Google has just completed an overhaul of its G Suite productivity suite in efforts to improve collaboration and make the software more secure. To understand what the marketing giant was looking at, we’ll go through some of the changes they’ve made and explain why the changes were necessary.
With the upgrade, Google is clearly acknowledging that they are working in a crowded collaboration space, with competition from Microsoft, and upstarts like Slack and Atlassian, providing many similar products and services. So here is what to look for from Google’s overhaul of G Suite.
Gmail Upgrade
Leaked a few months ago, the redesigned Gmail is now live. Unlike a lot of the Google services that seem to get a complete redesign every year or so, the email and communications hub hadn’t seen a new redesign since 2011. The new Gmail rolls out a lot of new functionality including a snooze feature that lets users remove an email from their inbox for a self-determined amount of time. It’s also getting a Smart Replies feature that provides users relevant replies to emails that you can send with a single click. This is exceptionally useful on the mobile app.
More than introducing new features they are expanding on some of the ones that weren’t totally fleshed out. By building new plugins for the Gmail Add-ons feature they rolled out in 2017, they are providing a whole new set of options. In the new Gmail, add-ons can be found as a vertical strip of icons in the upper right-hand side of the Gmail interface. With the newest upgrade, Google expands the number of integrations from third-party apps like Trello and Boomerang to offer Google products such as Google Keep, Google Calendar, and Google Tasks integrations. Email practices what they are, the new Gmail should provide options to keep users more efficient.
Inside G Suite
The newest G Suite features some major changes to the cloud interface, most of which are integrations with third-party software to improve collaboration and cooperation between teams and users. There is now Interoperability between Hangouts Meet and other video conferencing systems including Microsoft Skype; Interoperability and smart features in Google Calendar with integrations with with Microsoft Exchange Resource Booking and other third-party conferencing software; Interoperability inside Google Sheets, ERP and CRM integration provide users easy access through G Suites’ Sheets spreadsheet software.
Google Calendar’s smart scheduling capabilities intelligently finds meeting times that work for you as to not schedule over other important things. using machine learning, Google has been able to integrate real language processing to find the most relevant information in the context used by the person speaking. Whether this is to translate different languages or to take dictation, accuracy counts. As the user’s google interface learns more, they will get more from the software.
Another addition is the Team Drives interface. This feature gives users the option to lead more collaborative endeavors by using the Google Drive-related apps such as Docs, Sheets, and more. Explained by Google as giving “more granular control “ over team content, Team drives works to improve workers ability to collaborate, and doing so, makes the first real viable machine learning productivity application for humans to get more work done together, with the aid of built-in A.I.
Google apps are some of the most utilized applications for productivity on the Internet, and today they are smarter and more intuitive than most of the other productivity apps on the market. For more information about Google Drive, G Suite for Business, or any other Google product, call the IT pros at Data Net today at (760) 466-1200.
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