With many companies becoming more comfortable allowing employees to work remotely, even after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, it is important that people have the tools to do their jobs so well at home. With that in mind, Google is reinforcing Workspace (formerly G Suite) with many updates.
On the one hand, the Google Assistant feature of Workspace is finally coming out of beta. You can use the Assistant to attend meetings, find out what’s coming up in your work calendar, and send messages. The feature is available on mobile devices and is currently in beta on smart monitors and speakers.
Google Meet now has more second-screen options. You can participate in chats, polls and questions and answers on any device, including Nest Hub Max. The video call application is also receiving live streaming updates, including polls, questions and answers and live captions. The latter will be available in English, Spanish, German, Portuguese and French from the beginning. Other Meet updates include a mobile tile display, so you can see more people at the same time on smaller monitors, as well as split-screen and picture-in-picture support on your phone.
To help frontline employees collaborate with corporate teams effectively and securely, they will be able to start using a service called Google Workspace Frontline in the coming weeks. There will be an easy way for teams to create custom AppSheet applications in Sheets and Drive, which, according to Google, will help frontline employees optimize and digitize their work. Google says that these features will give these workers secure access to the information they need on any device.
There are several other updates focused on managing your attention and time. As Google recently announced, you’ll be able to mark multiple blocks in your working hours settings to let your colleagues know when you’re available for meetings. Likewise, you can add recurring out-of-office events, during which time meeting requests will be automatically declined.
A new type of event called Focus Mode will allow you to set up blocks of time during which notifications are limited. Google will also send you (not your boss, thankfully) Time Insights that will explain how you are spending your days.
Using location indicators throughout the Workspace application suite, you can let your coworkers know when you’re at home and what days you’re at the office. Chat, Jamboard and calendar will appear in Workspace Essentials for easy access.
The workspace will also have more security tools. Expanded data regions will allow workspace customers to choose the geographic location where the data is stored, while guaranteed controls are designed to help them make decisions about how to control provider access.