Do you have a Gmail account? We’ve got some good news for you! You no longer need to have an enterprise account to access Google Workspace. The tech giant is finally opening up its collaboration and productivity tools, formerly known as G Suite, to anyone with a free Google account. This move made the Google Workspace experience available to more than 3 billion existing users across consumer, enterprise, and education. In the future, businesses will also be able to use additional features with a premium subscription.

Users can access Google Workspace by turning on Google Chat, previously called Hangouts, which is fully integrated with Google’s conferencing platform Meet. From there, you can open content from Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, collaborate on shared documents with others, or try out the newest feature – smart suggestions for emails and documents.

Later this summer, Google will continue its rebranding process with another app. Rooms will become Spaces and will come equipped with an improved interface to offer seamless integration of multiple tasks and users. It will also bring new features, including custom statuses, presence indicators, expressive reactions, in-line topic threading, and a collapsible view. Sounds familiar? That’s right – Spaces will essentially get more Slack-like!

While most of the above-mentioned features are currently free, Google is also introducing a new paid option called Google Workspace Individual, expected to be priced at around 10 USD monthly. Targeted at small business owners, it will provide premium capabilities, such as smart booking services, professional video meetings, or personalised email marketing. The premium subscription will also include direct Google support. Google Workspace Individual is rolling out soon to six markets: the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, and Australia.

Source: Telecompaper