According to a Skyhigh report, average employee uses 36 cloud services to collaborate or share files, which is more than the number of hours in a day. In a nod to this fact, Google has announced more third-party integrations with G Suite services.
G Suite is a set of enterprise productivity tools including Google Docs, Sheets, Hangouts and Calendar. Earlier this year, Google had introduced capabilities in Google Drive to allow users comment on Microsoft Office files, PDFs and images, without having to convert them into Docs, Sheets or Slides.
And now, Google has unveiled integration for more services to boost collaboration. First, Google is making the Hangouts Meet compatible with video conferencing systems from Cisco and Polycom. Also, the users of Microsoft’s Skype for Business will be able to easily join a meeting on Hangouts Meet right from Skype.
Second, Google Calendar will soon support for third-party conferencing. The hosts will be able to build add-ons for the other conferencing platforms, to create, view and join the video conference directly from a Calendar event by simply clicking a link.
Google Calendar will support conferencing from Cisco Webex, Arkadin, GoToMeeting, LogMeIn, Dialpad, RingCentral, Vidyo and Vonage using the add-ons. These add-ons are expected to be available in G Suite Marketplace in coming months.
Third, Google is expanding integration with Microsoft Exchange Server, to allow G Suite users book resources like rooms and equipment for meeting, conferences, and more in Exchange and Office 365.
Fourth, new integrations in Hangouts Chat will allow users to add people from outside the organization in Chat. It will help organizations to stay aligned with clients, vendors, and partners.
Lastly, the search engine giant is integrating Google Sheets with SAP systems. The upcoming SAP release will allow users to discover additional insights from their ERP content by importing it directly from Google Sheets.
Also read: AT&T collaborates with Google on cloud networking and productivity services
“With so many apps and services, it’s important that your business chooses modern, open tools that make it easy to work with anyone—be it inside or outside of your organization,” wrote Rany Ng, Director of Product Management, G Suite, in a blog post.
