With the widespread adoption of remote work this year, online operations have become standard practice, and it’s become clear that Chrome OS is an operating system ideally suited for cloud-based applications. Recognizing that many business applications are quite intricate, Google has unveiled several new capabilities designed to streamline Chrome OS device deployment for IT departments.

John Maletis, project manager for engineering and UX for Chrome OS, notes that the transition to cloud computing was already underway in recent years, but the pandemic significantly accelerated this process. “The current need for a productive, geographically dispersed workforce – with some employees in the office, but the majority working remotely – is a primary focus for businesses across all sectors, and this trend is gaining momentum rapidly,” Maletis stated to TechCrunch.

To facilitate this shift, Cyrus Mistry, group product manager at Google, explains that their goal is to simplify Chrome OS implementation for IT professionals, and they’ve introduced a range of new features to support this objective. Initially, they’ve developed a complimentary readiness tool that allows IT teams to assess which applications are compatible with Chrome OS and which are not. This tool generates a report utilizing a color-coded system: green indicates full compatibility, yellow suggests potential compatibility, and red signifies incompatibility.

To address applications falling into the latter categories, the company also announced the availability of Parallels for Chrome OS. This will allow organizations utilizing Windows applications that are not natively supported on Chrome OS to run them within a virtual Windows environment. Mistry concedes that running Windows in this manner will necessitate more powerful Chromebook devices with sufficient resources, but it provides a viable solution for companies reliant on critical Windows applications, broadening the potential user base for Chromebooks.

“We also offer what’s known as zero-touch enrollment, where devices can be pre-enrolled by manufacturers, meaning they’ll automatically recognize the domain and can be shipped directly to users,” Mistry clarified. This ensures that these machines are pre-configured with the appropriate settings, policies, applications, and certificates, as if they had been individually set up by the IT department.

Further simplifying IT management, Google is providing a new suite of certified applications – including Salesforce, Zoom, and Palo Alto Networks – that have been rigorously tested and confirmed to function optimally with Chrome OS. Additionally, the company announced the upcoming release of multiple virtual workspaces with drag-and-drop functionality, along with tab grouping and a tab search feature within the Chrome browser, expected within the next few months.

As Maletis highlighted, Google may have anticipated market demands when it initially launched Chrome OS nearly ten years ago, but this year has demonstrated the essential role of cloud technology in business continuity, and Chrome OS is an operating system fundamentally designed for the cloud.