Formerly G Suite, Google Workspace has a multitude of valuable features and uses. Find out if you’re making the most of them here (and if not, how to).

Technology moves forward at an alarming rate. Despite our best intentions, reading that user manual for that absolutely-must-have new bit of kit quickly slides down the ever-growing to-do list.

What is Google Workspace anyway? Read on for a thorough yet pain-free low down on Google Workspace, and how it can help your business.

There’s a reason I’m besotted with Google. Google’s master brainiacs spend their entire lives tweaking and innovating their software and tools to make our lives easier. And if we’ve paid for it, we should at least make sure we know what’s available to us and our business.

If you’re like many of my clients, you’re time-poor and always looking for ways to streamline how you work. So I’ve put together an intro list of tips and tricks to help you reap the benefits of your investment… and the ingenuity of the world’s leading technology gurus.

Just what does Google Workspace do?

Google Workspace takes all the apps you have come to know and love, and hosts them inside one happy home.

Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet and many others are all in the same place. With 69% of workers wasting up to an hour each day switching between apps, Google’s essential digital hub is designed to boost productivity. The result for your business? Greater internal efficiency.

With the way we work changing massively over the past five years (and even more dramatically since the arrival of COVID 19), small businesses have had no choice but to quickly adapt their technology. But given the financial limitations of small business, just how do you support a remote team, work with international clients, or work via a mobile office (aka your laptop)?

The answer is simple – Google Workspace. While there are multiple alternatives, Google’s online system for organisation and collaboration is the most streamlined, cost-effective, and intuitive of them all. It’s also the most powerful, which is why I’m sharing a few of my favourite tips for getting the most out of it.

10 reasons to fall in love with Google Workspace

So what’s all the fuss about?

1. Gmail

On top of the standard Gmail features (spam blocking, email filtering, message scheduling, reminders and snoozing), Google’s Workspace version offers customised employee email addresses to match the company domain. This is critical for brand consistency. It also significantly increases consumer credibility compared to the likes of a Yahoo, Outlook or Hotmail domain.

Gmail also seamlessly integrates with Google Workspace’s other tools. This lets you send meeting invites via Google Calendar or chat about projects directly via Google Chat and Google Meet. And with in-built grammar nudges, including Smart Reply and Smart Compose let you speed through that inbox, even on the run, typo-free.

Did I also mention that it’s ad-free?

2. Drive

Google’s cloud-based storage system offers between 30GB and 1TB (or unlimited) file storage – huge.

3. Docs

This is Google’s web-based word processor. The suite includes Google Sheets (spreadsheets), Google Slides (presentations), and Google Forms (surveys).

Unlike other word processing tools, it enables real-time collaboration. No more losing your work because someone else is working on the file at the same time! Google Docs supports up to 10 people working on a document at any one time, with a whopping 200 people able to view a document simultaneously.

Version history tracks changes and makes reversing edits easy. It’s also easy to manage, with the blue Share button letting you set editing permissions and create a link for online collaboration.

4. Calendar

Integrating with Gmail, Drive and Meet, Google Calendar enables you to separate personal and work tasks within the same calendar function. Employees can maintain their own diary as well as keep up their colleagues’ diaries.

Managing events and meetings is effortless. Simply create an event, task or reminder before adding guests, a location, or the video conferencing link. You can also schedule Calendar to remind you of the meeting beforehand.

5. Work Insights

For those on a Google Workspace Enterprise Plan, enjoy increased business visibility via the Work Insights dashboard. It’s perfect for those in managerial, IT, CFO, or business development/improvement roles, providing clear data to help guide decision-making.

With reports on collaboration, productivity, and service-specific data, such as how many people are using Gmail or Sheets, you’ll gain insight into staff performance and engagement with the software, helping you drive continual improvements across the business.

6. Currents

Do you have with large numbers of staff working remotely and want to boost interaction? Need a single place to connect ideas and employees? Google Currents will help – it’s like a digital bulletin board. Staff can post messages to the entire company or direct them to specific working groups. It also enables direct messaging.

Google Currents lets you segregate groups based on business goals or projects. From here you can manage discussions, share documents, and work as a united team irrespective of distance. It also lets you communicate important communications quickly and effectively to the entire organisation or specific users and/or groups.

7. Vault

Google’s archiving service, Vault, helps businesses keep on top of the constantly changing world of data policy. The Vault isn’t a backup and restore service – it’s an archiving compliance tool to support organisations who may be required to keep data for a specific time. So even if an employee files and messages and empties their trash, that data will still be retained in the vault.

Depending on each industry and business, Google Vault lets you specify the rules around archiving. So if you need to move data after a certain time, you simply set up a retention rule and… voila! Vault will remove it from user accounts and purge it from the overarching system.

