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March 15, 2022
Can Remote Work Become Your Dream Job?
Tag: Communication
This is an introductory post for a new series focusing on the challenges and benefits of remote work. Each post covers a different aspect of working remotely, especially in a multi-cultural, global organization.These aspects have the potential to transform a work experience into a dream job.
When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in 2020, remote work was an atypical concept for most industries. As the pandemic continued, businesses and organizations were required to hastily accommodate for lockdowns and office closures. This was, and still is, a huge everyday challenge, not only for organizations but also (or mostly) for employees that suddenly had to start working from a completely different environment, frequently sharing it with other household members. That rapid adaptation has become an inspiration for the new article series focusing on various aspects of remote work.
From day one, FileCloud (the creator of AirSend) has operated as a fully remote, multi-cultural, global organization. On top of that, as a developer, I’ve spent 90% of my career working remotely. This series is an attempt to share my personal experiences, hurdles, and potential solutions, delving into the fascinating, yet challenging world of remote work. In the next sections, I’ll give a sneak peek of future topics and provide a brief introduction to each one.
Communication in the Remote Environment
Communication is critical in any work environment and organization. Lack of or improper communication can lead to poor or even critical outcomes. In a remote environment, this problem can be easily multiplied, and that’s why effective and efficient communication becomes a number one priority. Keeping everyone in the loop, navigating different time zones, implementing the most appropriate communication tools, and adapting to cross-cultural messaging styles is not an easy task.
Fortunately, there are opportunities to streamline the communication process, improving efficiency and reducing issues related to miscommunication. The first couple of posts in this series will focus on topics of efficient communication, both synchronous and asynchronous, how to handle online meetings, and strategies everyone can use to improve communication. These solutions will be contextualized within the example of a global, multi-cultural environment, where topics like different understanding of the same message and time-zone navigation must be considered. With these tools and strategies in your repertoire, you can master remote work and realize your “dream job.”
How to Achieve Work/Life Balance?
Recent years have elevated the term “work/life balance” to a whole new level. It can be heard or read almost every single day. In this series, I will try to explain how this term can be interpreted, the challenges of keeping that balance when working remotely, and strategies to improve work experiences and, most importantly, reduce the chance of the potential burnout. Blog posts will address the following topics:
Small tips on how to set up a functional workplace to improve productivity and the day-to-day work experience
Opportunities to reduce the feeling that work and home life are uncomfortably blended
Strategies to adjust our ways of working to get the most out of the remote work
Pros and Cons of Remote Work
Remote work poses MANY challenges, and to be completely honest, it will not work for everyone. I think it is very important to understand that from day one. However, there is A LOT that one can do to minimize the negative impact of remote work and maximize positive outcomes. Depending on personal preferences, remote work can be extremely satisfying, even leading to that elusive “dream job”.
Blog posts from this series will expose potential struggles that one might face, especially at the beginning of their remote work journey, and provide some insights on how we can deal with these struggles (or at least minimize their impact). On the other hand, emphasis will be placed on the positive aspects of remote work, some of which might not be that obvious at first.
Working in a Multi-Cultural Environment
Working with people from a variety of cultures is the aspect of remote work that I find the most exciting. Getting to know the people I work with, along with their backgrounds, customs, and motivations, is extremely rewarding and offers life-long knowledge, even outside of the work setting. These positive attributes give a lot of value to the organization as well, by supporting different points of view and increasing general creativity.
Obviously, all of that comes with some price. Navigating differences in how people communicate, (such as how they give and receive feedback or how the same words can have a totally different meaning across languages) is a real struggle. I promise though, once you start to understand and resolve communication barriers, the puzzle can turn into an amazing, exciting experience that culminates in a dream job.
Since this topic underpins the remote work experience and fosters many implications, especially for communication and management, I will explore various layers and differences between cultures, focusing on aspects like communication styles, feedback, and persuasion.
Management
In my career, I have worked at various organizational levels, from backend developer and senior developer to Team Lead and Engineering Manager. Through my journey, I’ve learned that managing a remote team brings a lot of new challenges to the table. Most of them are related to communication and multi-cultural differences that I have described already. However, there are some additional topics to consider, including managing expectations, keeping everyone aligned on goals, and working around time-zone differences. One or two blog posts will focus particularly on areas of management, how these can be approached, and what additional steps might be taken to streamline this aspect of work for all employees.
Summary
I am a huge advocate of the remote work environment. It aligns extremely well with what I value in life and the flexibility it provides, and as a result, I can’t really imagine working in an office.
As I mentioned during this short introduction, there are many downsides and daily struggles to take into account, and the remote work environment may not be suited to all temperaments or teams. Fortunately, the positives have been much greater than the cons in my experience.
As more organizations and businesses explore remote work to adapt to the pandemic, the more remote work methods are integrated into standard operating procedures across industries. Simply put, remote work has irrevocably changed our global economy and work expectations.
