Whether you are considering a migration to G Suite or a long time customer of Google Cloud, here's how you can save money on G Suite Licensing. Having consulted to thousands of companies on G Suite we've found most companies with 10 or more users can reduce their G-Suite costs by up to 20%.

Working with IT department and Solution Provider peers, Our Google Apps Administrator have helped thousands of business users switch to G Suite Business from Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes, IMAP servers, etc. The experience is quite satisifying, akin to helping someone move into a shiny new sports car or home.

While it's but one reason to switch, there's significant value in G Suite Business apps. Google offers 3 versions of the productivity software, G Suite Basic at $5/user per month includes the core apps with a basic feature set. There's a wee bit of actual feature crippling in the G Suite Basic version so we recommend and most of our clients use G Suite Business.

Most people differentiate G Suite business by only one feature: Unlimited Drive space. However, it's under the hood, or in the apps admin console, where the real value of G Suite Business begins to appear. Two key differentiators for information technology experts include Google Vault (retention and ediscovery) as well as advanced reporting and logging.

Here's How to Save Money on G Suite Before You Switch.

Google Cloud and partners tout that more than 5 million business use G Suite. That's less than 5% of the 115 million businesses guestimated to exist around the world. If you're considering a switch to G Suite Business here's how you can save money on licensing and the migration to Google Cloud.

G Suite Free Trial Users Get 20% off G Suite Basic or Business.

The G Suite Referral Program allows companies and bloggers like Coolhead earn rewards while helping others discover a better way of working (with G Suite)

We provide a coupon code to our referrals, providing them with 20% off per user for the first year as a G Suite customer. Our referrals enter their coupon code in the Billing section of the Apps Admin Console when they sign up or throughout their 14-day trial period.

Each coupon code is unique and can only be redeemed by one customer from the country you signed up in.

Existing Google Apps Admins: Avoid G Suite License Creep

There's a discussion over on Reddit about "G Suite License creep due to data hoarding." While your Google Partner and most of us in IT worry about "Scope Creep" the issue of license creep in G Suite goes fairly un-addressed, until now. Here's how to find and deal with it.

The discussion, like many, turned into an O365 vs G Suite trollercoaster ride, although some helpful points were made. Redditers mostly opined that G Suite provides very limited direct access to user data. This is by Google Cloud's security first design. I appreciate the fact that Admins, including Super Admins in G Suite, have very limited access to any user information, if any.

Here's How our Google Apps Admins Help Businesses Save Money on G Suite

The Apps Admin console reports and logs in G Suite Business and Enterprise make it easy to examine potential security risks, measure user collaboration, track who signs in and when, analyze apps administrator activity, and much more. The reports have interactive graphics and tables that show broad, domain-level data alongside some user-level details. Prepare to export to slice and dice the data your way - you can export directly to Google Sheets.

Step 1: Open your Users List in the Apps Admin Console

In your Google Admin console (at admin.google.com)...
Go to Users.
At the top of the Users page, click More and choose Download users.
1. Select Download all users to include all users, including suspended users.
2. Check the Google spreadsheet box and click OK to download the list as a Google spreadsheet.

Step 2. Take a Look at the Last Login for your G Suite Users

The format for this column is YYYMMDD ( 20170620 for June 20, 2017) Tag accounts that are fair game for consolidation by adding a column in the sheet and adding a note.

Step 3. Review Email Addresses and Names.

As the Google Apps Super Admin do you have control over your user creation process? CIOs need to advocate for a closer IT Department relationships with Human Resources to protect the integrity of your G Suite Domain. Consider adding them to review the sheet to tag dismissed or departed employees.

Businesses pay for any G Suite User account, regardless of status.

An Active User has an account that is accessible. "Someone" has access to any service is that is turned on. These accounts are costing you G Suite licenses each month.
A Suspended user has an account that has been temporarily disabled by an administrator. These accounts are costing you G Suite licenses each month.
A Blocked user has violated G Suite's Terms of Service. Google suspend them and marks them Abusive. These accounts are costing you G Suite licenses each month.

The Most Cost Effective Ways to Consolidate G Suite User Accounts

You may have issued accounts that you no longer need or just don't need anymore. I've seen folks feel obliged to create a G Suite license for a "company email address" or other semi-useful but not worth a license accounts.

UsE FREE Google Cloud Identity Accounts (Managed Google Accounts)

Now there's a new, free product for G Suite Admins, "Google Cloud Identity", which is an Identity as a Service (IDaaS) solution. As an administrator, you can use GoogleCloud Identity to manage all of your users easily from a central location—the Google Apps Admin console.

This means if you have users to manage in Slack, RingCentral and other enterprise apps but these users don't necessarily need G Suite Business or enterprise, these are available for free inside the Google Apps Admin Console.

Google Cloud Identity provides free, managed Google Accounts to users who don’t need G Suite Services, such as Gmail or Drive. You can use Cloud Identity accounts with other Google services, such as Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Chrome, Android enterprise, and Google Cloud's growing catalog of third-party SaaS applications.

1. Do you need to Consolidate G Suite Mail, Contacts, Calendar appointments AND Google Drive Data?

NO - Use the data migration tool built inside of G Suite's Apps Admin Console. Only migrate one account at a time when consolidating accounts to the same address. When the migration is complete follow your process for user deletion which includes the option to transfer files in Google Drive.

YES - If you need to migrate "The Whole Enchilada" ( ie, consolidate one user's G Suite mail, Contacts, Calendar and Drive to another user's) Use one of the more robust online data migration tools like BitTitan's Migration Wiz (as part of MSP Complete) or Cloud Technology Solutions "The Cloud Migrator."

In July, Apps Admins is offering 50% Off Managed Migrations ($5 per account migrated versus $10 per user) - A Managed migration provides the assistance of a Google Certified Administrator to completely manage whichever migration software you use.

Bonus: Save money on ANY G Suite Basic or Business Account.

Google is working hard to build a network of Google Cloud Partners to offer G Suite Business and enterprise services for Google Cloud Platform and multi-Cloud strategies. As such Google Cloud Partners and Premier Cloud partners will offer discounts and volume discounts on G Suite Licenses just for the right to be appointed Google Cloud Partner of Record.

Google Cloud Partners can save you up to 20% on at least a year's worth of G Suite licensing just for the introduction. We work with partners globally to pair mid-market businesses with the best local, "nearshore", and remote Google Certified Professionals. Contact Coolhead Tech's Apps Admins to get the best price on this hot, web based business Productivity Suite from Google Cloud.

Use a Transfer Token to switch your G Suite account to a Google Reseller and save up to 20% for at least a year.

If you want to transfer the management of your G Suite account to a reseller, Google needs a transfer token to associate your account with the Google Cloud partner. Everything stays the same except that the billing is now done by the Google reseller.

The transfer token just lets the reseller add you as one of their customers and take over the billing for G Suite licenses.

Get your G Suite transfer token for the Discount:

Go to admin.google.com/TransferToken.
Sign in with your domain’s administrator username and password.
- The page automatically generates a token.
Give the token's alphanumeric code to your reseller, who can complete the transfer for you.
- Note: Transfer tokens expire 14 days after being generated.

Once the transfer is completed by your reseller, your transferred account becomes a new G Suite subscription, and the reseller bills you instead of Google.

CONCLUSION:

Taking the time to review your domain's G Suite user accounts is well worth the cost savings and can help improve your security posture. If you're paying Google directly for G Suite licenses you can easily switch to a Google Cloud Partner or G Suite reseller and save up to 20% per year.