Easter in 2020 is sure to look a bit different. With business closures, stay-at-home mandates, and uncertainty, the community has gotten exceptionally creative with ways to make things feel as normal as possible! We support that!
We wanted to create an easy-go-to list of 10 local Reno restaurants that have Easter brunch, dinner, or pre-made kits available for take-out or delivery to make your 2020 Easter Sunday as special as can be. 

Some of these local places are offering delectables other than just during Easter time! We will discuss all details down below to make this quarantine time easier on our taste buds and cravings.

Number One:

Squeeze-In (all locations)

The famous breakfast hot-spot, Squeeze-In, is offering a few different options! They have take-out available at all locations, with food readily available. If you choose their delivery option for Easter Sunday, they have limited spots. You can call this number: 775-229-5763 and speak to Katie to snag your delivery and time or use this form to reserve. For take-out, you can call any of the locations or visit their website and order by clicking on the big orange button ‘order online’ to the left of the website header. They have two menu options available and Easter Brunch kits for $49.95 that feeds 4-6 people.

Number Two:

Liberty Food & Wine Exchange

This supreme restaurant and meeting place has turned their attention to an online ‘essential marketplace’ during the crisis. Paving the way for modernized food experiences, they have pre-made kits available, hot meals on certain days, and pre-made dishes to cook later. They also have created online videos to cook along with them! You can also check out their delicious and abundant wine/beer selections to take home to enjoy. Order online by 7pm Friday evening to have your favorite selections ready for Easter Sunday.

Number Three:

Napa Sonoma (all locations)

This fan-favorite restaurant is taking their warm vibes online and offering a delicious selection of prime-time Easter food! You can view their Easter menu here and order with them by Friday 3/10 @ 7pm. Their selections serve up to 6 people and have the most perfect pairings! You can call their main lines to place your order: 775-440-1214 Plumgate ext. 1 | South ext. 2

Number Four:

David’s Grill @ Redhawk

This community restaurant is offering a specialized Easter Celebration Feast curbside or delivery. They have meal options that serve two, four, eight, and ten people. Some highlights of these menus include prime rib, turkey, delicious side options, and cheesecake or apple pie for dessert! You can find their normal menu as well as their Easter Feast menu on their website. To order your Easter Feast, you can call Stephanie at 775-321-5942. Reservations need to be made no later than Saturday (3/11) morning. 

Number Five:

Stone House Cafe

The well-known Reno brunch sanctuary, Stone House Cafe, have digitized their food experiences to assist the community in being able to have their favorite meals on speed dial! They have a special Easter Menu to choose from and you can order anytime between 9-7pm. Breakfast is served from 9-4pm and the dinner menu is from 4-7pm. They have curbside pick-up available. A few tidbits of the tastes they are offering: local lamb loin chops, alaskan halibut, roasted prime rib, spinach apple salad, truffle mac & cheese, and so much more! YUM! You can call their main line at 775-284-3895 to order!

Number Six:

Josef’s Vienna & Bakery Cafe

During these times of quarantine, you can be sure you don’t have to starve yourself of pure tastes and fluffy baked goods! Josef’s has always provided the community with flavorful dishes as well as delightful baked goods. Sure to make your smile! They are still operating their normal business hours 8am-3pm for take-out/curbside. Their menu is great for Easter Sunday brunch and you can grab some treats for later! You can view their bakery menu and cafe menu here, and call their line to order! 775-825-0451

Number Seven:

Greatful Gardens

This favorite social scene really took it up a notch to make ease of ordering 100% available to the community! Once you visit their website, select the location you would like to order from. They currently offer curbside pick-up. Although they are closed for Easter Sunday, you can order the selections early on and have them ready to go Saturday! Once you choose your location, you can either scan the QR codes below, or click on the designated links and it will walk you through the seamless app to order! 

MIDTOWN ONLINE ORDER LINK

SOUTH ONLINE ORDER LINK

LEGENDS ONLINE ORDER LINK

THE KITCHEN ONLINE ORDER LINK

MIDTOWN QR CODE FOR MOBILE:

SOUTH QR CODE FOR MOBILE:

LEGENDS QR CODE FOR MOBILE:

THE KITCHEN QR CODE FOR MOBILE:

Number Eight:

Sierra St Kitchen & Cocktails

Stressed about the wine/beer shops being closed? No problem! Sierra St Kitchen has you covered. In observance of Easter Sunday, they will not be open. However, you can order from them for take-out on Saturday, and have all you need! If you order $50 or more, you can add in a bottle of wine for $10! They also have a special running for wine: $10, $15, $20 a bottle with an extra 10% case discount. They offer favorite local beers like Revision, Lead Dog, 10 Toor, and more.

Number Nine:

Wild River Grille

This beautiful river oasis made their delicious flavors available to you during this time! Although they are not open for Easter Sunday, they are taking orders for their normal menu items up until Saturday during business hours. The latest you can order is 7pm and the latest you can pick up 8:30pm. They have initiated an amazing program called Band Together. They will have to-go menus paired with a virtual dinner concert series on Fridays and Saturdays! How AMAZING! Proceeds for the events will support employees of the restaurant and local artists and musicians who are affected by Covid-19. You can learn more here!

