I’ve come around on my feelings about G Suite after years of working in Microsoft Office-dominated organizations for years. My skepticism for the product has gone away as the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) improves across the cross platform. One thing that I still think that Google has always gotten right is the ease of integration with G Suite and other cloud applications through the Google Apps Marketplace.

Here are my three favorite Google Apps integrations:

Lucidchart Diagrams

While Microsoft Visio remains an industry standard and Microsoft is making the right moves to keep it that way, I have to say that Lucidchart Diagrams is worth a look. It’s available in a free and subscription-based version. The latter is feature rich, imports Visio, OmniGraffle, and Gliffy diagrams.

You can use your G Suite account to log into Lucidchart which is convenient for users.

I give Lucidchart high praise for browser compatibility and its integration with Google Drive, Atlassian Confluence, and Slack.

They recently released an iOS app is also worth a look because you can create new flowcharts using your iPad. While I carry my iPad almost every where, so I’ve already been editing and creating diagrams using the OmniGraffle app. I reviewed the Lucidchart app again while I was writing this post and found the editing tools and responsiveness over my home wifi network to be very pleasing.

Wrike

I wrote about Wrike back when I was covering collaboration and project management for CNET TechRepublic. The platform positions itself as a project management solution for teams. It comes in free and subscription-based versions.

Team members can log in to Wrike using their Google Apps for Work account. Wrike supports Google Drive. There’s a Gmail gadget that turns emails into tasks within Wrike. You can also sync your project tasks and milestones between Google Calendar and Wrike.

Asana

I came up the ranks creating and using Gantt charts to capture and track project schedules. I was never satisfied with how Gantt charts communicate project information outside the PMO. Enter Asana, a project tracking tool, that democratizes project tracking for all members of the team. I use it for editing checklists and have used it to collaborate with clients on project tracking.

Asana is available in free and premium plans. The free plan supports teams of up to five members.

Organizations can use G Suite accounts for authenticating access to Asana. G Suite administrators can also add Asana to the G Suite menu.

Final thoughts

While Microsoft Office is catching up with its own integrations, I still see G Suite a leader here. However, as more enterprises move to managed services, I expect to see Microsoft to further lock up the market especially with new integrations.