Making a digital sales room with AirSend.
Making a digital sales room with AirSend.

With the increasing prevalence of remote work and improvements in technology, digital sales rooms are becoming more and more common. A digital sales room is a digital space where sales people collaborate with team members and communicate with potential customers.

In an ideal digital sales room, sales people can send messages to potential clients, have voice or video calls on the spot, share files, and have everything in one place to easily keep things organized. With these capabilities readily on-hand, sales people are able to make more wins from their sales proposals and can create long-term value. They are also better able to visualize and manage the full customer decision journey.

The rest of this blog post will show you how to set up and use AirSend as a digital sales room.

Step 1: Create a Channel Template for Potential Customers

Make a channel template in your AirSend account.

Make a channel template with all of the files and Wiki information that every potential customer needs to get started. That way you don’t need to waste time copying and pasting canned email messages and attaching the same PDFs or PowerPoints over and over again.

Step 2: Duplicate the Channel for Each New Lead

Duplicate your AirSend Channel for new leads.

After you have your channel template, you can then duplicate the channel for each new lead.

Step 3: Easily Take Your Leads Through the Customer Decision Journey with Messaging, File Sharing, and Voice and Video Calling

Complete the sales process within the AirSend Channel.

Within each customer channel, you can receive and answer questions, share additional information, and jump directly into a voice or video call. You can complete the entire sales life cycle within the AirSend Channel.

As you can see, you can use AirSend to create a digital sales room that allows sales people to easily manage their customer communications and collaborate with each other.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them here.

Alright, folks. It’s time for another update to our Android app, AirSend. Our mission is to deliver an app that allows productivity to happen from one space. To do that, we made some slight improvements to our app. Here is what they are:

  • GIF/image keyboard support
  • Call Support
  • Slash Command Integrations
  • Mute/ unmute channels from the main dashboard

Without further ado, let’s dive into the latest AirSend Android updates!

GIF/Image Keyboard Support

It is self-explanatory on how to work your GIFS and Image through your Android keyboard. Spread a little fun with some GIFs. 

Voice, Video and Screen Sharing

Image of a conference call

AirSend now offers built-in video and audio calling. Join calls by tapping the associated bot message, the dedicated call button, or the call notifications.

Having built-in calling makes collaboration easier. Users can brainstorm new ideas while also taking notes.

Slash Command Integration

Image of AirSend Android slash command
Image of AirSend Android slash command

Users have a variety of options with the forward-slash capabilities. With forward-slash, users now have the option to: 

  • Inspire: show an inspiring message to your team
  • Emote messaging: Ask AirSend Bot to speak in your name
  • Call
  • Transfer ownership: transfer ownership of channel to another member
  • Kick @user: remove a user from the channel
  • Mute/Unmute: disable and enable all notifications from the current channel. 
  • Join_role/Invitee_role: The channel owner can now set default roles for when users join or are invited to the channel. For joining the channel, the default roles that the owner can establish are collaborators and viewers. For invited users, the default roles that the owner can establish are manager, collaborator, and viewer. 
Image of slash command in action with inspiring message
Image of slash command in action with inspiring message

Mute/Unmute Channel Notifications from the Main Dashboard

Image of AirSend Public Channel: The Binge on Mute
Image of AirSend Public Channel: The Binge on Mute

From the dashboard view found on the “homepage,” users can mute and unmute all channel notifications. First, click on the three dots located on the right-hand side.

After clicking on the three dots, a set of options will appear. One of them is muting the channel. Click on “mute channel.”

Image of AirSend Android Channel Options
AirSend Channel Options

How to Leave us Feedback

We are always seeking to improve our product, so all feedback is appreciated. To find out where to leave comments and/or suggestions, you can visit our public channel or visit us at our support page.

AirSend is a versatile digital workspace that allows users to share files, send messages, and complete tasks. See how AirSend can help you.

Several months ago, we wrote a blog post on apps that our distributed marketing team uses. Because it has received much attention, we felt that it is time to do a blog post on apps that our distributed sales team uses. We want to share our list of apps hoping that it might help other sales teams or small businesses like us. We asked what apps our sales team uses, and we broke them down into four categories: 

  • Communication 
  • Email Marketing 
  • Knowledge/File Sharing 
  • Outreach

A sales team’s responsibility is to convert prospects into customers. To understand a problem and to provide a solution. To do so, our sales team uses several different tools to maximize their outreach, have stellar communication, and keep tabs on the latest leads. Here are the apps our sales team uses:

Outreach

Salesforce– Customer Relationship Management

Our sales team uses Salesforce as our CRM. Salesforce needs no introduction. It is the #1 player in the CRM market. Most salespeople are familiar with Salesforce and they know how to use it effectively to connect with customers.

