Google had a low-key release of its Hangouts Meet and its Hangouts Chat services that are aimed at the enterprise customers. Currently, the Hangouts Meet app is available on Android and iOS, but the Hangouts Chat app will not be made available just yet. It is however, accessible via the Early Adopter Program by Google.
Hangouts Meet
According to Google’s blog, the main purpose of Hangouts Meet is to remove the uncertainties that plague group video conferences. The app is supposed to provide a light and fast interface with smooth collaboration with the API and the interface. The most convenient aspect about this app is the way it can be used. A user needs to just share a link with whoever needs to be a part of the conference and then they are taken to the main video conferencing channel. No need to install a separate plug-in or signing into accounts or downloading anything. It’s as simple as that.
Google has two new communication tools for businesses: Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat
Hangouts Meet is spread across differently to G Suite Basic users and G Suite Enterprise users. In the G Suite Basic version of the app, 25 people can join a video conference. For Enterprise users, that number can go up to 30. Because the app shares the same ecosystem as the other Google apps, it is possible to integrate meetings with the calendar app as well. There is even a dial-in phone number dedicated to each user in Enterprise so that they can connect to others in their network wherever they are. This app is aimed at taking on competitors like Cisco’s WebEx.
Hangouts Chat
This app will be available for the public, for general use, unlike Hangouts Meet, which is more enterprise-focused. It is aimed at taking on services like Slack, according to Fortune, where users can interact and speak to each other on different topics and be segregated into different teams. It will allow syncing between files from Drive, photos and videos as well, making everything come together seamlessly.
The platform can also support third-party bots using Google’s App Script. The @meet is one such example, which is built into the Hangouts Chat app and uses machine learning to process natural language and can also schedule meetings inside Hangouts Meet as well as the Calendar.
While Google aims to break its Hangouts app into two completely different apps, Google is also simultaneously pushing users to use their Allo and Duo apps, for those who use these kinds of apps generally. Currently, the numbers are rather few, and Google has not clearly defined the usage statistics for these relatively new apps.