Number Ten:

Bistro 7

They are open during normal business hours and can take orders for take-out meals during those times. Although they don’t have a specific Easter Sunday menu available, their normal menu is sure to please! You can view their menu here and give them a call @ 775-851-9463 to order!

There’s a big chance that you’ve heard the term ‘Multi-Factor Authentication’ a couple of times but just in other forms. Does ‘two-step verification’ sound familiar to you? If you’re using Google, more than likely you’ll say yes. Most websites nowadays require this procedure to check if you’re either a hacker or a hack bot. Let’s admit it. Sometimes, these security procedures are annoying and pinch a bit of our time. However, with the constant widespread of cyber crimes around the world, especially after the pandemic chaos, it’s a much needed added protection.

The passwords that we were used to utilizing are under the single-factor authentication method. This means that only one credential is required from a user to access a network or website. This security measure used to be enough, until hackers have revolutionized their cyber-strategies. A lot of password hacking tools and methods surfaces constantly which includes key loggers, phishing attacks, and more. They can also hack an account using a dictionary system where related information about a person is mixed and matched to get a victim’s password. And, if you are using the same password for most of your accounts, you just gave them the keys to the kingdom!

Efforts in setting up encryption services, firewalls, and anti-virus applications will all lose its value if the entry point of access is compromised. A great strategy to implement is to group users by categories and use Multi-Factor Authentication for those who have access to highly sensitive information. The authentication process is an initiative that can improve your business’ data security without much-added cost. The NVIT Solutions team provides guidance to these practices.

In this article, we’ll give you everything that you should know about MFA and how it can give an added impact to your cyber safety. Let’s start having a safer working environment by knowing what exactly is the Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) method!

What is Multi-Factor Authentication?

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is a security measure that requires a user to provide two pieces of evidence of his or her identity. The common factor that we have is the password and the other one can be a security token or a biometric factor. To explain this further, there are five types of authentication factors:

• SOMETHING THAT YOU KNOW (Knowledge Factor) – This factor is usually a password, a PIN or an answer to a security question. These are the pieces of information that only you know; nobody else.

• SOMETHING THAT YOU HAVE (Security Tokens) – This factor pertains to information sent to a physical object such as devices that you carry with you. It can be sent to your mobile phone or in the form of an ID card or security keys. There are three classifications for a security token:
  
  • HMAC ONE-TIME PASSWORD (HOTP) – These are security tokens that only expire when used. 

• • Time-Based One-Time Password (TOTP) –This token expires in a specific time frame usually in 30 seconds. When the time is up, a new token will be generated.

  • Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) – These are devices that allow you to access highly sensitive websites and platforms without using your mobile phones and entering any password. It records all the passwords and uses a highly generated cryptography to keep everything secured. You just need to insert the device and click the small button when logging in.  

• SOMETHING THAT DEFINES YOU (Biometric Factor) – this factor includes anything that is unique in you physically. Your unique features include your fingerprint, retina, voice, and face. 

• SOMEWHERE YOU ARE (Geo-location factor) – This token uses IP and MAC addresses to locate a login attempt. Notification in login attempts are often seen through the emails you receive when someone tries to login in your account in a different location. 

• SOMETHING THAT YOU DO (Action factor) – This factor is usually based on recording your activity or behavior to identify your identity. However, this factor is rarely used because of its complexity. This is also known as the Picture Password. Windows 8 allowed you to have this feature by recording your mouse strokes in a certain picture.   
  

Among the five factors, there are only three to four factors that we commonly encounter. Google uses a geolocation factor in tracing login attempts and notifies you through email. After such activity, you’ll be reminded to strengthen your account’s security settings by setting up your multi-factor authentication.

How Does Multi-Factor Authentication Work?

Companies’ common MFA setup involves software that sends out PIN codes and devices that are used to authenticate a login attempt. Authentication usually starts by registering your device in your enterprise authentication software. Once entered, you’ll be required to enter the pin sent to your mobile device. Only then, will you be able to access the company sites, accounts, or applications.

Companies who promote mobility in the workplace are usually equipped with an authentication device. These authentication devices are called Universal 2nd Factor (U2F). These authentication keys are used to speed up the Multi-Factor Authentication by just attaching the device into your computer’s USB hub and pressing the small button. The popular brands in U2F category are Yubikey by Yubico and Titan Security Keys by Google. Attaching this security device to your computer will no longer require you to type any security codes and will authenticate any login that you make as soon as you push the small button on the device.

Advantages of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for Your Business and Cyber Security

The widespread cyber attacks going on around the world should not be taken lightly. Every year, millions of companies suffer from their information becoming compromised; putting all of its users in a greater risk for theft and fraud. MFA is one of the many security measures that you can implement in your company and greatly add value to your cybersecurity efforts. 

The benefits include:

Increased Productivity through Enhanced Employee Mobility

The ability to authenticate devices in the workplace allows the employees to have mobility and flexibility in the workplace. Based on the survey performed by CITO research, out of 322 respondents 67% of the professionals considered an increased improvement in their business processes. Multi-Factor Authentication allows employees to access the company’s network across any devices and anywhere they go without getting worried about data security.

