Mountain View, California — Although Google is no foreigner to business-ready applications, but, in a surprising turn of events, the search engine giant is looking at its enterprise customers with greater integration of Google+ and Google Apps., on Wednesday smartened up his act and grabbed its briefcase to head to work, rolling out a preview of how Google+ tools and features have been optimized for businesses that will be free through the end of 2013.
“Every day, more businesses are adopting Google. We are thrilled to help them take advantage of modern, Web-based tools and give their employees new ways to connect and collaborate,” Google Apps product management director Clay Bavor said in a blog post.
In fact, all Google Apps users can get a sneak peek at the new features in full preview mode, a step up from Google’s beta testing format. Pilot customers, including Kaplan and Banshee Wines, have been experiment on the new site by engaging and connecting employees, according to Google. Early feedback is crucial for Google to further optimize its new features to organizations, the company said.
Google has been keen to take notice that many companies are moving into the cloud and relying on Web-based applications employees use at home, like Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Drive. Google calls this trend “going Google.”
“As part of this trend, we are witnessing how Web-based collaboration and social tools have dramatically changed the way people connect,” said Bavor, in a blog post. “Whether you are across the street or across the world, you can hold face-to-face meetings, share updates with colleagues and friends and work on a presentation together in real time.”
In fact, the integration of services could boost the network’s use in the enterprise. “The goal for Google is not about overall numbers but getting a chunk of a company to use Google Apps and Google+. That is a totally different game, and one that they can excel at,” said the Altimeter Group’s Charlene Li.
Google+ for businesses is defined by three features that differentiate it from the consumer platform–these include private sharing for within the organization, video meetings integrated with Gmail, Calendar and Docs, and some administrative controls.
Currently, these features are only available in preview mode, for Google Apps customers.
Going forward, “Google Apps users now have more control over the content they post to Google+,” says Bavor. “When you create a post you can mark it as restricted. Restricted posts are private to your organization and can never be re-shared with anyone outside. At the same time, when you create a post, you have the flexibility to share it with specific partners or colleagues outside the organization as well if you choose.”
Next in line is, “When you are on Google Apps, holding a face-to-face conversation with colleagues or clients around the world does not require coordinated travel schedules or expensive video conferencing technology,” says Bavor. “All you need is a device with a camera and an internet connection. Hangouts lets up to 10 people join a video meeting from their laptop, phone or tablet.”
Bavor further notes that people can join multi-way video Hangout-powered chats from Gmail, as Google recently announced, and that docs can be opened and edited. Users will also be able to add a hangout to a Calendar event, he says.
Further elaborating on the new release, Google’s Matt Cutts said in a Google+ post that the new features “might look small, but are actually pretty huge.”
By the way, so far Google+ has not been able to catch-up to the degree that it will soon eclipse social media heavyweights like Facebook, this new announcement shows that the company has a different end goal in mind.
Nevertheless, during the preview period, Apps customers will be able to use the features for free through the end of 2013. In the meantime, Google says it will be adding more features and admin controls.