Improved Security And IT Operations Efficiency

Evidence and data. Interviewees and survey respondents reported that their organizations experienced a strengthened security posture after implementing Education Plus, pointing to features such as centralized visibility and controls, proactive threat detection and remediation tools, advanced device and endpoint management, AI‑powered threat detection, Zero Trust access controls, and DLP tools. These capabilities reduced exposure to spam, phishing, malware, and ransomware and decreased the time required to detect, investigate, and respond to threats. As a result, Education Plus made their environments easier to manage. Interviewees and most survey respondents said their organizations saw improvements in IT efficiency, with survey respondents estimating an average time savings of 18% across their IT teams due to Education Plus.⁹

• The IT director explained that Education Plus’s cloud‑native architecture and enhanced integrated security stack reduced the burden of managing risk internally: “In general, going to a cloud with a stack like this, you are actually outsourcing your security risk to Google. And I must say, we’ve been very impressed with the offering from that perspective.”

• Interviewees noted that the security enhancements with Education Plus translated into operational efficiency as their IT environments required less oversight and were easier to manage. The CTO said: “Education Plus has a great quality where it’s just noiseless. It’s very efficient [to manage].”

• Survey respondents reported reductions in malicious activity with Education Plus, including average decreases in spam of 62%, phishing of 50%, malware of 38%, and ransomware of 26%.¹⁰ Interviewees also noted these reductions, with the CIO adding, “Education Plus does a really good job of identifying increasingly sophisticated phishing attempts compared to the competitors.”

• Interviewees also described Education Plus’s automated threat protection and remediation capabilities as highly effective. On average, survey respondents reported that Education Plus decreased time to detect threats by 41%, time to investigate by 30%, and time to respond by 20%.¹¹

• Interviewees highlighted that Education Plus enhanced visibility and control through the Admin console, allowing IT teams to quickly identify misuse, enforce appropriate use, and prevent data exfiltration. Moreover, Education Plus’s advanced logging and identity controls supported least‑privilege access and helped ensure that day‑to‑day use of Education Plus tools remained secure and compliant at interviewees’ organizations.

• The CIO said that Google’s vertically integrated security architecture delivers more reliable access‑control enforcement than alternatives: “Because Google is vertically integrated, they’re able to effectively enforce row-level or item-level access control with high, high confirmation that they’re not drifting beyond their access control. That’s been incredibly evident. [We’ve seen other providers] inadvertently drift beyond controlled access spaces and their ability to then tell us on a support incident what happened is next to zero. It’s evident that their underpinnings are not equal.”

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

• There are 60 employees on the IT team.

• Due to Education Plus, these 60 IT employees see time savings of 18% on average.

• The fully burdened annual salary for IT employees is $125,000.

• The productivity recapture rate for employees is 50%. This means employees convert 50% of their saved time into productive time.

Risks. The benefit of improved security and IT operations efficiency will vary based on:

• The tools and solutions used prior to Education Plus.

• The extent to which the organization leverages the security features of Education Plus.

• The size and skill set of the IT team.

• The average annual fully burdened salary of an IT team employee.

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 $1.5 million.

Security Tools And Storage Cost Savings

Evidence and data. Given the expanded security controls available with Education Plus, interviewees and survey respondents reported direct cost savings from consolidating, retiring, or avoiding third‑party security tools, such as those used to secure communications, manage identity and access, protect content and documentation, defend against malware and ransomware, filter spam, and enforce DLP.

• Interviewees described Education Plus as a cost-effective means to obtain the security tooling they needed, eliminating the need to procure separate point solutions. For example, the CIO said, “[With the built‑in mail routing and security controls in Education Plus], we don’t need an additional mail cleanser or additional tools looking at inbound and outbound [email].” The same interviewee also noted: “Additional tools are made available with Education Plus. … Vault facilitates compliance, archival, and retrieval for incident response.”

• The CTO added: “We’d likely have to buy something else for data loss prevention [if we didn’t have Education Plus]. I have many talks with security people trying to sell me something but at the end of the day, most of it is irrelevant.”

• Interviewees and survey respondents also noted the additional storage available with Education Plus, and 58% of survey respondents identified it as a benefit.¹² The CIO added: “One of the primary value-adds of Education Plus is the additional storage per user. It’s significant.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews and survey, Forrester assumes the composite organization consolidates or retires security and storage solutions, saving $231,000 annually.

Risks. The benefit of security tools and storage cost savings will vary based on:

• The cost of legacy solutions and how quickly they are consolidated or retired.

• The extent to which the organization fully leverages Education Plus’s built‑in security and storage capabilities to replace or avoid third‑party tools.

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 $517,000.

