Google Hangouts received a huge overhaul today. According to Fast Company, 50% of the workforce might be contributing remotely by 2020. Google’s Hangout’s product manager, Scott Johnston, said that Google is focusing in two Hangouts features: Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat.
Hangouts Meet is Google’s new video meeting service. It aims to make video conferences as productive as real life meetings. Johnston declared that Google has listened to its customers to create a better service.
Hangouts Meet can run 30 people meeting efficiently, and it does not need accounts, downloads or plugging, you can only join using a shared link.
PayPal’s Braintree has already used Hangouts Meet for the past three months
Jerome Knapp, Manager of Systems Administration at Braintree, described Meet as one of the least frictional video conference systems that they have ever used. Braintree has used Meet to connect employees from different meeting rooms, board rooms, and offices. Knapp also emphasized that the simplicity of Meet is what differences it from other video conference programs.
Meet also integrates directly with G Suite. The information stored in Calendar will be pulled automatically by Meet. For G Suite enterprise customers, each meeting comes with a dedicated dial-in phone number so team members without access to wi-fi or data can participate in the conference.
Google overhauled Hangouts Chat
Hangouts Chat is Google’s improved communications app that will allow teams to work better using Hangouts. Hangouts The chat focuses on making teams work along better with a smooth app.
Chat was built minding the following aspects: Creating dedicated virtual rooms that support projects and difficult conversations. Chat is also made with a G Suite integrations meaning that Google Docs, Drive, Photos and videos can be directly viewed in the talks.
Last but not least, Chat also features a powerful search engine within the conversations to filter and find whatever it is needed. Chat also provides the customizable platform every team needs to work according to its needs. Chat supports a wide range of customizations as it supports the Google App Script.
Chat also works along third party applications such as Asana, Box, Prosperworks, and Zendesk. Chat also features an intelligent bot called @meet. The bot uses natural language processing and machine learning to set up meetings for your team with Hangouts Meet and Google Calendar
Source: Google