Originally a media buying agency, Adwise has since grown to offer a full range of marketing services including advertising, publishing, campaign analytics and technology solutions. This transition into a full-service digital agency has also coincided with the growth of a portfolio of local and international clients. Collaboration, therefore, both in person and virtually, has always been an important factor in the business for building and maintaining client relationships as well as staff well-being and productivity.

Prior to the pandemic, Adwise ran its business along traditional lines with most staff working full-time from the office and most meetings being conducted face-to-face, whether that was between staff or with clients. The global shutdown in March-April 2020 changed everything and the company transitioned to a remote working model, and since then, as the ‘new normal’ emerged, started (and continues) to operate with a fully hybrid workforce.

The Return to Office Problem

As staff began to return to the office, issues began to emerge around the use and layout of meeting spaces at the headquarters. The standard large meeting rooms were not fit for purpose as they were quickly overbooked and often under-occupied when in use. The reason being, since working from home people had become used to conducting virtual meetings with an element of privacy – hence the heavily booked meeting spaces. Creatively deeper work had also become more difficult for some, as more people returned to the office.

Jeffrey Oelen, workspace manager at Adwise, knew that he needed to find a solution to the problem to maintain staff productivity and job satisfaction. He began to research for a solution that could offer an innovative way to meet these, as well as the evolving needs of the business.

The Hush Pod + Avocor Desk 27  Solution

During his research Jeffrey discovered the Hushoffice range of acoustic office meeting pods. Hush pods are custom-designed, sound-proofed enclosed spaces that offer privacy and noise elimination to create a peaceful environment for productive work and virtual meetings. They also feature a comfortable bench seat and built-in desk, adjustable lighting for different tasks and because they are on wheels, can be moved around the office where and when desired. Jeffrey then had the task of finding a monitor or display that could be used for virtual meetings and videoconferences without the need for peripherals such as camera, microphone and speakers which would clutter up the space. In simple terms, an all-in-one solution.

“I was on a visit to the Google office in Brussels and I saw the Google Meet Series One Desk 27 by Avocor in action – it was then I knew I’d found the answer,” says Jeffrey. “I was inspired – the Desk 27 has no real competitors and occupies a unique place in the market. It is the perfect size for our pods and offers all the functionality we want; it’s a powerful collaboration tool for virtual meetings, a desktop monitor with touchscreen, a laptop docking station and digital whiteboard all rolled into one unit – exactly the all-in-one device we were looking for. Also, Google Workspace is our chosen software collaboration platform so adding the hardware was a seamless process with no extra training or orientation required. The units made a real difference from day one and we haven’t looked back.”

Adwise invested in four Desk 27s – one for each Hush unit in the office. With existing Google Workspace licenses in place, the pods quickly became the ‘go-to’ place for smaller collaboration meetings and distraction-free focused work for individual staff. This development also freed up the other meeting rooms for larger groups to meet and collaborate.

“I’m really pleased with how the Desk 27s have worked out,” adds Jeffrey. “At Adwise we want our workspace to continue to inspire colleagues and clients as well as excite potential new employees who visit our premises. With the addition of the stylish Hush pods and Google Meet Series One Desk 27 by Avocor, I feel that’s exactly what we’ve achieved.”

The post Adwise Transforms Workplace with Hush Pods & Google Meet Series One Desk 27 by Avocor appeared first on My TechDecisions.

The announcement came during the company’s annual Google I/O developer conference at which Google also announced new features for its generative AI chatbot Bard. Duet AI appears to be Google’s version of Microsoft’s generative AI assistant in Microsoft 365 which it calls Copilot.

Duet AI in Gmail, Slides, Sheets

According to Google, Duet AI already works behind the scenes in Workplace to help users refine emails and documents, and the company is now bringing the experience to Gmail on mobile to help users draft responses on the go.

The company’s initial launch of mobile will be fast-followed by contextual assistance that allows users to create professional replies that automatically fill in names and other relevant information.

