Looking for an easier way to communicate edits and changes to your team? Tired of handling multiple versions of files? Ready for an easier way to store, share, and present? Look no further than Google Workspace—Google’s comprehensive, hyper-productive, and collaborative powerhouse. We use it, we encourage our clients to use it, and most importantly…we love it.
From sharing and storing documents and files with teammates to working with CCG on your next big presentation, Google Workspace can do it all for most B2B businesses. By taking the time to learn about Google Workspace’s capabilities and how it can help improve your business, you can increase productivity and optimize your workflow.
Let’s break down Google Workspace to find you and your team the right tools for the job—most are just a Google search away…
What is Google Workspace?
Google Workspace (formerly G-Suite) is the umbrella term for a collection of cloud-based software either developed or managed by Google and its subsidiaries. The most popular examples include:
- Google Docs: A word processor similar to Microsoft Word and Apple Pages.
- Google Sheets: A spreadsheet application similar to Microsoft Excel and Apple Numbers.
- Google Drive: A file storage and sharing service similar to DropBox.
- Google Slides: A slideshow/presentation software similar to Microsoft Powerpoint and Apple Keynote.
More programs include Calendar, Draw.io, Hangouts, Forms, and Keep.
Basically, Google Workspace is a full set of the tools that you already use, but with better cloud-based technology and geared for collaboration and organization. On top of that, unlike competitors like Apple & Microsoft, Google is optimizing your experience for your browser, not their app (which conveniently works better on their branded machines.)
What does Google Workspace mean for you? It means that no matter who works with your files, their experience will be the same. It also means the communications and edits on those files will be easily accessible with backups and complementary files just a click away.
Too good to be true? We’re going to talk about each of the programs available to see what they have to offer your business.
The Good Stuff (The Software)*
Google Docs
First up to bat is this copywriter’s bread and butter and Google’s answer to Microsoft Word and Apple Pages. Using Docs, you can easily comment, edit, and markup any important written word content with your entire team and even outside partners by simply tagging their names.
Google Sheets
Instead of using Excel or Numbers to create spreadsheets for your next meeting, click ‘Share’ in Sheets. While only speaking from experience, we’ve found it to be quicker and more responsive than alternatives, especially when dealing with documents containing a lot of automation or those used for regular queries.
Google Drive
The only one on this list that doesn’t do everything that we need is still a great resource that we use often. Organizing all of your content in one place, Drive also allows you to easily drag and drop assets from one workspace to another, even between users.
While it acts much like Dropbox by storing your important files and documents in the cloud, it doesn’t offer as much versatility when it comes to handling/transferring large amounts of data. That’s why we, a creative company regularly dealing with a lot of sizable files, still use Dropbox for some of our work. That being said, most B2B companies will not have any issues using Drive for all of their storage needs.
Google Slides
Find yourself fighting between sending a .key and .pptx because you don’t know if the client has a Mac or a PC? Those days are over with Slides—a feature-rich slideshow editor that makes editing and sharing a breeze with quick links to drafts and final presentations. As a bonus, it works natively with YouTube!
*Chrome extensions like Grammarly also provide near-limitless expansion to how you can use these tools.
Our Advice & Google Support
Even after a lot of time working in Google Workspace for both internal tasks and external projects, we always get excited to learn about a new feature or Google Workspace program that saves us time or money. Here are a few quick and easy Google Workspace hacks to get you started:
- Edit team documents in real-time—this is particularly useful in Zoom meetings and screen shares.
- Contain your tagged comments/suggestions to threads for easy organization and paper trails.
- Pull images and content from other files in Google Drive directly into your work.
- Try out the Google-owned draw.io to easily create process diagrams and wireframes.
- Create interactive Google Forms to capture information from prospects and clients.
Properly adopted and promoted, a new and more efficient toolset can be exciting and motivating for you and your team. After all, the goal of any software is to help you get your job done and the fewer places you have to go for the things you need, the quicker you can get everything done! If you need more help navigating or getting used to the new features, Google Workspace’s learning center has all you need and more.
Important Disclaimer:
Some organizations do not permit the use of collaborative cloud-based solutions like Google Workspace, some by policy, others by law. These can include but are not limited to: government/state facilities, financial institutions, and security contractors.
Unfortunately, if you’re in one of these industries, your options are more limited. However, if you simply work with a company (client or vendor) that is subject to these restrictions, you can always use the versioned offline files provided by Google Workspace to continue working directly with them.
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