One of the key aspects of the battle between Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 in recent weeks has been interoperability. We have seen both productivity suites announcing a raft of features designed to make their programs able to work with third-party apps more efficiently, including even boosting interoperability between the likes of Microsoft Word and Google Docs. Today we can report on a further move in this direction as Google has announced it is partnering with Zoom to ensure Google Meet users can hold virtual meetings with more people.
Google has announced via a Google Cloud blog post that it has finalized a partnership deal with Zoom that will enable bi-directional interoperability between the two video conferencing apps. The move means that users across both platforms will be able to meet with each other, simply by clicking on a calendar invite or entering a meeting code.
There is one interesting consideration, however, that users will need to take into account. All Zoom users will be able to seamlessly join conference calls and meeting on Google Meet but there will be limitations on which Google Meet users can join Zoom calls. Only Google Meet users who are running ChromeOS-based Meet devices will be able to join Zoom calls. There is no news about why there is this limitation but the Google Cloud blog post announcing the move did mention that it would be like this “at launch” meaning the interoperability features may roll out to all Google Meet users at some point in the future.
Traditionally, Zoom and Google Meet would be competitive apps trying to get one over on each other, but this is a smart move from Google as it opens up seamless interactions for businesses that use Google Workspace with the many businesses that use Zoom for their video communications.
In other Google Workspace news, users now have access to enhanced scheduling options when organizing meetings.