This is in addion to Duet AI, Google says a new “Help me write” feature will be rolling out that allows users to leverage generative AI to help them write emails by typing a prompt of what they want to create a full draft of an email.

In Slides, Duet AI will help users generate images with a few words and generate an original visual to help support the text on the slides.

In Google Sheets, Duet AI will help users analyze and act on data with automated data classification and the creation of custom plans, the company says.

Google says classification tools understand the context of data in a cell and can assign a label to it to help eliminate manual data entry.

Also included in Sheets is a new “help me organize” capability that automatically creates custom plans for tasks, projects or any activity users want to track or manage. All they have to do is describe what they want to accomplish and Sheets will generate a plan for them, Google says.

Duet AI in Google Docs

In Docs, Duet AI will help users write content and include smart chips for information like location and status, as well as variables for details that users want to customize such. This adds to the “@ mention” feature in Docs that allows users to stay focused and collaborate in the document.

In addition, Google says it is adding new languages and bringing more capabilities to help with proofreading, tone and style in a new proofread suggestion pane that offers suggestions.

Duet AI in Google Meet

Like how Microsoft plans to bring Copilot into Microsoft Teams, Google wants to weave Duet AI into Google Meet, starting with the ability to generate unique backgrounds for video calls.

Test these features in Google Labs

To help users and organizations test out these new tools, Google is launching the waitlist for Google Labs and offering a limited number of spots to try out new Ai features in Search, Workspace, Project Tailwind and MusicLM.

Learn more about Google Labs and those projects in this short blog post.

The post Duet AI is Google’s Answer to Microsoft 365 Copilot appeared first on My TechDecisions.

According to Google, the refreshed user interface follows the release of Google Material Design 3, the latest version of Google’s open-source design system. The user interface is being simplified at the top of docs, sheets, and slides to help users find frequently used actions faster.

The update also includes user experience improvements in commenting background, rulers and gridlines.

While there are no changes in functionality, some features have been relocated to reduce clutter. Users can find the latest status info for the document, such as the last edit and version history, via the clock icon in the top right corner.

In Google Drive, improvements include key actions surfaced inline on files for quick access and better productivity, the ability to select multiple items at a time and undertake batch operations for frequent tasks, and new search chips to help users find files faster.

“These key visual and interactive design changes will help you get your best work done faster by emphasizing the tools within our products used most frequently,” the company says in a Workspace update blog.

The user interface improvements were first announced last month along with new experiences in smart canvas and other Google Workspace improvements.

Google began rolling out the changes to all Google Workspace customers and legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers this week. The rollouts are expected to continue through the month, with rapid release domain rollouts beginning this week and scheduled release domains beginning March 22.

The post New-Look Interface for Google Workspace Apps Rolling Out Now appeared first on My TechDecisions.

The pricing updates come after Google released more than 300 new features Workspace in 2022, including appointment scheduling, email marketing, new collaboration and videoconferencing features and built-in AI-powered data and threat protection tools.

According to a Google Workspace blog, the company is increasing the price of Flexible Plan subscriptions that offer customers the ability to pay as they go with no commitment, as well as the ability to add or delete user accounts at any time. Starting March 14, new customers can sign up for Annual Plan options through the company’s website.

Business Starter plans will increase from $6 per user per month to $7.20 per user per month, Business Standard plans will increase from $12 per user per month to $14.40 per user per month, and Business Plus plans will increase from $18 per user per month to $21.60 per user per month.

However, existing customers on the Flexible Plan can switch to the new Annual Plan option to keep prices at those lower monthly prices, according to Google.

In addition, Google is increasing the price of Google Workspace Enterprise Standard to reflect the value the company has added, including new security and administrative controls to help large enterprises secure and manage their users’ accounts. The company didn’t include the new Workspace pricing in the blog, instead pointing customers to their account managers.

The new pricing will roll out starting in April through 2024, depending on factors such as number of user licenses, current contract terms and payment plan. For example, pricing for existing Google Workspace subscriptions with 10 or fewer licenses will not change until January 2024, the company says.