Early Detection of Suspicious Login Attempts and Increased Cybersecurity

Weak passwords will always be the greatest flaw of password-protected software. Most of us find it hard to set up a strong password that protects and can easily be remembered. There are a lot of hacking incidents that fell into the trap of using 1234 as their password like what happened to Vodafone. MFA eases up the vulnerability of weak passwords by adding an added layer of identification. It also allows your business to identify any unauthorized login attempts to your enterprise accounts. The awareness of the attempts will also help NVIT Solutions to observe the behavior and investigate the potential attack, protecting you even further.

Cost Savings

Aside from increased mobility for employees, MFA allows your employees to set up security without heavy intervention or big costs. It also saves you big time from potential ransomware attacks costing your company hundreds of thousands of dollars and crucial client data. 

Lower Risk of Identity Theft and Fraud

MFA makes it hard for the hackers to emulate unique features of a user through the biometric factor. Also regardless if they get a hold of the user password, they will never know the security tokens that were sent to the owner’s devices. Some company websites won’t even allow you to have access  if you log in from an unregistered device in their authentication system… leaving hackers no chance to enter the network.

Breaks the Phishing Cycle

If one of your employees was caught in a phishing attack, the hacker wouldn’t be able to get through the network because of the additional factor required by your company system. An attack will only be possible if the hacker can get access to the SMS sent to the device or they have the authentication keys to access your company accounts.

Successful Hack Prevention Measures through MFA 

Ever wondered how Google still stands tall from cyber-attacks? They’ve revealed this security secret in an interview conducted by Krebs security. They require their employees to use authentication keys or U2F in accessing the company’s network. The Google spokesperson mentioned that there were no account takeovers reported since the implementation of the authentication keys. This only shows further how MFA is an effective method in securing your company’s data.

You’re One Step Away to a More Secure Working Environment

Our NVIT Solutions team is here to provide you with all of the technical expertise that you need to set up your own MFA and have it implemented within your company smoothly. Be safe now with Multi-Factor Authentication; a simple measure to add another layer of protection.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out.

We are all too familiar with the difficult decision that is choosing productivity tools that meet all needs at Nevada IT Solutions, and we are here to help you. Each one offers similar attributes while simultaneously contrasting on major levels of importance, making it next to impossible to decide what is best. We have narrowed it down to two, Office 365 or G Suite, which should you choose? Deciding on the answer to this question is a common dilemma that many businesses face, particularly start ups.

In the following blog post, these two competitors will be put head to head in a comprehensive comparative review. By the end of this, hopefully you will have made a decision between the two for your business.

What do Office 365 and G Suite do?

Office 365 and G Suite are productivity tools that allow users to perform common business tasks in the cloud. Recently, G Suite was called Google Apps for Work, and you may find that some still refer to the product suite simply as as Google Apps. So, don’t feel concerned if you are confused when someone is referring to the old name.

These tools are very useful and helpful for businesses for many reasons. Both Office 365 and G Suite allow users to create documents, spreadsheets and presentations and collaborate with team members during the process. They also provide video conferencing functionality and, most importantly, cloud storage.

Pricing Comparison

G Suite

When deciding on a G Suite plan you will find that it is relatively straightforward, as there are only three plans available for users:

• • Basic: $5 per user per month

• • Business: $10 per user per month

• Enterprise: $25 per user per month

If you choose the ‘Basic’ $5 plan, you get:

• • 30 GB of online storage for file syncing and sharing

• • Security and admin controls

• • Video and voice calls (via Google Hangouts)

• • 24/7 phone and email support

• • A business email addresses ([email protected])

• • Google sites (a tool for building simple websites or intranets)

• • Shared online calendars

• Online documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

If you choose the ‘Business’ $10 plan, (in addition to the above) you get

• • eDiscovery covering emails, chats, docs and files

• • Email archives / message-retention policies

• • Audit and reporting insights for Drive content and sharing

• • Unlimited file storage (or 1TB if your organisation has less than 5 users)

• Advanced search functionality using Google’s new Cloud Search technology (this functionality makes it easier to locate files within G Suite and also provides a Google Now-style experience which makes suggestions regarding what your team need to do next).

If you choose the ‘Enterprise’ $25 plan, you will get everything mentioned above, plus:

• • Advanced admin controls and security

• • Additional reporting on email usage via analytics tool BigQuery

• • S/MIME for Gmail (improved encryption for emails)

• • Data loss prevention for files and email

• Integration with third-party archiving tools

As far as the free option of G Suite goes, not only do you get way less features, you also are spammed with ads while you work. The paid options do not display ads.

For most, the most vital feature that will determine their decision is the file storage. You have to do what you have to do. With the G Suite ‘Basic’ plan, users are restricted to 30GB of file storage; but – as long as there are 5 or more G Suite users in your organisation – there are no limits on the ‘Business’ plan (if you have a ‘Business’ plan but have less than 5 users on it, file storage is restricted to 1TB per user).

It’s important to consider the fact that Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drawings – meaning documents created using Google’s array of apps instead of third-party applications – don’t count toward your G Suite file storage limit. This also includes files shared with you by other Google Drive users.

