Google has recently made Gemini equivalent to many other apps and features available within Google Workspace – now it’s part of the package, rather than a standalone product paid separately. As a consequence, many businesses got access to advanced AI capabilities within their familiar work tools without an extra fee.
This integration speeds up the decision whether or not to pay for AI capabilities to be used on a daily basis in a company.
Yes, you can theoretically block Gemini (with the right Workspace package), but that would be a rather harsh decision risking getting outpaced by your competition. So probably unlikely.
A lot more likely decision is to just let your team immerse into this new world of possibilities.
Good news is that there are experts out there, such as FOTC, who are here to help navigate this new landscape, offering expertise in AI adoption, training, and ongoing support to ensure a smooth and successful transition. Keep reading to learn more.
Your company now has access to Google Gemini
For those who have been following the development of AI within Google Workspace, the recent integration of Gemini might seem like a sudden leap. However, it’s a culmination of Google’s efforts to bring the power of AI to its users in a more integrated way.
Previously, access to advanced Google’s AI capabilities were limited to an AI chat, either free or paid. Over time, this has expanded to include Google AI in nearly every corner of the Google Workspace package, where various capabilities have become a reality for many teams. (for example, an AI assistant drafting emails directly in Gmail, or taking notes during video calls in Meet)
But – regardless of the scope – companies still needed to acquire Gemini as a standalone product paid extra. Only then it got the enterprise grade security (see below for more details) and the enhanced capabilities spanning above the free AI chat for non-company users.
What happened recently can be summarized along these lines:
- Every Google Workspace customer now gets access to Gemini with enterprise-grade security
- Customers on Business Starter plans get Gemini with limited capabilities – no Gemini Advanced, no Gems and only one Gemini-powered plugin available (for Gmail)
- Customers on Standar, Plus and Enterprise enjoy the AI assistant without limitations
And once you do have it, it’s an opportunity that you shouldn’t miss out on.
Gemini’s security when you use it as part of Google Workspace
With Gemini now readily available within Google Workspace, it’s more of a pressing need for businesses to be aware of its functionalities and security implications to ensure a smooth and successful adoption.
Before we explore this topic further, let’s have a quick look at this short video.
This light-hearted clip shows the reality of businesses ever since the launch of the first AI assistants in the form of chats back in 2022. We’re inputting pretty much any kind of data – private or company – into them to automate things, treating these tools like notebooks that you can talk to. And yes, that’s what they’re essentially are, but it does have its dire consequences – whatever you type into the free chat becomes a bit like public knowledge.
And therefore one of the primary concerns for businesses when adopting AI, especially within a work environment, is data security.
Why? It’s simple – free AI chat tools available online learn and improve by using the data input by users for training their language models. This means that any sensitive information you share with these tools could potentially be used to train the model, posing a significant risk to your company’s confidential data.
However, Google has taken a different approach with Gemini. When you use Gemini as part of your paid Google Workspace subscription, your data is not used to train the language models. This ensures that your sensitive business information remains protected and confidential, giving you peace of mind while leveraging the power of AI.
Gemini managed in Google Workspace’s admin console
Together with the change, Google Workspace admins now have a set of new settings and options related to Google AI.
Here are some possibilities:
- Admins have the ability to turn Gemini on or off as a core service either as the chat or plugins for individual apps. This control determines whether licensed users have access to Gemini’s core functionalities within Workspace applications. (note that this option is limited – see below)
- Admins can apply these Gemini-specific controls to GW’s organizational units or groups, allowing for granular control over Google’s AI availability.
- Security and compliance can be enhanced by applying wider DLP rules that can affect Gemini.
- Workspace admins can check statistics regarding Gemini including: the number of active users in your organization, Gemini’s daily usage levels, Gemini’s usage within particular Workspace apps (e.g. the volume of text summaries generated in Docs etc,), the number of chat messages exchanged with Gemini chat etc.
Note that some of these capabilities depend on your Google Workspace plan. For example, only Enterprise plans allow for disabling Gemini at the time of writing.
How Gemini can be used within apps in Google Workspace
Of course it’s difficult to encoruage disabling it as Gemini can only enhance how we use business apps, its not forsing the usage and there’s no true downside to having it. Here’s a super quick summary showing what’s possible.
- Gmail
Gemini in Gmail helps you write emails, summarize longer threads, and manage your inbox.
- Sheets
In Sheets, Gemini can help you analyze data, generate formulas, and create visualizations.
- Docs
Gemini enhances your writing and editing experience in Docs, offering suggestions, generating content, and summarizing documents.
- Slides
Creating presentations can also get a boost from Gemini – it can help you design slides, generate ideas, and write speaker notes.
- Drive
Gemini can help you organize and manage your files in Drive, so that it’s faster to find what you need among the many documents you are likely to have. This is especially useful when the Drive’s search bar based mainly on document titles may not suffice.
- Meet
With Gemini in Meet, you can use real-time translation and automated meeting summaries.
- Chat
Google’s chat can get enhanced through AI by making summaries of threads, looking for action items within messages, as well as identifying insights from conversations.
Other apps
One other thing worth mentioning is NotebookLM. It’s Google’s experimental tool aimed at creating summaries from multiple types of documents, including text, graphics, videos or audio.
FOTC helps you get the most out of Gemini
Adopting and integrating AI into your business requires careful planning and execution. FOTC offers comprehensive services to help you navigate this process and maximize the benefits of Gemini within your Google Workspace environment.
- Adoption plan
FOTC will work with you to create a tailored AI adoption plan that aligns with your specific business needs and goals. This includes analyzing your current Google Workspace usage, identifying areas where AI can be most beneficial, and developing a strategic roadmap for implementation.
- AI usage workshops
FOTC offers interactive workshops designed to train your teams on how to effectively use Gemini within Google Workspace. These workshops are led by experienced trainers and tailored to your specific needs and skill levels. It’s possible to fully tailor training sessions, including their content and frequency. Both online, and offline programs are available.
- Optimizing workflows
FOTC will help you optimize your existing workflows to seamlessly integrate Gemini and ensure that your teams are using it to its full potential. This includes identifying opportunities to automate tasks, improve efficiency, and enhance collaboration. We can help produce guidelines, policies, and best practices documents.
- Ongoing proactive support regarding Google’s AI
FOTC’s Google Workspace 24/7 support is focusing on efficiency and proactive approach, to offload the burden of knowing the tools really well. These services also cover Google’s AI usage to help you finetune settings, troubleshooting, configuration and security. We keep in touch with the latest developments in this ever-changing technology and thus ongoing adoption of new features and capabilities is also one of the key areas where the support shines.
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