but all of an employee’s apps could be deactivated by suspending the Workspace account.

• The head of IT in technology said: “The security team can immediately take action. Whether they need to suspend an account or somebody requested it because they lost their phone, Workspace empowers them. It gives them the liberty to take action immediately.”
• Single sign-on with Workspace further streamlined IT operations, as the director of IT in retail described: “The IT department benefits in terms of user management because we are leveraging the single sign-on. So, no more user and password management. The IT people don’t need to create a ton of users and passwords to maintain because everything is integrated with the HR system and so on.”
• The head of IT in technology described how SSO benefited end users as well: “SSO is powering almost all our applications. Our executives like it because they don’t have to maintain passwords, they make just one. It saves time and promotes proper sanity also.”
• Some interviewees noted that in their previous environments, every month, some employees would not be able to work because systems were down. In contrast, they described Workspace as highly reliable.
• The senior consultant in professional services reported: “We have not faced any outages [with Workspace]. They have maintained the backend infrastructure services at their end seamlessly. It’s a significant change from the predominantly on-prem setup we used to have.” The head of IT in technology added: “We can continuously work wherever we are. That improves productivity a lot. There is no excuse anymore.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• Each year, 5,000 workstations are newly configured.
• The legacy productivity tool replaced by Workspace takes 2 hours on average to configure on a workstation.
• Workspace takes 90% less time to configure.
• Each year, 2,080 hours (i.e., one FTE) are required for internal help desk tickets related to the legacy product.
• With Workspace, there is a 20% reduction in tickets.
• The average fully burdened salary of employees executing these workflows is $30 per hour.

Risks. The benefit of enhanced security resulting in security team and IT team productivity will vary based on:

• The legacy product and how long it takes to configure on a new workstation.
• How many tickets result due to the legacy product.
• The skill set of employees.
• The average fully burdened salary of employees.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $632,200.

Increase In Incremental Profit

Evidence and data. Multiple interviewees said that Workspace supported revenue generation at their organizations, noting that Workspace facilitated data analysis and inventory management, led to better customer service, and enabled innovation. One interviewee was able to quantify the revenue uplift, estimating that certain revenue streams grew by between 1% and 2% due to Workspace.

• Some interviewees noted that in their organizations’ physical stores, employees used Workspace apps such as Drive, Sheets, and AppSheet to collaborate effectively, access data, and quickly optimize inventory counts so that the stores’ offerings better met customer demand.
• Moreover, time savings brought by Workspace enabled employees to focus on higher-value work that helped ensure store success. For example, the head of emerging technologies in technology said: “With introducing AppSheet, the intention is to eliminate time-consuming administrative tasks so employees can focus on more valuable work like analysis.”
• Workspace also facilitated better communication with customers, as store employees could communicate with them directly on Workspace apps. Additionally, frontline workers at one organization used AppSheet to build an app that managed customer service queuing in the physical stores. Interviewees noted that the process innovations and more effective customer service encouraged business and ultimately supported revenue generation.

• Interviewees noted that for frontline workers specifically, Workspace increased their sense of belonging to the digitization of the company and provided them with tools to increase the quality of their work, which in turn improved the quality of products and services and made customers more likely to purchase.
• Interviewees ultimately tied the core Workspace benefits of greater collaboration and security to revenue generation.
• The change management leader in manufacturing elaborated: “The benefits we’re getting as a result of the transformation to Workspace are really clear. We very concretely see that people are collaborating more. We have fewer copies of data, meaning there’s less chance of someone opening the wrong data source. We have better transparency. Whether it’s increased productivity and churning out more [product], or increased security, meaning we have less downtime on the shop floor. All of this, at some point, will impact the bottom line.”
• The senior consultant in professional services added, “Workspace has contributed to our culture of being more innovative, more dynamic.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• The total annual revenue is $4 billion and the percentage of revenue affected by Workspace is 20%.
• There is a 1.5% increase in this revenue stream due to Workspace.
• The operating margin is 10%.

Risks. The benefit of an increase in incremental profit will vary based on:

• The annual revenue and the percentage of revenue impacted by Workspace.
• The processes and tools in place to increase revenue prior to Workspace.
• The ability to identify revenue-generating use cases for which Workspace can be used.
• The operating margin.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 20%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $2.4 million.

