Google Workspace -- channeling the company culture into digital form

Working in the cloud has become the norm, and Google Workspace has certainly been leading and defining what that looks like, BUT…. 

⚠️ deploying Google Workspace is not the be-all and end-all. Time and time again we have seen companies adopt the tools, but their users use them inefficiently. Making the tools available is just the start. Facilitating their use is empowering your users to achieve the company goals and 

💎💎💎 weaving the Google Workspace tools into the fabric of your organization. This is where #kloudgem comes in: we can help ensure that your users use the tools strategically and naturally.

Google Workspace tools support:

🏠 Remote Work

🏢🏠 Hybrid Work

🌎 Geographically Distributed Teams

💻↔️💻 Synchronous Work and Asynchronous Work

And the common characteristics among companies who have adopted Google Workspace are: 

📈 They want to achieve higher productivity, 

⌛ They want to speed up their go-to-market time, 

📊 They want to cut out busy work and increase operational efficiency to save on people hours, and 

🫢 They want to reduce human error. 

How the various tools can support your operational efficiency.

—

✉️ Gmail → asynchronous communication

🗨️ Chat → synchronous (and sometimes asynchronous) communication

📅 Calendar → meetings, scheduling, training, awareness, planning, whereabouts/availability, boundaries, work-life balance

🎥 Meet → being on the same page, collaborative work, sync-ups, planning, and fun

🗃️ Drive (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, Vids) → storage, version control and accuracy,  document management, contracts, but also sharing,  communication and collaboration, gathering and connecting data, visualization, planning, design, and fun

🔁 AppSheet → data flow, apps

🪄 Gemini, Vids, NotebookLM → content creation and research

Reduce Your Video Conferencing Costs

Tips for end-users and small businesses:

As a business owner, I make a point of maximizing my usage of my Google Workspace (G Suite). Before considering a 3rd-party solution -- which usually means 

overhead -- I try to ensure I am using what I have and already pay for. This not only results in tools that are seamless with my current experience but also in cost savings. The prime example of such cost savings is my use of Google Meet.

Since the increase in work from home due to COVID-19 restrictions, Google Meet has been rolling out feature after feature after feature, making it a viable and user-friendly substitute for other video conferencing tools. 

One of the newest features, available to most Google Workspace customers is the ability to blur or change your background, making it easier to work from (almost) anywhere.

💎 KloudGem 1:

To learn how to make Google Workspace (G Suite) tools work for you as you work from home, subscribe to my newsletter and get my WFH Guide free.

❓ Do you leverage Google Meet or pay extra for another video conferencing tool? Let me know in the Comments.

Tips for mid-size companies and large enterprises:

Have you taught your users yet about all the new Google Meet features and how they interact with Google Drive?

💎 KloudGem 2:

To see all the recent changes to Google Meet, check out this Help article.

❓ Have you seen a change in Google Meet usage by your organization as a result of the new features? Comment below.

Need help taming your Google tools or training your users? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

Shared Drives Just Got More Flexible

Let's face it, Google Drive's shared drives* have been a bit rigid in their structure -- until recently when folder-level sharing got rolled out. 

(*Shared drives are available in: Google Workspace Business Standard and Plus; Enterprise; Education and Enterprise for Education; Nonprofits; Essentials)

Tips for end-users and small businesses:

This new folder-level sharing feature rollout means that you can, for example, add a smaller set of people at the shared drive membership level (these people will be able to see everything within a shared drive) and then add extra people on the lower level folders (who will only be able to see content within and below those folders). 

Translating this into practical terms: collaboration across teams and -- if needed -- with non-domain accounts, will be smoother.

💎 KloudGem 1:

You want to however be aware that only people given Manager-level membership on a shared drive can share folders.

❓ How does your business's Shared drives use differ from its My Drive use?

Tips for mid-size companies and large enterprises:

Decide on the parameters you want to allow in your organization for sharing, create best practices -- for Google Drive in general, as well as specifically in Shared drives. Align these with the company's security ground rules. Then set your settings in the Admin Console and communicate to your users.

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Get your users used to sharing with a small audience at the top folder or shared drive level and with a larger audience or external people at the lower folder or file levels. This is a best practice both for the My Drive and the Shared drives section of Google Drive.

❓ Does your organization use Shared Drives?

Need help taming your Google tools or training your users? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

Easier Sharing Files to Clients - Google Workspace

 A long-awaited feature was rolled out not too long ago in Google Workspace: sharing files with non-Google accounts, aka. Visitor sharing. What does this mean? It means that if this feature is enabled for your Google Workspace domain, you can directly share to -- and most importantly -- collaborate with non-Google accounts on files in Google Drive. 

Tips for end-users and small businesses:

Previously, when you wanted to share with non-Google/non-Gmail accounts, you had to choose between:

A) sharing with a link (which was viewable or editable by anyone to whom the link was sent or forwarded) 

or 

B) having the recipient be prompted to create a Google Account. 

However, when you work with clients, do you think they want your shared collaboration to be less secure (A) or be bothered to create a Google Account (B)? Nope.

And that is why Visitor sharing is a huge step in the direction of enabling powerful collaboration not just internally at a business, but also with clients; it has the potential to really allow businesses to work more seamlessly and grow.

💎 KloudGem 1:

Visitor sharing will prompt your file's recipient to enter a PIN code. This code is automatically generated and sent in a separate email to their email address.

💎 KloudGem 2:

Visitors will be asked to get and re-enter a new PIN after 7 days.

💎 KloudGem 3:

Visitor sharing does have limitations. Currently, you can only allow Visitor sharing for these kinds of Google Drive items:

Folders, Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Sites, Images, PDFs, and Microsoft Office files.

💎 KloudGem 4:

Visitor sharing is a Google Workspace (G Suite) feature; @gmail.com accounts don't have secure PIN sharing.

❓ How do you see this changing your client collaboration?

Tips for mid-size companies and large enterprises:

Has your organization felt like internal collaboration is smooth as butter, but external collaboration is very bumpy?  Visitor sharing will change that. Suddenly, there is no longer a need to jump through hoops to create a Google Account if the external collaborator does not already have one. It will eliminate the back-and-forth and time-consuming account setup.

❓ What will Visitor Sharing enable your organization to do?

Need help taming your Google tools or training your users? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com