Knowledge workers work from everywhere and anywhere. Your need for responsiveness and answers from your team is enhanced with integrated Google Chat.
Google Apps Chat Best Practices
A team today is largely virtual. Many organizations that have adopted cloud computing with Google Apps have the opportunity to collaborate in real-time. Your Google Apps chat area should be filled with people that you want to be connected with and statused on for ongoing execution of your work.
Android Chat
It is important to know where people are at beyond available and not available. If a person is on their mobile Android device, this is a Google Apps environment which is tightly integrated with the Google Apps platform.
In our Google Apps consulting, we advise on the best practices for team’s to drive collaboration and productivity. One of these is to ensure access with mobile users.
Be sure to activate the Green Robot Google Apps Lab feature. Simply go to the Settings menu and choose this from the Labs tab. By enabling this feature, you can see the demarcation of types of platforms people are using:
Note that the robot shows for team members that are on their mobile Android device. Their chat responses will be from their mobile device in real-time.
Furthermore, your list should show you context. Some users have Voice/Video chat integrated. Others are available with different status. Ensure your team uses the status to communicate types of availability:
- In Meeting
- Researching Don’t Interrupt
- Ping If Necessary
- Need Anything Go Ahead
The status helps to communicate to the team what your responsiveness level might be.
Driving best practices into your process for users in front of a computer or on the go increases Google Apps success by driving a culture of collaboration and response.