Google Launches Slack Competitor Hangouts Chat

Google released an update to its internet chat tool Hangouts on Wednesday, aiming to make it suitable in workplaces so the Alphabet unit can compete with business software makers including Microsoft Corp and Slack Technologies Inc. Hangouts Chat supports instant messaging across devices between workers, including group conversations. It also allows users to integrate widgets to access data from other corporate software in a chat window.


Google announced the service last March, but told Reuters it would be available to all customers for the first time on Wednesday. Hangouts Chat sits in Google's G Suite, a workplace software package that includes email and word-processing tools, for which more than 4 million businesses globally pay as much as $25 per user each month. Hangouts launched as a free service in 2013. But Google began tuning it for businesses when the company expanded enterprise sales efforts and sought to bring customers many of the same features it has internally.


Companies can link their databases with Hangouts Chat. For instance, teams at Google have integrated their bug-tracking, employee directory and IT support systems. Or customers can pick among integrations with software from Salesforce.com Inc, Dialpad Inc and Kayak. They also can use Google-developed artificial intelligence services, such as a meeting scheduler tool that sets group meeting times based on its understanding of individuals' work habits.

Google is bringing similar artificial intelligence to its calendar software, with a system that suggests a meeting location after analyzing a company's conference room listings and seating chart. Hangouts Chat also pairs with Hangouts Meet, teleconferencing software that Google released last year.

International Consumer Electronics Show‬, ‪2018‬‬

The event will keep running for five days, until January 12, giving participants a lot of time to investigate the year’s approaching advancements and makers time to flaunt new items and advances.

Paving the way to the event, the dominant part of what will be uncovered or indicated has stayed obscure. Albeit a large number of the organizations that are participating will, obviously, put without anyone else introductions facilitate on in the year to grandstand backbone items, there will in all likelihood be new item uncovers.

What to expect

CES is, obviously, not constrained to smartphones or portable innovations. Going past those, there are probably going to be new items over the extent of technology and a comment pretty much anyone – extending from restorative devices and wearables to televisions and auto.

Google official store posting for its Pixel-marked Chromebook was, all things considered, as of late evacuated and bits of gossip have circled that new forms are underway.

Also, those new shows are relied upon to be went down by new sound gear, with organizations like LG anticipated that would declare and exhibit new brilliant speakers and sound frameworks highlighting support for Dolby Atmos.

Along those same lines, there might be new uncovers identifying with A.I.- helped headphones or earbuds in the blend to round things out.

At long last, there will without a doubt be a variety of new advances appeared at CES 2018 that essentially couldn’t have been anticipated, making the current year’s event – like those before it – as energizing a prospect as ever.