Only specific users have access to the Google Vault. These users can create Audit Reports, export content into a variety of formats, and retrieve data by file type, user, date, and keyword. But remember – it’s for eDiscovery and regulatory purposes, not backup and data restoration!

8. Chat

Replacing Hangouts, Chat is Google’s main business messaging tool and is built specifically for team communications.

Because it’s all part of the Google family, it makes sharing content (Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc) easy. Message teammates directly, schedule meetings, work together in groups (or ‘rooms’), and even use it as a high-level project management tool by allocating tasks. The search functionality is amazing, helping you find what you need, when you need it.

9. Meet

Before being reimagined to complete with the likes of Zoom, Google Meet used to be Google Hangouts. Meet provides a secure space for virtual meetings – chat with your team, work on a project or assignment, interview clients, or even live stream.

It’s also flexible – if you Google Meet with someone who isn’t all that computer-savvy, there’s no need for them to install software. You simply schedule directly from Gmail or Calendar. They simply join the meeting from the link, which automatically launches Google Meet within their default browser.

Need to meet on the run? There’s a Google Meet app for that.

10. Endpoint

Globally, our reliance on digital communications to maintain business momentum has highlighted just how critical solid security Google Endpoint is a great security feature that syncs with your Google Workspace domain to give you control over the devices accessing your data.

Endpoint monitors and manages all devices registered with the company. Security requirements can be tailored to company policy, such as requiring strong passwords of certain lengths and characters. Crucially, devices can be locked and even wiped in the event of loss or damage.

You can set restrictions to Gmail, Google Drive, Google Chat – anything within your Workspace. It will even limit access to office computers only.

However you use it, it’s a valuable tool to control access to confidential data within your business.

Google Workspace’s newest features

It’s like Christmas for us IT fans every time a new feature is released! Here are some recent ones that you may not know about (yet):

Pin conversations in Google Chat: Keep a conversation at the top of your list in Google Chat by pinning it, and access it easily when you log in.

Pin a conversation in Google Chat

Schedule Google Calendar events from Google Chat: Look out for the iconic calendar icon (below) from within a chat:

(Can’t see it? You’ll need to be on Google Workspace (G Suite) Basic subscription or higher.)

Google’s iconic Calendar icon

View your personal and work calendars in the same place: Nowadays more than ever there’s a work/life crossover. This feature can prevent you (or someone else) double booking yourself. If your organisation allows it, you can enable both calendars from within your Calendar app.

Want to stay bang up to date with all that geeky goodness?

Follow the Google Workspace Blog to get the latest news, tips, and tricks from the Google Workspace team.

Prefer to watch? Google Workspace’s YouTube channel has all the goods.

But if you want it in bite-sized snippets here and there – and in plain English – stay right where you are!

What’s your favourite Google Workspace feature?

Or perhaps you don’t use it yet but have questions. Whatever your thoughts, jot them down here and join the conversation or email me here.

The post What is Google Workspace? appeared first on Email Solutions and Consulting.

We all get those phone calls where we’re being sold to, promised a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow or – worse – abused and threatened.

Scammers are everywhere, all the time. But last week they were more than just annoying; they were destructive. They were abusive, manipulative, and intimidating. And their victim was a close, 80-year-old family friend.

There’s nothing I can do to get her $10,000 back. But what I can do is highlight what to look out for to prevent it happening to you. Because while this sophisticated scamming racket is prevalent in Penrith today, it may be in your parent’s or grandparent’s suburb tomorrow.

First of all – what defines a scam?

A scam is a form of deception. Scammers trick their victims to get access to money or other goods from an unsuspecting person.

Scamming has undergone quite the evolution over the years. It didn’t seem like that long ago that it was about writing bad cheques. Today, particularly due to technology and the digital marketplace, scams (and scammers) are far more advanced. Look at phishing, for example – once your basic fake email scam in the 90’s, it’s now responsible for sophisticated, large-scale cyberattacks.

More worryingly, scams are well-planned and executed. They have dedicated phone lines and custom call centres set up to imitate large corporations, giving us the illusion of reality. If you don’t know what to look out for, it can be near impossible to know exactly who you’re talking to.

Why types of scams are out there?

There are more types of scams than we can count. Some of the most common are:

• ATO and tax scams: Scammers impersonate ATO or MyGov staff, or Registered Tax Agents, to obtain our personal information around tax time.
• Identity scams: Similar to above, scammers use documentation with your personal details to obtain control of your identity and obtain access to personal affects.
• Online romance scams: Following an initial meeting on a legit dating website, scammers gradually move us into an external space that isn’t monitored (and where we’re more easily manipulated), such as email.
• Fake charity scams: That knock on the door is generally from a legit charity, but it’s so very hard to confirm when they’ve set up a fake website.
• Shopping scams: Fake online websites that look like the real deal accept your purchase but never provide the goods.
• Technical support scams: Contacting vulnerable users via the phone, scammers gain remote access before using it to steal information and money.
• Reward scams: They used to be about your unexpected inheritance – now reward scams promise a large amount of money in return for a small up-front payment.
• Threatening scams: Similar to the ATO and tax scams, these are impersonation scams. Scammers appear to be from a large and legitimate corporation, or a government department, and can convince you to hand over private information or threaten for funds to clear a debt.