The good: The great thing about Salesforce is that it keeps everything in order. Salesforce keeps everything organized through its task handling. Additionally, Salesforce sales cadence, provide call reminders, email followups, and other tasks on potential clients. Having a sales cadence makes customer reach out easier. Finally, Salesforce offers a clear view of the state of accounts and helps teams forecast sales based on account activity. 

The bad: The UI is a bit complex making maneuvering through the app cumbersome. Further, the platform is expensive. Often times, users have to pay for add-ons to get the most out of the software. The cluttered interface makes navigation and simple tasks unnecessarily complex.

A Quote from our Sales Team on Salesforce

Sales cadences are very useful. This way when new leads come in a cadence, it is attached, and based on the cadence it will send you for those tasks. For example, the calling task will appear. You can call them and if they do not answer you just mark complete and it will send the automated email you put in for this cadence and then set the next reminder three days out again to call again.

AirSend Sales Team

Skype– Outbound Calling

Skype is a communication platform made by Microsoft Teams. The platform specializes in chat and VoIP between computers, tablets, and mobile devices. Our sales team likes using Skype for its convenient calling system. 

The good: Skype is useful for calling phone numbers or hosting quick conference meetings for a quick follow-up. 

The bad: Skype does not offer much else other than their calling system. Getting work done can be difficult with Skype. 

LinkedIn– Research and Outreach

LinkedIn is a social networking platform made for professionals. 

The good: The platform is excellent for prospect research. 

The bad: The UI is complex making it challenging to maneuver through.

Facebook– Research and Outreach

Similar to LinkedIn, Facebook is a social networking platform made for everyone. 

The good: It is a great way to see what problems are trending in the industry.

The bad: Everything is organized by threads, which makes it difficult to search for information. The recent security issues are also a concern. 

YouTube/YouTube Music– Research and Focus

Youtube is self-explanatory. They are the gold standard for video-sharing. Our sales team likes to use YouTube to stay in the loop on competitive products. YouTube Music is also a particular favorite among our team. Listening to music improves focus. 

The good: YouTube is a great platform to learn about competitive products. 

The bad: Currently, there are no issues.

Scheduling 

Calendly– Online Appointment Scheduling Software

Like SalesForce, Calendly is another tool our sales team uses heavily. Calednly is an easy-to-use scheduling tool. It eliminates the old-school way of using email and phone tags for scheduling appointments.

The good: It is easy to schedule and organize appointments. Calendly also has a user-friendly interface, syncs with Google calendar, and marks available times for meetings. 

The bad: The platform is basic, and has a ton of email reminders.

Google Calendar

Google Calendar is also another great tool used to schedule meetings, tasks, and more. 

The good: It syncs with all Google accounts and Google applications. 

The bad: While the UI on the web version is great, the UI on the mobile app is lacking and hard to use. 

Communication

Gmail– Email

Gmail is self-explanatory. They are the gold standard for email, with great spam protection and neat features like smart compose and keep. 

The good: we are not paying anything for G-Suite because we were early adopters and are still getting it for free. 

The bad: The only downside to Gmail is that it lacks some functionalities available in a web browser like templates. 

AirSend– Team Chat and Collaboration

AirSend is an all-in-one collaboration tool. Our platfrom features all the essentials we need in contrast to tools like Slack. Our teams use AirSend to carry meetings with our newly built-in audio/video calling, track and manage notes, organize files, and keep track of tasks.

The good: the clean, clutter-free UI is excellent compared to platforms that carry a busy UI design. Having built-in essentials makes it easier to collaborate with teams and clients. 

The bad: Currently, AirSend does not have many integrations as our competitors. 

Olark– Live Chat Software

Olark is what we use to provide and run the live chat windows on our product websites. 

The good: It is easy to use once integrated, and they offer great support. 

The bad: It can get expensive if you have multiple websites.

Zoom– Webinars and video conferencing

For webinars and video conferencing, our sales team uses Zoom. Zoom is great for providing links to external parties to hold meetings and present demos. 

