If you haven’t tried Google+ yet now is the time to consider how it can benefit your business.

This week Google launched some excellent new Google+ features specially designed for business. Available to Google Apps for Business users as a preview, until full release next year, these new features are designed to help employees engage and connect with each other.

Private sharing for your organisation
Google Apps users now have more control over the content they post to Google+. When you create a post you can mark it as restricted. Restricted posts are private to your organisation and can never be re-shared with anyone outside. At the same time, when you create a post, you have the flexibility to share it with specific partners or colleagues outside the organisation as well if you choose.

Video meetings integrated with Gmail, Calendar and Docs
When you’re on Google Apps, holding a face-to-face meeting with colleagues or clients doesn’t require expensive video conferencing technology. All you need is a device with a camera and an internet connection. Hangouts in Google+ lets up to 10 people join a video meeting from their laptop, phone or tablet. Users can now join a multi-way video chat, powered by Hangouts, directly from Gmail, or directly from a Calendar event or invite. They can also open a Google doc in a hangout meeting, making it easy for colleagues to write or edit a document together from anywhere.

Administrative Controls
To help make sure users are sharing only with the people they intend, administrators can now set company-wide defaults for post restrictions. They can also enable restricted Hangouts to facilitate private meetings within the company.

Just the Beginning
These latest business features for Google+, which will be rolling out throughout the day, are just a start. We have a lot more planned for the coming months, including a mobile version of Google+ for enterprise users and more administrative controls.

So why not try Google+ for your organisation today.