Why my TPE took a Google Workspace Enterprise subscription instead of the Business Plus offer

It all started about a year ago, when Google renamed its premium service G Suite to Workspace. In a relatively low-key fashion, Google not only changed the brand, but also removed the unlimited storage option for Business-level subscriptions that many G Suite customers relied on.

After all of our interactions with Google’s help desk and Google’s public relations officers, some questions remained unanswered. For example, what happens with data already stored on Drive that exceeds the volume of new Workspace subscriptions? When (or will) the ability to continue downloading end? Will existing users be grandfathered and able to continue using the storage they are currently using? Is there a migration deadline?

Google’s responses were too vague and uninviting to serve as a basis for planning critical business operations. So I decided, like many other Google G Suite refugees I’ve spoken to, to wait and see. After all, migrating 20 or 30TB to the cloud is a long and unpleasant operation.

For a year, Google did not say a word. My fellow Business Plan users and I have quietly resumed our lives.

But then…

On November 10, I received (and as the explosion of tweets and emails I have received, many other users have shown) a message with the subject line ” [Action requise] Start your transition from G Suite to Google Workspace ”. Hoho!

Again, we weren’t sure if our existing files would be deleted, if our storage usage would be maintained, etc. But given that this conversation with Google started almost exactly a year ago, the consensus was that we should probably find a solution or bad things could happen.

I have five file servers on site. In total, they hold one-fifth of a petabyte, or 200TB. Some of that volume is duplicate storage. I’m a big believer in the 3-2-1 backup strategy, so I keep multiple copies of all my files and data on-premises, as well as in the cloud.

I don’t save everything to the cloud. For example, I don’t save multiple versions of videos in production because it uses a huge amount of data and I don’t really need remote copies. But I am saving all the original video assets. In total, I have just over 47 terabytes hosted on Google Drive.

There is a problem because the standard Workspace Business subscription allows 2 TB per user. The Business Plus subscription authorizes 5 TB per user. At 15.60 euros per month for the Plus plan, I would have to buy 10 user accounts to cover my current usage, not even considering the monthly increase in storage consumption that entropy of backup and backup. production product.

Going from just over $ 60 per month to $ 180 per month (and more over time) is a big step forward for a small, two-person business.

Look, mom! I am a business!

But Google also offers Workspace Enterprise subscriptions. It was not easy to find the details of these subscriptions. The company does not publish terms or prices. Instead, she asks you to contact a sales representative.

In my experience, finding a Google Enterprise seller is like finding a pink unicorn. Not once, in some 10 attempts over the past year, has someone from Google Enterprise called me back after filling out the Google Enterprise sales contact form. I tried to call. I managed to reach one person, but they were unable to answer questions about the storage and informed me that someone would call me back. It never happened.

I also tried talking to Google Support through my Workspace / G Suite Business plan account. During my chat session, I was transferred from a support representative to a supervisor level person. When I asked about storage and pricing for business, I was told, “You need to contact the Google sales team by filling out this form: https://workspace.google.com/contact- form ”.

I guess having selected “2-9 employees” in the contact form makes me a low value lead that doesn’t warrant a human response from the Google sales team.

But it turns out that you can initiate an upgrade from Business to Enterprise in the Workspace administration dashboard. Once the upgrade has started, you will be informed of the pricing structure as part of the upgrade process.

Also, it turns out (and this confirms user feedback in December 2020) that the Enterprise Standard plan is $ 20 per month per user. The minimum number of users is five. So for $ 100 per month, I (and anyone else who needs a large amount of online storage) can sign up for an Enterprise plan.

And that’s what we’ve done. My small business has five accounts in the Enterprise Standard plan. My wife and I each have an account on this subscription. We also have three additional unassigned accounts, which we pay only because paying for these accounts allows us to benefit from the unlimited storage option.

The rest of the story

Last month I upgraded to the Enterprise plan and didn’t receive any “you’re consuming too much storage” type reviews, so … maybe? I had in mind this statement from Google: “Enterprise customers will be able to request as much storage as they want”.

To ask. This word worries me. I mean, “will be able to ask” pretty much defined my childhood. I asked for a lot of things. I was able to ask a lot of things. But, my parents were able to say no. Thus, the idea that “Enterprise customers will be able to request as much storage space as needed” does not in any way confirm that these customers will get as much storage space as needed.

So this week, I contacted Google’s help desk again. This time around, I’m assuming that since I’m now an Enterprise customer, the support person was up for a chat. As you can see below, I was told, “your account has unlimited storage as long as you keep 5 or more users”.

Is this an official response? In any case, this is the answer I would quote to Google if I am criticized for my 47 TB storage footprint (which continues to grow).

As for the future, I would like Google to confirm that it is no longer going to pull coverage for itself with the Enterprise plan, but it’s not just Google. This is the case with most technology companies. Businesses are doing what they need to do to achieve their goals and internal metrics. If the unlimited storage for Enterprise subscription users doesn’t meet their needs, I’m sure those of us who are paying customers will have to scramble to find a new solution.

In the meantime, I hope we’ve at least gained a few years before having to look at the cloud storage problem again.

And you ? How do you manage cloud storage? Are you using tons of space or do existing small business subscriptions meet your needs?

Source: ZDNet.com