What’s in a Name?
Welcome to Google Workspace!
In 2006 Google launched Google Apps for Your Domain. Not quite as catchy as Microsoft Office but people came to accept Google Apps for what it was. Finally, in September of 2016 Google shortened it’s branding to G Suite. It was an interesting shift as it moved away from the iconic Google name brand.
Yesterday Google announced a big rebranding and redesign for its suite of office apps. G Suite was rebranded with a new name: Google Workspace. Along with the new branding are new features designed to make everything feel more integrated with one another.
Some of these new features include:
- Chat window that creates a new document for everybody in the group.
- No new tabs when opening a video call in the same window for everybody who’s active in the document.
What Does This Mean For You?
Google is hoping to draw in more users with the convenience of fully integrated services. This includes keeping things simple and not making you look for another tab. Not everything going to live inside a Gmail tab on the desktop though. The goal is that whatever work surface you are using will include elements from other work surfaces.
Some small examples of this kind of integration will be available beginning today. Google Workspace apps will let users bring up small previews of other documents embedded in the thing they’re working on. Google will also expand the use of “smart chips,” which are little contact cards that can pop up when you @-mention somebody in a document.
The more ambitious features, including creating a doc directly from a Chat window or starting a video call from within a presentation, will be rolling out “in the coming weeks” or “coming months.”
Does This Apply to all G Suite customers?
As for non-business customers, these changes will be available in the coming months according to Google’s blog post today.
It’s important to note that all of this is very desktop-centric, focused on apps inside web browsers like Chrome. Beyond the aforementioned (and not universally loved) inclusion of Meet into Gmail, Google’s other mobile apps won’t be this tightly integrated to start.
As many of our clients are in the non-profit space, some of these new features will be well worth the wait once they roll out.
If you or your staff have any questions about Google Workplace or what these changes mean for your organization, Mind Surface offers a comprehensive training program that can ensure that your employees are setup for success from day one. We offer a free 30-minute consultation to help you decide what is the best approach for your organization. Book yours today at www.mindsurface.com/contact-us
To read the full press release from Google click here