Google Workspace setup for businesses

What does a Google Workspace setup for a business include?

Seven things, in this order: verify the domain, set email DNS with MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC, create users and groups, structure shared drives with permissions, switch on security with two-factor sign-in and device rules, migrate existing mailboxes and files, brief the team. Doing only the first three gives you a mailbox, not a workplace.

The difference between “works” and “works cleanly” usually sits in the DNS and the permissions. Without SPF, DKIM and DMARC your mail lands in spam; without clear rights on shared drives, files sit in private folders that disappear when an employee leaves. We set up both so they keep running without us.

Google Workspace is one of two workspaces we build. The other is Nextcloud on your own server, more on that below.

How does the setup work?

First the inventory, then the plan, then the setup, then the migration, and finally the training. In the inventory we look at where your mail, calendars and files live today, who accesses what and which devices are in use. From that comes a plan with an order of steps and a date for the switch.

The setup itself happens without your team noticing: Workspace runs alongside the old system until everything is prepared. On switch day the MX records change, the mailboxes are already migrated and the files sit in the shared drives. Then comes the briefing: accounts, filing and access rights, so nobody keeps working in the old system after day one.

We use the same approach for every infrastructure we build, whether on-premises server or cloud. It is part of our Systems work.

Switching from Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace: what to consider?

Three things: the migration of mail, calendar and files, the habits of your team, and the question of whether the switch makes sense at all. Mailboxes and calendars can be carried over, OneDrive and SharePoint files move into shared drives. Office files remain usable, but anyone working daily with Excel macros or Access should know that before switching.

The honest answer to “should we switch?” is sometimes no. If your team works well with Microsoft 365 and only the setup is messy, we fix the setup instead of swapping the system. We do not sell a migration you do not need.

If the switch makes sense, we plan it so that both systems run in parallel for a while and switch day stays a normal working day.

What does it cost to have Google Workspace set up?

You pay the licences directly to Google, per user and month, depending on the edition. Our setup is priced as a project, depending on the number of users, the amount of data to migrate and whether an old system is being replaced. After the inventory you get a quote with a fixed scope.

What drives the effort: many mailboxes with long histories, nested shares in the old system, and devices that are not centrally managed. What lowers it: a team that pulls along during the switch, and a decision for clear filing rules. We discuss both beforehand.

Google Workspace or Nextcloud on your own server?

Google Workspace if your team works in different places, has little IT of its own and wants mail, calendar, files and video calls from one source. Nextcloud on your own server if your data must not leave the building or you want to control the environment yourself. We build both.

For a healthcare provider in Germany we built a local server on Proxmox, with separate virtual machines for the specialist applications and Nextcloud as the workspace and cloud system alongside. Health data under Article 9 GDPR is processed there, hence local. For a team that mainly wants to collaborate fast and from anywhere, Workspace would have been the better choice.

Which option fits you depends on data, team and budget. We clarify that in the inventory, before anything is set up.

Why Struktur for your Google Workspace setup?

Because we work on it ourselves. Struktur runs on Google Workspace: own domain, email DNS with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, shared drives for projects and clients. What we set up for you we use every day, and the mistakes one can make along the way we found in our own setup first.

On top of that, Workspace never stands alone with us. Our automation engineers connect it to what comes next: workflows that bring enquiries from Gmail into the CRM, reports that land in Sheets, and agents that work with your documents. The setup is the beginning, not the goal.