15 Ways Google Made Work Easier & More Secure in 2015 – Part 3

As we’re charging ahead into a productive 2016, let’s take a minute to look back at some of the new features and security enhancements that have made Google Apps for Work so powerful and protected. Here’s a recap of the first 10, mentioned in Part 1 and Part 2…

Data Loss Prevention (DLP) for Gmail
ISO 27018 cloud privacy standard adopted by Google Apps for Work
Google’s Security Key makes 2-Step verification even easier and more secure
New mobile device management (MDM) and mobile app management (MAM)
Search quickly and easily across Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides all from the same place
Voice typing in Docs allows you to dictate your ideas directly into your Docs
Google launched Password Alert
Control sharing permissions for files, folders, and Docs by department
Control if your Google Drive files can be downloaded, printed, or copied by others
Use templates to create compelling content in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides

And now, here’s the final 5…

11. The new Explore section in Google Sheets allows you to spend less time trying to make sense of your data and more time acting on it. This new feature on the web and in the Android app analyzes the data (including some types of text) in your spreadsheets and automatically creates charts and surfaces insights based on that information. Highlight different sets of data and watch as the charts change dynamically, then drag and drop those charts directly into your spreadsheet. Here’s more info on Explore in Sheets.

12. Google Apps offers self-service password recovery in Google Apps for Work, so employees don’t lose valuable time being locked out of their accounts. You can also help protect your users’ accounts by managing and monitoring the strength of their passwords. You can set length requirements to prevent users from creating passwords that are too short, and you can monitor the strength of each user’s password to identify passwords that meet your length requirement, but aren’t secure in other ways. Check out your settings here.

13. Google’s familiar secure single sign-on access is now available to a wider set of SaaS and custom-built apps on desktop and mobile devices. It’s now easier to use that smart account security by giving employees secure single sign on access to more SaaS and custom-built apps. This was accomplished through enhancing their OpenID Connect (OIDC) Identity Provider support which is already in use with many SaaS apps in the Google Apps Marketplace currently. Here’s more info.

14. Organize your folders and files in Google Drive even more easily. When looking at Search results or items in the “Shared with me”, “Recent”, or “Starred” views in Drive, you’ll now see one of two options in the toolbar at the top of the screen. If the item you’ve selected is not already located in My Drive, you’ll continue to see the option to “Add to My Drive”. Clicking on that option will add the item to My Drive and then allow you to move it to various folders. More info.

15. The enhance search experience in Google Drive lets you search across all your files, regardless of the device they came from. To make that easier, you can use these new ways to find your files:

Narrow your search to a file type from the search box on Android, iOS, and the web
Open advanced search instantly from the search box
Access recent files or search Drive from the home screen using 3D Touch on iOS
Search Drive using the iOS search bar without opening the Drive app

Well, there you have it – from upgraded security and compliance certifications, to new features and tools to help analyze data – 15 Ways Google Made Work Easier & More Secure in 2015. With these constant improvements to Google Apps for Work and my data security, I’m excited to see what they have in store for 2016!