Does this sound familiar? You’re collaborating over a document in a Chatter group. One person from your team makes a suggestion that ignites the conversation. Suddenly, questions and ideas are flooding your Chatter stream. But the document needs to be finalized before lunch. You think, if only we were all in the same room together, this could be settled in 10 minutes. Most times, as you know, that is just not possible.

What if you could take collaboration to the next level—without leaving your desk or the document or the rest of the Salesforce environment? What if you could press one button and initiate a video chat with your team right then and there?

Now you can—from any device—through a new Action Link in Salesforce1. Salesforce is expanding its partnership with Google to enable Google Hangouts video meetings from any relevant place in Salesforce—from your Chatter stream to your Sales Cloud opportunity page—so you can collaborate face-to-face with your colleagues, partners, and customers wherever you are.

For years, Salesforce has been successful at turning companies into “social companies” and enabling the mobile workforce. The addition of Google Hangouts takes both Salesforce initiatives one step further.

Here’s what else to expect:

Stronger business relationships

Video conferencing lets you get to know people on a much deeper level than on a phone call, email, or text chat. Not only does it bring out personalities, it also enables you to interpret the non-verbal communications, which in business, are just as important as what’s being said. If someone is visibly bored, excited, confused, or anxiously awaiting his or her turn to speak, you can pick up on those cues and adjust the conversation appropriately.

Empowered remote workers

According to a recent Forrester Forecast, 43% of the U.S. workforce will work remotely by 2016. Enabling video meetings in the context of everyday business processes allows remote workers scattered across various time zones to seamlessly share slides, collaborate on shared documents, and participate in live presentations—whether they’re at their desks or on their smartphones.

Lower travel expenses

If you’re unable to meet in person, video chat is the next best thing. On average, companies using video conferencing see a 30% reduction in travel costs—not to mention the time savings, which can be focused on other, more productive things.

Want to learn more about integrating Google Hangouts into your Salesforce experience? Tune into Community Cloud at Dreamforce '14.