The good: Links for external parties to use. The free version allows up to 40-minute calls, which is more than enough for most meetings. Finally, screen sharing and recordings of customer interactions are helpful. 

The bad: Zoom is not great for one-on-one calls. For example, with Mac, there are glitches. Additionally, we find it annoying when the app starts when you click on a meeting link in your browser when it would be more convenient to have a call in the browser. 

Knowledge/File Sharing

Trello– Task Management

Trello is a task management tool with a kanban-like design to it. A particular plus is its smooth UX and aesthetic themes. 

The good: Trello helps our teams stay organize and keeps tabs on priorities. It is also easy to assign members on Trello cards for easier collaboration. It is also super fast. 

The bad: It is a freemium platform, so there is a limitation to the platform’s powerup usage. There is also difficulty in searching for archived cards, and card descriptions have no history. 

FileCloud– File Storage/Sharing 

FileCloud is an enterprise file sharing, sync, and backup platform. With your  Filecloud server, users can run their own private dropbox-like file sharing and sync solution. 

The good: FileCloud has data governance, self-hosting, and remote access to data. There is an ease of use and stability. 

The bad: The setup process can be a bit intimidating. 

OneNote– Notetaking and management

OneNote is a free-form multi-user collaboration tool with users’ notes, drawings, screen clippings, and audio commentaries. Think of OneNote as an advanced form of GoogleDocs. 

The good: It is easy to take notes while talking with a customer.

The bad: It is sometimes difficult to find specific notes due to the somewhat complex UI. 

Email Marketing

MailChimp– Email Sending and Tracking

MailChimp is an easy-to-use platform with drag-and-drop capabilities to create beautiful emails without code. 

The good: It is a great tool for newsletters and CSM reach outs. Creating an onboarding series (workflow), which creates personal touchpoints with customers in an automated way, is also a plus. 

The bad: it can get pretty expensive. Another limitation is that there is no type of campaign that allows you to create a loop for a single campaign. 

SalesHandy– Email Sending and Tracking

Similar to MailChimp, SalesHandy is an easy-to-use email sending and tracking platform. 

The good: It is excellent for sending one-on-one emails and campaigns. The statistic function is also a plus. Finally, the platform is user-friendly and integrations with Microsoft and Google. 

The bad: It can be expensive, and you have to use the app itself to send emails.  

MixMax– Email Tracking

We use MixMax to send and track small email campaigns we dispatch from our Gmail accounts. 

The good: MixMax lets you create contact lists and email sequences for those contact lists. It then tracks your open, replied, and bounce rates. 

The bad: The free version of MixMax doesn’t do any of the above mentioned. You need to use the paid version to get the sequence and numbers. 

Other Tools

TechSmith Capture– Recording and Screenshot 

TechSmith Capture is used to make professional demos and how-tos by recording your screen. 

The good: Can turn on the webcam doing a recording for a tutorial video. 

The bad: Doesn’t store history of screen captures.

Screenpresso– screen capture

Screenpresso is a screen capture that allows you to grab an image or video of what you see on your computer screen, annotate, and share it with anyone. 

The good: It is straightforward and easy-to-use. 

The bad: It is only available for windows. 

LeadgenApp– Form and Survey Builder

LeadGen App is a form and survey builder to help businesses and marketers capture more leads and data. 

The good: There are a variety of premade forms available, as well as customizable forms. Easy to copy and paste on a website. 

The bad: It is a freemium platform, and it can be somewhat expensive.

KeypassX– Password Management 

As a team grows, a necessary tool needs to contain and share information like product social media accounts logins and email address logins. To keep our shared account usernames and passwords safe and in one place, we use KeePassX.

The good: It is straightforward and secure. 

The bad: There is none so far. 

Apexure – Web Design Agency

Apexure helps with driving conversions on web and landing page design. The platform takes a data-driven approach to increase conversions.

The good: With Apexure, your website and landing pages will have a design optimal for user experience. All of Apexure designs are created from the ground up to better match your brand.

The bad: There is none so far.

What apps do you use? 

As you can see, we use quite a few apps, tools, and services to run our sales team. We hope that sharing this list and talking about our likes and dislikes can help you find the right mix of apps for your needs.

Happy working!

Due to the Coronavirus, there is an increased dependency on communication tools for remote teams. Imagine a company that has multiple teams across the globe. For global teams to work, there needs to be a working communication tool that allows productive conversations. Skype used to be the solution for remote teams.

