Cloud Solutions

Your Customers Are Losing G Suite—Don’t Miss This Cloud Sales Opportunity

By Denise Sarazin / June 6, 2022

Sixteen years after it was first launched, the free edition of Google’s Business Legacy G Suite solution has reached its end of life and will be discontinued effective August 1, 2022. As a result, businesses that still use Legacy G Suite need to decide before June 1 where they want to move their accounts and all of their data. For most, the logical choice is Google Workspace, which includes all the features that legacy G Suite customers already use, plus many new capabilities—including more storage, increased security, and 24/7 support that meet business needs for remote work and collaboration tools.

Businesses have options in how they handle this change, but any business still using Business Legacy G Suite needs to complete the transition to Google Workspace if they want to stay on the Google platform and retain their data.

What does this mean for tech advisors?

If you haven’t yet tapped the significant value and new sources of SaaS revenue that you could bring to your business, supporting your customers in their transition to Google Workspace gives you the perfect opportunity to finally have the cloud conversation you may have been meaning to have—but hadn’t gotten around to yet.

If you’re looking at how to break into selling cloud and SaaS, we recommend starting with email. Ninety-five per cent of customers are already using either Google or Microsoft. And once you become their vendor for email it is an easy path to being their vendor of choice for all their SaaS needs.

But how do you get there? In this blog, we’ll cover:

• Why this transition is happening now
• The opportunity for advisors, and how they can seize it
• The types of customers who may be affected
• Transition and export options available

A Brief History of G Suite—And Why This Transition Now?

In 2006 Google shook up what was a Microsoft Office-dominated business productivity tool market and began offering Google Apps. For small and micro businesses this free version was a fully capable and cost-effective alternative to Office Suite. In 2012 Google stopped offering new users the free version of what would become G Suite in 2016. Now, 20 years later, Google is sunsetting that legacy free version, and soon G Suite altogether.

With the move to remote work, and the changing demands of the modern workforce, G Suite is being replaced with Google Workspace, a highly functional email and productivity suite. Since 2021, users have been notified that they must choose and move to a Google Workspace plan, or Google will auto transition to the appropriate plan, and begin billing June 1, 2022.

Don’t Miss These Dates

• June 30, 2022 Transition discounts expire
• August 1, 2022 First Invoice due. Non-payment within 30 days results in the account being deactivated.

There are some conditions surrounding these dates. For detailed information and milestones, see our Customer FAQs—Legacy G Suite for Business is Ending—Answers to Tech Advisors’ Questions.

Why Should Advisors Get Involved? Or, isn’t 10 percent better than Zero?

Despite receiving notifications, many G Suite users haven’t taken any steps towards this important transition. As we rapidly approach the May 31 deadline for your customers to advise Google of their intentions, this opens the door to discuss email with all your clients, and to find out if they’re still on Legacy G Suite—whether the free version or the paid business editions. And once you’ve opened the door with email, a world of SaaS potential opens for your business. So if you aren’t already selling software to your customers, there’s no better time to start than today—with the many customers who could use a nudge from you on this transition.

While there is a flex model, committing for a 1- or even 3-year term unlocks discounts on many Google Workspace editions until June 30, 2022. So not only do you have the opportunity to open up a new market for your business, but you also add value for your customers through the ability to offer them significant discounts.

What Choices Are Available to Customers?

In helping your customers manage through this transition away from Legacy G Suite, they have three primary options.

1. Transition their G Suite to a comparable Google Workspace edition

To choose the right edition of Google Workspace, it’s important to factor in your customers’ business requirements, particularly:

• The number of users and their storage usage
• Features they currently use
• Features they’d like to use in the future, or might consolidate from other vendors

Following are the recommended transition paths to ensure a service that is comparable or better than what customers currently have, and to avoid options that would mean a downgrade—or feature loss—from what they currently have.

Current Edition. | Recommended Edition

G Suite Basic | Business Standard

G Suite Business | Enterprise Plus

To compare the plans side by side, see Compare Flexible Pricing | Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) or contact us for more support.

2. Take advantage of continued non domain-based options in a free Google Workspace Individual, and Workspace Essentials for applications

For email—There are non-business G Suite users who utilize the business G Suite free edition for the specified domain function. ( like John@smithfamily.com). These customers, along with business users who prefer to use a free edition, can transition to a non domain address: @gmail instead of @smithfamily.com.

For apps—Organizations that don’t use email, but rely on applications like Docs, Sheets, Meet, and so on, can take advantage of Google Workspace Essentials for teams of up to 25 users.

3. Move to a different email solution

While Google offers an amazing collaborative suite, Microsoft is still the dominant provider for email and productivity. Other options include Zoho, or services offered through web hosting or Internet providers. If moving away from Google seems to be the right path, users can export their data relatively easily. This guide covers the export process as well as how to cancel your account.

As the old saying goes, the best defense is a good offense. Customers are most likely already thinking about this transition for their business, and if they aren’t they will soon, with a looming deadline soon upon them. Instead of standing on the sidelines while they purchase from Google directly, you could capitalize on this silver-plate opportunity to provide your customers with sound guidance on their options, and to venture into selling cloud solutions to expand your reach. When your customers purchase Google Workspace from AppSmart, you earn a commission, you can layer in add-ons from a huge catalog of solutions, and your customers get 24/7 Tier 1, 2, and 3 support.

For the complete transition guide visit: Google Workspace transition is happening now.