Patronum 2024: A Year In Review 🎉

2023 was a huge year for Patronum, rolling out an array of updates designed to enhance user interaction, streamline processes, and bolster security – all aimed at helping you better manage your Google Workspace environment. As the best Google Workspace manager in the industry, our commitment to innovation ensures that every feature we introduce sets a new standard for excellence. This year, we’ve focused on making Patronum not just feature-rich but also the most intuitive Google Workspace manager available, marking a significant leap forward in how businesses can leverage Google Workspace to its full potential. Here’s a comprehensive look back at our most impactful upgrades this year—and a glimpse into how Patronum is shaping the future of Google Workspace Management optimization.

Highlights of 2024

Introducing Patronum Backup: Enterprise-Grade Google Workspace Data Protection

Earlier this year we launched Patronum Backup, a cloud-based backup and recovery service tailored specifically for Google Workspace. This comprehensive solution protects essential data such as Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Contacts, and Google Chat from threats like accidental deletion, ransomware, and data corruption. Powered by Afi backup technology, Patronum Backup seamlessly integrates with the Patronum platform, enabling administrators to manage backups as part of their workflows, including offboarding procedures.

Try Patronum Backup

User Experience: Redesigned, Refined, Reimagined

Menu UI Improvements

This year, we introduced a visual refresh of the platform, updating menu icons to create a modern, aesthetically pleasing interface. Alongside this, we made usability enhancements, refining navigation, workflows, and interactions to ensure Patronum remains one of the most user-friendly Google Workspace management platforms.

A key addition included the ability to quickly view employees within a specific department, fostering connectivity and engagement among team members.

Automated Google Chat Spaces Management

By leveraging Google’s Chat API, Patronum administrators can now automatically provision users into organizational chat spaces during onboarding. This ensures new employees are instantly connected to relevant communication channels, reducing manual efforts and boosting collaboration.

Key Benefits of Google Chat Spaces Management:

• Streamlined Onboarding: Faster, more efficient processes.
• Improved Collaboration: Ensuring everyone is in the right communication channels.
• Reduced Administrative Overhead: Automating chat space management.
• Enhanced Efficiency: Better control over user enrollment and permissions.

Don’t forget if you want to manage Google Chat, you need to manually add the Google Chat API.

Admin-Centric Features: Power, Precision, and Control

User Policy View

We introduced a Policy Tab in the User section, allowing administrators to see which policies are applied to individual users. This has proven invaluable for troubleshooting and refining workflows.

Google Calendar Management

Administrators can now manage calendar resources, events, and settings with more precision. Features include editing user time zones as part of onboarding and centralized calendar management for improved organizational efficiency.

Improved User Onboarding

Partnering with our customers, we enhanced the onboarding experience by introducing the Start Date attribute. This enables HR teams to initiate pre-enrollment processes, send essential information to new hires, and streamline IT preparations. Additionally, workflows now pre-populate standard information based on job functions, saving time and effort

Expanding Alerts and Search Capabilities

Patronum Alerts

Building on last year’s launch, we added new triggers to Patronum Alerts, including:

• Notifications for Google Shared Drive storage limits.
• Alerts for internal email forwarding.
• Reports for email aliases, ensuring compliance and reducing risk.

Enhanced Search Functionality

Our improved search features now support use cases across departments:

• Skill-Based Search: Find colleagues with specific expertise.
• HR Management: Search employees by start and end dates.
• IT Administration: Locate accounts based on backup SLAs.

Smarter Offboarding: Data Security Meets Operational Agility

Improved User Offboarding Policies

Patronum’s enhanced offboarding policies ensure organizations can retain access to critical files, whether by transferring them to a Shared Drive or archiving them. External file access is safeguarded with automated requests to maintain business relationships.

Unsharing Files for Leavers

We’ve automated processes to revoke external access to internal files, strengthening data security during offboarding.

Email Alias Expiry

To comply with GDPR, Patronum now automatically removes outdated email aliases after a specified period, ensuring data protection while maintaining seamless communication during transitions.

Emergency Offboarding

Administrators can now manually trigger customized offboarding policies, assigning resources like files and contacts to specific individuals when necessary.

Innovations in Policy Management

Multiple Policies for a Single Resource

This feature allows administrators to apply multiple policies to a single resource, enabling granular control. For example:

• Assigning different email signatures for various domains.
• Tailoring access permissions within Google Groups.

Advanced Policy Management & Logging Integration

BigQuery and Splunk/SIEM Log Integration

We expanded our logging capabilities, allowing Patronum data to be exported automatically to platforms like Google BigQuery and Splunk. This integration helps organizations analyze and visualize data more effectively, supporting compliance and IT insights.

File Sharing Enhancements

Sharing Filters and Visibility

Administrators can now filter files based on ownership and sharing status within a user’s My Drive. This provides:

• Better organization and data security.
• Simplified compliance monitoring.
• Improved collaboration and access management.

Granular File Governance: Sharing & Access Controls

Selective sharing of folders within Shared Drives is now easier. Shortcuts to shared folders can be added directly to users’ My Drive, optimizing storage and improving accessibility.

Unlocking the Future with Google Gemini

With the emergence of Google Gemini, Patronum offers a framework for effectively introducing and integrating Google Gemini within your organization. By crafting targeted policies and ongoing feedback mechanisms, we ensure that teams can harness Gemini’s full potential for innovation and efficiency.

What’s Next for Patronum?

As we close 2024, Patronum strives to empower organizations to maximize their Google Workspace environments. From enhanced onboarding and offboarding processes to advanced file sharing and communication tools, our developments this year reflect a commitment to continuous improvement and customer success. We remain committed to delivering transformative features that support the evolving needs of modern enterprises.

Here’s to scaling new heights in 2025—and beyond!