Power users will most likely find that the e-Discovery features that the ‘’Business’ and ‘Enterprise’ plans come with are very handy – these let you archive all communications in your organization according to rules you define. This is useful in situations that call for a review of stored past conversations for legal reasons.

It may be surprising that data loss tools are only included in the Enterprise plans. If you want a  backup tool and a ‘Basic’ or ‘Business’ G Suite plan, then you will need to invest in a third-party tool.

Microsoft Office 365 pricing

In comparison, the pricing options for Office 365 are more complicated, because the suite offers home, business, enterprise and education versions.

However, for the purposes of this review, we will focus on the ‘Business’ and ‘Enterprise’ plans:

• • Business Essentials – $6 per user per month *

• • Business – $10 per user per month *

• • Business Premium – $15 per user per month *

• • Enterprise E1 – $8 per user per month (requires annual commitment)

• • Enterprise ProPlus – $12 per user per month (requires annual commitment)

• • Enterprise E3 – $20 per user per month (requires annual commitment)

• Enterprise E5 – $35 per user per month (requires annual commitment).

There are quite a lot of different options to consider with the above 7 plans, but here are a few important things to note:

• • The ‘Business’ plans let you pay on a rolling per-month basis; the ‘Enterprise’ ones do not – you have to pay upfront for a year. This means that if your workforce person count fluctuates throughout the year, the ‘Business’ plans might be more suitable for your organization.

• • The ‘Business’ plans all limit the maximum number of users to 300.

• All plans provide you with the desktop versions of the Microsoft Office product suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc.) except for the ‘Business Essentials’ and ‘Enterprise E1’ plans, which only provide the online ones. So if a key motivation behind choosing Office 365 is to employ the desktop apps as well as the cloud features – a key advantage of using Office 365 over G Suite – make sure you steer clear from those particular plans.

Office 365 vs G Suite: features

File storage

Office 365 is the winner when it comes to entry-level plans. Users receive 1TB of storage through the ‘Business Essentials’ plan in comparison to Google’s 30GB on its ‘Basic’ plan. Not to mention Google also counts emails as taking up space in this small 30GB limit.

On the other hand, if you choose to go with a higher plan with the G Suite ‘Business’ plan, you’ll find that the Google plans’ features win for sure, however, they are the most expensive Microsoft plans in the file storage realm.

Businesses that require storage of large multimedia files in the cloud should go for the G Suite Business plan because this plan offers unlimited storage. Microsoft Office 365’s 1TB limit (which applies to most of its plans) seems like it would be enough but you’d be surprised how quickly 1TB of storage can fill up when working with video or audio.

If you’re business usually works with standard documents and spreadsheets, a 1TB limit per user should be enough for most small to medium-sized businesses. If having massive amounts of cloud storage is your primary concern, then it’s mostly a win here for G Suite, as long as you are prepared to pay for the expensive $10 per user per month plan.

Make sure to take note of this as well:

• • Not all of the Office 365 plans provide users with an email account. If you want to use Office 365 as your email service provider, you’ll need to avoid the ‘Business’ and the ‘Enterprise Pro Plus’ plans.

• • The ‘Business’ and ‘Enterprise ProPlus’ plans don’t feature calendar functionality.

• These three ‘Business’ plans come in a little cheaper if you commit to paying upfront for a year.

A seemingly relatively recent development for G Suite is that the ‘Business’ plan only provides you with unlimited file storage if you buy over 5 user accounts. In any other case regarding this plan you will be restricted to 1TB per user.

Both Office 365 and G Suite give you the option to buy more storage on a per-user basis. For Microsoft, every 1 GB extra on Office 365 costs $0.20 per user.

G Suite users will generally only need to worry about storage limits if you’re using the ‘Basic’ plan or are on a ‘Business’ plan and have less than 5 users in your organization. If you’re on a ‘Basic’ plan, there are several tiers of additional data storage purchase options.

Depicted in the table below, it really is all situational. Depending on how much storage you require for individual users, you may find that it will be cheaper to upgrade all of your G Suites users to the ‘Business’ plan rather than buying a few users additional storage. Similarly, if you’re on a G Suite ‘Business’ plan with less than 5 users and you still seem to be reaching your storage limit, you might find it cheaper to buy a couple of new accounts rather than buying additional storage.

Email

An important feature almost any business is email storage. Keeping emails can be important in many situations including legal instance. when it comes to email storage the entry-level $6 per month Office 365 plan is considerably more generous than G Suite’s entry-level offering. Through Office 365, a dedicated 50GB inbox is available alongside the 1TB file storage provided. In comparison, the $5 per user per month ‘G Suite Basic’ plan not only clumps files and emails in the total storage but they cap it at caps total storage at 30GB

On the other hand, if you have 5+ users on your team and bump up your plan to the $10 G Suite ‘Business’ plan, there isn’t a cap on your inbox size. This contrasts positively with every Office 365 plan. The best you can get through these plans is a 100GB mailbox on the $20 and $35 Microsoft plans (which is still a lot of storage space, to be fair).

The email apps that Gmail offers are robust, fast functioning and easily navigable. This comes as no surprise as it Google so we expect functionality to be good. Also, due to Google’s popularity, there is a wide range of third-party apps available for it which add a large variety of useful functionality to proceedings.