Collaboration And Learning Tools Cost Savings

Evidence and data. At interviewees’ and survey respondents’ organizations, Education Plus served as a comprehensive platform for communication and collaboration that enabled cost savings from retiring or consolidating legacy tools, such as those used for learning and collaboration, translation, AI assistance, and videoconferencing. 

• Education Plus served as the primary collaboration platform at interviewees’ organizations, eliminating a need for alternatives. The CTO said, “Education Plus facilitates the kind of collaboration that people are looking for.”

• The deputy dean of computing explained that Education Plus satisfied their organization’s AI tooling needs, noting, “[With] Gemini and NotebookLM, we do not need other [AI] products.”

• Interviewees reported consolidating videoconferencing tools as they standardized on Meet for meetings and instruction. They said with Education Plus, Meet supports large group sizes and provides other premium features like waiting and breakout rooms, polls, and attendance tracking.  

• The CTO emphasized the value of Google Classroom: “All the students have access to Classroom. It’s frictionless to use. It’s resilient. We never see instances of it not working or being slow. It’s always there, like the blackboard.”

• More broadly, interviewees described the Education Plus tools as easy to use. The deputy dean of computing said: “Gmail and Drive are very helpful in daily tasks. They’re very user-friendly. ... I would say in general Google products are all easy to use.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews and survey, Forrester assumes the composite organization consolidates or retires collaboration and learning solutions, saving $186,000 annually.

Risks. The benefit of collaboration and learning tool cost savings will vary based on:

• The cost of legacy solutions and how quickly they are consolidated or retired.

• The extent to which the organization fully leverages Education Plus to replace or avoid third‑party tools.

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 $416,000.

AI-Augmented Assistance For Nonteaching Staff

Evidence and data. Interviewees and survey respondents reported that administration and nonteaching staff benefited from Education Plus, as it allowed them to communicate and collaborate in real time and use Gemini and NotebookLM to improve the efficiency and quality of their work. Interviewees and a majority of survey respondents said Education Plus enabled their organizations to securely and effectively use AI tools. Respondents reported that nonteaching employees leveraging Gemini and NotebookLM saved more than 3 hours per week on average.¹³ Nonteaching employees used Gemini and NotebookLM to automate administrative tasks, streamline data analysis and reporting, create content, and summarize documents. Interviewees emphasized that secure AI was critical for their organizations, and that Education Plus enabled them to adopt these tools institutionwide with the security, data privacy protections, and control over organizational data they required.

• Beyond time savings, interviewees said Gemini improved decision‑making for administrators and staff by highlighting key information and extracting trends from logs, records, and unstructured sources.

• Interviewees described Gemini as an assistant that helped them improve the quality of their work and operate with greater confidence. The CIO elaborated: “Gemini is incredibly good at synthesizing back your own information, surfacing and summarizing Gmail and Drive content, and building on your existing work. It’s fantastic.”

• Interviewees explained that Gemini was also used to improve the clarity and effectiveness of employee communications. The deputy dean of computing added: “Gemini helps in writing proposals, and it improves the quality. We have been relying on the AI tools in Education Plus to help us do that.”

• The IT director noted that the integration of Gemini with apps like Docs, Slides, Forms, and Vids was a differentiator: “The integration of Gemini into the application layers is very, very cool. … People are seeing the productivity benefits of that as opposed to [alternatives] that don’t integrate.”

• Interviewees said staff leveraged NotebookLM to quickly and accurately understand and act on complex information in a single, trusted environment. NotebookLM was used to centralize records, operational details, and institutional documents, which helped keep information consistent across departments and easier to find and understand. Staff at interviewees’ organizations also used NotebookLM to streamline reporting, policy reviews, accreditation preparation, and the organization of large document sets.

• More generally, interviewees emphasized that Education Plus enabled employees to communicate and collaborate in real time using integrated applications such as Gmail, Drive, Meet, Chat, Docs, Sheets, and Slides. The senior project manager said: “Collaboration is the first thing that pops into my mind [when thinking about the value of Education Plus]. It made collaboration much, much easier. From a project management perspective, sharing documents with Drive has helped a lot.”

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

• In Year 1, there are 250 nonteaching employees who are power users of the AI capabilities in Education Plus. This expands to 300 power users in Year 2 and 350 power users in Year 3.

• Due to AI capabilities in Education Plus (e.g., Gemini, NotebookLM, and Gemini in Docs, Slides, Classroom, Vids, and Forms), these employees save 3 hours per week on average.

• The fully burdened hourly rate for nonteaching employees is $30.

• The productivity recapture rate for employees is 50%. This means employees convert 50% of their saved time into productive time.

Risks. The benefit of AI-augmented assistance for nonteaching staff will vary based on:

• The extent of Gemini and NotebookLM adoption.

• The tools and AI capabilities available to employees prior to the adoption of Education Plus.