Decommissioned Legacy Systems

Evidence and data. Upon adoption, Workspace served as the primary productivity suite for employees at interviewees’ organizations. Interviewees’ organizations thus decommissioned various legacy productivity tools that were replaced by Workspace and saved costs.

• Some interviewees’ organizations completely retired their legacy solutions upon the implementation of Workspace. While adopting Workspace as their primary solution and retiring most of the licenses for their legacy products, others retained some solutions for certain employees to continue to use at least for some time.
• The senior consultant in professional services explained: “Workspace works with other products with interoperability. … There does not need to be complete dependency on a particular vendor from the SaaS [software-as-a-service] model perspective.”
• In some cases, Workspace was the first time providing a productivity suite to frontline workers, so there was no corresponding cost savings from decommissioning a legacy system for those users. However, the director of IT in retail said, “The cost of Workspace [for frontline workers] is sustainable compared to other products.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes that the composite organization decommissions legacy systems after implementing Workspace, saving $2.25 million dollars annually.

Risks. The benefit of decommissioned legacy systems will vary based on:

• The cost of legacy systems and how quickly they are decommissioned.
• The extent of decommissioning and whether any solutions are retained in part.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $4.8 million.

Unquantified Benefits

Interviewees mentioned the following additional benefits that their organizations experienced but were not able to quantify:

• Supported a connected and inclusive work community. Interviewees offered several examples of Workspace strengthening connection and inclusion at their organizations. For example, the VP of operations in healthcare noted that workers communicated with ease on Chat, and phone calls were replaced by Meet, which is more personal. They concluded: “Culturally, that’s been a major shift. … Connecting on a less formal basis with managers and coworkers engenders some cultural significance.”

  Interviewees noted that Chat Spaces empowered various communities like musicians and coders to come together during the COVID-19 pandemic and has continued since then. Some organizations used Forms and Sheets to poll frontline workers. The change management leader in manufacturing noted several features in Workspace, such as captions in Meet, support for Braille keyboards, and inclusive emojis, and added, “On top of that, inclusivity requires silos to be broken down, which is happening as a result of Workspace.”

• Improved employee experience and morale. Interviewees said the increased connection also improved employee morale. Providing effective and modern tools also enhanced the employee experience. For instance, the director of IT in retail reported that employees said they work smarter and faster with Workspace. Some interviewees said that, while they could not measure it, they believed Workspace probably helped attrition.

  Frontline and office workers often used Workspace apps in their private lives already. Similarly, the senior consultant in professional services noted broad familiarity with the products, including younger generations: “On the personal level, employees heavily use Google products. That makes it much simpler for them to learn. Also, most of the colleges and universities are using Google products. For the next generation who are joining, it’s a familiar platform. That’s an advantage.”

• Improved onboarding and training for HR. Interviewees’ organizations used Workspace to reduce the time to onboard by adding greater digitization to the process. With a Google account, new employees could receive the welcome pack digitally and sign and return documents. This saved administrative time for both new employees and HR.

  Some interviewees noted that Workspace unlocked training opportunities, particularly for frontline workers. Interviewees used Meet for live events, noting the Jamboard and whiteboard functionalities, while Gmail was used to reach frontline workers better and direct them to training courses. The director of IT in retail added: “Thanks to the Google ID, the frontline workers have the chance to enter a ton of different platforms. We film videos showing how to make and prepare [products and services], maintain equipment, and so on. The content definitely helps the people feel more empowered to do their job.”

Flexibility

The value of flexibility is unique to each customer. There are multiple scenarios in which a customer might implement Workspace and later realize additional uses and business opportunities, including:

• Enabling future cultural transformation. Interviewees said Workspace positioned their organizations for continued cultural and digital transformation into the future. The head of IT in technology said that Workspace lived up to the expectation of helping drive cultural transformation and that it inspired their attitude to solutions going forward as they sought those that were like Workspace.

  The head of emerging technologies at the same company said, “Workspace is really part of how we were able to transition [the company] to more digital collaboration.” Similarly, the change management leader in manufacturing said, “From a cultural transformation perspective, Workspace has been a key enabler.”

Flexibility would also be quantified when evaluated as part of a specific project (described in more detail in Appendix A).