CHENNAI: Alphabet Inc’s Google on Wednesday gave Gmail its first major makeover in the last few years, sprucing up its security and offline features, to outmanoeuvre Microsoft Corporation’s Office 365 workplace software suite.
Major applications within the G suite like Gmail, Docs, Drive and Calendar would be able to better integrate with each other through the new overhaul, where Gmail would have a brand new look, advanced security and new features to better manage work out of the workplace, powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
With the recent slew of corporate data breaches and Microsoft planning to expand reach of its Office 365 software, Google said it is launching a feature in which emails can be sent with expiration dates, can be revoked and also allows the sender to remove the option to forward, copy, download or print messages.It said it will enable AI-powered features like ‘nudging’ to remind email replies, high-priority notifications and unsubscribe suggestions in the coming weeks.
“We’re announcing major updates to help the more than four million paying businesses that use G Suite work safer, smarter and more efficiently,” said David Thacker, VP Product Management, G Suite, in a blog post.G Suite is a major part of the Google Cloud business.
The company’s revenue from its cloud and hardware unit jumped more than 30 per cent, compared to the year-ago quarter, Alphabet said in its earnings report on Monday.