Business Chat & Collaboration

Transcription

1 Business Chat & Collaboration WORK BETTER TOGETHER WITH MESSAGING, FILE SHARING & MORE MANY THINGS CHANGE each year in the technology and business worlds, but one thing that never changes is the fact that people need ways to communicate and collaborate with one another even when they aren t in the same office. In fact, the days of sitting around in large conference rooms with notepads are fading as laptops, tablets, and smartphones can each run a different version of the same shared productivity application without missing a beat. What you do is no longer limited by where you are, and keeping in touch with coworkers to get important tasks done in a timely manner is easier than it has ever been. There is no shortage of chat applications on the market today that go far beyond basic instant messaging to include fleshed-out productivity tools for real-time collaboration on a wide range projects. Instead of holding online meetings and then trudging back to the drawing board to make the necessary updates and changes, you can now make notes on documents as part of a group and edit them on-the-fly. Some of these applications are free and some are subscription-based, but they have one thing in common: they can help employees work together regardless of the device they re using or their location. Brim The main goal of Brim is to serve as an all-in-one platform for many of your collaborative needs. The basic (and free) model of the service offers applications for Windows, Mac, ios, and Android that all work seamlessly with one another; group chat and instant messaging capabilities; integration; syncing for documents, spreadsheets, and other files; task management; and a single sign-on for all members of the team. That would be enough on its own for a lot of teams, but when you step up to the Brim Professional version, you can start to see how Brim is capable of replacing numerous disparate service features, wrapping them up into one tidier solution. Brim Professional adds video calling, screen sharing, screen and audio recording, annotated screenshots,

2 webcam recording, and file sync and share. You have the option of paying $5 per user per month if you choose to be billed annually or $7 per user per month using the monthly option. Brim Professional is also available to try for free if you register for a 30- day trial. ChatGrape Unlike the other business chat applications discussed in this article, ChatGrape is built in Europe, hosted on European servers, and therefore serves as a useful choice for European enterprises. ChatGrape offers many of the same tools that other collaboration and chat solutions do, but because its servers are located in Europe Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, to be precise local enterprises don t have to worry as much about keeping in line with regulatory compliance issues related to storing data in foreign data centers. In addition to offering data integration of internal databases and cloud storage systems, instant messaging, and other relevant features, ChatGrape puts a heavy emphasis on data privacy and protection, including two-factor authentication. If your organization or any of your satellite offices are situated in Europe, using ChatGrape helps to ensure that you operate with local compliance guidelines in mind while retaining the ability to give your employees the tools they need to collaborate on the go. ChatWork Some chat and collaboration solutions focus on providing basic tools for teams and individuals. These can include opt-in features whereby an individual can sign into an application and join their internal team. ChatWork works along these lines, but also gives team leaders a great deal of flexibility in terms of adding users, organizing teams, and assigning tasks. Within the ChatWork application, the team leader can add and manage users, change user information (including passwords) on-the-fly, and more. Users can then customize their ChatWork profile with a profile photo, cover photo, and user ID, all of which make the service feel more like a work-related social network than a standard collaboration suite. Leaders can also choose which users should be assigned to which tasks, and monitor entire processes from beginning to end. You can start a task, assign it, check on it ChatGrape provides numerous customization options for its interface, making it easy to color-code groups and keep all teams well-organized.

3 One of the chief benefits of chat solutions is that they work on multiple devices. Chatwork, for example, offers a consistent experience and ease of use across desktop and mobile applications. CA Technologies Flowdock allows you see project updates on-the-fly through Group Chat and Team Inbox. In addition to these two standout features, Flowdock offers group chat and the ability to store transcripts and project-related s.