Customers will be notified via the Google Workspace Admin Console at least 30 days in advance before pricing changes take effect.

The company is also adjusting some local currency pricing to maintain alignment with the exchange rates to the U.S. dollar. Impacted customer will be notified.

The blog, penned by Steve Holt, the vice president of strategy for Google Workspace, notes that the company will be adding new AI-powered features. This comes after Microsoft has begun integrating OpenAI models such as ChatGPT into its product portfolio.

The post Google to Increase Some Workspace Pricing, Adds Annual Plan Options appeared first on My TechDecisions.

According to Google Cloud, the company’s Public Sector department directly assists Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA)–the Navy’s largest systems command–by providing support to the U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility and Japan Regional Maintenance Center  (SRF-JRMC) in Yokosuka and Sasebo, Japan. Armed with the threat protection and zero trust capabilities in Google Workspace, NAVSEA uses Google’s suite of productivity tools to communicate between the SRF-JRMC and Navy stakeholders around the world.

The Tech Decision

First, the SRF-JRMC facility had to solve two unique challenges: ineffective collaboration and communication, and a language barrier.

Before choosing Google Workspace, Navy officers in Japan would need to be on-base to communicate over a secure connection, and calls were typically held late at night due to the time difference. When the COVID-19 pandemic came along, communication became even more challenging due to mobility restrictions.

The SRF-JRMC shipyard has more than 3,000 Japanese contract employees providing critical support, which presented a language barrier when communicating critical issues.

Secure, efficient and effective collaboration

Working with Google Public Sector, the Navy chose Google Workspace for the SRF-JRMC, bringing Google Voice for secure VoIP calling that allows personnel to join calls and sessions from on site or their home. And they can now reliably and securely communicate across continents.

In addition, Google Workspace includes solutions like real-time translated captions in the company’s videoconferencing tool Google Meet, which allows English to Japanese translations to help break down the language barrier.

The Google Meet platform has also proven cost effective, as it has saved the U.S. Navy “thousands of dollars a month” in phone bills by providing country-specific dial-in numbers for interviews, according to Google Cloud.

Other Google Workspace tools include Google Drive and Docs, and those help NAVSEA simplify human resource workflows by streamlining onboarding for local Japanese employees in the shipyard, according to Google Cloud. With a shared Google Drive, NAVSEA can eliminate the need to send multiple files back and forth among the team, which also helps minimize the need for on-premises storage.

Google Docs also enable Navy employees to communicate and collaborate with each other and potential candidates securely across any device, which helps SRF_JRMC CIO Peter Guo and his team ensure operational readiness and continuity of operations.

“Cloud collaboration capabilities provide us seamless and secure connectivity across continents and break down language barriers with our colleagues across the globe,” Guo says. “We’ve improved our ability to operate anytime, and anywhere and have increased our ability to securely communicate and coordinate especially during network outages and natural disasters.”

COVID-19 pandemic dashboard

Armed with Google Workspace, the SRF-JRMC created a COVID-19 Pandemic Dashboard with a Google-based site that consolidated Japanese and international open-source data on COVID-19 outbreaks and provided updated guidance, according to Google Cloud.

The dashboard, built in less than two hours using Google’s Looker Studio, leveraged an automated data collection process to track local hospitalization numbers. This allowed the NAVSEA team to access this information in real-time and shorten a process that previously took hours, according to Google Cloud.

According to Guo, the dashboard helped reduce redundant weekly meetings on COVID-19 updates and eliminated the 10 hours it took to manually gather data and present it via slide decks. This helped leadership make real-time, data-drive decisions and put necessary risk mitigation in place, he adds.

“It empowered supervisors across the shipyard to reference this website at any time and put additional health measures in place to minimize the transmission of COVID-19,” Guo says. “Every minute counts at our two shipyards in Japan, so this made a tremendous impact on our operational efficiency and ensured the safety of our sailors.”