However, there are rumors that Microsoft will be shutting down Skype as of July 31, 2021. Microsoft’s goal is to encourage people to start using Teams. But, not everyone likes using Teams due to its complexities. To see alternatives to Microsoft Teams, click here.

If you are a person using Skype, there are more holistic alternatives that can deliver more than what you have. To figure out which communication tool is best for your remote teams, we compare AirSend and Skype.   

Skype

Skype is a communication platform that specializes in VoIP between computers, tablets, and mobile devices. What this means is that users can call via audio or video with clients. Skype also provides instant messaging services. 

The neat thing about Skype is that it is excellent for one-on-one and group conversations and works wherever you are. Skype’s UI is simple, which makes the usability of the product easy to use. With Skype, you can also record meetings. Users can also share files up to 300 MB.

Skype is also great for sending meeting links. However, calling via video or audio and having conversations is the only thing you can do with Skype. Skype lacks the proper essentials needed in business communication tools. A few essentials Skype lacks are task management and note-taking.

While it is important to have a reliable communication tool, especially for remote teams, it is also important to have tools that help get the job done. Preferably tools that are found within a communication tool, such as AirSend.

AirSend

AirSend is a simple communication tool designed for remote teams. Our platform provides built-in:

  • Conversation spaces
  • Video and audio calling
  • Sharing files/notes
  • Task and Business management

AirSend’s capabilities will allow remote teams to work better and faster. No more distractions, everything is found in one space. Even more notable is that users can also plan and communicate on upcoming projects from multiple devices. Working from any device allows users to constantly stay in the loop without missing a beat.

Furthermore, our user interface carries a sleek and simplistic design. A clean design allows users to view all features needed for a channel, such as writing/tracking notes.

Finally, AirSend can do large file transfers, downloads, and uploads. 

Summation

Our goal with AirSend is to do less with more. Our mission is to be the #1 communication tool for remote teams. 

We want to deliver a communication tool that allows you to take care of all your business needs in one space.

AirSend is a versatile digital workspace to share files, send messages, and complete tasks. See how AirSend can help you.

The latest additions of some much requested features to AirSend.

We hope you are doing well and staying safe! Here are some big improvements to AirSend we’ve made recently.

Public Channel Permissions

You can now set permissions for members of your Public Channels to five different Channel access levels. The five levels of access are as follows:

  • Viewer – Can read messages and Wiki and download files.
  • Collaborator – All of the above. And can post messages and read actions.
  • Full Collaborator – All of the above. And can edit Wiki and upload files.
  • Manager – All of the above. And can manage users.
  • Admin – Has access to all Channel functionalities.
Set different permissions for your Public Channel members.

Multiple File Selection

Whether you are selecting files to send as attachments via chat or you’re uploading files to the files section, you can now select multiple files to attach or upload for greater speed and convenience.

Select multiple files at one time when uploading to your Channel files section or directly into the chat.

Convenient Slash Commands

You can now enjoy pre-formatted messages and additional Channel capabilities for faster communication and work by using AirSend’s newly added slash commands.

Some pre-formatted messages include: /inspire (sends an inspirational message to the channel) and /me (your message looks as if it were sent by the Channel).

Some additional Channel capabilities include: /transfer_ownership @ (transfers ownership of the channel to whoever you specify) and /kick @ (kicks a user out of a Channel).

Have fun with pre-formatted messages and additional channel capabilities using the slash command.

1×1 Direct Messaging

If you need to have a private, one-on-one conversation with someone, you can now direct message them with a click of a button. This will create a new Channel that contains just you and that person.

Direct message Channel members for private conversations.

Easy Access to App Download Links

If you haven’t already downloaded AirSend’s desktop and mobile apps, you can now easily do so by clicking on your name in the upper left-hand corner and selecting the appropriate apps link in the profile dropdown menu.

Download the AirSend desktop and mobile apps if you haven’t already done so.

Android Dark Mode

Android users can now enjoy dark mode in the AirSend Android apps. For our full report on all of the latest AirSend Android updates, click here >>>

iOS Markdown Support

Markdown is now fully supported in AirSend’s iOS app, allowing for easy message formatting.

What’s Next?

While we are proud of the progress we’ve made, our journey is far from over. We’re continuing to work hard, so stay tuned for our next set of updates!

