With businesses increasingly looking to cloud-based solutions to cut costs, it only seems logical that even our basic productivity tools for tasks like email, word processing and presentations get outsourced. That's where product suites like Google Apps and Microsoft's Office 365 come in. Both offer the distinct advantage of web-based messaging and collaboration without the hassle of additional hardware, software installation, or the need for in-house IT staff, for a fraction of the price. (In fact, Google says theirs costs a third less than traditional solutions.) Though Google Apps for businesses has been around since 2007, Microsoft just got into the game earlier this year. Expect these two titans to clash as companies wrestle over which solution is better for them.
NEXT: Better management for employee devices
