Is there a way to force the search box to be always open like Google?
This way a user can type right in the box and hit enter and they’re done.
Current is 3 clicks: magnifying glass, box, type, then click search or enter.
We’re hoping to save one click. 
You can customize this file
https://github.com/salesagility/SuiteCRM/blob/master/themes/SuiteP/tpls/_headerModuleList.tpl#L488
by creating a copy in the custom folder (the regular upgrade-safe customization mechanism in SuiteCRM).
You will probably also have to figure out the Javascript that is hiding and showing the box, although it might be easy to just change the id or the class so that the existing Javascript doesn’t find the box, so it can’t hide it… but only if this doesn’t break something else.