Google Hangout has emerged as yet another Google tool that’s helping businesses in more ways than one. While you can always say Google works to help themselves as well, the things they provide to business professionals to make their life easier is a good example of the symbiotic process in action. The best aspect of Google Hangout now is that it can be used to conduct business meetings for free without requiring your staff meeting in person. It’s a part of Hangout that could end up rivaling Skype as the top source for video conferencing.
But should you use Google Hangout for all your business meetings?
The Better Benefits Over Skype
You’ll be amazed at what Google Hangout now offers for free in the way of video chatting. Video chats there are extremely simple without any charge and without any conflict with your operating system. What’s better is that if you do happen to have some freezes, you can instantly integrate with audio and normal text chat so conversations can continue without annoying interruption.
Even screen sharing is more advanced now where you can show multiple screens at once so your meetings are more comprehensive with media. It’s here where Google really lets you do more than any other similar service. While all of it ties in with other Google media, the completeness of it will let you do video conferencing in more efficient ways than Skype has ever offered.
Integration with Other Google Tools
Thanks to Google’s ownership of YouTube, video service during your video meetings can incorporate the features you usually enjoy on that video site. This includes commenting at the bottom of the screen while streaming a live meeting or event. Plus, you can record your meeting or event through YouTube services so you can play it back for reference.
It’s the integrations with GMail, though, that changes the ballgame in scheduling meetings. All of your contacts can be alerted to when you have a meeting scheduled so everyone can be on the same page without needing to contact everyone individually. If you want to invite new people to your meeting, you can do that as well, even if they have to sign up for Google Hangout first.
With integration of Google Docs, you can even confer on documents as a form of file sharing. For a company that needs to share documents during meetings, this can be invaluable and once required paying a fee to use a similar feature.
Along with a connection to Google Plus, you can make your meeting chats an invitation as a public affair if you’re into the town hall approach. This can work a little like crowd sourcing by gauging customer opinion in real time during a chat. Even if that can be risky in who you let in, it opens a pipeline to people who frequent your business.
Using Google Hangout for All Your Meetings
Despite a drawback of only allowing in eight people during free Google Hangout chats, Google offers a professional edition that can accommodate many more. In that regard, the free side of Google Hangout is better suited for a small business that may not always be available to meet physically in their main headquarters.
Whether you choose to use Google Hangout regularly for your meetings is going to determine how much you need to communicate on a daily basis. For a larger company, you may want to pay for the more professional Hangout just so you can get everyone on the same page without cramming hundreds of people into a physical room every morning.
With mobile meetings becoming so much easier, you may be saved from the practice of passing donuts around a large table.
References:
http://www.thirdteam.org/tips-tools/google-hangouts
Tips On Planning & Holding Effective Meetings With Google Hangouts
http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/hangouts/
