This week Dropbox, one of the world’s leading Collaboration platforms, announced a new partnership with Google Cloud, in a bid to reduce friction between apps, devices, and offices. The update will allow users to access G Suite content across Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Hangouts – all without leaving the Dropbox app.

What this means for Dropbox fans

Users will be able to create, open, and edit a wide range of Google content from within Dropbox. If you’re used to collaborating on-the-fly, it’s a big step up – especially when working alongside clients or third parties that don't share the same processes and systems as you.

You can also expect Dropbox support in your G Suite apps

It’s not just Dropbox making changes. Expected updates to Google tools will include options to select and share Dropbox file links from within Gmail. The same applies to Google Hangouts, where users will be able to search for, share and preview Dropbox files.

It’s good news for Google too

Google’s push for more effective cloud solutions and collaborative tools mirrors Dropbox’s – and this partnership can only increase Google’s ubiquity. Ritcha Ranjan, Google Cloud’s Director of Product Management is excited about the partnership, expressing a desire to make collaboration and cloud storage more accessible for customers of both Google and Dropbox.

Ultimately, whichever platform you're personally more drawn to, it's a small victory for everyone looking to save time, work together and get things done.

The move follows similar partnerships with Apple, Adobe, Microsoft, and others

These existing partnerships have been well received, with several additional updates after their initial roll-outs.

Dropbox is well on the way to creating a live-action centralized hub for files, and relationships like this have been a vital part of that journey. But they’re far from alone in that vision – especially when it comes to enterprise.

A competitive market

In a world where secure data storage is becoming front-page-news, the cloud-based global file hosting service faces fierce competition from rivals such as Slack, Trello, Workplace and even WhatsApp.

That makes integrating features from Google’s widely-used platform a no-brainer – especially when competitors like Slack are already offering the service.

The update is currently scheduled for a widescale release in the second half of 2018.