Google Workspace Consulting
The work that happens before the decision — whether to move at all, which platform fits, which edition your requirements actually demand, and what the whole thing will cost including the parts nobody quotes.
We are an authorized Google Workspace reseller, so read this knowing where we sit. What we can say plainly is that we tell businesses not to move fairly often — an Excel-dependent finance team, a Microsoft-managed device estate, or simply nothing being wrong with what they have. A migration needs a reason beyond the alternative being newer.
Where consulting sits
- 1ConsultingYou are hereShould we do this, and with what?
- 2ImplementationBuild it properly, once
- 3MigrationMove what already exists
Plenty of engagements stop at step one, because the assessment concludes there is no good reason to move yet.
Four questions a consultation answers
In this order, because each one can end the conversation. There is no point choosing an edition for a migration that should not happen.
Should you move at all?
The question most vendors skip, because the answer is sometimes no. If what you have works, nobody is leaving, and there is no compliance or cost pressure, then a migration is a project with a cost and no return. We would rather establish that in an hour than discover it together in month three.
Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or stay put?
Decided by what your work actually depends on rather than by feature lists. If your finance team runs on Excel macros, or your devices are domain-joined and managed through Microsoft, that usually settles it — and we will say so even though it is not the answer we sell.
Which edition, and why?
Driven by storage and compliance far more often than by headcount. Retention obligations, the real size of your file estate, and whether anyone needs organisation-wide search are the inputs. Getting this wrong is expensive in both directions.
What will it genuinely cost?
Licences are the easy part. The number that matters includes migration effort, the weeks you pay for both platforms, training time, and whether your shared mailbox count changes the licence maths. Most comparisons omit all four.
What an assessment actually looks at
Three groups of inputs, and the third is the one most assessments skip. How a team genuinely works decides more than either the current platform or the feature list.
What you run today
- Mailbox count and actual sizes, including accounts belonging to people who left
- The real file footprint — server, cloud, or someone's desktop
- Which shared addresses exist and how each is genuinely used
- Every system that sends mail as your domain
What constrains you
- Retention or audit obligations, and who imposes them
- Client or parent-company requirements about platform and controls
- Line-of-business software that expects a particular mail system
- Device estate — managed, unmanaged, or a mix nobody has mapped
How you actually work
- Whether documents are genuinely collaborated on or emailed around
- How much of the team is on Excel in a way that matters
- Whether anyone internal has the time to administer this
- Staff turnover, because it decides how much the leaver process is worth
Four times we say stay where you are
This is the section that makes the rest of the page worth reading. If a consultation cannot conclude “do nothing”, it is not an assessment — it is a sales process with a longer discovery phase.
Your finance team lives in Excel
Macros, Power Query, models of real size. Google Sheets is genuinely better for shared editing and genuinely not equivalent for heavy analytical work. If a core process depends on it, moving costs you more in friction than you save anywhere else.
Group IT will not permit it
Common for development centres and subsidiaries reporting to an overseas parent. Sometimes the local entity is simply better off on the parent's licences. Selling you a tenant you will be told to unwind helps nobody.
Your estate is deeply Microsoft-managed
Domain-joined devices, Group Policy, identity in Entra ID. Moving means taking that on as a separate project. Sometimes worth it, never free, and always worth pricing before deciding.
Nothing is actually wrong
If your current setup works, nobody has left recently, and no client is asking questions about your controls, the honest answer may be to do nothing for another year. A migration needs a reason beyond the platform being newer.
The first two are set out in detail on our Google Workspace versus Microsoft 365 comparison, which gives Microsoft more of the verdicts than it gives Google.
What you walk away with
A document you can act on, rather than a meeting you have to remember. The last item is the one that makes the rest of it trustworthy.
A written assessment, in plain language
What you run now, what the options are, what each would cost including the parts nobody quotes, and a recommendation with the reasoning behind it. Not a slide deck of feature comparisons.
A cost picture that includes the awkward bits
Licences, migration effort, the overlap period, training, and any change in licence count caused by how your shared addresses are structured.