Alright, folks. It’s time for another update to our Android app, AirSend. Our mission is to deliver an app that allows productivity to happen from one space. To do that, we made some slight improvements to our app. Here is what they are:

  • Channel Filter in Dashboard 
  • Edit profile 
  • Dedicated Channel Settings

Without further ado, let’s dive into the latest AirSend Android updates!

Channel Filter in Dashboard

AirSend Android Filter Channels
Image of AirSend Filter Channels

Now with a channel filter users can easily find the channel they need. Simply type in the channel filter box the client or channel you are looking for. Channel Filters now take out the hassle on endless scrolling to find the right channel and thereby eliminates extra time. 

Edit Profile

AirSend Android profile view. Edit profile AirSend android
AirSend Android profile view. Edit profile AirSend Android

Users can now edit their profiles from their AirSend app. Users will be able to edit the following: 

  • Name
  • Phone number
  • Notifications Preference 
  • Password
  • Profile picture. 

Click the three bars located at the top left corner

AirSend Android Main Channel view
AirSend Android Main Channel View.

Then click the gear icon on the right corner of the panel. From there it will ask if you would like to edit your profile or change your profile picture. For changing your name, phone number, preference of notifications, and password click edit your profile.

AirSend Android Sidebar Profile View
AirSend Android Sidebar Profile View

Dedicated Channel Settings 

Image of AirSend Channel Settings
Image of AirSend Channel Settings

Now with the android app, users can view their channel settings. Users can view their channel name, bio, and copy their private channel email address

Here’s how you view your channel settings. 

Scroll to the channel you want to view the settings for 

Click on the three dots located on the right side of the channel.

Image of AirSend Android Main Channel View
Image of AirSend Android Main Channel View

Click the gear icon labeled as settings. From there it will take you to view the channel settings.

Image of AirSend Channel Options
Image of AirSend Channel Options

How to leave us Feedback

We are always seeking to improve our product, so all feedback is appreciated. To find out where to leave comments and/or suggestions, you can visit our public channel or visit us at our support page.

AirSend is a versatile digital workspace that allows users to share files, send messages, and complete tasks. See how AirSend can help you.

Image of AirSend discover page. AirSend discover page. Community page AirSend

We are back with another blog post on Discord vs. AirSend: Roles and Permissions Explained. We recently wrote about Discord vs. AirSend Design Edition, which you can read about by clicking here. In this blog post, we will be discussing the user roles from each platform. User roles help make managing communities easier. The question then remains, what type of roles are needed to manage a community efficiently? 

To answer this question we analyze how user roles are implemented in AirSend and Discord.

AirSend’s Roles

AirSend public channel roles. AirSend community roles

Typically when creating a community,  user roles are established to help run the channel. Airsend takes the approach of fixed user roles to manage a community. Fixed user roles allow simplicity and have the same meaning across channels and servers. We created various roles with this in mind. Beginning with the first role: viewer. 

Viewer

Viewers have the permissions to view the community and download files. These are for first-time visitors who haven’t joined the community and want to browse before joining. The next role on our list is a collaborator. 

Collaborator

Collaborators have access to posting messages and uploading files. However, collaborators cannot edit the wiki (the about section). 

AirSend wiki view

Collaborators are the basis of your community. Ideally, collaborators are what ensure conversation happens. For a little more responsibility, there is the role of a full collaborator. 

Full Collaborators

A full collaborator can do everything a collaborator does. The only difference is that a full collaborator can edit the wiki. By allowing a full collaborator to help monitor the channel and edit the wiki, managers and admins can focus more on community building and outreach. After the full collaborator role is the manager and admin. 

Manager/Admin

Like the full collaborator roles, managers and admins also can edit the wiki, upload files, and post messages. However, the difference between the full collaborator and the manager/admin is that managers and admins can manage other users. 

Now, don’t get confused. Managers and Admins are two different roles, but they mostly carry the same functionality. The difference between a manager and an admin is that the manager can add and remove other users from the channel. Admins have access to adding and removing users and changing the roles of other members. Having these two roles ensures that your community stays clean from self-promoters, rule breakers, inappropriate messages, etc.

In general, we believe that having fixed roles helps communities prosper. Fixed roles allow simplicity. For Discord, the central idea behind their roles is customization. Through their customization, complexities arise.