How a family friend fell victim to a shocking remote access scam

This friend is the most wonderful woman. She’s 80-years of age, has a family who love her dearly, and the most beautiful nature. Unfortunately, these scammers preyed on that nature.

On receipt of an email (supposedly) by a well-known global organisation, she was horrified to find out that they would be deducting $99 from her account for monies owing. She immediately called the number on the email to clarify that she didn’t have an account with them. But they simply follow their script. She became trapped in their web.

Not only did they talk her into remote controlling her computer, but also moved between using fear (via abuse and telling her she’d pressed an incorrect button and $10,000 had incorrectly gone into her account) and appealing to her good nature (with the scammer crying that he would get into trouble and lose his job). He also pressured her with time – the money couldn’t be transferred back into the account because of tax purposes, he explained, and so she was forced to quickly withdraw it from her bank account before anyone found out.

What’s most terrifying is that they came to her home, via an Uber, to pick it up. He stood at her front door, right in the heart of Penrith, and took the cash.

It was – and is – terrifying.

How my friend will avoid falling prey to a scammer next time – and what you need to do

Picking up the red flags is critical. If you suspect something, you’re probably right.

1. Ignore the emails. Yes, it’s terrifying to receive an unsolicited email saying, ‘We’re taking $99 from your account as you owe us’ – but that’s called the hook. If you avoid the hook, you can avoid getting caught. Instead, hit the ‘delete’ button or, if you’re really unsure, file them in a ‘Suspicious’ folder for a trusted family member or friend to investigate.
2. Don’t call the number on the email to question or dispute. These emails are advanced and look like exact replicas of genuine banking (and other) emails. But if you call the number on the email, you’re directed straight to their in-house call centre – set up purely to run these scams. And from here, they can only hook you in more forcefully.
3. Check the email address. Hovering your mouse over the name of the organisation the email appears to be sent from will provide the full email address. This name can often be an indicator that it’s not from a genuine source.
4. Do not allow remote access. Irrespective of the abuse or risk, never provide remote access privileges to a stranger. In my elderly friend’s case, her computer had to be wiped clean to prevent further tampering via the software they’d installed (and to be super-diligent, they even deleted all traces of their email communications to eliminate proof).No-one can gain remote access without your permission – if you don’t trust them with your bank details, don’t trust them with your computer access.
5. Ask for help and advice. Ignore all potential emails and phone calls until you talk to someone. If you don’t have access to a friend of family member, call a respected IT consultant. You can contact me online or call directly if you’re in this situation.

Scammers always have a plan – and it usually follows a formula

Scammers evolve their hook as technology and society change. But while they’re constantly reinventing the scam itself, they rarely reinvent their formula.

Keep on the lookout for what I call ‘The Three Ps of Scamming’ – Personal, Pace, and Play.

The Personal: If the hairs on the back of your neck don’t stand on end when you’re asked for personal details, they should. Never give out information such as passwords or bank details. And unless they’re part of your trusted network, this includes access to your computer. Scammers try to get your personal details.

The Pace: Scammers will up the pace by creating a sense of urgency. This is a common tactic – giving you limited time to act is designed to isolate you. It not only prevents you from asking anyone for advice or help, but also forces you to act in the moment. Scammers increase the pace to get you off-balance.

The Play: Depending on who you are and what they’re after, the play will be different. Scammers consistently make a play for your emotions – sometimes they’re threatening, while other times they play to your good nature (as they did with my friend, by pretending that they were going to get in trouble from their employer and lose their job unless she helped him). Scammers play to your fears and your feelings.

If you go back to my elderly friend’s situation, you’ll see how they’ve used The Three P’s of Scamming in a coordinated effort to gain access, create a sense of urgency, and play to her good nature:

She provided remote computer access, giving them the Personal.

She was unable to obtain advice or help, as they had set a clear Pace via urgency.

And she followed their instructions following their Play for her emotions.

It was a ruthless and heartless act, but unfortunately a common one. If you know someone who has been scammed, or you yourself know how disempowering and invasive it is, please share The Three P’s of Scamming with those you love and/or all over your socials. Because while the elderly are preyed on so heavily, the unfortunate reality is that we’re all at risk.

And even a little awareness provides more protection than none.

Have you (or someone you know) been impacted by scammers?

Fingers crossed you haven’t – but if you have, please share your experience. Otherwise, what are your thoughts? I’d love to know.

The post Scammers – it’s happening in Penrith appeared first on Email Solutions and Consulting.