This month started with us getting a glimpse of a Hangouts alternative. Called as Meet, the new instant messaging program is ideal for HD video meetings and conferences. It was unconfirmed then but today, Google has officially announced Meet as the new Hangouts. It’s not just an alternative. Meet may soon replace the Hangouts we’ve grown to love the past years.
Google is expected to focus more on business and enterprise this 2017 and this Meet is one of the many developments prepared. It’s one communication tool that will help workers to start and finish a project. Anywhere you go, you can be reached and have access to your colleagues so you will be able to finish any task in no time.
Remote office is fast becoming a new standard and Google estimates that by 2020, over 50% of the workforce will contribute remotely. There is a demand for a more convenient and effective messaging program for video conferences. The tech giant has worked on this one as a new video chat app. It’s actually more of an evolved Hangouts that will cater more to teams whose only goal is to work together with more speed and efficiency.
Google has come up with Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat. Meet is a video meeting experience while Chat is an intelligent chat app. Both programs allow more productivity whether you’re working with your co-workers or with a potential client. Hangouts Meet and Chat are light and fast to use with an easy-to-navigate interface.
Hangouts Meet was released as beta to some companies and services. One example is Braintree who had employees connect with each other via the new app across offices, meeting rooms, and board rooms. The testing of Hangouts Meet resulted to their discovery that it is “one of the most frictionless video conferencing systems” their employees have used so far.
The service is integrated with G Suite so it is easier to do presentations and start a meeting. If you’re on G Suite Enterprise, each meeting you will start comes with a dial-in phone number anyone part of the team can contact even without data or WiFi connection.
Meanwhile, Hangouts Chat is more of a chat app that is best for direct messaging within Hangouts. Making it a more convenient service are the dedicated virtual rooms, threaded conversations, G Suite integration, and filterable search among others. In the next months, it can also be integrated with other related platforms like Box, Prosperworks, Asana, and Zendesk. Hangouts Meet is now available while Hangouts Chat can accessed through the Early Adopter Program.
Download Hangouts Meet from the Google Play Store
SOURCE: Google (The Keyword)