Discord Roles

Discord channel view
Member list seen on right panel

Discord takes the approach of dynamic user roles. It is good for communities that want customized user roles. The problem with having dynamic roles and customization is that it adds complexity.

For example, Server A has specified permissions for its members. Members have permission to:

  • Post in channel
  • Share files
  • Invite other members to the community

Now, let’s say we want to join another community, Server B. Because there is full-fledged customization, creators of the server can check off specified permissions for their roles that may be different from other servers. In Server B, members can have permission to:

  • Post in Channel
  • Share files
  • Add reactions

But they cannot invite other members to the community as Server A can. Members cannot view what permissions they have unless there is a channel created for rules. Now, imagine this with higher roles.

Let’s say there are Moderators in Server A and Server B. Server A has specific permissions to kick members out. In Server B, those same moderators from Server A do not have the permission to kick members out. This is not apparent to the moderators, thus confusion and complexities are formed.

How to add a role to Discord

To add roles, you will need to go to your servers’ settings located under your server’s name. Click on your server’s name and a drop-down menu will appear.

Image of Discord channel with a red arrow pointing to server settings.
Image of Discord channel with a red arrow pointing to server settings.

After you clicked on server settings, click on the button titled roles. Accessing roles will allow you to edit/add new and current roles.

Discord image displaying roles settings.
The red arrow points to Roles. The yellow box indicates where you create roles. The green box indicates role preferences.

As seen from the image above, the yellow box is where you create new roles. Click on the plus icon. Doing so will allow you to create a new role. 

Located in the green box, are all the functionalities a role member can have. Each role carries customized permissions to a channel. And each role can have a customized name. These names can range from Admins, Community Manager, Mods, Helpers, Servers Guide, etc.

Additionally, access-only channels can be made for specific Discord roles as well. Servers can have a moderator-only chat, an admin-only chat, etc. Access-only channels are excellent use for privacy, carrying specific role meetings, organization, and maintaining order. Furthermore, bots are an excellent tool for role management. Servers can have bots for anything, but when it comes to managing servers, some bots take care of

  • warning users that violate the rules
  • suspending users
  • putting users in a time out
  • automatically adding new users to the member roles and more. 

In sum, Discord’s roles are good for communities who are looking for customized roles and bots. Bots ensure:

  • The server runs smoothly with automated welcome messages to new members
  • Assign new users to the member role
  • Alert the community that the server creator put out new content
  • Ban or suspend members who do not follow the community rules, and much more. 

Summation

Both AirSend and Discord are great community platforms. Discord offers quite a bit for community building through dynamic user roles, bots, channel organizations, and more. The downside to this approach is the complexities and confusion members will have with each community they join. The common question will be asked, “What permissions do I have with this server that is different from another server?”

On the other hand, AirSend takes the approach of fixed user roles. Fixed user roles are easy to understand and avoid confusion. Fixed user roles have the same meaning across channels and makes it easy for the user onboarding. In the end, it all depends on what the user is comfortable with- having a simplistic role setting or a customized but complex setting.

Did you know, digital transformation helps businesses be more nimble and productive? What is digital transformation? Digital transformation is the integration of digital technology into all areas of business, such as Human Resources, Accounting, Engineering, and Marketing.

Digital transformation is also taking manual processes, like collecting/filing new hire applications and converting it into a digital process. AirSend can help take manual tasks, such as filing and communication, and automate them.

AirSend’s channels allow H.R. departments to hire, interview, and onboard new employees seamlessly. Let’s discuss how this is all possible. 

How to Make a Channel

For those who are not familiar with how to make a channel with AirSend, we left a short video to help get you started. Now, let’s talk about the possibilities of hiring, interviewing, and onboarding new employees with AirSend. 

In each channel, users have access to a built-in conversation space, task management, file storage, and a notebook. These tools allow H.R. departments to seamlessly: 

  • Carry discussions
  • Host meetings
  • Plan for the week with a to-do list and a notebook 
  • Find all their essential files in one space.
AirSend channel view. Image of AirSend channel

Another cool and useful feature is that departments can have as many notes as they desire within their notebook! Crazy, right?

AirSend wiki view. Image of wiki in AirSend. AirSend notebook

What this means is that your note section isn’t limited to one space. Users can make as many files and folders within their digital notebook. 

Having these capabilities makes it easy for H.R. departments to get their work done better and faster. The next question we must ask is how to conveniently onboard new employees. Channel Templates!