With that in mind, I hope that this series can make your remote work experience even a little bit nicer and will offer some unique and helpful insights into maximizing this new “norm” so you can realize your dream job. At this point, I am sure that the multi-cultural element of remote work will become a huge eye-opener for many of you. Stay tuned!
Airsend can help you stay organized while working remotely. Explore what you can do with Airsend today!
Technology influences and informs the ways we express our identity and engage with others.
Interests Feed Identities, Which Grow Communities
A fascinating aspect of modern-day society is how we develop our interests and how these interests become a shorthand code for our identities. As people have more time and resources to flourish instead of being consumed by the plight of survival, our interests and identities are becoming increasingly complex, as we understand more about ourselves and each other.
A related point is how we associate with others based on our interests and identity affiliations [1]. Even in a professional environment, we tend to cluster with others who share our interests or who align with our identities. We create networks of connections based on the mutual understanding of shared or complementary interests and traits.
Technology has enabled us to widely publish our identities and provided new avenues of interaction within our communities. It has also changed how we synthesize and organize the never-ending stream of information and content, which further feeds and reinforces all these different interests. The way in which we process and assimilate content into our identities influences the connections we make within our social groups. In short, different people assemble information in different ways [2], and that affects who we connect with.
How We Connect
The method or manner of connection is almost as important as the content over which we connect. As our content evolves, so too do the platforms where we consume content and engage with one another. These platforms are becoming ever more digital; meeting someone new is as likely to happen online as it is to happen in a workplace, campus, or social meetup [3].
Communication and organization technology has come a long way, even in the past few years. Now we have incredibly sophisticated messaging and social media apps, integrative Kanban boards, collaborative calendars, endless online forums, and resource blogs. We have transitioned our physical tools and meeting spaces into a digital landscape, and we heavily rely on this landscape to support more and more of our daily functions.
The Digital Impact
Yet the convenience of life online has also resulted in digital experiences taking bigger and bigger bites out of our days. We have begun to notice the influence of digital platforms on our expressions of identity, as in the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis. This linguistics theory (also called Linguistic Relativity) suggests that the structure of our language shapes not only what we think, but how we think it. Which, in turn, influences how we perceive the world [4].
These technological conveniences have become life-altering tools, especially for marginalized groups whose access to resources has been historically curtailed. People can look up information, search for resources, learn more about their and other communities, develop new ways to play, work, and create, and find new methods to improve their quality of life.
This last point will be particularly significant as the global population continues to age; studies show that currently, over 1 billion people rely on assistive technology [5]. That market is projected to grow to nearly $8 billion between 2021 and 2025, with an extra boost from the COVID-19 pandemic [6].
The Tools that Shape Us
With that conceptual underpinning out of the way, let’s explore how we can use these tools to explore our interests, profess our identities, and assemble meaningful social groups without becoming lost in the blue light of our screens.
It comes down to the quality of the tool. The more streamlined and intuitive a tool is, the more we lose sight of the platform itself. With a smooth enough interface, a tool can become an extension of our own minds and bodies.
When we want to talk to a family member or friend, we don’t have to trace out all the steps involved in opening an app and typing the message. Our brains carry out these support tasks almost without thinking because we trained ourselves to use these devices. We spend our energy, instead, on the heart of communication – composition.
What am I going to say, and how am I going to say it?
Investing in User Experience
Companies designing our hardware and software technologies have invested in the “User Experience.” After all, the easier it is to use something, the more likely we are to do so. That means more money for the company, through paid services or advertising revenue.
One of the main strategies to reduce our awareness of technology is to have that tool become ubiquitous. We don’t notice something if it’s everywhere we look. Furthermore, we have positive reactions to tools when they spring to our fingertips to fulfill a need or task. All the better if these tools slip back under the surface of our awareness once we’re done with it. No mess, no fuss.
This is one reason why Google has developed its own digital toolkit through Google Workspace, which aims to supplant the familiar Microsoft applications. It has also pursued integrations with nearly every interface, adapting to the mobile lifestyles of its users [7].
Microsoft is also trying to expand its empire by building into cloud computing and AI, taking advantage of the computers, large and small, all around us [8]. By immersing us in “tech intensity”, the company aspires “to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more” [9].
The focus of these industry giants emphasizes the importance of application integrations. Businesses that provide these nimble responses to clients and consumers preserve profits and grow in the market.
A survey run by Cleo found that failure to support modern integrations leads to “annual revenue losses of $250,000 to $500,000 for 57 percent of those surveyed and upward of $1,000,000 for others” [10]. Similarly, the Forbes Technology Council cites “Near Perfect Digital Experience” as number five in their list of critical trends expected to dominate the software development industry. “Progressive Web Apps” and “User Experience Design” were also listed [11].
The Pandemic Effect
The COVID-19 pandemic painfully highlighted all the lackluster avenues of technology that failed to advance with the general tide. Even though we had access to communication and collaboration technologies, they weren’t enough to keep up with our need for such tools when we could no longer safely gather in person.
As companies adapted and new software tools were churned out, our reliance on technology increased. For those of us working from home (about 42% of the U.S. workforce, according to this analysis [12]), our professional and personal lives were almost entirely translated into the digital landscape.
