In this week’s blog, we dive into the subject of migrations to Office 365 from Google Workspace. Google Workplace is a direct competitor with Office 365 in terms of functionality and what they offer. Many of the different services supplied by Google Workspace have a 1-to-1 comparison within Office 365.
- Email: Google Gmail = Microsoft Exchange
- File Management: Google Drive = O365 OneDrive
Considerations for Migrations
When thinking about moving from Google Workspace into O365, it is important to realize that there is a separation between the technical solution and the business requirement/function. If there is a business function that an organization needs to achieve using a productivity suite like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, they can likely accomplish what they need in either platform, but not necessarily in the same way.
When migrating from Google Workspace to Office 365, as I mentioned before, there might be some things that businesses require to reform or rebuild in the M365 space. There is a benefit to having an entire suite of offerings and a whole product space within Microsoft that’s tied in with Office 365 directly. Today, users can not necessarily connect these same things with Google Workspace or Google itself.
When talking about building out environments in Azure, the on-premise ties from Azure AD to Active Directory and identical projects all seamlessly integrate with existing on-prem Microsoft environments.
This simply doesn’t exist or isn’t as seamless when attempting to tie it in with the Google Workspace system. Many customers of ours are thinking about or have thought about migrating, and it is necessary to understand that some areas may need to be rebuilt within the new Microsoft systems to realize the additional advantages that Microsoft systems can bring.
Overlooked Complexity in Migrations
Many businesses who try to complete this task on their own within their IT departments overlook the differences between the two systems and miss some things on their first attempt at migrating. When interviewing AJ Smith, Director of Professional Services, the first topic that came to mind was the differences in how file management is handled between the two different systems.
SharePoint exists in the background of everything file management-wise and within a lot of workload pieces in O365. The reason behind selecting storage in SharePoint is that the team can have multiple owners and is going to stay active regardless of what happens with the user accounts that are connected. It prevents users from losing data if any theft or human error. The data loss security has capabilities to protect email, sites, and files. The Best Hosted Virtual Desktop Providers make it simple and easy to supply secure and cost-effective solutions for remote working.
Migrations because of Price Increases
For Google tenants that have more than 300 users, Google has discontinued the power to use their small business level suites. Previously, businesses could utilize as many licenses as they needed within the lower-level licensing tiers paying anywhere from two to ten dollars a month.
They have now discontinued the ability to use these more reasonable plans for any tenants that have more than 300 users, so migrations are on many businesses’ minds. Businesses with many users (>300) now must purchase higher-level enterprise licenses.
Conclusion
Acquiring expert migration assistance from service providers like Apps4Rent is the Finest if you’re planning a Google Workplace to O365 Migration. These providers also have expertise in DaaS Solutions and provide support to their customers which makes them perfect partners to select for the service.
