Google Workspace.
Business email on Gmail, Docs and Sheets built for people working on the same file at the same time, Drive, Meet and an admin console that stays out of your way. If your team already works in the browser, this is the platform built around that.
Google Workspace is a monthly subscription per member of staff. It covers your business email on your own domain through Gmail, the Docs, Sheets and Slides apps, cloud storage in Drive, video meetings in Meet, and a clean admin console for adding staff and removing leavers. Everything runs in a browser, so there is nothing to install, nothing to keep patched, and a new starter is productive on whatever laptop you hand them.
- Professional email on your own domain (@yourcompany.co.uk), using the Gmail interface most people already know
- Docs, Sheets and Slides, with genuinely best-in-class real-time collaboration and no files to email around
- Drive for personal storage and Shared Drives for team files, with one-click sharing
- Meet for video calls, joined from a browser link with nothing to download
- Works identically on Windows, Mac, Chromebook, iPad or phone, because it is all the same web app
The parts you will use every day
Gmail
The interface almost every UK office worker already knows from personal email, with business features underneath. Search is excellent, the mobile app is the best on either platform, and shared inboxes work through Google Groups.
Docs, Sheets and Slides
Several people can edit the same document at once with no version conflicts and nothing to save. Version history is detailed enough to name and roll back to a specific revision, which quietly removes a whole category of panic.
Drive
Personal cloud storage for each person, plus Shared Drives that hold team files independently of whoever created them. Sharing is a single link with clear permissions, which is why Google suits businesses that work with outsiders a lot.
Meet and Chat
Video meetings that open from a browser link with no download, strong on poor connections, with live captions and translation. Chat spaces keep team conversation, files and tasks together without becoming a second job to administer.
Sites and Shared Drives
A tidy internal hub for handbooks, policies and project areas, built without code. Deliberately simpler than SharePoint, which is the point: you get a working intranet without anyone having to become an intranet specialist.
Admin and Endpoint Management
A modern admin console with the security fundamentals covered on every plan: enforced two-step verification, security keys, and basic management for the phones and laptops your staff use.
We recommend Google Workspace when a business already lives in the browser and has no real attachment to desktop Office. It is faster to set up, cheaper at entry level, and it stays out of the way. These are the signals we look for on a first call.
- Nobody in the business builds complicated spreadsheets, and Sheets covers what you actually do
- Several people routinely work on the same document at the same time, and emailing versions around is the current pain
- You share files with clients, suppliers or partners constantly, and want that to be one link and no friction
- Your team is on a mix of Macs, Chromebooks and Windows machines and you would rather not care which
- You want a platform a new starter can use on day one without training, and admin that does not need a specialist
These are Google's own list prices as we last checked, and they adjust them periodically. We can quote net pricing against your seat count and commitment term. Most businesses we set up land on Business Standard, and move to Business Plus when storage, retention or eDiscovery becomes a real requirement.
- Business Starter, ~£5/user: custom-domain email, the full set of cloud apps and 30GB of storage per person
- Business Standard, ~£10/user: everything in Starter plus 2TB per person and Meet recording
- Business Plus, ~£16/user: everything in Standard plus 5TB per person, Vault retention and eDiscovery
- Enterprise plans sit above this, and are worth a conversation if compliance or data residency is driving the decision
How we set it up or move you across
Work out what you have
We look at where your email and files live today, how many people need licences, and whether anyone genuinely depends on desktop Excel or Word. If somebody does, we will say so before you commit, not after.
Build the tenant properly
Domain, DNS, email security records, two-step verification, groups, shared inboxes and Shared Drive structure set up the way they should be from day one, rather than patched later.
Migrate the data
Mailboxes, contacts, calendars and file storage move across with proper migration tooling. We run it so the cutover lands outside your working day and nothing arrives in the wrong mailbox.
Settle everyone in
Devices reconnected, signatures applied, a short walkthrough of anything that looks different, and we stay close for the first couple of weeks while the questions come in.
Questions we get asked about Google Workspace
Can I still open and edit Word and Excel files?
Yes. Docs and Sheets open Office files directly and can save back out in the same format, so exchanging documents with clients who use Microsoft is not a problem. Where it gets uncomfortable is heavy Excel work: complex macros and some advanced formula behaviour do not survive the round trip cleanly. If that describes anyone in your business, we would point you at Microsoft 365 instead.
Does Google Workspace back my data up?
Not in the way most people assume. Google keeps the service running and Vault can hold data for retention on higher tiers, but neither is the same as a backup you can restore from after an accidental deletion months ago or a ransomware event. We recommend adding a third-party backup on top, priced separately, for exactly this reason.
Can I mix plans across my team?
Yes. Staff who need lots of storage or Meet recording go on Standard, staff who only need email and the basics go on Starter. You are not obliged to licence everyone the same, and we would rather right-size it than round everybody up.
We are on Microsoft 365 now. Can we move?
Yes, and we do these migrations regularly. Mailboxes, contacts, calendars and OneDrive or SharePoint content all move across with proper tooling. The parts that need planning are heavy Excel workbooks and any shared links that live in other people's systems, so we map those before the cutover rather than after.
Is Gemini worth adding?
It is strong at drafting, summarising long threads and building first-pass content, and it is cheaper than the Microsoft equivalent on some tiers. As with any AI licence, the honest answer is that it earns its keep for the people who use it daily and quietly costs you for everyone else. We would rather start with the handful who will use it and review that after a quarter.
Let us work out the right plan before you buy anything.
A short call is enough for us to understand how your team works, count up who really needs what, and give you a straight answer on licensing. If Microsoft 365 turns out to suit you better, we will tell you that instead.