SaaS Updates Summary: July 30 – August 3

Greetings. This week, Google added a feature in the Admin console that can alert admins if they believe a user’s account has been targeted by a government-backed attack. Google is also introducing two new tools, room release and room insights, to help admins manage meeting rooms more efficiently. They also announced new features for Calendar and Sites, and they’re giving you more control over which Apps Script projects can run in your organization.

In other news, Atlassian announced the new Atlassian Cloud for Gmail; Zendesk and WhatsApp announced an integration; and DocuSign signed a definitive agreement to acquire Spring CM.

Read on for more details.

Propose a New Meeting Time in Google Calendar
G Suite Updates | Google is introducing a new feature that enables more efficient meeting scheduling. Now, each guest invited to a meeting can propose a new time and the organizer can easily review and accept time proposals.

Embed Google+ Streams in the New Google Sites for More Engagement
G Suite Updates | Google is making it easier to embed Google+ streams in the new Google Sites. This feature is a top request from users who want to create more interactive and engaging sites.

Announcing the New Atlassian Cloud for Gmail
Atlassian Blog | The Atlassian Cloud for Gmail allows you to perform several actions directly from a message in Gmail when a Jira or Bitbucket link is present in an email.

New to Microsoft 365 in July — Integrating Apps and Empowering Businesses
Microsoft 365 Blog | Here’s a look at what’s new in July: Microsoft Planner capabilities in SharePoint team sites, threaded comments in Microsoft Excel, Visio Visuals for Microsoft Power BI, and more.

DocuSign Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Spring CM
DocuSign Blog | As part of its vision to modernize companies’ Systems of Agreement (SofA), DocuSign announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Spring CM, a leading cloud-based document generation and contract lifecycle management software company based in Chicago.

Check Out the Most Recent G Suite Launches
G Suite Updates | Last year, Google introduced a new resource for admins: What’s new in G Suite? Don’t forget to visit the page regularly for a list of the most recent launches across G Suite.

In Case You Missed It: New Emoji, Improved Search, and More
Several People Are Typing | Here’s a quick rundown of some recent improvements to Slack.

Announcing the Zendesk and WhatsApp Integration
Zendesk Blog | Zendesk is excited to announce the launch of their integration with WhatsApp Business Solution. By extending customer support capabilities to WhatsApp, businesses that use Zendesk can now reach WhatsApp’s 1.5 billion users to provide fast, proactive support. And for your customer support agents – they can easily manage conversations that come in through WhatsApp in one, centralized location within Zendesk Support.

New Ways to Add Clarity to Your File Previews in Dropbox Paper
Dropbox Blog | Good news for all of you who want a better way to bring scattered content together and help your team focus on what really matters. Starting today, if you’ve got PDF, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Adobe Illustrator files stored in Dropbox, you can customize how they show up in Paper. Here’s how it works.

More Control Over Which Apps Script Projects Can Run in Your Organization
G Suite Updates | Now you can also control access to projects that request the following scopes: Apps Script Runtime and Apps Script API.

Manage Meeting Rooms Efficiently with Automatic Room Release and Room Insights
G Suite Updates | Google is consolidating all features related to managing buildings and resources in a single dedicated place in the Admin console. They’re also introducing two new tools, room release and room insights, to help you understand your organization’s resource utilization and optimize occupancy.

Control Government-Backed Attack Alerts in G Suite
G Suite Updates | Google is adding a feature in the Admin console that can alert admins if they believe a user’s account has been targeted by a government-backed attack. If an admin chooses to turn the feature on, an email alert (to admins) is triggered when Google believes a government-backed attacker has likely attempted to access a user’s account or computer through phishing, malware, or another method. It does not necessarily mean that the account has been compromised or that there was a widespread attack on an organization.

What’s New in G Suite – July 2018
G Suite Updates | Check out the latest “What’s New in G Suite” launch recap for a roundup of all G Suite launches from July 2018.

For last week’s SaaS updates (and beyond), click here for our archive.