The pandemic has changed the corporate world in more ways than one can imagine.
While a lot of companies were already in favor of the hybrid work model, especially in North America and Europe, this trend is picking up pace in other parts of the world.
Today, we have entered an age where remote working is not a rare occurrence. In fact, according to Ladder, around 25% of the entire workforce in North America will work remotely in 2022 [1].
These numbers are expected to increase not only in North America but around the world. As more and more companies are taking the leap of faith and adopting a remote work model, it is essential to understand how business messaging applications can help your business.
While remote working provides a ton of benefits, there are downsides. One of them being sketchy communication and scattered team collaboration. This is where real-time communication and collaboration tools come in handy.
Apart from improving communication, business messaging applications also offer other benefits such as file sharing, video conferencing, project management, and audio calling.
In this article, let’s understand what business messaging applications are and also explore some of the top platforms in 2022.
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What are business messaging applications?
We agree that emails continue to remain the most effective means of communication between businesses. Without taking anything away from email marketing, business messaging applications take communication to a whole new level.
Business messaging tools come with a bunch of dynamic features that enable team members to communicate and engage with each other seamlessly.
These applications help you save time by enabling real-time sharing of new ideas, strategy, sharing, and planning. Since all these activities take place in a single place, communication is better and up-to-date.
With so many options available in the market, it is safe to say that business messaging is not confined only to the big players. Today, companies of all sizes are putting in the work to enhance communication and make remote working efficient.
Here are some of the best business messaging applications companies should consider in 2022.
1. ProofHub
ProofHub is one of the most popular and loved business messaging applications across the world. It is designed to provide businesses full control of their communication and also ensure every bit of communication takes place from a central location.
Team members can communicate with each other without any hassles at home, remote workplace, or in an office setting.
It offers both, group and individual chat options, making communication a breeze. Besides, users can also log their communication and keep it in-house.
ProofHub is an awesome choice if you are looking for a business messaging application with chat.
ProofHub features:
- Custom roles
- Advanced features
- Priority support
- White labeling
- Unlimited users
- Unlimited projects
- Custom roles
2. Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is another very popular business messaging application. Although the platform has been around for quite some time, it continues to be one of the most used applications for business communication.
Microsoft Teams is bundled with a host of features that offer amazing results. These features allow you to create, maintain, and communicate with remote workers.
Besides, Teams can be easily integrated into a bunch of other Microsoft applications. If your company uses different Microsoft applications, Teams is a must-have.
Even though you do not use Microsoft applications, Teams is still a good choice for business messaging. With notes, meetings, and chat in its kitty, Microsoft Teams is a good business tool to have.
Microsoft Teams features:
- Video conferencing
- Third-party application integrations
- Intuitive interface
- Personalization
- Integration with Microsoft applications
3. Chanty
Chanty is one of the easiest business messaging applications to use and learn. It has all the features you need to facilitate seamles team communication and collaboration.
Similar to most business messaging applications, Chanty aims to consolidate business communication in one place.
The tool offers a standard set of features including chat, screen sharing, video conferencing, file sharing, and more. Apart from these features, Chanty also offers a few project management tools, making it an attractive choice for businesses of all sizes.
Users have the option to convert messages to tasks and integrate the tool with Trello, Dropbox, Github, and Google Drive.
Chanty also comes with a unique feature called “Team book” which enables users to view their tasks, contacts, and messages in a single location.
Chanty features:
- Free plan available
- Threaded messaging
- Unlimited messaging
- Search option
- Even the free plan logs message history
4. Slack
Slack went public recently.
Even before that Slack was regarded as the best business messaging application out there. Although a lot of new tools have entered the market, Slack continues to be a crowd favorite.
Similar to other business messaging applications on this list, Slack provides one-on-one as well the group chat ability.
Room moderators can create chat rooms to discuss certain areas of a business. For instance, the sales team can have a thread of its own to discuss all tasks related to sales.
What makes Slack stand out is the wide feature-set apart from messaging. Users can streamline different projects, items, and projects with hashtags.
Use the drag and drop feature to share files via Google Drive, Dropbox, and similar file-sharing services.
Features:
- File syncing
- Audio calls
- Encrypted chat
- Video conferencing
- Customizable
- Third-party integrations
Benefits of business messaging applications
The adoption of business messaging applications is growing significantly, and this trend will continue.
As more and more companies are turning to digital solutions to improve different components of their business, messaging applications have become popular, and for a good reason.
Some of these benefits include:
- Organized workflow
- Enhanced communication
- Accountability
- Employee engagement
- Time-saving
- Project management and organization
- Easy-to-use
- Third-party applications
Final words
Communication is very important to ensure that a business is successful. This is why it is important to invest in business messaging software.
Apart from streamlining your internal communication, these applications also help you keep track of your communication with in-house as well as the remote workforce.
When you integrate business messaging applications into your existing tech stack, it allows you to manage your business communication seamlessly.
After thorough research, choose a business messaging application that suits your business’s needs. Opt for a free demo or a free trial to get a better understanding of how the tools works, it’s features, and how it can benefit your business.
SEE ALSO: 5 Free Project Management Software to Consider in 2022
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Source:
[1] Robinson. B (2022) “Remote Work Is Here To Stay And Will Increase Into 2023, Experts Say” Forbes [online] Accessed [March 2022]