To make business collaboration and communication a tad more tolerable, Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has finally unveiled its new Hangouts.
The tech giant is doubling down on its enterprise focus for Hangouts and its commitment to building communication tools for businesses.
“More than half of the workforce will contribute remotely by 2020, so businesses require purpose-built tools to help employees succeed,” said director of product management Scott Johnston in a post on the official Google blog.
New Google Hangouts Facts
Here are a few things that you should know about the new Hangouts.
Hangouts Has Two New Features
Google has unveiled Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet. They are both aimed at enhancing collaboration between business team members.
Hangouts Meet is a Quick Way to Start Meetings
Hangouts Meet is a video meeting service that makes it easy for members to effortlessly join meetings though a smart and fast interface.
Hangouts Chat is Built for Collaboration
Hangouts Chat is an intelligent communication app that allows team members to message each other in dedicated chat rooms. Using Chat, you can share photos, videos and files. Chat takes direct messaging in Hangouts and evolves it to fit modern business needs.
Google Meet is Available Through iTunes and the Google Store
Currently, you can easily access Meet on the iTunes and Google App Store as well as on the web.
And You Can Start Using It Today
You can start using Meet for your team calls as long you have a paid G Suite account. You can initiate a call directly from Meet or schedule a video call in Google Calendar, and join it from Meet.
Hangouts Chat Is Not Open to the Public — Yet
Chat is not yet open to the public, but you can apply to try it out using Google’s Early Adopter Program.
Chat Supports a Wide Range of Capabilities and Applications
Perhaps one of the most exciting things about Hangouts Chat is its integration with apps like Box, QuickBooks and Zapier that allows you to build your own bots without coding as well as send notifications about new data into your team chat.
You Can Use Meet From Anywhere — Even Without WiFi
Meet’s iOS and Android apps allow you to join a meeting with a tap from wherever you are. You can also use the dial-in phone number if you’re on the road without WiFi or data.
Security in Meet is Not a Problem
All audio and video streams in Meet are encrypted and so you can hold a business without worrying too much about privacy and security.
Chat Makes it Easy to Stay on Top of Projects
Dedicated virtual rooms create a lasting home for your business projects while threaded conversations make it extremely easy to stay on top of your team’s conversation and progress. Easily find all your business conversation using Chat’s powerful, filterable search.
Image: Google
Cathy Dougherty
Hello! Have you used it yet? I’m wondering how easy it is to setup a meeting with a group of, say, 20-30 participants? Once you have established the group, can you call another meeting without having to create another attendee list?
Divine Treasure
Yes you can. You can actually use the same join code. Quite easy and straightforward
I wondered how long it would take Google to go after the GoToMeetings of the world. I guess we know now.
Almost everywhere you look in the Google product universe, the horrid user interfaces are the self-inflicted “bane” of Google’s existence. There are a few exceptions when it comes to Google stuff on Android, but for the most part, Google products aren’t just horrid in terms of UI but also ugly. Bonus: Horrid UX in video broadcasting via Google anything.
Aira Bongco
I have not really used Google Hangouts that much. Aside from chat which is integrated in Gmail, I don’t have much use for it.
Christian Amehson
I use the hangout chat with partners of over 60 persons in number and it’s cool. The video and audio call is just bizarre and ugly though. Thank you for this update anyways.
Divine Treasure
I have used hangouts for two years now for church services live. It is wonderful, but it took some time to get to know how to fluildly use it