The New G Suite

Logo courtesy of Google

When technology changes, the way businesses collaborate also changes. Not everyone is making the daily commute to the office, often opting for telecommuting if the option is available. In order to accommodate these shifts, it is often up to technology companies to think of new and innovative ways for people to work together.  Online cloud services easily allow for people in an organization to work on the same project from wherever they are- whether they are traveling, in the office, or working in a different business location. Google was one of the first companies in the space with Google Apps for Your Domain, which then became Google Apps for Work, and most recently G Suite. Even though the name has changed over the past ten years, the core collaboration products have largely remained the same (GMail, Docs, Sheets, Slides & Drive). So why the recent change in name? Google says that it is a better reflection of the workload and the amount of time employees spend plugged in. However, with other collaborative cloud platforms becoming increasingly more popular for those in business, it is more likely that the rebranding is a marketing tactic to position Google as the number one collaboration tool. With Microsoft’s recent push of Office 365 for Business and Apple beta testing Collaboration tools on iCloud, it makes perfect sense that Google will be shouting about their tools from the rooftops.

While touting G Suite as new may seem kind of strange, the tools are still solid and great for collaboration. When working with the tools provided in G Suite, all team members can see changes live as they are being made and can even chat while working on projects. Being able to collaborate in real time remotely is a growing need for many businesses no matter how large or small the company is. The other great feature with G Suite is the ability to create separate drives to share files with those who need access, while keeping other files confidential. This is particularly useful if you are working on multiple projects with outside clients and do not want to share everything with them.

No matter what Google changes G Suite’s name to next, as long as the core products remain the same, I foresee more businesses adopting the cloud service.