We are all familiar with Google Talk that was used by us to chat with our friends. Google has other communication applications like Google+, Google+ messenger, and the video chat to support all means of communication. Google introduced Hangouts in 2013, 3 years ago with an aim to integrate their communication applications into a single platform. Through Hangouts the company incorporated the options for video chatting, instant messaging, and voice messaging. Even though they succeeded in doing this the company felt that it is incomplete because it did not serve the corporate world.
Google is always keen to upgrade their products according to the customer’s need. So they wanted to bring up Hangouts into an enterprise level product. As a result of that, they came up with Hangouts meet and Hangouts chat. These two applications are for video conferencing and group chat respectively. Now let us see what facilities are offered by these two products.
Hangouts Meet
Video conferencing is used by businesses to conduct joint meetings with their colleagues or clients. Video meetings are as effective as face-to-face meetings. With the help of Hangouts Meets enterprises are connecting with their employees worldwide to improve their business. For a simple brainstorming session, they just have to send a request to everyone. In simple terms, the Hangouts Meet is a video tool for meeting and collaborating employees inside or outside your organisation. This is completely an enterprise product and you should be a G suite (collection of all Google business applications like Docs, Sheets, Calendar, and other business products) administrator to send or create meet requests.
You can connect up to 30 people in one video session. In order to turn on the Meet option, you have to sign up for the G Suite and then log in using the admin credentials. Once you are logged in go to the Hangouts admin console to set up meetings. Do not forget to enable the option ‘Let users create video meetings with Meet’ or else your colleagues will not be able to join the meetings.
Hangouts Chat
Anyone who has worked in a team to complete project will understand the benefits of having group chats. This can be accomplished using the new enterprise version of Hangouts messaging. The Hangouts Chats are not only a method to communicate with your project mates but also can be used as a platform to integrate even third party applications. Google App Script can be used to share facilities like intelligent bots with the teammates and share the progress of the project.
Hangouts meets has been released to the public and gradually reaching to all G suite customers. In order to use the Hangouts Chat you need to be a G Suite user and have to apply for the Early Adopter Program (EAP). Be ready to give feedback about the features to the company so that they can improve the applications.
Since these applications are integrated with G Suite you get the option to send and share documents and files in the Drive. The advantage of these two applications is that you do not have to download or install any plugins. You can use a video conference room or the mobile app or your laptop to take part in the meetings.
