Google is today launching an important update of its G Suite productivity tools that will see a deep integration of Gmail, Chat, Meet and Rooms on the Web and on mobile devices, as well as other tools such as Calendar, Documents, Sheets and Presentations. This integration will become available in G Suite's early adoption program, with a wider launch at a later time.
The G Suite team has been working on this project for about a year, although it has accelerated the integration of Gmail / Meet, which was initially scheduled to be part of today's version, as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the heart of today's update is the idea that we all constantly switch from one mode of communication to another, whether it's email, chat, voice or video. So, with this update, the company is bringing it all together, with Gmail being the focal point for the moment, as that's where most users have been in for hours anyway.
Google is marking this initiative as a "better home for work" and, in practice, it means that you will not only see deeper product integrations, such as a calendar experience for filling and managing files in Gmail, but also the possibility to have a video chat open on one side of the window and collaborative editing of a document in real time on the other.
According to G Suite VP and GM Javier Soltero, the general idea here is not just to bring all these tools closer together to reduce the change of activity that users have to do.
"We announce something that we have been working on just before even joining Google last year: a new integrated workspace designed to bring together all the fundamental components of communication and collaboration in a single surface that is not just about these ingredients in the same glass, but also realizes something bigger than the sum of its parts ", he told me before today's announcement." The degree of integration between the different communication modes, in particular e-mail, chat and video calls and voice video calls together with our existing physical strength existing in collaboration. "
Just like on the web, Google also revealed some of its plans when it first announced its latest major update to Gmail for mobile devices in May, with the integration of Meet in the form of a new bar at the bottom of the screen. to switch between Mail and Meet. With this, it is expanding to include native Chat and Rooms support as well. Soltero noted that Google regards these four products as the "four pillars of the integrated workspace". Their integration into a single app means that you can manage everyone's notification behavior in one place, for example, and without the experience of switching tasks often cumbersome on mobile devices.
For now, these updates are specific to G Suite, although similar to Google's work on bringing Meet to consumers, the company plans to offer this work experience to consumers too, but it remains to be seen what exactly this aspect will be. "Right now we are really focused. The people who urgently need it are those involved in productivity scenarios. The idea of "the new home for work" is much more about specific collaboration for professional settings, productivity and workplace settings, "said Soltero.
But there is more ...
Google also announces some other feature updates of its G Suite line today. Chat rooms, for example, are now getting shared files and activities, with the ability to assign activities and invite external users to the company in the rooms. These rooms now also allow you to open chats on one side and edit a document on the other, all without switching to a completely different web app.
Another new feature is Gmail's ability to search not only for email but also for chats, as well as new tools to block important rooms and new "do not disturb" and "out of office" settings.
A stylish new feature of these new integrated workspaces is that Google is also working with some of its partners to bring their apps into the experience. The company specifically mentions DocuSign, Salesforce and Trello. These companies already offer some deep Gmail integrations, including integrations with the Gmail sidebar, so we will likely see this list expanded over time.
Meet itself is also getting some updates in the coming weeks with "knocking controls" to make sure that once someone is thrown out of a meeting, that person cannot go back, and security closures that help the meeting meetings decide who can chat or present in a meeting.
