The business environment is ever-evolving. Now more than ever it is paramount for businesses to have a digital presence, gain access to information quickly, and have fast response times. Without the right technology, the recent push to work-from-home (or remote working), gaining information quickly, and getting fast responses from colleagues would be challenging to say the least. Using the right technology, it is easy for teams to stay connected regardless of their location.
In come the chat apps.
What are chat apps?
Chat apps simplify communication, making it easier to communicate with your team and colleagues. They bring an efficiency not offered through email, and they have the main focus of collaboration. How do chat apps achieve this? Chat apps enable you to engage your teams and colleagues in real-time, share ideas and files, ask questions, and work through problems together. When you have a question, type a quick message in your chat app and get a reply. They typically off file sharing, audio and video calls, project and task management features, and more.
Best chat apps for the modern workplace
Slack
Arguably the most popular of all chat apps, Slack launched in 2013 and quickly became the go-to in the chat app space. Slack Offers a robust and comprehensive chat tool that people love using thanks to the user-centric design. Every Slack team has a general channel open to the entire organization as well as one-on-one chats. The majority of the activity happens in the specific team, groups, or project chats. Users are able to select which chat they are in so they are not inundated with messages and notifications from other chats.
With collaboration in mind, Slack offers users the ability to organize multiple projects, teams, and groups using hashtags. You can share files by dragging and dropping them into the Slack platform or using Dropbox, Google Drive, or another file-sharing service that you may have already built a level of comfort with. Slack keeps all files and chats synched, archived, and searchable, so you may easily refer to them at a later time.
Google Hangouts
We are all familiar with Google, and many of us are familiar with Google Hangouts. Google reimagined Hangouts just in time for the push to work from home. Google focused on Hangouts for business, implementing deep integration with G Suite, working smoothly with Google Drive, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet, and more. Similar to Slack, you may have one-on-one chats and threaded messages (for various teams and projects). Hangouts integrates with Google Meet, allowing video calls of up to 30 people at once. When it comes to file-sharing, you can set document permissions on the team that created them.
Facebook Workplace
Facebook is a giant in the social media world. With the primary focus of keeping people connected, it seems only logical that Facebook moved to the workplace, too. Directly from Facebook, “Workplace is a communication tool that connects everyone in your company, even if they’re working remotely. Use familiar features like Groups, News Feed, and Live video broadcasting to get people talking and working together.”
Workplace has a desktop app called Workplace Chat that also works on iOS and Android. Workplace Chat has screen sharing capability, video chat (up to 50 people), and live video broadcasting. Facebook charges by how many users and they currently list two options:
- Advanced at $4 per person, per month.
- Enterprise at $8 per person, per month.
Cisco Webex Teams
Webex is a term we have heard frequently since the pandemic hit. Through Webex, Cisco offers a comprehensive chat solution for small businesses. Webex provides the standard chat tool and meeting software. They also have an organized calendar app. Webex does collaboration well with their whiteboard tool, ideal for creative collaboration.
Chatwork
Chatwork has a slightly different approach as a social networking tool. If your business has you working with several different clients and teams around the globe, Chatwork may be ideal for you. Chatwork provides the ability to connect with your various clients and teams both in private and in public group chats.
Microsoft Teams
We couldn’t cover chat apps without getting into Microsoft Teams, a powerful chat app. Many businesses use Microsoft (Microsoft Office 365). Teams has integrations with Powerpoint, Office 365, Microsoft Planner, Webex, Word, Excel, OneNote, Hootsuite, and many more. Teams offers an email-style threaded conversation, voice and video calls/conferencing, team chats, and private chats. You may also create tabs to quickly access frequently used documents, open API, @mentions, and customizable alerts. If your business uses Office 365 and other Microsoft products, Microsoft Teams may be the way to go for you.
Other Chat Apps
There are many other chat apps available to businesses and organizations. Apps such as HipChat, Ryver, Flock, Twist, Discord, and more. Each caters to its users in different ways. All are important in today’s workplace, helping teams and colleagues to efficiently communicate in realtime regardless of location.
Do you use a chat app for your business? Is it one that we mentioned? Or is it another one? Please share your experience with us.
