Google’s investments in AI and best practice cyber security are driving growing numbers of enterprises to migrate to Google Workspace.
This is according to Matthew Chittenden, Google Cloud Growth Lead at Argility (part of Argility Technology Group), a Digicloud Africa partner and Google Cloud Premier Partner.
Chittenden says blue-chip enterprises are increasingly looking to move to Google Workspace for efficiency, productivity and cost savings; however, the two top priorities for them are access to Google’s AI innovations and the security of the environment.
“Security is critical for them, and generally the first hurdle we have to jump over. Many prospective customers are enthusiastic about the baked-in AI and portfolio of productivity features, but first they want assurance about issues like the encryption, the data centre security and who has access to their data,” he says. “Google complies with a plethora of global laws and regulations, with scores of auditor-validated certifications and attestations. In addition, the Google privacy team participates in every product launch, reviewing design documentation and performing code reviews to ensure that privacy requirements are followed.”
Leading with AI
Describing AI as the new engine of productivity, Digicloud notes that Google Workspace’s embedded AI, powered by Gemini, offers immediate and tangible value. Gemini, integrated across Docs, Gmail, Sheets and Meet, helps save users an average of 105 minutes per week. Features like drafting e-mails in Gmail and summarising long documents in Drive directly translate to more high-value work and faster decision-making.
Google Workspace's AI is deeply integrated, providing contextual help right where work happens. Tools like NotebookLM and the Gemini app allow teams to securely upload their own proprietary documents, sales data or research, and generate new insights grounded only in those sources, with precise citations.
This is a massive leap forward for data-driven decisions in finance, research and logistics across the continent. And unlike other platforms that often require expensive add-ons or consumption-based pricing for core AI features, Google Workspace includes its foundational AI value in standard plans. This value-driven pricing is ideal for cost-conscious African companies, especially SMEs.
Chittenden says Google Workspace customers are embracing the AI baked into the platform: “They’re saying, ‘I’ve never written a line of code in my life, and now I’ve built an app’. They get into Google Workspace and guys in their teams ask: ‘It's actually so good – is this real?’ I'm also finding guys saying, ‘I go to Gemini before I go to my applications.’ They'll go into Gemini before they actually open their mailbox to understand what's most important in their mailbox and what they should attend to first.”
Continual innovation and security enhancements
Google’s security focus is making cyber security and resilience simpler and more cost-effective for customers, Chittenden says. “I have major customers looking at their SecOps service providers and saying, ‘What do these products do that isn’t already baked into Google?'”
Google Workspace is secure-by-design: because it was architected as a cloud-native, browser-based platform, its design inherently reduces the attack surface, eliminating the need to constantly patch thick desktop apps or on-premises software. Its infrastructure is powered by the same global network supporting Search and YouTube, ensuring both reliability and continuous security.
Google's AI-first approach extends throughout its defences. Gmail’s advanced AI protections block over 99.9% of spam, phishing attempts and malware from reaching inboxes. Furthermore, Gmail detects two times more malware than third-party standard anti-virus products alone.
In addition, Google Workspace pioneered the concept of zero trust, shifting access controls from the network perimeter to the individual and data. A key differentiator is its use of stateful tokens to secure user credentials. This approach makes it extremely difficult for external attackers to access user data, even if cryptographic keys are compromised, providing a highly ‘secure-by-default’ model.
A recent analysis of cyber insurance claims found organisations using Google Workspace reported three times fewer e-mail security incidents than those using Microsoft 365. This empirical data highlights a tangible reduction in security risk and a lower cost of ownership.
Google innovates constantly – enhancing features of Workspace, improving security and enhancing business continuity and resilience for customers.
For example, Google’s new Business Continuity editions are designed to serve as a robust backup solution that works in tandem with primary, non-Google Workspace collaboration platforms, providing a secure and familiar environment that can be activated when users need it most. Google’s Business Continuity plan is a secure and affordable solution that runs Google Workspace in parallel with Microsoft 365, for Microsoft customers that want to ensure continuity of operations.
Google is also adding new features to help organisations minimise the impact of ransomware attacks on personal computers, with ransomware detection and file restoration now in beta. When users have Google Drive for desktop installed on their computers, file syncing will be paused and the user will be notified when ransomware is detected. Admins will also see an alert in the Admin console security centre and notification e-mails will be delivered to both users and admins. In a ransomware attack, users will be able to select and restore their files to a previous version in Google Drive.
Google’s security focus extends right down to meetings – a new feature prevents Meet conference content from being copied over when users copy or duplicate events in Calendar. This ensures that Meet access and meeting notes remain tied to the original event and its attendees so that only invited guests can join and artefacts like recordings and notes are shared exclusively to the correct participants.
For African businesses, investing in Google Workspace means gaining access to a powerful local support ecosystem with partners like Argility and Google's first distribution partner in Africa, Digicloud Africa. Digicloud notes that it is dedicated to building and nurturing a robust network of specialist Google Cloud Partners across the continent, to ensure that every customer benefits from local partners who possess the necessary training, technical expertise and administrative resources to guarantee a secure, successful implementation and long-term success with Google Workspace and its cutting-edge AI features.
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