Google Is Planning to Debut a New Unified Communications App for Business Users

While Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has its fingers in a number of business pies, business communication hasn’t been one of them. Yes, the company’s G Suite for Business Users helps companies with documents, spreadsheets, presentations, appointment setting and even chat thanks to Google Hangouts, but business telephony has never been part of the search giant’s portfolio.

The tech rumor mill says that may be about to change. The company is supposedly in development of a mobile unified communications app designed for business use, according to a new report by The Information. The new app will combine several standalone applications and technologies, according to the report, which is based on intelligence from two unnamed sources. According to the sources, the new communications app is expected to combine Google’s existing video conferencing app Hangouts Meet with its instant messaging app Hangouts Chat.

“The new mobile app, which is currently being tested internally at Google, also includes Hangouts Meet, Google’s video conferencing app and Hangouts Chat, a real-time message app, according to the people,” wrote The Information’s Kevin McLaughlin. “Thomas Kurian, the CEO of Google’s cloud unit, discussed the new app at a conference held in mid-January for the unit’s salespeople and business partners, according to two of the people. The new app is expected to be part of G Suite, the collection of online productivity software that is overseen by the cloud unit known as Google Cloud.”

Analysts believe the new offerings under development will help the Mountain View, California-based company compete in the lucrative business communications marketplace with companies that offer full suites of unified communications (UC) and collaboration (think: Microsoft and Slack). Thus far, however, Google is not elaborating on its future plans for the mobile communications app, though it is believed to be undergoing internal testing for the new suite.