Every business or organisation, one way or the other, always tries to find a way to reduce its costs. Realistically, this will increase business owners’ profitability. So when reducing costs, labour-related expenses are typically the first to look at. And under this facet, we have Google Workspace costs.
Many businesses are actually spending more than they should with Google Workspace and they don’t even know it. This could be for a number of reasons such as the lack of periodic account check-ups, not getting good deals, having, and inactive accounts.
Today, Onsite Helper has compiled the most important tips on how you can reduce Google Workspace costs that may help you save more money for your business.
1. Get a better Google Workspace cost from a Google Partner
When you get your Google Workspace plans directly from Google, you might not always be getting the best price for you and your business. Additionally, subscribing to a Google Workspace plan without any guidance might just end up costing you more than helping you.
Some businesses tend to just go for the cheapest plan without knowing that the next level of license is actually more beneficial for their business. On the other hand, some businesses also get too much–ending up with having too many unnecessary features with a high bill to pair with it.
To make sure that you’re getting the best help that you can and you’re getting the best value for your buck, get help from a Google Partner like Onsite Helper. We can help you pick the best Google Workspace plan for your needs, and at the same time, we can cut deals that you can’t usually avail of if you’ve done the whole thing yourself.
Just recently, G Suite changed to Google Workspace and so did the plans. Many businesses have been moved to a new plan which may have some changes integrated. Such changes are the prohibition of recording their video meetings, the new limit on the number of emails/data they can store, and the new way of how archive and retention work in Google Vault. Onsite Helper was successful in getting significant discounts on licenses (up to 40% off) when changing to the new plans.
On top of that, you won’t be overwhelmed by the scale and features that Google Workspace offers because Google Partners like Onsite Helper will be able to handle them for you. Get the full support of a Google Partner from choosing the right plan, migrating your business system to Google Workspace, and integrating the Google Workspace ecosystem to your business!
2. Delete or migrate the accounts you don’t need
As the Google Workspace Admin, you really need to keep your accounts in check. One of the biggest concerns that most businesses have with deleting accounts is that they might need some information in the future that is on that account.
If you have many accounts, it can be difficult to determine which are active or inactive. The system we use is to export the list of user accounts into a google sheet, then sort by last login date. We create a list of the users who haven’t logged in for over a month, then check each user’s email logs to confirm if there have been no emails sent during this period. With that, you can archive and delete the accounts that have been inactive.
With Google Workspace, you can organize accounts like that and minimize clutter by migrating the information on inactive accounts or accounts of old employees. For example, you can create an account named “[email protected]” and migrate all business information from any of your workforce’s old accounts there. That way, whenever you need information that an old employee might have, you know exactly where to look and you don’t have to keep a lot of inactive accounts for it.
If the old accounts are still receiving new emails, you can just have it set up, making those emails and even new ones to be automatically sent to the email address “[email protected].” If setups like this seem complicated for you, Google Workspace experts from Onsite Helper will be able to quickly help you.
3. Convert shared email accounts into free collaborative inboxes
Group owners and managers can create a collaborative Inbox for their groups, where members can take and assign tasks. With the ability to create a collaborative Inbox, group owners and managers can easily share and collaborate with their teams.
Examples of shared inboxes are those from generic email accounts like sales@, info@, and accounts@. If you have these paid email accounts and are constantly being used and managed by others in your organisation, then it would be wise to have them converted into Group collaborative inboxes. You’ll achieve the same results without high costs.
How does it work?
Google Group’s Collaborative Inbox allows you to do the following if you have the correct permissions:
- Take a conversation that your group members responded to
- Assign the responsibility for a conversation to another member of the group
- Mark a conversation as complete, duplicate, or indicate if no action is necessary
- Search conversations according to the resolution status or the assignee
How can you make a group Collaborative Inbox?
- Create a Group
- Add members who will assign and track conversations to your Google Group
- Turn on Collaborative Inbox features in your Google Group
- Assign the right permissions to each member
4. Use domain alias
If you’re changing your domain name from “olddomain.com” to “newdomain.com,” you might try to create new accounts on the new domain. The problem arises when you’d still want to keep your accounts on the old domain – giving your employees two accounts and two email addresses. That setup will only cost you double since you’d be doubling your number of accounts.
A better solution would be to utilise domain aliases. If you add the new domain as a domain alias, you can set it up in such a way that you can still send and receive emails using both old and new domains, but only be under one account – allowing you to have two email addresses at no additional cost.
5. Use user aliases
This next tip is somewhat similar to the previous one. The difference is that when you use a domain alias, you create multiple email addresses for all of the users. With user aliases, it’ll only affect the users that need it.
Let’s say that you have two companies with domains “phonecompany.com” and “foodcompany.com”. Obviously, employees working in their respective companies would get the appropriate email addresses. However, what about the people that are involved in both of the companies? That’s where a user alias becomes useful. In this situation, instead of having two accounts of the people working on both companies, you can set up a user alias. A user alias gives a user an alternate email address for receiving emails without the need for an additional account. For example, you can have an alias like “[email protected]” or “[email protected]”.
6. Invest in your IT hardware by using Chrome OS
The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of a working computer is comprised of the cost of the following:
- Computer hardware and OS used (e.g. Windows laptop or a Macbook)
- Office operations software (e.g. Microsoft Office)
- Security software (e.g. antivirus, firewall, spam protection)
- Backup software or device (e.g. external hard drive)
- Computer maintenance
- Downtime due to reboots and slow performance
- IT support
Putting all of these into consideration, the TCO of a typical working computer is more than what you think. To mitigate this, Google offers the Google Chromebook that runs on Chrome OS.
Google’s Chromebook can save businesses up to 50% on the TCO for the IT department alone. Chromebooks are simple to use, they are extremely fast, they’re built for businesses, it operates mostly on the cloud, and it has a lot of built-in security features. It requires little-to-no maintenance and it can add so much value to the system of your business.
If you’re worried about using Google Workspace because you’ve been using Microsoft Office, don’t be! You can learn how to use Google Workspace to open Microsoft Office files here.
Learn how you can know if Chrome OS will work well with your business with Google’s CRIS or Chrome Readiness IT Scorecard. And if you want to know more about the security features of Chrome OS, read Onsite Helper’s article on the most secure OS.
Want to know more about Google Chromebooks and Chrome OS? Have a 30-day trial and see how it works for your business!
There you have it, you can now reduce your Google Workspace costs
5 different tips that will help you and your business save costs by reducing your Google Workspace fees. If you are in Australia and you are in need of Google Workspace experts to come and audit your IT system, speak to us today and fill up our form here.
We will provide you with a FREE top-to-bottom audit of your IT system and make sure that you are getting the most out of Google Workspace for your business.
For any questions and concerns, don’t hesitate to contact Onsite Helper.
