Google Workspace Trends: Our Predictions for 2024

Over the last twenty years, Google has transformed the workplace experience. Their technology has brought many different functions of business into one convenient place, under one umbrella of access. 

In 2024, Google Workspace will continue to push boundaries and drive technology and innovation forward for people at work. Here at Promevo, we provide comprehensive support and services across the Google ecosystem including Workspace, so our experts can prepare our clients for the future of work. 

So, where is that future heading? Let’s dig into three major Google Workspace trends, from the expansion of Generative AI to hybrid work and data optimization. 

Google Workspace Trend #1: Generative AI

You can’t go anywhere online today without seeing a conversation about AI. This is true in the boardrooms and business meetings behind all of your favorite big tech, small tech, and even startup companies. 

AI can do a lot of things but generative AI in particular, allows you to generate text, images, and other data in response to user-submitted prompts. 

Companies of every size have considered how generative AI or gen AI can help them increase efficiency, maximize output, and minimize demand on their human team members. Google has added Gen AI to their Workspace and Cloud products with Gemini for Google Workspace (formerly Duet AI). 

Gemini is fairly new, but it can already help you achieve hundreds of microtasks. Gemini is a powerful collaborator that can help you write and refine your Google Docs or Emails, create custom visuals in Slides, get more out of Sheets, and can even modify the way you Meet. In 2024, Google will roll out many Gemini updates including a proposed “attend for me” function within Google Meet. 

While there are steadfast opinions on both sides of the AI debate, Google provides a reliable option to dabble in a space you already trust, with a company that is already actively protecting your data. 

If AI is something your company is expanding into this year, or accepting as a useful tool, Gemini might be a great asset to your tech stack. Plus, it’s already built into the products you use! 

Before setting your team loose with Gen AI though, consider drafting and implementing an AI policy that helps to govern when, where, and how your employees use gen AI. This way, you keep your team informed and ready to use AI in a way that benefits the company. This is the moment to begin engaging in the AI conversation, especially around governance, data security, and proper use.

Google Workspace Trend #2: Hybrid Work Environments

Post-pandemic, the conversations around remote work versus in-office work have only continued to grow in numbers. 

Many companies have tried stringent back-to-office policies only to find an increase in churn, rather than productivity. Other companies have committed to remote work for the long haul, divesting from their commercial office spaces and investing in remote-friendly tech and collaborative tools. 

But, what about the teams that do a bit of both? According to Forbes, 28% of full-time employees are hybrid in 2024.

Google’s tools offer a powerhouse tech stack for hybrid employees at their base level. Hybrid employees benefit from any tool that is accessible at home and in the office, on multiple devices, with no requirement to send documents back and forth or login to dozens of different tools to make it happen. 

Google Workspace empowers all of this while also enhancing the “live meeting” experience with Google Meet and various whiteboarding tools. 

For years, Google operated a product called Jamboard, a collaborative whiteboard that can be used asynchronously and shared between teams. This year, Google will phase out Jamboard. Instead, they’ll be integrating other well-established whiteboarding tools into Workspace. Think: Miro, Figjam, and Lucidspark. 

These whiteboarding tools allow teams to meet across multiple locations, from HQ to home office, and collaborate actively. Unlike a presentation where all audiences are just receiving information, whiteboard tools allow participants to add their own notes in the same environment, leading to more engaged meeting sessions. 

One of the chief arguments against remote and hybrid work is the notable lack of shared visual mind-mapping when people aren’t in a room together. This whiteboard integration embeds many features to co-visualize the work you already share in Google Workspace, making remote and hybrid teams feel like they’re “in the room” too. 

Google Workspace Trend #3: Data Optimization

Major organizational growth is a good problem to have, but massive expansion can still present challenges. Namely, you’ll require better data management and easier navigation to access your data, as your team gets bigger. In the case of your Google user data, there is a lot your leaders can learn and use to make better decisions cross-functionally. However, if you have 10,000+ employees, this data gets lost.

In 2024, we predict a significant increase in the optimization of user or employee data for large teams. 

Imagine a dashboard where you can see and access all kinds of things about your team’s usage of Google tools. Think security logs and alerts, user login and device locations, document collaboration and access statistics, user permissions, email and communications history, onboarding milestones; how might you reference this data to manage your people, the work, and the security of your data across the board? 

Now, imagine if you could access ALL that and more in a usable, functional dashboard that you can customize for your team and company. 

While you’ll have some access to user data with Google Admin Console, there’s so much more to see and learn. That’s what gPanel from Promevo can do. 

Our gPanel solution offers over 70 unique reports that can be manually generated or scheduled in advance, providing deeper insights into your Google Workspace instance. Armed with this information, administrators become more empowered to take proactive measures to safeguard sensitive company data, optimize collaboration workflows, and maintain a secure digital environment.

Final Thoughts

Your company, team, and leaders are evolving and innovating all the time — but is your tech stack growing with you? By forecasting what growth looks like in 2024 and beyond, your team can prepare for anything, including the rise of AI, the changes to hybrid and remote work, and especially, optimizing data for better insights and broader visibility. 

At Promevo, we are your trusted partner in transforming your organization for the future with Google solutions. We can help you efficiently and effectively implement Google Workspace in tandem with our gPanel dashboard.

Whether you need end-to-end Google Workspace support or just want to discuss the future of workplace tech and how it’ll impact your organization, contact us today.