The specific risks in your setup
The shared mailboxes with no Google equivalent, the PST archives nobody has counted, the line-of-business app that expects Outlook. Named, not generic.
It is yours, including elsewhere
Take it to another provider if you want a second quote. An assessment that only works if you hire us is a sales document wearing a different hat, and we would rather write the other kind.
When you do not need a consultation
Consulting earns its cost where the decision is genuinely open. Where it is not, paying someone to confirm what you already know is money better spent on the build itself.
You are under about ten people with a single source system and no compliance requirement
The decision has already been made by a client, a parent company or a regulator
You know what you want and simply need it done — that is implementation, not consulting
You have internal IT who have already done this analysis and want a second pair of hands, not a second opinion
If that describes you, go straight to implementation — or work through the migration checklist yourself, which is written to be usable without hiring anybody.
Google Workspace consulting — common questions
What does Google Workspace consulting actually involve?
Assessment before a decision. We look at what you run today, what constrains you, and how your team genuinely works — then set out whether moving makes sense, which platform fits, which edition your storage and compliance position requires, and what the whole thing will cost including migration, the overlap period and training. The output is a written assessment you can act on, with us or with somebody else.
How is this different from implementation?
Consulting answers whether to do it and with what. Implementation builds it: domain, structure, groups, Shared Drives, sharing policy, security baseline and rollout. Migration moves what already exists. Many engagements run all three, and plenty start and stop at consulting because the assessment concludes there is no good reason to move yet.
You sell Google Workspace. How is your advice independent?
It is not fully independent and we are not going to claim otherwise — we are an authorized Google Workspace reseller and we earn more if you buy licences through us. What we can point to is the commercial logic: a business we put on the wrong platform migrates away within two years having concluded we do not know our job, and we lose the relationship and the reputation. We also set up and support Microsoft 365 and implement Zoho, so recommending against Google Workspace does not mean recommending against us. Read the advice knowing where we sit and weigh it accordingly.
Will you ever tell us not to move?
Regularly. The most common cases are a finance team genuinely dependent on Excel macros, a device estate deeply managed through Microsoft, group IT policy that rules it out, or simply that nothing is wrong with what you have. A migration needs a reason beyond the alternative being newer, and if we cannot find one we will say so.
Do we have to use you for the implementation afterwards?
No. The assessment is yours and it is written to be usable by whoever does the work, including a competitor. That is deliberate — an assessment that only makes sense if you hire us is a sales document, and it would not be worth what you paid for it.
How long does an assessment take?
For a small organisation, a conversation and a few follow-up questions, with the written assessment a few days later. Larger or more complicated situations — several source systems, a compliance requirement, a parent company involved — take longer because the discovery genuinely takes longer. We will tell you which one you are before starting rather than after.
What does it cost?
The first conversation costs nothing, and for a lot of businesses that conversation is enough — the answer is clear and there is no assessment to write. Where a full written assessment is genuinely warranted it is scoped and quoted like any other piece of work. We will tell you honestly which situation you are in, including when the answer is that you do not need to pay us anything.
We already know we want Google Workspace. Do we need this?
Probably not, and you should skip straight to implementation. Consulting earns its cost where the decision is genuinely open, where the edition is not obvious, or where a compliance requirement needs establishing before licences are bought. If the decision is made and the requirements are clear, paying for someone to confirm it is money better spent on the build.
Related pages
Google Workspace Implementation
Once the decision is made — structure, policy, security and rollout.
Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365
The comparison, including where Microsoft genuinely wins.
Google Workspace Pricing in India
List prices in INR, and what actually drives the final figure.
Migration Checklist
If you would rather assess it yourself — nine phases, in order.
Get a Google Workspace consultation
Tell us what you run today and what is prompting the question. The first conversation costs nothing, and for a good number of businesses it is enough — the answer turns out to be clear and there is no assessment to write.
A straight answer on whether to move, including when that answer is no
Edition recommendation based on storage and compliance, not headcount
Cost including migration, the overlap period and training
A written assessment that is yours, usable by any provider
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