Google Brings The Power Of Search To G Suite
G Suite users get new functionality including ‘assist cards’ and directory search to improve efficiency
Google Search processes more than one trillion search requests each year and Google is now bringing that same functionality to businesses in the form of Google Cloud Search.
Formerly known as Springboard, Google Cloud Search uses machine intelligence to provide a unified search experience across G Suite, providing a mixture of comprehensive search and proactive recommendations.
As well as searching for information, users can also search for people listed in their company’s directory, seeing contact details and events and files they have in common.
Cloud search
Writing on the Google blog, cloud product manager Brent VerWeyst says: “Sorting through internal information has become increasingly complex as more and more companies move their data and workloads to the cloud. As a result, teams are working on hybrid environments and storing immense amounts of data all over and in various formats.
“From emails and docs to spreadsheets, slides, forms, internal sites, and more. In fact, according to McKinsey, the average knowledge worker spends 20 percent of the workweek searching for and consolidating information. Simply put, employees are wasting a lot of time in the process of finding information they need to do their job.”
When users open the Cloud Search app on their phone or laptop, relevant information is organised into ‘assist cards,’ designed to help users stay on top of their work and “find the right information at the right time”.
They are designed to be timely and relevant, using machine intelligence technology to help users efficiently navigate their working day.
VerWeyst also identifies privacy as being “a top priority,” so users can only search for and find the files that they have permission of view. For example, general company resources such as HR policies can be made available to all, whereas team projects will only show up for the people on that team.
Cloud Search has already started rolling out globally for customers using the G Suite Business and Enterprise editions, with Google promising to introduce “more capabilities” and “integration with third-party applications” in the future.
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