4 throughout development, and then mark it as completed so that everyone in the group knows they are free to pick up the baton or move onto the next project as a team. Flowdock While some applications are looking to be many things to many different people, other applications are more focused on handling one or two chat categories extremely well. CA Technologies Flowdock is an example of an application that may appear simple on the surface, but in fact has significant depth and versatility. Flowdock s two main features are Group Chat and Team Inbox, which offer two distinct ways of communicating within a team while working on a project or just working in general. Group Chat, according to Flowdock, is meant to serve as a replacement for Skype and similar communication services, providing a secure space in which teams can collaborate with one another, share files, and more. Flowdock also includes a feature that automatically stores transcripts from chat sessions so you can review them at a later date. And Flowdock s Team Inbox provides a place where you can keep all of your project management s, for example, rather than clogging up your personal inbox with status updates that might be burying other important messages. Glip One of the great things about the proliferation of chat solutions in recent years is their flexibility. Vendors are finding ways to make their solutions meet the needs of small teams at the free level and larger organizations at the premium level. Ring Central s Glip is one example of this phenomenon. Even if you only opt for the free version of Glip, you get support for unlimited users, unlimited storage, unlimited posts, unlimited integrations, unlimited guest users, and 500 minutes of video chat. Should you step up to Glip s $5 per-person per-month level, you get double the minutes of video chat (but per user per month) plus 24/7 premium support. Move up to the $10 per user per month tier, and you receive 3,000 minutes of video chat per person per month, compliance reports, and priority support. The important thing to note is that every Glip user, regardless of the subscription level, gets video calling, note-taking, calendars, file sharing, task management, and chat all in a single service that s accessible via desktop, ios or Android device, and the web. Honey Not all collaboration tools and chat services have to be completely Glip lets you see not only the main project the team is working on, but also more granular updates every time a team member changes something or completes a task.

5 Honey offers an analytics dashboard that enables you to track engagement on posts and see how many URLs, messages, and files were shared in a given period of time. serious, focused solely on the ins and outs of task management. In fact, some chat/collaboration services are intended to serve as company-wide portals where employees are free to share ideas with one another, make announcements, or simply get to know each other. Honey, for example, has many of the same features you d expect from an in-depth collaboration suite, but, as the company puts it, the service is also built for the sweeter side of work, which is where rapport and morale are built within an organization. One of the ways that Honey does that is by letting the company create a set of groups, each with its own notifications and news feeds, that users can choose to participate in or not depending on their role within the organization and their individual interests. With Honey, a curator can be assigned to each group. In this way the group can view important team announcements, read shared posts from team members that can work as group motivators, and access internal resource areas where documents and other files can be shared in a more traditional collaborative environment. Slack Slack wasn t necessarily the first enterprise-focused chat and collaboration service, but it was certainly the first to streamline collaboration features in such a way that it made sense for teams of all sizes. The interface itself is designed to be clean Slack is a streamlined service with a focus on mobility, enabling you to quickly share updates and information with every team member.

6 and forthright, bearing the simplified look of a comment section on a social media page. Users can comment within their team s Slack channel, share documents with one another, and generally stay up-to-date on what s happening on a given project or with the company as a whole. Slack is also a useful space to share and workshop ideas without having to set up specific meeting times. In today s world, where employees are free to work from almost anywhere as long as they have the right tools at hand, it s important to have a virtual environment employees can go to and keep in touch. Slack facilitates this, offering an ongoing source of information for all members of a team and ensuring that all relevant ideas are available in one easy to find location. Yammer One issue that isn t often talked about when it comes to chat applications is the ability for groups to control whether they collaborate openly or keep things private when sensitive or proprietary information is involved. Yammer is one example of a service that puts a premium on letting teams decide which users should be involved in a given project as well as who should be able to see the work and files that are being shared as part of that project. With Yammer, you can create public groups for company-wide usage or private groups for specific teams. Regardless of which option you choose, you ll receive access to all of the same helpful features. With Yammer you can share ideas with your fellow team members; upload photos, videos, and other files; and then either keep everything close or share items with other groups throughout the organization. Yammer is available through an app for ios, Android, and Windows Phone devices, and it s designed to integrate seamlessly with Microsoft s Office 365 for enhanced productivity and collaboration for Office 365 users. Yammer works well as a complement to Office 365, so you can not only share Office documents with coworkers but also collaborate on them in real-time.