One way or another, basically all of us use Google. We either use it to search for something that we’re looking for online, we have a Gmail account, or we use Google + or Google Apps. If you are someone who falls into the last two categories (or all three), then you will probably be excited to know about Google’s latest development.
They have actually taken the features of Google + and integrated them with Google Apps (including its online calendar, document and spreadsheet features) in order to make Google + more user-friendly for business purposes.
Along with the “merging”, they have also added some new features that will specifically cater to companies and their online needs. These additions include: private sharing so that Google App users will have greater control over the kinds of information that will be made available on Google +, so that organizations can share certain types of postings with everyone or just a few in or outside of the group; there will be a Google + Hangout option that gives people the capability of being able to video conference with up to 10 people (a bonus with this is that users can have face-to-face meetings with either their webcams or even their smartphones), and there will be innovative administrative controls so that administrators can set defaults for posts and/or restrict the Hangout option to specific users; that way certain meetings can remain private.
In true Google fashion, they followed up the announcement of the new Google + options with the announcement that there would be many more added features to come in the upcoming months. But for now, this should be an exciting time for many people who mostly work and conference online because in so many ways, these additions will make communicating within companies and organizations much more efficient.
For example, if you have a business with virtual offices set up all over the country, this makes the need for traveling even less because you can use Google Hangout to video conference with individuals who head up the various branches of your business in each city (or state) and coordinate schedules with the Google App calendar for future meetings. Plus, you can post certain messages and memos so that only those individuals can see them and revisit them at another time.
This is also good for Google because while they are definitely a strong force to contend with in the search engine world, Google Plus hasn’t gotten nearly the amount of hype or traffic as it would have liked in order to be able to compete with the likes of social media mediums such as Facebook. Although these new business features may end up attracting a more mature crowd than those in Facebook and Twitter world, it should liven things up for Google a bit. It definitely has the potential to give a new spark to revive how Google Plus is currently perceived. Time will tell.
For now, if you’re a corporate CEO or a student getting your MBA online, try “the new and improved” Google Plus and see what you think. Anything that makes the day-to-day of business life easier is definitely worth giving a shot.
Congrats! The newly introduced features are sure to make business easy and much more organized. Let’s give it a shot.
Twitter: @unocardealers