For more than a decade, we have been a Google Partner where we have recommended and supported the use of Google Workspace for our business customers.  In 2023, Google decided they no longer wanted smaller resellers like ourselves and summarily terminated our Partner agreement without explanation and then accepted no correspondence from us about that decision.  As more than a few of our customers have pointed out since, that's just how a lot of big companies roll these days, especially international corporations.

So, for our smaller Google Workspace customers with a handful of mailboxes or less, the cost to retain our access to their Admin Console for support is proportionally a tad high, so we have come up with a plan to switch over any of our Google Workspace customers to Google's main competitor in this space, Microsoft 365 Business, where we are also an authorised Partner and hope to remain so!

Here are the numbers based around retaining full Admin Console support through Lincoln Computer Centre

Calculating the Savings for a Single Mailbox GW 14/9/23

• Cost over 3 years for 1 x Google Workspace mailbox will be (say) $660 including the LCC Admin user account

• Cost over 3 years for 1 x Microsoft Exchange mailbox will be (say) $237 including the LCC Admin user account

• So that is a saving of $423 over 3 years

• The changeover cost in terms of LCC labour will be $200 so that's still a saving of $223 over three years and $141 per year beyond that

The changeover process

• Select a suitable date to changeover

• That afternoon, we will backup your existing Google emails

• That evening, we flick the switch on the changeover which will embed overnight

• The following morning, we will import your existing emails into your new mailbox and configure your devices as required

For more details, see below!

Retain Google Workspace GW 14/9/23

Google Workspace Starter

• Annual cost per Starter mailbox $110

• Annual cost for an additional Starter mailbox for Admin Console access by LCC $110

• So, the cost of a single mailbox jumps from $110 per year to $220 per year

• and therefore the cost of two mailboxes jumps from $220 per year to $330 per year

• and so on

Google Workspace Standard

• Annual cost per Starter mailbox $230

• Annual cost for an additional Starter mailbox for Admin Console access by LCC $230

• So, the cost of a single mailbox jumps from $230 per year to $460 per year

• and therefore the cost of two mailboxes jumps from $460 per year to $690 per year

• and so on

Switch to Microsoft 365 Business GW 14/9/23

Microsoft Exchange Online (Plan 1)

• Annual cost per user account $79

• There is no annual cost for an additional user account for Admin Console access by LCC

• So, the cost of a single mailbox reduces from $110 per year to $79 per year

• and therefore the cost of two mailboxes reduces from $220 per year to $158 per year

• and so on

Microsoft 365 Business Basic

• Annual cost per user account $119

• There is no annual cost for an additional user account for Admin Console access by LCC

• So, the cost of a single mailbox increases from $110 per year to $119 per year

• and therefore the cost of two mailboxes increases from $220 per year to $238 per year

• and so on

Microsoft 365 Business Standard

• Annual cost per user account $247

• There is no annual cost for an additional user account for Admin Console access by LCC

• So, the cost of a single mailbox increases from $230 per year to $247 per year

• and therefore the cost of two mailboxes increases from $460 per year to $494 per year

• and so on

Considerations GW 14/9/23

• This is a very good option for customers who mainly use Google Workspace for Email

• The lowest cost option involves using the Microsoft Outlook web interface at outlook.office.com

• If Microsoft Outlook is installed on a computer (as part of the Office suite) that is also an option 

• We recommend the use of the Microsoft Outlook app on phones and tablet computers

• The changeover cost above includes importing your existing emails and contacts

• If you are using Google Docs or Google Sheets we can convert them to Word & Excel files for an additional cost

• For any customer more heaviliy invested in Google Drive then we may recommend sticking with Google

• Note that Google Workspace remains a very good option for any business customer
  We use Google Workspace ourselves and we are heavily invested in Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Calendar & Sites!

For more information GW 14/9/23

Contact us and talk to your favourite LCC support tech, which could be Greg (who clearly considers himself a tech every now and then) or Alex, Brad or Max who will all be able to give you the advice you need!