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Google Workspace in China

  • 15 November 2021
  • 8 replies
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Userlevel 1

Hi all, I am wondering how other companies with offices in China who use Google Workspace handle working with heir Chinese colleagues. 

We use a VPN but it’s not amazingly stable and it all really affects my ability to roll out Google Meet and the rest of the suite - China is a growing market for us so it is a pressing issue. 

I suspect there is no light at the end of the tunnel with Google and China - personally I believe Workspace should split off from the rest of Google and should deal with the China issue separately as there is no logic in bundling all of Google together and blocking off a straightforward productivity channel like Workspace. Companies should be able to assess their own risk.

All highly unlikely, so in the meantime if anyone has any advice of Workspace in China that would be really welcome

Thanks!

 

 

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Best answer by andy.yates 24 November 2021, 19:28

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Userlevel 7
Badge +65

Hey @andy.yates I remember that your company has a lot of clients in China as well. Do you want to help @SteC?

@SteC have you joined our UK & Ireland dedicated group?

Userlevel 5
Badge +9

A customer of mine uses Zoom to communicate with their offices in China.

Userlevel 1

Thanks @chanelgreco - always an option to use a 3rd party tool - we have GoTo - but it’s massively disjointed and just means you can’t unify across the organisation. Anyone who works in China, or has any contact with China at all needs to have at least 2 VC tools, which is hard to manage.

Seemingly there is is no solution, but I just wondered if anyone had any suggestions beyond 3rd party tools (or ideally whether Google would have a China strategy) 

Userlevel 5
Badge +6

Apologies that I’m just getting to this, @SteC …

Yes - we have over 2000 people across 7 offices in China - and it’s indeed quite tricky. I believe we have VPNs to connect in to our office (for those at home), and site-to-site connections between offices, and then an MPLS link through our office in Hong Kong. 

However, we have standardised globally on Zoom for VC. In part it’s because pushing video traffic over that link would be prohibitively expensive - but it’s not the sole reason. We also have large numbers of people in other parts of the world where networks are a little less reliable, and we’ve found Zoom to be far more resilient when latency is high, or bandwidth is constrained. 

I’d be happy to jump on a call and chat through our thinking in more detail - just drop me a line,

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +65

Thanks @chanelgreco and @andy.yates for your help!

@SteC have you checked Andy’s answer?

Userlevel 1

Thanks @andy.yates - I am quite resistant to Zoom (or any other VC) as I like to have a standardised global setup where possible - it means less confusion and - more importantly - less cost. Zoom specifically is also developed in China so not sure if there is a security concern there.

I find it troubling that Google don’t take the China question more seriously as it really leaves a major gap in a global Workspace rollout. MS haven’t got a perfect O365 solution, but at least they have a solution.

Your point about stability is interesting. I think we have found Meet to be pretty stable and I know they have built tools in for reducing load. It is true that Zoom is really good and I don’t think I’ve ever had a problem with it though so can completely believe that this is the case. 

Overall I just wish Google’s pace of development would pick up - they have announced various changes that seem to be taking an age to appear and it doesn’t make my life easier when other tools are progressing faster and Google are struggling to keep up!

Thanks again for your reply and the offer of a call - I will have a think and will contact you if/when that would be useful.

 

 

What kind of company do you have in China?

Userlevel 1

I think you may apply for a dedicated Internet connection from Chinese Telecommunication providers.  See https://www.chinatelecomglobal.com/expertise?category=product-and-services&subcategory=internet&pid=gis  for references.

 

Our product, CubeBackup, is a self-hosted backup solution for Google Workspace, and we have a few Chinese customers (most of which are Chinese branches of EU or US companies). 

 

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