Google's Big Bet That Virtual Work Is "Here To Stay"

Google's gone ahead and put their efforts to bring a massive update to work-at-home tools into hyperspace. They're packaging the tools as a sort of upgrade to G Suite, but we know better. Given the message this set of changes is delivered with, it's clear Google's prepared itself for what they see as the inevitable. This post-workplace work from home world brought on by COVID-19 and global pandemic isn't just a temporary change – it's the way of the future!

Word comes from Javier Soltero, Vice President and GM of G Suite for Google. "Virtual meetings, remote collaboration, flexible hours: it's becoming clear that these new ways of working are here to stay," said Soltero. "In my conversations with customers and business leaders since the onset of COVID-19, I've seen workplace transformation go from an almost theoretical long-term goal to an urgent priority."

Soltero and Hilda Clune (Global Technology and Transformation Leader, PwC), spoke for a session of Google Cloud Next '20 (virtual event) in July of 2020 called "Helpful and Human: G Suite's Vision for Your Future Workspace."

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That session included the line "With the accelerated shift to remote working brought on by COVID-19, it's clearer than ever that an organization's success relies on its people and how they work." It also suggested that Google's G Suite system was "designed from the beginning with human impact in mind: to help people work together from anywhere to achieve bigger things in work and in life."

Google's first big move here with G Suite is a major integration of products. "We're integrating core tools like video, chat, email, files, and tasks, and making them better together, so that you can more easily stay on top of things, from anywhere."

Below you'll see a video from Google about this new iteration of G Suite for remote work. It begins in email – mobile and desktop and in web browsers.

After integrating the elements you seen in the video above, Google suggested they'll be bringing elements to the table like picture-in-picture video calls in Gmail, and Google Meet integration into Docs, Sheets, Slides, and etcetera. They'll be bringing on Connected Sheets as well as "new collaboration capabilities in our hardware offerings."

"Work is more seamless, flexible, and productive than I could've imagined," said Soltero. "And that's the way it should be for everyone."