Google shares news: Tech giant rolls out Google Hangouts Chat for businesses

Google shares ended lower Wednesday, as the tech giant announced a general roll out of its expanded Hangouts Chat for businesses. The service has been available to some firms in beta mode, but is now open to all businesses and will likely rival Slack as an option for them to communicate and work.

Google shares closed 1.22% lower at $1,103.92 in the US Wednesday, moving broadly in line with the general trading tone.

Hangouts Chat expansion

Hangouts Chat will make it easy for business to connect, communicate and collaborate online. The service will mean businesses can work on projects and discuss key details easily and quickly.

“From direct messages to group conversations, Chat helps teams collaborate easily and efficiently,” said Scott Johnston, Director of Product Management of Google.

“With dedicated, virtual rooms to house projects over time—plus threaded conversations—Chat makes it simple to track progress and follow up tasks,” Johnston added.

Hangouts Chat will also easily integrate with other Google, or ‘G-Suite’ tools through its 25 bots, which will help speed up workflows. It can be integrated with third party apps, too.

Google’s app competes with Slack

The open rollout of Hangouts Chat, makes the service a direct competitor of Slack and also similar apps that are available, including one that is part of Microsoft Office 365.

Google’s cloud and G-Suite services make a significant contribution to Google’s income and the expansion of what it can offer should help further bolster that revenue.

Indeed, Google said that Hangouts Chat is ‘deeply integrated’ with other G-Suite services, to support business using online services.

“Chat has deep integrations with other G Suite apps like Google Drive, Calendar and Hangouts Meet, and built-in security to meet retention, eDiscovery and regulatory/compliance needs for enterprises,” said Google VP and product manager, David Thacker, in a blog post.

Google’s announcements highlight the tech giant’s commitment to growing its cloud services and gaining a bigger share of the online business market.