On September 24, Google announced new features and increased availability of Google Gemini for workplace users.
Workspace Business, Enterprise, and Frontline plans will now include the standalone Gemini app. Google is doubling down on AI for customer service with the latest models and new features for contact centers. Additionally, Workspace Business edition customers will gain access to Security Advisor, a chatbot for security administrators.
Google Gemini is available internationally in over 230 countries.
Google adds administrative controls to enterprise subscriptions
Workspace Business, Enterprise, and Frontline users can now access the standalone Gemini app with built-in administrative settings and data protection.
Previously, users had to switch to personal accounts to use the public version of the AI. Now, an admin console allows users to set restrictions on how Gemini handles messages and retains generated responses. Gemini will not use customers’ organizational data, messages, or generated responses to train Google’s models.
This expansion of Business, Enterprise, and Frontline plans is separate from the Gemini for Workspace add-on. The add-on integrates Gemini directly into Gmail, Docs, Drive, and other Workspace apps.
SEE: Google Gemini and ChatGPT have slightly different capabilities.
Conversational AI improves contact center tools
Contact centers are becoming a popular testing ground for generative AI. Google is among companies betting on generative AI as a more flexible alternative to traditional phone trees.
Customer Engagement Suite with Google AI, a new version of Contact Center AI Insights, is designed for multichannel contact centers. AI applies Gemini 1.5 Flash to:
- CRM applications.
- Workforce management applications.
- Telephone systems for customer service.
Gemini 1.5 Flash adds more capabilities to the product formerly known as Contact Center AI Insights by providing deeper, more actionable insights. The new AI model is able to create key performance indicators, recommend categories of query topics to prioritize, and recommend how operations managers and QA teams can improve services.
Quality AI, another new feature, automatically assigns a score to each customer interaction. This ties into the contact center as a service (CCaaS) functionality in Customer Engagement Suite, which unifies customer experiences across web, mobile, voice, email, and apps.
To access the new features, Google Contact Center AI customers can contact sales for Customer Engagement Suite pricing details.
Conversational Agents: Another Way to Answer Customer Questions
AI agents are seen as a potential way to get ROI from generative AI. In its Customer Engagement Suite, Google offers conversational agents. These AI agents can answer some customer questions and perform automated actions, such as verifying a customer’s identity.
Agent Assist, a standalone generative AI tool for customer service representatives, added the following features on September 24:
- Generative knowledge: Provides search query suggestions based on conversation.
- Training: Provides your organization's information to customer service representatives to improve response accuracy and process compliance.
- Summary: Generate summaries for customer service representatives after each call.
- Smart response: Provides suggested answers.
- Live translation: Supports real-time translation in over 100 languages.
Security advisor summarizes potential pain points for IT administrators
The new Security Advisor feature, aimed at data and threat protection, is an AI-written email sent periodically to IT admins with insights from across the organization. The email will provide steps admins can take to improve security.
The security advisor will be available to Workspace Business Edition customers “in the coming weeks,” Google said on Sept. 24.
Gemini for Workspace Receives Industry Certifications
Finally, Google announced that Gemini for Workspace has been certified against several industry security and privacy standards, including:
- SOC 1/2/3.
- ISO 27001.
- ISO 27701.
Gemini Competitors for Workspace
Google’s approach with Gemini has notable similarities to Copilot’s integration into Microsoft’s security and 365 suites. Microsoft launched Copilot for Security in March.
Some of the features that Gemini has for professionals can also be done with ChatGPT Enterprise, although Google Gemini integrates better with existing call center infrastructure. Salesforce and other contact center AI companies can provide similar services for AI-generated responses during calls.
More news on Google Gemini is expected later this week.
Google will be hosting a Gemini at Work-themed in-person demo in New York on September 26. We'll report back with our hands-on impressions.
