Google Cloud unveils a new name, brand and user experience that reimagines how people communicate and collaborate
Google Cloud announced Google Workspace, a new brand identity that reflects a new deeply integrated product experience, plus new editions to purchase tailored to customers’ needs. Google Workspace thoughtfully brings together messaging, meetings, docs, and tasks—all built with trusted Google security and powered by the cleanest cloud in the industry.
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“This is the end of the ‘office’ as we know it,” said Javier Soltero, Vice President and General Manager of Google Workspace. “From here on out, teams need to thrive without meeting in person, protect their time to focus on the most impactful work, and build human connection in new ways. Google Workspace gives people a familiar, fully integrated user experience that helps everyone succeed in this new reality – whether you’re in an office, working from home, on the frontlines, or engaging with customers.”
Google has spent decades building products that are simple and easy to learn, and that anticipate users’ needs in a helpful way. More than 2.6 billion consumer, enterprise, and education users now actively choose to use Google’s productivity and collaboration apps every month.
In July, Google announced a better home for work, the first step in its vision for a single unified experience that provides the best way to create, communicate, and collaborate. Today, this new home for work is generally available to all Google Workspace business customers and, in the coming months, will also roll out to consumers.
“Google’s collaboration and communication products fuel productivity and connect our teams in ways that were not possible before,” said Alex Grigorian, SVP & CIO, Corporate Services, Equifax. “We’re excited to be a part of the evolution with Google Workspace and explore the next chapter of building a culture that inspires innovation.”
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Creating a new user experience
The Google Workspace user experience thoughtfully brings together core tools for communication and collaboration—like chat, email, voice and video calling, and content management—into a single, unified experience. New features include:
- Linked previews: Available today, linked previews in Docs, Sheets, and Slides allow users to preview the content of a link without leaving the original document, saving time switching between apps and tabs, and allowing more time to get work done.
- Smart chips in Docs, Sheets, and Slides: Beginning to roll out today, when you @mention someone in a document, a popup will display details providing context and even suggest actions like sharing the document. By connecting users to relevant content and people right in Docs, Sheets and Slides, Google Workspace helps users get more done from where they already are.
- Doc creation in rooms: In the coming weeks, Google Workspace will enable users to dynamically create and collaborate on a document (Docs, Sheets, Slides) within a room in Chat, without ever having to switch tabs or tools. This will reduce complexity and help ensure all team members have visibility into relevant project work.
- Meet picture-in-picture across Docs, Sheets and Slides: Back in July, Google announced it’s bringing Meet picture-in-picture to Gmail and Chat, so users can see and hear the people they’re working with while collaborating. In the coming months, Google will roll out Meet picture-in-picture to Docs, Sheets, and Slides, meaning users will get the benefit of those nonverbal cues that come with actually seeing someone’s face when collaborating in real time.
“It’s not just businesses facing the need to transform; employees are in a period of transition themselves as they adjust to an increasingly hybrid way of working, and technology plays a critical role in enabling this,” said Angela Ashenden, Principal Analyst for Workplace Transformation at CCS Insight. “Google’s consumer heritage and cloud-native products make it uniquely positioned to guide users through the evolving workplace environment. Users are overwhelmed by the number of tools and channels available, and Google is helping them access these disparate workstreams in one place.”
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