SaaS Updates Summary: April 23 – April 27

Greetings! Lots of SaaS updates this week. The biggest news, of course, is the all-new Gmail — there’s a brand new look, advanced security features, new applications of AI, and more. For domains using SAML, Google also introduced session length controls and a more secure sign-in flow on Chrome (coming May 7th). In addition, new person information cards will appear inside your G Suite apps on the web, and event details are now supported by Calendar Interop. In other news, Trello rolled out a new activity feed and an improved notifications system, and Dropbox Paper introduced the ability to turn any doc into a shareable template. Plus, there were a few updates from Atlassian and Smartsheet. Read on for more details.

G Suite Basic and Business Customers Can Now Create Hangouts Meet Meetings with Dial-In Phone Numbers
G Suite Updates | Now, all meetings created in Google Calendar by users with G Suite Basic and G Suite Business licenses will have a US dial-in phone number that anyone can use to join the meeting, even non-G Suite users.

Session Length Controls for Domains Using SAML
G Suite Updates | In March, Google introduced a setting that allows G Suite Business, Enterprise, and Education admins to specify the duration of web sessions for Google services (e.g. four hours, seven days, or infinite). At the time, this setting only applied to domains where Google was responsible for the login (i.e. where Google was the Identity Provider). Google is now extending the reach of this setting and making it applicable in domains that federate to another Identity Provider (IdP) using SAML.

Get More Control Over Chart Data Labels in Google Sheets
G Suite Updates | Google is adding new features to help the charts you create in Google Sheets better represent the data they contain. These features include showing total data labels for stacked charts and controlling where data labels are placed.

See People’s Profile Information in New Cards in G Suite Apps
G Suite Updates | Whether your users are scheduling a meeting or catching up on Google+ posts, it’s important that they can easily see who they’re interacting with. That’s why Google has added new person information cards that appear inside your G Suite apps on the web, like Google+ and Calendar, when relevant.

Better Visibility, Decisions With Dashboard Chart Updates
Smartsheet Blog | Smartsheet’s most recent additions to their dashboards will help you supercharge your data visualization and give you more flexibility in your data sources, so you can get the information you need to make better-informed decisions more quickly. With these charts enhancements, you now have ten new chart variations at your fingertips for more ways to visualize your data in a dashboard.

Providing Proactive Support Through Intercom and Statuspage
Atlassian Blog | Atlassian is excited to announce the new Statuspage app for Intercom. Their friends over at Intercom have built an out-of-the-box Messenger integration that works seamlessly for mutual Intercom and Statuspage customers. It’ll help end users get the information they need within the context of their Messenger chats.

There’s No Place Like Home: A New Trello Activity Feed & Remodeled Notifications
Trello Blog | After hearing from you about what you’d like to see next, Trello is so excited to launch the biggest Trello refresh yet: a brand spankin’ new home view for all of your Trello activities and a better notifications system to help you focus and get even more done!

Updates to Our Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and Business Agreement
Dropbox Blog | These updates come in preparation for important regulation changes going into effect this May, and will help Dropbox continue protecting your privacy and data to the highest possible standard. Here’s a summary of the key changes.

With New Security and Intelligent Features, the New Gmail Means Business
G Suite Updates | Google is announcing major updates to help the more than 4 million paying businesses that use G Suite work safer, smarter, and more efficiently. This includes an all-new Gmail, with a brand new look on the web, advanced security features, new applications of Google’s artificial intelligence and even more integrations with other G Suite apps. They’re also introducing a new way to manage work on the go with Tasks.

Coming May 7th, 2018: A More Secure Sign-in Flow on Chrome
G Suite Updates | If your organization uses SAML to sign users in to G Suite services, those users will soon see an additional step in the process when using Chrome as their web browser. Starting on May 7th, 2018, after signing in on a SAML provider’s website, they’ll be brought to a new screen on accounts.google.com to confirm their identity. This screen will provide an additional layer of security and help prevent users from unknowingly signing in to an account created and controlled by an attacker.

Additional Details on the New Gmail Early Adopter Program
G Suite Updates | Google recently announced an Early Adopter Program (EAP) for the new Gmail. In this post, you’ll find additional details on the EAP, including how to opt in, the related Admin console settings, and the implications of certain features.

Frontiers, a Conference by Slack, Is Back
Several People Are Typing | This year, Slack is gathering their community of customers, partners, and leading thinkers who’ll offer practical insights into how leaders and teams can create the right conditions for collaboration — inside and outside of Slack.

Event Details Now Supported by Calendar Interop
G Suite Updates | Last summer, Google announced improvements to Google Calendar Interop for Microsoft Exchange. They simplified the setup process, introduced detailed logs in Admin console, and made free/busy lookups available on mobile as well as web. To continue enhancing the coexistence of these two systems, they’re rolling out the support for event details in availability lookups. Now, G Suite admins can opt in to sharing event details when users use Calendar’s Find a Time or Outlook’s Scheduling Assistant.

Display Your Organization’s Brand in the Google Bar
G Suite Updates | Google is updating the Google bar to feature your brand. Along with some small changes to the bar’s look and feel, they’ll soon show your domain’s logo next to a user’s picture (or initials or avatar) at the top of many G Suite services, like Calendar and Drive.

Save Time and Effort by Creating Your Own Dropbox Paper Templates
Dropbox Blog | Dropbox is making your work easier by introducing one of the most requested Dropbox Paper features: the ability to turn any doc into a shareable template. Creating a template is simple: Open any doc, and you can “templatize” it with just a couple clicks.

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