However, to our frustration, Gmail doesn’t allow you to sort or group mail, something most users will routinely require from an email client. Due to this, you may find yourself wanting to use Gmail in conjunction with another email program. A great example of this is Thunderbird, or, whisper it, Outlook.

Speaking of Outlook, Office 365 gives it to you. As a matter of fact, you get two versions: an online version and an offline version, which is packed with features and provides a lot of flexibility when it comes to how you sort, group, label and generally manage your email.

Desktop applications:

At this point, it’s a pretty close tie. Here is where things get pretty interesting, and the point where a lot of individuals deciding between Office 365 and G Suite will be tempted to choose Office 365.

With almost all of the Office 365 plans, you get all the desktop versions of their products as well as the cloud-based ones. Essentially, you can install the full versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook etc. on your desktop and work offline on these applications. Despite this being the age of cloud computing, many businesses still send each other files created locally using these applications, so there is a strong argument for having desktop versions of all the above available. It allows for work ease with these file formats.

Functionality is another selling point for Microsoft. This also depends on the needs of your business. It’s fair to say that the Google apps are definitely more basic in terms of what they can do than their Microsoft desktop app equivalents. If you’re looking to do some advanced number crunching, Excel will beat Google Sheets; if you want to add some ‘Smart Art’ in a document, you’ll need to be working in Microsoft Word rather than Google Docs; and if you need slick slide animations in a presentation, Powerpoint will do a much better job than Google Slides.

However, that shouldn’t deter you entirely from using G Suite, because it is possible to open Microsoft Office documents using G Suite, and even save files created there to Microsoft Office format. Of course, there is some give and take. The problem with working this way is that you can’t always preserve the exact formatting of Office files when you edit and save them using a Google app. The importance of this issue will depend on the nature of your business: if clients expect you to routinely provide them with extensively-formatted MS Office files then you’re not always going to be able to do that with G Suite. Also, if that’s the case then it would make sense to work with MS in the first place, for ease of work with others. But if you just need to occasionally open an MS Office file, or send something basic over to a client in MS Office format, you would be able to live with Google’s suite of products.

Another important thing to remember about the Microsoft Office desktop applications is that they have to be installed locally. This means that someone in your organization will need to take care of this aspect of things and, most importantly, this person (or persons) need to know what they are doing. Using the Microsoft desktop apps may include some hidden IT costs. At the very least, your team will need to devote some hours to downloading, installing and periodically updating the applications correctly.

There’s also something else you might want to consider about giving your team access to the desktop apps. Most people like to work with tools they’re familiar with, especially on a time crunch, and, given the long history of Microsoft Office products, your team is likely to plump for the locally installed versions of the Office 365 products over the cloud-based, collaborative tools it also provides. This also depends on if your business is willing to spend the time necessary to teach the team members other options or just let them learn as they go. The later leaves room for error and frustration. This will possibly encourage ‘local’ or offline working at the expense of the more collaborative cloud approach (and working offline can throw up some security headaches too).

Conversely, if you create a working environment where your organization only uses browser-based applications that save documents to the cloud, then your data is arguably more secure (so long as you have backup procedures in place) and your team is more likely to make fuller use of collaboration features. *Enter team training here*. You could argue that G Suite – due to its cloud-only nature – is more likely to cause people to lean in this direction.

To conclude with apps, just remember that there is nothing stopping you from using both G Suite and MS Office apps side by side. If you are tempted by the unlimited cloud storage provided by G Suite but want to save Word documents in it, you could buy the offline versions of the Microsoft applications that you use regularly, and save files created in them to your Google Drive via Google Drive Stream. It’s really up to you and your business needs. Nevada IT Solutions can lay it all out for you and aid you in the decision of what is best for you.

Web applications for Office 365 and G Suite

Office 365 and G Suite both offer a set of web applications that have equivalents in both product suites, namely:

Word > Google Docs

Excel > Google Sheets

Powerpoint > Google Slides

Outlook Online > Gmail

One Note Online > Google Keep

Sharepoint > Google Sites

Skype for Web > Google Hangouts

Microsoft Teams > Google Keep (sort of)

Now, it’s important to understand that these are broad equivalents, due to the fact that their feature set is not exactly going to match the corresponding app.

However, there is one app included in Office 365 for which there isn’t really a G Suite equivalent: Yammer. This allows you to set up a kind of social network for your business.

Collaboration

The cloud is extremely useful for an important aspect of any high functioning business: collaboration. The cloud opens up a ton of collaboration possibilities. People who want to work on the same file can simply open up a document in a browser and see, in real time, the edits that everybody working on the file is making.

Good news, both G Suite and Microsoft Office 365 make this sort of online collaboration straightforward using their online apps. Additionally, you can now use Microsoft’s desktop apps to work on documents in real time with other team members. However, some users have found that to be a bit of a rough experience.

Taking a look at the online, browser-based versions of the Office 365 apps we have found that the collaboration experience is arguably significantly better on the cloud-based versions of the Microsoft apps than the desktop ones.