The post Google Workspace Makes U.S. Navy Shipyard Collaboration More Efficient During COVID-19 appeared first on My TechDecisions.

According to Google, Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus and Education Standard customers are eligible to apply for the client-side encryption beta until Jan. 20, 2023.

The enhanced security feature is designed to protect sensitive data in the email body and attachments, making them indecipherable to Google servers. Customers will retain control over encryption keys and the identity service to access the keys, Google says.

While the company already uses the “latest cryptographic standards” to encrypt all data at rest and in transit between facilities, client-side encryption in Gmail can help strengthen the confidentiality of data and address data sovereignty and compliance needs, Google says in a Workspace updates blog.

In a support document, Google says content encryption is handled in the client’s browser before any data is transmitted or stored in Google’s cloud-based storage, preventing Google servers from accessing encryption keys. Admins can then choose which Gmail users can create client-side encrypted content and share it internally or externally.

Client-side encryption is already available for Google Drive, Google Dogs, Sheets, Slides, Google Meet and Google Calendar (beta).

Eligible Workspace customers can apply for the beta after completing several steps, but the feature will be off by default. It can be enabled at the domain, OU and Group levels, according to Google.

When enabled, end users can add client-side encryption to any Gmail message by clicking the lock icon and selecting additional encryption and creating the email as normal.

In a support document, Google says client-side encryption will be available for other Google services in a later release.

The post Google Rolls Out Client-Side Encryption Beta for Gmail on the Web appeared first on My TechDecisions.

However, users of G Suite legacy free edition for personal use can continue to do so past the planned transition date of June 27 by opting out of the transition to Google Workspace, the company says in a reversal after previously saying all G Suite legacy free edition accounts would have to start paying for Workspace this year or be suspended.

For businesses, the G Suite legacy free edition will no longer be available starting June 27, and organizations are urged to upgrade to a Google Workspace subscription that meets their needs, as well as to take advantage of the security and collaboration features at no cost through Aug. 1. Businesses can select the “Flexible” payment plan when upgrading to a Business edition to avoid billing until at least Aug. 1.

For organizations that wait, accounts will be automatically transitioned to Google Workspace after June 27. To avoid suspension, they will need to set up billing before Aug. 1, the Menlo Park, Calif. tech giant says in a support article.

Google notes that organizations that don’t upgrade to a Workspace subscription but remain an active user will not lose access to additional Google services or paid content purchased with the legacy edition account.

Only personal, non-commercial users of the G Suite legacy free edition can opt out of the transition with a super administrator account or via the Google Admin console. Those customers can continue using their custom domain with Gmail, retain access to no-cost services such as Google Drive and Google Meet, and keep their purchases and data.

“If you don’t take any action, your account will be suspended starting on August 1, 2022,” Google says. “To reactivate your account, you will either need to upgrade to Google Workspace or opt out of the transition for non-commercial use.”

Google warns that G Suite legacy free edition does not include support, and the company may in the future remove “certain business functionality.”

To upgrade to Google Workspace, organizations should sign in to their Google Admin console with a super administrator account. Then, navigate to Billing > Get more services, and select the desired edition and payment plan.

The post Most Users Google’s G Suite Legacy Free Edition Will Be Transitioned to Workspace Next Month appeared first on My TechDecisions.

In addition to new in-meeting reactions and emojis in Meet, Google is bringing Meet directly to Docs, Sheets and Slides so users can quickly start a meeting and bring it to a document, spreadsheet or presentation and present that content to everyone in the meeting. This allows users to collaborate in real-time during a meeting without having to change tabs.

For security, Google is rolling out client-side encryption in Google Meet. The optional feature, currently in beta, will give users direct control of the encryption keys and identity provider used to access those keys.

Google adds that it is planning to introduce optional end-to-end encryption for all meetings.

The company also announced picture-in-picture in Google Meet, allowing users to see up to four video tiles of meeting participants in a window on top of other applications as they share content or send a message in Gmail.

