Google's four most important updates to Business Ready Apps

Improvements in technology have made business models more dynamic than ever. Associates at your company work on teams with fellow employees who don't even need to be in the same country, let alone the same room. An Internet connection turns any location into a viable workspace. Cross-organizational relationships are forged with customers, vendors and other companies.

With Google at the forefront of high-tech innovations, you can depend on their Business-Ready Apps to keep your company on the cutting edge of efficiency and productivity. Here are some of the recent updates that make the life of a Google Apps Admin much simpler.

1. Whitelisted Domains

Until today, the only way you could safeguard your Google Drive, Docs, Slides and Sheets files was by restricting employees from sharing them outside your domain. But what happens if you want to review projected usage with a trusted vendor?

With Google Drive for Work and Google Apps Unlimited, you can now whitelist certain domains with just a few clicks. Users in your company and the trusted domain may then share, view and edit files among themselves. A default warning message asks a user for confirmation before sharing a file.

2. Google Drive Plug-In for Microsoft Windows

Google Drive gave you the convenience of centralized storage for your files along with the ability to open them with various apps and devices. The new plug-in allows Office for Windows users to open their Excel, Word and PowerPoint files stored in Drive from their desktop applications. 

Once editing is completed, the changes can be saved back to Drive. In addition, users can save Office files from their computer directly to Drive for file-sharing and access from tablets and cell phones.

3. Streamlined Docs Editing for Android

Working on-the-go has become even easier with the new features added to Google Apps for Android.

• Quickly edit document, spreadsheet and presentation titles from the overflow menu in the app's top right corner.
• Update Slides presentations by selecting a new layout from several predefined options.
• Office Compatibility Mode in Docs allows users to reply to comments, which now appear along with suggestions in the Comment panel in the order they were made.

4. Fresh Look for Google Apps Viewers

Enjoy the ease of a more consistent look for Docs, Sheets and Slides viewers on the mobile web with their clean new interfaces. Docs has now followed the lead of Sheets and Slides by moving to editing only in the mobile app, which offers a more robust set of features than web editing.

Be sure to check out the debut of Insights, a virtual community for Google Apps Admins where you can find productivity tips, white papers and valuable advice from thought leaders. You can also sign up to have news and updates delivered to your inbox.

The focus on innovation and communication makes Google the leader in business-ready applications. Put their power to work in taking your company to a new level of productivity and teamwork.