Indian MSMES Express Concern with Google Workspace’s Revised Pricing
Several Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises or the MSMEs expressed worry about rising expenses following a recent modification to pricing for Google Workspace solutions. One of the businesses claimed in an open letter to Google India’s senior management on August 17 that such pricing practises would add an extra Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 5,000 crores in annual costs for Indian MSMEs for services they would never utilise.
Sanjay Gupta, the head of Google India, Mayoori Kango, the head of industry—agency partnerships, and Amit Kumar, director of sales for Google Cloud India, were the recipients of the letter from Synersoft Technologies. Additionally, copies of the letter were forwarded to the Indian Competition Commission, MSMEs, IT and broadcasting, science and technology, industry and commerce, finance and various other recipients.
The CEO of Synersoft Technologies, has explained the myth by stating that, in the past, each enterprise user would pay about Rs. 2,500 on a per annum basis for the G-Suite Basic 30 GB storage space plan.If, for example, two senior team members required more storage capacity, only those two individuals may upgrade their plans to receive 100 GB of extra space for a fee of Rs. 1,300 per user per year.
However, they were informed of a new pricing strategy as of June.
Then Google declared that G-Suite would be rebranded as Google Workspace with specified policy adjustments. We’ve been told that the extra 100 GB of storage is no longer accessible. The “Business Standard” category, which has a minimum storage requirement of 2 TB and costs Rs. 10,000 per user on a yearly basis, must be upgraded. Additionally, they stated that you must upgrade all of your accounts to 2 TB storage if you require more storage than 30 GB in a single account, according to Shah.
It was also stated that there is a force to upgrade all 50 accounts (of staff) to a 2 TB storage at a 400% greater cost because I just require 130 GB for a few individuals. From Rs. 1,20,000, there is a yearly outflow of Rs. 5,00,000.
Google understands that MSMEs which are small can’t have data of 100 TB (50 users with 2 TB each), and that they won’t be able to use it or avail it. This is what was stated by an MSMEs representative. Therefore, it is not need to provision 100 TB on its cloud and is still able to charge for 100 TB, according to Shah.
It was also stated that, in the past, the cost of using Google email accounted for about 7 to 10 percent of the overall amount spent on digital expenses for operations, which also includedSoftware as a Service (SaaS) subscriptions, Internet prices, and other expenses. The cost for Google email accounts now only accounts for up to 30% of total digital spending, according to experts, and this is because of the pricing shift and the necessity to upgrade it for all the employees of the entity.
In case someone wishes to download data and move to another provider, Google has also limited the amount of data that can be transferred at once, according to expert from Synersoft.
The process of exporting email data from Google Workspace is complicated. The majority of MSMEs are unable to comprehend them, and their only option is to download all emails sent to the new service provider from Google. Google has a rule that I can’t download all of my emails at once to another service provider if I wish to. Every hour, it will permit a set quantity of emails before waiting for the following cycle. It requires days. And now, emails have stopped.
Global technology MNCs typically craft a particular strategy for India that includes offering goods at the most affordable prices and services initially either free or at a very minimal charge with a number of add-on facilities,said Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General, Confederation of All India Traders or the CAIT. Once customers or businesses gain accustomed to their services, they raise the costs. In the beginning, these businesses use AI and ML to track the data and purchasing power of each and every individual or business using their services. Later, as users grow accustomed to these services, however, they start charging exorbitant fees, making it impossible for users to refuse to use them.
Google provides customised services
Based on certain enquiries, a Google representative clarified that, with each customer’s particular collaboration and security needs in mind, we have been assisting our clients with the transition to our new editions ever since we introduced Google Workspace in 2020. When switching to Google Workspace solutions, the vast majority of our customers will experience little to no change, and we are assisting all of our customers in making the switch.
The representative also added that from smaller businesses wishing to make quick, self-service purchases to larger enterprises with more sophisticated requirements, Google Workspace offers customised alternatives that are in line with how clients want to acquire our integrated suite of apps. Additionally, they are heavily investing in Google Workspace’s value for all customers, including those in consumer, enterprise, SMB,non-profit, education, and various other sectors.
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