• The number of nonteaching employees and their fully burdened hourly salary.

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 $1.5 million.

Benefits To Faculty And Students

Interviewees and survey respondents mentioned the following benefits to faculty and students, though they are not quantified in the ROI analysis:

• Enhanced faculty experience. Interviewees and 81% of survey respondents said that Education Plus enhanced teacher productivity, allowing teachers at their organizations to work efficiently and effectively with collaboration, productivity, and AI tools across the Education Plus suite.¹⁴ Interviewees and survey respondents emphasized the value of the AI tools in Education Plus, and survey respondents reported average time savings of over 4 hours per week for faculty due to Gemini and NotebookLM.¹⁵ Faculty used Gemini and NotebookLM to reduce administrative work, accelerate preparation of lessons and course materials, deepen their understanding of complex subjects, and streamline research.

  • Survey respondents reported widespread adoption of AI tools among faculty, with an average of 82% using Gemini or NotebookLM daily or weekly.¹⁶
  • Interviewees and survey respondents noted that faculty used Gemini to reduce manual administrative tasks, simplify lesson preparation and updates, and clearly explain more complex topics. These efficiencies enabled faculty to devote more time to high-impact work such as teaching, research, and student support.
  • Interviewees emphasized that AI tools augmented, rather than replaced, academic expertise. Seventy-nine percent of survey respondents said Gemini and NotebookLM moderately or significantly empowered faculty.¹⁷

• Interviewees and survey respondents said that faculty used NotebookLM to prepare classes using trusted content, align curriculum across courses and semesters, and organize materials for teaching and research.

• The CTO explained that they used NotebookLM to put all their university’s research in one place, which allowed faculty to identify collaborators across the university. The interviewee elaborated: “It’s very easy to discover colleagues that are more or less working in the same areas and get in contact with them, to propose new ideas and collaborate. It’s really very impactful.”

• In addition to AI tools, interviewees noted that Education Plus provided faculty effective and integrated collaboration capabilities. The IT director said, “We’ve gained tremendously from the functionality we get with Education Plus like the integrated applications and collaboration we can offer our researchers.”

• Interviewees also noted that Education Plus helped mitigate faculty burnout. The deputy dean of computing said: “The AI tools [in Education Plus] help with lectures and in completing tasks faster. They reduce our workload pressures.”

• Improved student learning. Interviewees and survey respondents reported that Education Plus gave students clearer, easier to access, and better-organized learning resources through familiar and easy-to-use tools. It also enabled the faster comprehension of complex topics. This helped strengthen the student learning experience. Seventy‑three percent of survey respondents said Education Plus enhanced the student learning experience, and 78% said Gemini and NotebookLM moderately or significantly improved student outcomes.¹⁸

  • Survey respondents reported broad usage of Gemini and NotebookLM, with an average of 80% using the tools daily or weekly.¹⁹
  • Survey respondents explained that Gemini simplified difficult concepts, summarized dense material, provided clearer explanations, and supported faster understanding and comprehension.
  • The deputy dean of computing highlighted how NotebookLM benefited students: “Using NotebookLM for the lectures is helping students. The lectures and course materials are there, and students use it to explore the material. And there are sharing features, so it’s collaborative actually. It’s a new way of learning. We can also customize it to have control.”
  • Survey respondents said NotebookLM provided clearer and better‑organized learning resources, enabled easier access to translated or personalized study materials, and improved consistency across courses and semesters.

• In addition to Gemini and NotebookLM, interviewees noted the value of other Education Plus apps, such as Drive. The CTO said: “Students store their research and analyze their data on Google Drive. It’s really powerful and very well-integrated within the [Education Plus] ecosystem.” The deputy dean of computing added: “Students use Google Drive often. It makes sharing files easy for them.”

• Several interviewees remarked that a benefit of using Education Plus is its familiarity to incoming students. The CIO said, “[Using Google tools is] almost an expectation and second nature for incoming students.”

Flexibility

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

• AI technology leadership. Interviewees expressed confidence in Google’s pace of innovation and the long-term value of Education Plus to their organizations. The CIO explained: “From an innovation perspective, I think we’re going to continue to see Google be a leader. There are a couple of reasons. First, when you look at their release of open standards, historically, the vast majority of the solutions being sold by their competitors were built by Google. Also, I believe they hire the most PhDs in the world. That alone means that they’re generally well aligned to higher education.”

• Ongoing innovation and feature expansion. Interviewees noted that Education Plus delivers increased value over time due to consistent product enhancements and the frequent addition of new AI capabilities to the platform. The deputy dean of technology added, “I’m confident Google will keep on improving.”

Flexibility would also be quantified when evaluated as part of a specific project (described in more detail in Total Economic Impact Approach).