Hangouts is a nice IM\calling option for collaborating outside an organizational structure
September 20, 2019

Hangouts is a nice IM\calling option for collaborating outside an organizational structure

Ho'omana Nathan Horton | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Google Hangouts

Hangouts is used primarily to interact when collaborating on documents/files in Google Drive. Although Google Drive has built-in chat and commenting capabilities, it's nice to be able to have more of a record, and to communicate outside of the documents we're currently working in. This is especially nice since it's integrated with Google.

Pros

  • Hangouts makes it easy to transition between chatting, calling, etc.
  • Before the demise of Google+, it was beautifully integrated with that platform.
  • Hangouts keeps a nice record of your chats that can be accessed easily from within Gmail or other Google platforms.

Cons

  • Hangouts sometimes doesn't alert me to a new chat or invite, especially from people not already in my Google contacts.
  • There's not much to complain about, it mostly just works the way it should!
  • Hangouts has provided an avenue for IM and calling outside of the organizational structure.
  • Hangouts has also streamlined our collaborative efforts, especially when using Google products.
As mentioned previously, the Microsoft products are much better for working within Active Directory, and especially when on the local network. However, Hangouts is a nice, quick and easy option for communicating from anywhere, and outside of that structure, so it's better for collaboration, including asynchronous collaboration and especially in Google products.
Not much to add here, except that Hangouts has nice documentation and any outages, etc. have always been resolved fairly quickly.

Do you think Google Hangouts (Classic) delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Google Hangouts (Classic)'s feature set?

Yes

Did Google Hangouts (Classic) live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Google Hangouts (Classic) go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Google Hangouts (Classic) again?

Yes

Hangouts is ideal for chatting and/or calling people who are already in your Google contacts, and Hangouts can be especially nice if you're already working on something together in a Google product (e.g. Docs, etc.). However, for more standard, organizational interactions, there are better solutions I think (e.g. Skype for Business, Teams).

Google Hangouts (Classic) Feature Ratings

Not Rated
Hosted PBX
Not Rated
Multi-level Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
Not Rated
User templates
Not Rated
Call reports
Not Rated
Directory of employee names
Not Rated
Answering rules
Not Rated
Call recording
Not Rated
Call park
Not Rated
Call screening
Not Rated
Message alerts
Not Rated
Video conferencing
Not Rated
Audio conferencing
9
Video screen sharing
Not Rated
Instant messaging
10
Mobile app for iOS
Not Rated
Mobile app for Android
10

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