Google is also improving the in-room meeting experience with the rollout of automatic noise cancellation on all Google Meet hardware, including purpose-built devices form Logitech, Acer and Asus. This comes after recently rolling out Companion mode for meet to give in-room attendees a way to stay engaged from their personal devices while using in-room audio and video.

In addition, in-room participants will be able to add their own personal video time from Companion mode and their laptop camera to make it easier for remote participants to see them.

For those using Google’s videoconferencing and collaboration platform for livestreaming, the company is releasing the ability for attendees to participate in Q&A and polls, and the ability to stream meetings directly to Google-owned YouTube, allowing users to use just one Google account for authentication.

Other new features include an improved Spaces experience with inline threading that allows users to respond to specific comments and create side conversations.

Elsewhere, Google is making other improvements to Spaces, Chat, content moderation, Google Voice, new admin capabilities and more designed to boost productivity, workflow and efficiency.

The post Google Introduces New Productivity, Security Features In Google Meet appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Users of Workspace and legacy G Suite Basic and Business that visit classic Hangouts in Gmail on the web or the classic Hangouts mobile apps will be directed to Chat, while Hangouts.google.com will continue to work, the company says in a new Workspace blog.

There is no workaround or opt out for this change, but users can export their classic Hangouts and Chat data. Google notes that this does not affect the personal use of Hangouts with a Google Account.

Users with admin console settings of Chat and classic hangouts and access groups with both Google Chat and classic Hangouts turned on will see the automatic upgrade over three weeks starting March 22. Meanwhile, users with admin console settings of classic Hangouts only and access groups with only classic Hangouts enabled will see the upgrade take place over the course of five weeks starting April 4, the company says.

Read Next: What IT Admins Need To Know About New Google Workspace Updates, Features

After domains are upgraded to “Chat preferred,” all classic Hangouts applications except for hangouts.google.com will be disabled. The “Chat and classic Hangouts” and “Classic Hangouts only” settings will be removed from the Admin console, according to Google.

For Vault users, messages sent in classic Hangouts will continue to be retained and held according to policies set for Chat, and searchable and exportable with Gmail search in Vault. Messages sent in Chat will be subject to retention rules and holds set for Chat, and searchable and exportable with Chat search in Vault, Google says.

The conversation history from Hangouts will largely be available in Google Chat, but any newly created spaces in Google Chat within an organization’s domain will not appear in classic Hangouts starting mid-March, according to Google. That means messages sent in these spaces will only appear in Google Chat for affected users.

Admins at organizations with the “Classic Hangouts only” or “Chat and classic Hangouts” Admin console settings enabled for the entire domain or specific access groups will be automatically upgraded to the “Chat preferred” setting. Admins won’t need to do anything if those Admin console settings aren’t enabled.

For more information, read Google’s Workspace blog.

The post Google To Complete Classic Hangouts To Chat Migration In March appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Meeting participants can translate an English meeting to one of four languages: French, German, Portuguese and Spanish.

The company rolled out the beta in September of last year, which is now generally available on premium Google Workspace editions.

The translated captions will help make Google Meet video calls more “inclusive and collaborative by removing language barriers,” according to the company.

When meeting participants consume content in their preferred language, this helps equalize information sharing, learning, and collaboration.

See also: What IT Admins Need To Know About The Google Chat Upgrade

This new feature would benefit educators to connect and interact with students, parents and community stakeholders with diverse backgrounds.

The translated caption feature is available in the following Google Workspace editions:

• Beta or Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Google Workspace for Education Plus customers

The translated caption feature is not available with the following Google accounts:

• Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Enterprise Essentials, Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, Google Workspace for Education Standard, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
• Individual customers or users with personal Google Accounts

To enable the Google Meet feature, go to Settings > Captions > Translated captions or on mobile by going to Settings > Captions > Live Captions > Translation Language.

There is no admin control for this feature, according the Google Workspace update blog post.

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