Google has been somewhat late to the ballgame with their workflow solutions. While Microsoft delivers Skype for Business and Teams, Cisco has Spark, and Atlassian has Stride; G Suite's option has remained strangely absent from the field. However, Google's recent update to the Hangouts tool could make it more suitable for workplace productivity enhancement, meaning that the Alphabet unit can finally compete with other UC brands.
Hangouts Chat is designed to support instant messaging across countless devices, offering instant collaboration between workers. The system also allows users to implement their own widgets so that they can access other software through a chat window. Google originally announced "Chat" in March 2017, but the solution is only just rolling out to the public.
What to Expect from Hangouts Chat
The Hangouts Chat Feature will be situated within the over-riding "G Suite" portfolio. This package already includes word-processing, document sharing and email tools that serve more than 4 million global businesses. In 2013, Hangouts was launched as a free service, but Google started to adapt it for business needs as organisations began their quest for communication services beyond the telephone.
According to the Director of Product Management at Google, this upgrade is a "second incantation" for Hangouts, designed to help people perform faster and more efficiently at work. Of course, Hangouts Chat isn't the only option available today. Microsoft Teams offers a similar solution for companies who prefer the Office 365 package, and there's always Slack for those who are sick of the unpredictability of email.
In 2016, the global collaboration software belonged 37% to Microsoft, and 5% to Slack. Hangouts Chat is Google's attempt to earn their own piece of the pie.