We would say that collaboration functionality in G Suite is a bit easier to navigate than Office 365’s, possibly due to the fact that the product is less feature packed and was created with collaboration in mind. Office 365, by contrast, has evolved from being a suite of desktop applications into a solution that features collaborative tools.

To wrap up collaboration, both product suites allow you to collaborate with coworkers effectively. However, to allow for the easiest experience with Microsoft apps, a good rule of thumb is to use the cloud versions.

Video calls

Both G Suite and Office 365 provide video conferencing functionality: Hangouts and Skype respectively. Through past experience at Nevada IT Solutions, the team has found that Hangouts works a little better than Skype. Google Hangouts tends to drop calls less frequently and crash less. It also loads faster, so less lagging. However, it seems that more people are on Skype. So this means that we use both generally to accommodate the heavier use of Skype although we prefer Hangouts.

On the other hand, Office 365 offers a much higher limit on participant numbers on video calls. You can have 250 participants in a business call with MS, in comparison to the maximum number of participants in a Google Hangout is 25 (30 if you use ‘Meet by Google Hangouts’ and are on an Enterprise plan). And if you’re looking for serious voice calling functionality in general, Office 365 offers far more options…but only if you are on one of the most expensive plans.

One thing you should note about Hangouts is that there are, in fact, two versions: the ‘classic’ version of Hangouts and a second product, ‘Meet by Google Hangouts.’ The latter product provides a slightly larger participant limit if you are on the Enterprise plan, along with instant messaging within the app.

Google Drive Stream vs OneDrive – a break down of the syncing options in Office 365 and Google Apps.

Both Office 365 and G Suite provide desktop apps for syncing local data with the cloud and vice versa. There are currently three apps available for this purpose:

• • Google Drive Stream

• • Microsoft OneDrive

• Microsoft OneDrive Files on Demand

These are handy for when you want to work on documents offline or want to back up or upload local files to your cloud storage. However, there is a downside to this: your data is less secure. If your laptop gets stolen, so does your data.

These apps work slightly differently:

• OneDrive makes all the files that you choose to sync available locally. This is useful for those who know they will be doing a lot of work on files offline.

• With Google Drive Stream and OneDrive Files on Demand, files are not actually downloaded to your computer until you open them. You will still see all of your files and folders as if they were present on your computer but, in actuality, they live in the cloud until you double-click on a filename to download and open it.

The ‘streaming’ approach provides two key benefits over the ‘save everything locally’ one. first, a minimal amount of local disk space is required due to the fact that all files will be in the cloud, not on your laptop. Second, you don’t have to sit around waiting for all of your files to sync – just the one you’re working on.

There’s a couple of other things worth noting about file syncing in Office 365 and Google Drive:

• OneDrive Files on Demand is currently only available for Windows 10 users.

• In One Drive, you can right-click on a file to have the option to share it with others. If you want to share a file on Google Drive Stream you have to go into the browser version of Google Drive to do so.

Mobile apps

The great thing about today is that there is a mobile app for just about everything, including for both G Suite and Office 365. These allow you to access and edit your files on the go, which every business probably loves to hear. Both offer the user the capability of accessing information quickly on both sets of apps easily.

When it comes down to it, most users will most likely end up using the mail applications the most. A downside of Gmail mobile app is that it doesn’t let you turn off the horrendous conversation view. On the other hand, it is great when it comes to searching for old messages. The mobile version of Outlook its downsides too – no sorting or grouping of mail is possible.

The good thing about both sets of mobile apps is that they make editing your work on-the-go in areas where you don’t have Internet access very straightforward – so long as you save the files you want to work onto your mobile device before you go offline.

Advanced features in Office 365 and G Suite

Features common to both products’ higher level plans are:

• • E-discovery tools

• • Intranet building tools

• • Email archiving

• • Advanced reporting

• Legal holds on inboxes

Plus side of Microsoft, it offers some additional advanced functionality on their most expensive plans, including

• • Advanced virus protection

• • Rights management

• Cloud-based phone call hosting services

The less expensive route would be G Suite when it comes to e-Discovery tools, advanced reporting, email archiving and legal holds on inboxes all come as standard on the $10 per month G Suite ‘Business plan’. However, if you are hoping to get use from most of the functionality listed above using Office 365, you’ll have to remember that it is only available on the most expensive plans – the $20 per user per month E3 plan or the $35 per user per month E5 plan.

Support

24/7 phone support in English is offered for users of both G Suite and Office 365; hours for support in other languages vary depending on the country. Email support is also offered for both products, and there are various support forums available for both products as well.

G Suite or Microsoft Office 365: which is easier to use?

The real question is, which product will take longer to teach and learn? As with much else in this comparison, the fairest answer is probably ‘it depends’. Which really does make sense because it depends on what your business’ services are and what you are looking for. There is also the difference in user knowledge of the products beforehand.

Because of the ubiquity of Microsoft Office apps, there is a strong case to be made that people using Office 365 are likely to already be familiar with how Microsoft software works, and be in a better position to hit the ground running with them.

You could also argue however that the simpler productivity tools bundled with G Suite generate a less steep learning curve for users who are new to online collaboration.

In terms of user interfaces, the Google apps feel less cluttered than those bundled with Microsoft Office, simply because they are not as feature packed.

