? the hidden Gem of G Suite

This is a short post for school leaders and Cloud change agents and those considering the opportunities of cloud working about the power of getting unstuck.

Lockdown has changed the way that society views remote working. In turn, remote working has thrust video conferencing wars into the mainstream and cloud working out of the shadows and onto our meeting agendas. Understandably, this secondary consequence, cloud working, is harder to understand and pursue, though I will explore the benefits of cloud working in later posts. For now, let me share one of the best keep secrets of ?.

Earlier this week I shared a learning post on getting unstuck. It prompted a reflection about the most important features of G Suite that I have very much taken for granted. G Suites inherent power to help end users get unstuck and the extra, comprehensive, wrap around support they offer.

The ‘? icon’ is the hidden gem of G Suite.

At the rockface

On every page you will find ‘?’ icon. Quietly resting in the corner of every page. Click and ask your question. Think wikipedia for Google, by Google. ? takes you to knowledge bases for each and every product. Every feature, every tool, has a full explanation and how-to page plus community submitted responses to boot. They even post responses to “Top questions that we’re hearing.”

Organisational forethought – this empowers the end user. It really does put the power in their hands, to resolve your own questions and keep moving forwards. Just pause to reflect on the time this realises and the confidence it empowers. Truly, this may be the single biggest ROI should you select G Suite as your preferred cloud environment. And support does not end there. After ? Enterprise users have 24/7 phone, email and chat support. We logged a query late one evening this week and with minutes we were on a call to the US. In 15 minutes we had our answer.

Then there are the ‘G Suite Updates Blog.‘ This official feed from the G Suite team that provides essential information about new features and improvements for G Suite customers. And there is still more.

Requiring a little more investment, there is a plethora of courses via the Skillshop – with a section it’s very own Teacher Centre and webinars via Education OnAir. That is before you go to the open arena of Youtube – and find endless videos, commentaries and opinions – where I would signpost the team at Chromeunboxed – a channel of news, conversation (podcast) and reviews (website and vlogs).