How to Make a Channel Template

Image of create a new channel with AirSend

Having a channel template is a fast and easy way to onboard new hires. Essentially, you create an onboarding channel that has everything new hires’ need to get started. When it comes to making a channel with the applicant, you can copy from the original onboarding channel, and the applicant will conveniently have everything they need from the onboarding channel.

Image of AirSend channel view

Now, let’s discuss public channels. AirSend’s public channels are a great way to have outside applicants ask questions about job postings, future opportunities, and job descriptions. 

How to Make a Public Channel

For those who are not familiar with how to make a public channel with AirSend, we left a short video and a link to a previous blog post to help get you started. In a few steps, this is how you create a public channel: 

  • Make a channel
  • Check off “Make Channel Public”
  • Customize your channel
  • Share your public link address, so applicants can easily ask questions

By allowing applicants access to your public channel, departments can easily and quickly answer questions. If you prefer not to answer questions through a public channel or prefer not to ask a question in a public channel, there is an alternative. By hovering on the user’s/employer’s profile picture, you can now send a direct message.

Having a public channel is an excellent way for employers to connect with applicants and vice versa. Updates from employers can also be posted on a public channel, allowing everyone to stay in the loop. If you are afraid of spammers spamming your channel, no problem. AirSend now has moderator functionality, so you can control who has access. 

Summation

The way we work is changing. We are progressing and innovating with technology. Traditional methods and the way we currently do things will now become more accessible. We will connect with others faster, work better, and grow our businesses into empires. But to do that, we need a tool that processes the manual work and turns it into digital work. A tool like AirSend.  

AirSend is a versatile digital workspace to share files, send messages, and complete tasks. See how AirSend can help you.

A head-to-head comparison of one of the biggest players in the digital workspace market - Microsoft Teams - and an up-and-coming new arrival - AirSend.
A head-to-head comparison of one of the biggest players in the digital workspace market – Microsoft Teams – and an up-and-coming new arrival – AirSend.

Microsoft Teams or AirSend? Which platform should you choose for your business?

Now more than ever, every business needs to find the right tools to stay connected with its team and customers. This blog post is a head-to-head comparison of one of the biggest players in the digital workspace market – Microsoft Teams – and an up-and-coming new arrival – AirSend.

We’re going to go over how each digital workspace performs in four categories, with clear pros and cons on both sides, so that you can make the best decision for your business. The four categories are:

  1. Pricing
  2. UI Design
  3. UX
  4. Features & Capabilities

Microsoft Teams vs. AirSend: Pricing

As mentioned before, Microsoft Teams is already a major player in the digital workspace market, while AirSend is still up-and-coming. That’s probably why MS Teams is definitely the more expensive option.

The free version of Microsoft Teams gives you 2 GB of personal storage and 10 GB of shared storage. The free version of Airsend (currently the Pro version – which AirSend is offering free for one year) gives each user 100 GB of storage and does not differentiate between personal or shared.

Additionally, you can only get Microsoft Teams free if you sign up for Office 365 as a new user. If you’re already using Office 365, Teams is not free but included in certain paid plans, the cheapest being $12.50/user/month.

In comparison, AirSend is currently offering AirSend Pro free for one year for anyone who signs up. You can even sign up for multiple accounts if you have more than one email address.

Pricing: AirSend wins.

Microsoft Teams vs. AirSend: UI Design

User interface can be a matter of personal preference.

AirSend’s UI Design is very simple and clear. You have the main page where you see all of your channels and where you can create new channels. And once you click into a channel, the chat, actions, files, and Wiki are all in the same place in each channel. It’s also easy to access the channel settings to change the name of the channel, background, logo, and other settings.

With MS Teams’ UI Design, things get more complicated. This might be because Teams has more features (more on this in a bit). But there is some redundancy in terms of the chat tab, and then the messaging section in the teams section, and then the messaging within channels within the teams. On the plus side, there is more ability to customize what features goes where in the MS Teams UI. On the other hand, you cannot customize the channel backgrounds and logos like you can in AirSend – read: no custom branded channels in MS Teams.

UI Design: it’s a tie.  

Microsoft Teams vs. AirSend: UX

Of course, UX largely piggybacks off of UI design, so we’re going to continue our above discussion with some additional points.

AirSend’s simplicity allows for a new user to jump in and get the hang of things quickly. Microsoft Teams, while offering a greater amount of flexibility and more features, can be overly complicated and difficult to understand.

