Even though they’re just an experimental, in-house incubator, a lot of good things have come out of Google’s Area 120. The latest one that they’re launching is especially useful for companies or organizations that are deep into the whole Google eco-system and would like an easier and automated way of tracking projects, database, etc. Tables is a new work-tracking tool that they’ve just annoucned and has the distinction or being the first Area 120 project to get a paid tier.
Basically, Tables is a work-tracking tool that groups and organizations can use to make it easier to track projects, especially if you’re using Google projects in the first place. It’s built for things like project management, IT operations, customer tracking, CRM, recruiting, product development, and other projects that may need a tool for tasks, schedules, documents, etc. Usually, a lot of things are digitally but manually done so this service aims to make things easier for you.
Tables uses bots to automate some of the processes like scheduling email reminders when a task assigned is overdue or to message your chat room when a new form has been submitted.
It is meant to use with the current Google apps and tools that we already have like Google Docs, Sheets, Gmail, Google Groups, Calendar, etc. The bots take care of the automated actions and the data can be presented in different formats like grids, record lists, kanban boards, etc.
To start off, you can import data from your Google Sheets or a CSV format document and then share it to your Google Groups and assign tasks to people in your contacts. They also have existing templates that can get you started in case you don’t know what to do. Google also mentioned Slack integration so this might come in the future. Some organizations have already tried it out based on the testimonial video.
Tables is launching the U.S first but no timetable has been given as to when it will roll out to other countries. There is a free tier with a limit of 100 tables while the paid tier is $10/month/user. Everything is done in the desktop or browser as there is no mobile app yet.