Ultimately, both products are fairly straightforward to use – if editing MS Office files is going to be a big part of your job, then Office 365 will feel a lot more familiar and present less of a learning curve; if collaboration is more the concern, then G Suite is arguably a slightly better bet.

Working offline with G Suite and Office 365

Although G Suite is essentially designed to run in a browser, users will still be able to work offline. On a desktop computer, you’ll need to do two things: 1) ensure that you’ve installed Google’s Chrome browser and 2) switch on file syncing. This will allow you to access and edit Google documents, sheets and slides offline; any changes you make to them will be synced to the cloud when you reconnect to the Internet.

For Gmail, there is an offline app available for it, which also requires Chrome to run. You’ll need to ensure you download all your mail before going offline. The Gmail offline app is very similar to the mobile version of Gmail.

With Office 365, the best way to work offline on a desktop computer is by using the standard desktop applications in conjunction with the desktop version of OneDrive. As with G Suite, ensure you’ve synced everything to your desktop before going offline – you can then work on any file in Word, Excel etc. and when you reconnect to the Internet any changes you have made will be synced.

G Suite vs Office 365: the conclusions

After reading the above G Suite vs Office 365 comparison, hopefully you have a clearer idea of which would work best for you and your needs.

These six areas are a good place to focus on when making the final decision:

• • The need your organization may have to edit MS Office documents

• • Your file storage requirements

• • Your email storage requirements

• • The nature of your working environment

• • IT implications

• Scalability

It’s a tough decision but, hopefully, this review has helped resolve the Office 365 vs G Suite debate in some way for you.

Reasons to pick Office 365 over G Suite

• • The file storage and email storage quotas on the Office 365 entry-level plan are much more generous than those provided by the G Suite entry-level plan.

• • Most Office 365 plans come with desktop versions of the Microsoft Office applications, making the product a much better fit for any organization with clients that expect it to be able to send, receive and edit MS Office files without difficulty. This is in my view by far the strongest argument for choosing Office 365.

• • Outlook provides you with an easy means to sort and group mail – Gmail doesn’t.

• • You can have far more participants on a Skype call than a Hangout – 250 vs 25 respectively.

• • More advanced phone call management options are available with Office 365.

• • It’s easier to share files on desktop computers using the sync app for Microsoft’s OneDrive than the Google Drive equivalent.

• • More advanced functionality regarding virus protection and rights management is available with MS Office 365 (for a price, though).

• Office 365 may provide a more natural fit for businesses that are exclusively Windows-based (more apps – notably Access and Publisher – are available on the Windows-based version, along with performance monitoring tools too).

Reasons to pick G Suite over Office 365

• • File storage: at $10 per user per month, the Google Unlimited Plan is a better value data-wise than most of the Microsoft plans, giving you an unlimited amount of cloud storage to play with (as long as you are buying 5+ G Suite accounts).

• • It’s very scalable – there are no limits on the number of users regardless of what plan you’re on (the cheaper Office ‘Business’ plans cap the number of your users at 300).

• • G Suite was built as a collaboration-focused solution, and as such its collaboration features are arguably a bit stronger.

• • eDiscovery, site building tools, email archiving and legal holds on inboxes (amongst other advanced features) are available for a lower cost with G Suite.

• • The Google Apps interfaces are clean and, so long as a good internet connection is being used, the apps load fast (certainly faster than Microsoft Office desktop equivalents).

• • It’s a good solution for businesses where multiple devices and operating systems are used.

• • There are a large number of third-party web applications which integrate neatly with the G Suite apps and enhance their functionality.

• The fact that everything is cloud-based may encourage users to use the cloud more, with all the collaboration-related benefits this brings.

Contact us to get you setup!

if you need any help doing Exchange migration, by moving your organization from hosted exchange to O365 or Gsuite. We are here help. Our team have the expertise needed to complete job and move you to the cloud. 

Anyone with an email address has, at one time or another, received email attempts to con you into giving up information, buying into a scam, or clicking on malicious links or files. They are often sent to spam (where you know you can’t trust the mail), but what about the ones that aren’t?

These attempts cannot be taken lightly and it is vital to always be aware. Do you know the person you are receiving the email from? Were you expecting this email? Can you trust what the email is saying? Even if you said yes to all of these, the email could still be corrupted.

They come in many forms, however, the most common are: too-good-to-be-true schemes (business/investment opportunities, luxurious trip winnings, or lotteries/prizes), crisis alerts (either someone seeking help or indicating you are at risk), or “phishing” for account/personal details by impersonating a trusted institution.

With the ease of hacking (considering work put in and the low-risk factors), these attempts have become increasingly sophisticated. Scammers can create convincing emails that appear to come from trusted sources, including your bank and even universities. They mimic the trusted sources email presentation so that you would never be able to tell otherwise.

We have created guidelines that, if followed regularly and correctly, will dramatically reduce the risk of falling victim to email and phishing scams.

How to spot a phishing message?

