The time has come! Google encourages any customers still using legacy G Suite to make the transition to Google Workspace. Customers that have not self-transitioned will be automatically transitioned by Google. For customers who purchased via a reseller, the first automatic transitions begin in January 31, 2022. On the other hand, for customers who purchased G Suite directly from Google, transitions begin in November 2021. But good news! Google is extending the migration discounts until January 31, 2022.

When will the changes take place?

It is official — Here is an email we received from Google in September 2021: "Specific details including their new subscription offering will be sent to customers at least 30 days in advance of their term/contract ending." - Google

In summary:

• Mid-November 2021--> Automatic transitions for customers who purchased G Suite directly from Google
• January 31, 2022 --> Automatic transitions for customers who purchased via a reseller. Last chance to get the migration discounts!

That means you still have some time before a migration. But companies might want to take action now!

"It's important to note that all G-Suite accounts with more than 300 seats will be forced to migrate to Enterprise plans. Now is the time to do it voluntarily and secure discounts. Google still offers some discounts for early migration-upgraders. If the forced migration comes in place, these discounts are gone." - says Dominik Senk, Head of Operations at Sastrify.

If you need support to renegotiate your contracts, get in touch with us.

Here is the post we created back in December 2020

‍Google’s announcement on rebranding its productivity and collaboration toolset was back in October 2020. It triggered a wave of excitement and trepidation across its users. G Suite, now Workspace, has been the go-to solution of many small business owners for communication, organization, and file storage. This transformation, in particular, was a huge selling point of G Suite for business owners. 

However, it looks like things are about to change with Workspace. Let’s find out more below.

G Suite to Workspace: Is it goodbye to unlimited storage?

G Suite offers three plans for its users: Basic, Business, and Enterprise. Business and Enterprise users are given access to unlimited storage if they purchase five or more seats. In the case of buying less than five seats, storage space would be limited to 1TB per user.

Workspace offers four plans: Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, and Enterprise. Business Plus was introduced as an option for business owners who may need more from the plan but are not ready to go for the Enterprise. 

In contrast to G Suite’s offerings, Workspace doubles (and even quintuples) the storage allocated per seat in its Business Standard and Business Plus plans for those with less than five users. This is considered good news, until recognizing that the unlimited storage option for five or more seats is noticeably absent.

So, what does this mean? There are many concerns for business owners who have been relying on G Suite’s storage for storing and safekeeping their files. Fortunately, David Gewirtz of ZDNet went out of his way to try to get some clear answers from the Google team. 

With Workspace, unlimited storage seems to be a thing in the past.

The responses from the Google team were not completely reassuring but they did insist that Enterprise users who need more storage can ask for it at no additional cost. For Business Standard and Business Plus, the allocation remains fixed at 2TB and 5TB per user, respectively. Unlimited storage seems to be out of the question since the Google team claims that only a relatively small number of organizations truly need it.

G Suite Business users can still access unlimited storage in their plan—for now.

The Google team mentioned they are offering a greater variety of editions with more granular differentiation in Workspace. But storage limits, based on their updated plan offerings, will now be imposed on Business users migrating from G Suite to Workspace.

The question about whether the migration is mandatory or optional for G Suite Business users was not answered. Neither was the question on what happens to your data over 2TB or 5TB once you do migrate to Workspace. 

That said, it seems like users can still access unlimited storage via their G Suite Business plan for now. Of course, you need to prepare your next steps, particularly if the change to Workspace would cause you storage capacity concerns. With Google’s rebranded suite, it seems like there's no more unlimited storage.

Keeping your price range as you move to Workspace

For most G Suite users, this will not be a downgrade but some changes in features. (source).

Changes from G Suite Basic to Business Starter

• Chat: users will not be able to accept chat invitations automatically.
• Endpoint management: setting up Android devices or selectively distributing apps to those devices can not be possible.
• Sharing capabilities: links or files will be allowed to be shared outside of the organization.

Changes from G Suite Business to Business Standard

• Storage will be 2 TB per user. Storage promotions prior to downgrading will be kept. Any other purchased storage will not be automatically restored. For more information, check out Prevent storage restrictions.
• Google Vault: you will not be able to access the service anymore, whether or not you had it before upgrading. Messages and files can not be protected by holds and retention rules. All data deleted prior to 30 days will be immediately removed from Google and without the possibility of recovery. For more information, check out Prevent loss of data.‍
• Data location: you will not be able to set the data region policies for specific organizational units and groups.‍
• Meeting: limit of 150 participants to video conferences.‍
• Calendar: Rooms that decline invitations can not be replaced, and if all attendees decline, rooms will not automatically be released. Admins will not be able to clear room calendars or put them in maintenance mode. There will not be default durations for events.‍
• Endpoint management— setting up Android devices or selectively distributing apps to those devices will not be possible.‍
• Sharing capabilities: links or files will be allowed to be shared outside of the organization.
  

Let Sastrify help you with your options

• For Annual/Fixed-Term plans, the current G Suite subscription will be unaffected until you reach the renewal date.
• If you are currently on a monthly Flexible Plan, you can reach out to us, and we will assure a smooth transition.

We can help you go over options, like whether to freeze your G Suite accounts for another year or upgrade to Workspace now and maximize discounts. See how it works for yourself!

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