For example, when you upload a file in AirSend – it shows up in the location that you uploaded it and nowhere else. Then you can drag and drop it to share. Or you can upload directly to the chat, and it will show up in the attachments folder of that channel. That is easy to understand for the lay user.

In contrast, when you upload a file in Microsoft Teams, it shows up in three places: the chat, SharePoint, and OneDrive. And there are even two separate links (one from SharePoint and one from OneDrive) that point to the same file. There’s more of that redundancy we mentioned earlier which makes it seem like MS Teams’ UI and UX was not very well thought-out.

UX: AirSend wins.

Microsoft Teams vs. AirSend: Features and Capabilities

If it’s app integrations you’re looking for, MS Teams wins hands down. It has 503 total app integrations, some popular ones being Microsoft Office Suite, Trello, and GitHub. AirSend has Office 365 integration, which allows you to easily edit documents, and email integration so that you can still use AirSend to communicate with clients who don’t have an AirSend account. But that’s about it.

On the other hand, AirSend has some built-in capabilities that Microsoft Teams does not have. First, it’s easy to work with people outside your organization with AirSend. Just create a new channel and invite them to the channel using their email address. With MS Teams – it’s hoop after hoop just to get permission to share things with people outside your org. If you have and IT manager who can configure that for you – great. If not, good luck!

AirSend also has a built-in actions management section, which MS Teams does not have but makes up for with its Trello integration. And AirSend gives you the ability to easily create public channels where anyone who has a link to the channel can join. This is great for businesses who want to build a community or host a public Q&A channel.

Features and Capabilities: it depends.

Conclusion?

As you can see, choosing between Microsoft Teams and AirSend for your business greatly depends on your current set-up, level of technical knowledge, and business needs. If you’re a heavy Office 365 user that doesn’t mind a steeper learning curve and needs more integrations – Microsoft Teams is the way to go. If you’re looking for a simple, easy-to-use digital workspace solution that allows you to work with both your team and outside clients with ease – then choose AirSend.

Have questions or want to learn more? Come talk to us here.

AirSend is a versatile digital workspace to share files, send messages, and complete tasks. Click here to see how AirSend can help you.

How to set up a channel template in AirSend for your coaching business.
How to set up a channel template in AirSend for your coaching business. 

Having worked with life coaches in the past, we know there’s a basic process when working with a client. First, you onboard the client with the necessary contracts and forms, as well as a syllabus going over what their program is going to be like. Maybe there’s a video, maybe there isn’t. Maybe a workbook, maybe not. 

Then, you deliver the program materials to your client – all at once or spread out over the course of a few weeks or months or years. Program materials typically include things like videos, worksheets, and books. 

As your client goes through the program, you support them through chat, video calls, and/or in-person meetings and workshops. 

There are many ways you can set up the tech system you use to deliver your coaching services, and one of the easiest ways to do so is to use AirSend because of AirSend’s channel template functionality. 

The rest of this post will show you how to set up a channel template in AirSend for your coaching business. 

Create a channel

First you want to create a new channel which you’re going to turn into a template for future channels.

Create a coaching channel template

Put important information into the Wiki

If you have a Zoom link that you use to communicate with clients or want to link to a private Facebook group, the Wiki is the place to put that information. Just make sure the information you put in the Wiki of your template channel is something that you want all of your clients to have access to. 

Put important coaching information into the Wiki

Upload the blank contracts and course materials

Next, upload blank copies of all of the contracts and course materials that you want each of your clients to start with. These materials will show up in the files section of each new channel that you create from this template. Don’t forget that you can create folders to sort your files.

Upload blank coaching materials and organize them in folders (if desired)

Create any actions you want your clients to take

If you don’t want to waste time reminding each new client to turn in their forms or attend their onboarding calls, you can create some action items in your template channel so that they show up in each new channel you create. 

Create action items for your coaching clients

Duplicate the channel for each new client

After you’ve set up your template channel, it is very easy to duplicate the channel and/or create new channels based on your template. 

Use your channel template to onboard your new coaching clients

As you can see, using AirSend’s channel template functionality can save you a lot of time and hassle. Ready to use AirSend channel templates to make your coaching life easier? Feel free to let us know your thoughts here

AirSend is a versatile digital workspace for coaches to share files, send messages, and complete tasks. See how AirSend can help you as your business grows here.