Before clicking on a received email message, please consider these points:

• Are there red flags?
  • • Does the message ask for any personal information (password, credit cards, SSN, etc)?
  • • Hover your mouse over the links in the email. Does the hover-text link match what’s in the text?  Do the actual links look like a site with which you would normally do business?
  • • Does the message ask you to immediately open an attachment?
  • • Does the message ask for sensitive information about others?
  • • Bulk commercial solicitation: Are there lots of recipients to whom the email is addressed?
  • • Click ‘Reply’ – Does the address in the ‘To’ field match the sender of the message?
  • Does the “From” email address look like either someone you know, a business you work with, or a proper email account?

Is there a lack of positive indicators?

• • Is the email from an entity/person with whom you do not do business?

• • Is it difficult to think of how the sender legitimately obtained your email address?

• • Is the message missing a digital signature/certificate?

• Were you not expecting an email of this nature (e.g. password reset, account expiration, wire transfer, travel confirmation, etc)?

If you are unsure about the legitimacy of an email sent to you we will gladly help you decipher it.

DOs and DON’Ts to protect against email and phishing scams

DON’T send passwords or any sensitive information over email

There is no reason that a legitimate business or organization will ask you to send your password, account information, social security number, or other sensitive data over email. NEVER respond to an email requesting personal, financial, or other protected information, even if it appears to be from your bank or another trusted institution.

Rather, you should directly contact the institution that the email appears to be coming from. Ask them if they sent out something such as what you received.

DON’T click on “verify your account” or “login” links in any email

ALWAYS open a new window and use the institution’s official homepage to log into any account.

Links in an email may appear to go to the trusted site, but actually, redirect to a page that steals your login information.

DON’T reply to, click on links, or open attachments in spam or suspicious email

Send spam straight to the trash or immediately report it the FTC at [email protected]. Don’t even click on it if you can avoid it. Clicking through or replying to spam can verify your email address and encourage more such attempts in the future. NEVER open attachments from senders you don’t know.

DON’T call the number in an unsolicited email or give sensitive data to a caller

The risks associated with email phishing apply equally to phone calls. By using Voice over Internet Protocol technology, scammers can disguise their true phone number just like they can disguise their email or web address, so don’t assume that a familiar area code or prefix is safe to call.

Phone phishing can be even harder to detect than email phishing. Callers may impersonate institutional personnel, employees (or students) needing your assistance, or even police officers. Never give sensitive information to a caller you don’t know personally. If the need is legitimate, you will be able to call the person back using trusted numbers or email addresses you find on the official institutional website.

DO report impersonated or suspect email

As stated above, if you receive an email asking for personal, login or financial account information and appearing to be from your bank, or another trusted institution, forward the email to the FTC at [email protected]. Also forward the email to the organization being impersonated. (Most organizations have information on their websites about where to report problems. You might start by searching on the website for “fraud protection” or “spam” to find the correct email address.)

You also may report phishing email to [email protected]. The Anti-Phishing Working Group is a consortium of ISPs, security vendors, financial institutions and law enforcement agencies that is building a database of common scams to which people can refer.

DO be cautious about opening attachments, even from trusted senders

Email accounts can be hacked or impersonated by scammers. Files and attachments that have been infected with viruses and malware can be embedded in your account or email. If opened, these can access your data and/or harm your computer. Be wary of opening unsolicited attachments or downloading materials from an email, even if they appear to come from someone you know.

If you cannot find the information in the attachment elsewhere, examine the file extension on the attachment before opening it. If the extension is among the extensions listed below, it is more likely to be malicious. (This list is non-exhaustive.)

• • .exe

• • .msi, .bat, .com, .cmd, .hta, .scr, .pif, .reg, .js, .vbs, .wsf, .cpl, .jar

• • .docm, .xlsm, .pptm (may contain macros).

• .rar, .zip, .7z

Caution: no file types are  100% safe – especially if your operating system or any of your programs/apps have not been adequately patched. Consider verifying the legitimacy of the email and attachment with the sender before opening it.

DO install antivirus and firewall programs

Anti-virus software and a firewall can protect you from accidentally accepting malicious files on your computer.

We can provide antivirus software that will keep your computer safe. Anti-virus software scans incoming communications and files for malicious content. It is important to find an antivirus software that updates automatically and can perform real-time protection.

A firewall helps make you invisible on the Internet and blocks all communications from unauthorized sources. It’s especially important to run a firewall if you have a broadband connection.

DO check financial statements and credit reports regularly

This should be done for security purposes in general. Read your monthly bank account and credit card statements to be sure all charges are authorized and request free annual credit reports to be sure there are no unauthorized accounts open in your name.

Other Tips:

• • Do read the small print. Get all promises in writing and review them carefully before you make a payment or sign a contract.

• • Do protect your personal information. Share credit card or other personal information only when you’re buying from a company you know and trust.

• • Do take your time. Resist any urge to “act now” despite the offer and the terms. Once you turn over your money, you may never get it back.

• • Do know who you’re dealing with. Don’t do business with any company that won’t provide its name, street address, and telephone number.

• Don’t pay for a “free” gift. Disregard any offer that asks you to pay for a gift or prize. If it’s free or a gift, you shouldn’t have to pay for it. Free means free.

Through these preventative steps, you will be prepared for any sneak attacks on your email. Don’t make it easy for hackers to access your information. Education and action are key! We can help you get started!