At last week’s I/O developer conference, Google’s largest technology conference, Google acknowledged they hear businesses when they ask for additional control, security, and visibility into how users are utilizing and sharing files by announcing a premium offering, Google Drive for Work. This new, unlimited version of Google Apps for Business has premium enhancements including: advanced audit reporting capabilities, unlimited storage on Google’s cloud, and access to Google Vault. Google also impressed attendees and users with several recent updates to Apps Basic, available to all Apps users.
Google introduces a redefined Drive experience for all users
Seamless integration. Drive is no longer a tool for Google users only. Users can now edit Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files in their native format directly from Google Drive, Gmail, and Docs. Furthermore, users can seamlessly edit, save, and share these popular types of files without Microsoft Office installed, and no additional software is required to utilize this feature.
Safekeeping. The new Drive now includes several new features that provide greater control and visibility. For example, admins can now restore a user’s deleted Google Drive files within a certain date range, even if they have been emptied from the trash. This provides an automatic backup to prevent loss of important data. Additionally, with the new suggested edits feature, a Drive document owner can allow other users “can comment” access to suggest changes without worrying about them altering the original content of a document. Regarding security, all of the files uploaded to Google Drive are now encrypted not only from any given device to Google data centers, but also on Google servers.
Streamlined design. Google’s new user interface for Drive makes it even easier to focus on the content that matters. The toolbar has been moved to the top, and disappears when it is not in use, giving users a wider viewing frame and a more streamlined experience. Google has also developed dedicated home pages for Docs, Sheets, and Slides to provide direct access to these functions no matter what device you are using. Users can also right click on any file and change sharing permissions, see the recent activity, change sharing permissions, and even enable files to be accessed offline. Drive’s performance online as well as mobile with also have a faster response time to make and creating and sharing files faster than ever.
Drive for Work: The new premium Drive Unlimited
Endless storage. Of all the new features of Drive for Work, the concept that has received a great deal of attention must be the unlimited storage capabilities for all users. From now on, Drive for Work users no longer need to worry about a storage budget, but the only required investment is a $10/month/user Drive for Work subscription. To drive this offer home, Google has also increase the file size limit to 5 TB, enabling Drive users to store even their largest chunks of data at no extra cost.
Control and compliance. Drive for Work includes a new audit feature system so that users can track who has access to certain documents for compliance purposes. The new audit view allows admins to see all recent activity such as moving, deleting, or sharing a file, whether it was within or outside the company. Some of the more specific features allow admins to turn Drive features on and off for different business groups. Additionally, Drive for Work comes complete with new admin tools like the ability to transfer file ownership before deleting user accounts and customizing which employees can install the desktop sync client.
Google Vault access. Lastly, Drive for Work provides access to Google Apps Vault, a major factor in compliance, which is also expanding to include all content stored in Drive. This means that in addition to email and chat, all Docs, Sheets, and Slides are archived and subject to search in order to ensure that compliance needs are fulfilled.
Google Drive for Work is Google’s expression of mastery in combining price and features in an increasingly simple and straightforward way. Drive for Work is an extremely valuable business tool that will redefine collaboration and how organizations communicate and work together. Watch this video to find out more about how Drive for Work functions in a workspace.
For more information on the different editions of Drive and for information on which one may be a good fit for your organization, email [email protected] or visit our website.
