October 2025 has delivered one of the most anticipated updates to Google Workspace, alongside a major leap in AI capabilities. Google Meet finally receives a true waiting room experience, giving hosts complete control over their meetings. At the same time, Gemini in Sheets has evolved to understand and execute multiple commands in a single prompt.

But that's not all. This month also marks the launch of a significant new enterprise-grade offering: Business Continuity add-ons. At Cloudasta, we've gone through all the details to bring you the essential updates.

You can also check our video update:

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Major Upgrades for Google Meet

Google Meet received an overhaul this month, focusing on host controls, in-meeting assistance, and productive engagement.

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It's Finally Here: Waiting Rooms in Google Meet

The long-awaited waiting room feature is now rolling out, giving hosts and co-hosts the power to manage who joins a meeting and when. This new experience allows you to:

• Enable a waiting room before the meeting starts.
• Prevent interruptions by holding attendees in a virtual lobby.
• See who is waiting and admit or deny them entry.
• Send one-way announcements to participants in the waiting room.
• Move existing participants back to the waiting room if needed.

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Ask Gemini in Meet: Your AI Meeting Assistant

A new "Ask Gemini" panel is now available directly within your Google Meet calls. This private, user-specific feature can refer to the meeting's live captions to answer your questions. You can use it to:

• Catch up on what you missed if you joined late.
• Summarize the ongoing discussion.
• Identify key takeaways and action items.

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Keep Things on Track with Meeting Timers

Hosts can now set a visible timer for everyone in the meeting. This simple but effective tool is perfect for keeping activities, presentations, or discussions on schedule and ensuring the meeting keeps moving.

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Gemini in Sheets Gets a Power-Up: Multi-Step Prompts

This is a significant leap for AI in Google Sheets. You no longer need to simplify your instructions or give one command at a time. Gemini can now understand and execute multiple, complex actions from a single prompt.

For example, you can now write a prompt like:

"Clean up this tracker, make the 'Status' and 'Priority' columns into drop-downs, and add a new column with a formula that calculates X."

Gemini will perform all the actions at once and provide a recap of what it has done. You can also ask for structural updates like deleting all archived rows or inserting new planning columns.

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Introducing Business Continuity Add-Ons

Google has launched two new, powerful solutions for enterprise resilience: Business Continuity and Business Continuity Plus. These add-ons are designed to serve as a robust backup solution, working alongside your primary non-Google platform (like Microsoft 365) to keep your organization operating if your main systems are compromised.

• Business Continuity (Cold Standby): This tier syncs your user directory (Active Directory) to be ready when needed. It's intended for limited usage, providing access to Workspace and Gemini tools for up to 21 days per year.
• Business Continuity Plus (Hot Standby): This is a more robust solution that allows for both directory and data syncing. It's designed for minimal disruption, with data readily available to drive immediate productivity. This plan provides extended access for up to 60 days per year.

Given the complexity, Google recommends using a partner (like Cloudasta) for implementation. Learn more about Business Continuity Editions.

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More AI and Productivity Enhancements

• Generate Presentations in the Gemini App: You can now use the Canvas feature within the main Gemini app to generate a full, themed presentation from a prompt or source. You can then export it directly to Google Slides to begin editing.
• Proactive Insights in Google Forms: Instead of manually asking Gemini to summarize responses, Forms will now proactively generate insights for short answer and paragraph questions as soon as you open the "Responses" tab.
• Gemini in Chrome: You can now access Gemini directly in your Chrome browser. It can reference your current tab (and up to 10 others) to answer questions, all while maintaining the same enterprise-grade data protection you get in Workspace.
• Stickers in Google Chat: Adding to its existing GIF support, Google Chat now includes a library of expressive stickers to help you communicate with your team.

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Navigate the New Normal with Cloudasta

This month's updates are some of the most significant we've seen, especially for meetings and enterprise-level resilience. Features like the Business Continuity add-ons are powerful but require expert planning and implementation.

If you have questions about the new Meet Waiting Rooms, the power of multi-step AI in Sheets, or how a Business Continuity plan could protect your organization, contact the experts at Cloudasta today.

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