For many companies the pandemic of COVID-19 It implied realizing the efficiency of remote work, to the extent that there will be some that will implement it completely, while others will bet on a hybrid model (office days and work at home).
With this in mind, Google announced new features for Workspace (professional) accounts that will seek to bring the office work experience into the home. According to the company, these new features will allow “conversation, connect work teams, edit documents and track tasks and projects, all under the security of Google and with the cleanest cloud technology in the industry.”
Gmail is now a video calling platform
Google wants Gmail to be the center of its new work platform, for that reason the Gmail mobile application will later receive the ability to make and receive video calls without the need to switch applications.
This does not mean that Gmail will be a new rival to Meet, but rather that it will be a complement for users to quickly join a job meeting from their cell phone even if they do not have the Meet application installed.
Currently the web version already allows you to create or join a video call, although the call is not taken directly in Gmail, but redirects to Google Meet.
On the other hand, Meet will also receive a feature that will solve a serious problem in the application. The feature is called “Companion Mode”, and it will allow a user to connect to the same video call through two different devices without echo or interference.
Companion Mode is coming to all Workspace users in November.
Likewise, Google Calendar (a fundamental part of Workspace) will allow you to establish in the shared calendar the days that you are working from home and those that you have to go to the office.
Other novelties
Spaces will reach all Google Chat users between the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, so it will be the main tool for establishing chats within the Workspace ecosystem.
Spaces is what some Workspace users currently see on the left side of the Gmail interface as “Rooms”.
This tool allows you to have more organized conversations, access the complete conversation history, set tasks, share files and more. Basically it is the “Google Slack”.