Voice-over-Internet-Protocols (VoIP) or videoconferencing are both prime examples of an avenue of sluggish advancement that exponentially improved in response to the pandemic. At first, the technological capability to call anyone in the world and chat over video – so long as you both had accounts and a solid internet connection – was revolutionary. Skype dominated this niche for years, with modest upgrades and improvements, particularly with Microsoft’s acquisition in 2011 [13].
Mostly though, this technology was implemented by consumers rather than businesses. Professionals preferred to meet in person or use phone conferencing to collaborate as these were the more stable options. When video conferencing was attempted, Skype For Business or Cisco’s WebEx filled the need.
In practice, these solutions could be difficult to implement, with unreliable performance. Yet there was no major push to innovate from the business market or from within the technology companies. They had other fish to fry, which promised greater returns on profit or tech development.
Advancing Technology
The pandemic forced huge populations of the workforce to work via remote connections and improvised desks at home. Meetings still had to happen though, and video and audio quality were no longer negotiable.
We can tolerate some degree of robot voice or having to reconnect after a dropped call when we’re chatting with a friend; when it’s a business deal literally on the line or a meeting with the team to discuss a project, we’re not so willing to chance misunderstandings and delays.
In these scenarios, a stable connection is a prerequisite to accurately present our professional identities, create rapport, and exchange information. That meant tech companies had to step up their game.
Microsoft had its own solution through the Teams application. Launched in 2017, this app was designed to compete with Slack as a collaborative messaging and file sharing platform. Mass conversion never really happened though. Google threatened to end Google Hangouts for years, in favor of splitting the service into two applications, Google Chats and Google Meet [14].
Hop into a Zoom Call
That was where Zoom came into the picture: a simple, feature-rich, and accessible video conferencing solution. As the pandemic continued to spread around the world, analysts cited Zoom as significantly outperforming financial expectations, with one of the most significant leaps in growth and implementation for a software development firm, possibly in recent history.
Following the surge in customers and necessary upgrades to respond to business requirements, Zoom’s stock skyrocketed, with an “all-time high of $223.87 at market close on June 3, up more than 200% from $68.04 at market close Dec. 31, 2019” [15]. In 2020, the company showed continued, exponential growth, with a net profit of $671 million [16].
The reliance on Zoom waned when security concerns came to light. These ranged from compromised data to a lack of encryption, as well as increasing incidents of “zoom-bombing”. The company implemented security patches, but for some consumers (especially those with ready access to other options), the damage was already done [17].
We Want it All
Security features, ease of access, coordination with existing software and applications – these components are critical for tech products entering the market now.
It’s not enough for software to solve a problem – it must do the job with such exceptional results that it beats out all the competition (to make the download worthwhile). Or, it must offer such a rich spread of features that the convenience is too tempting to ignore.
People may be willing to use a select handful of apps or tools, but it’s easy to become overloaded by all the choices out there. This overload kicks in earlier when the stakes are higher; for example, when our choices influence how we present ourselves to others and how others perceive us.
Add in factors of cost, redundancy, and specialization to the mix, and the choice becomes even harder to make. Evaluating all these options and features can be exhausting, resulting in people choosing not to choose at all [18].
Spoiled for Choice
The reality of decision fatigue is especially true for people trying to decide between similar paid technologies, like streaming services [19]. It’s one thing to have dozens of rarely-used apps on our phones. It’s another thing entirely to shell out money on a monthly basis (since most applications these days function on a subscription model).
Yet opting out of the decision-making process means we risk alienating our social connections, as we fail to meaningfully participate in the digital landscape.
If everyone in a social circle has a Netflix account and has been talking non-stop about Geralt’s moody vibes and how the stories compare to the game experience, anyone without this subscription will be left out of the conversation. It becomes a technological “keeping up with the Jones” balancing act. We can only afford (mentally and financially) to engage with certain platforms, but we must engage to feed our connections and perform our carefully cultivated identities.
The Solution?
The only way for a new technology to break through all that noise is to:
solve as many problems as possible (seamlessly),
have few to no barriers to access,
offer plenty of strong security measures,
feature a small learning curve, and
enable integrations with everything else we’re already using.
Simple.
The reality is that as technology products and tools have developed from their humble roots, their base functions no longer impress us. When MySpace and Facebook were released, we marveled at the ease with which we could connect and talk with friends and family. We could even form new communities with people online and share the things we love (or love to hate).
Then we turned these platforms into opportunities to mold, curate, and present our identities to friends, families, communities… and prospectively the world.
The App Web
Now, we have a plethora of specialized social media apps that intersect and yet are distinct enough that it’s not enough to just have one.
We use Instagram to upload (and modify) pictures of our vacation, which we then share with Facebook to talk to a different set of communities. We switch to Twitter for our regularly scheduled doom-scrolling; maybe we’ll run across an interesting link to an AMA on Reddit that takes us to a series of YouTube videos. Our “Recently Watched” serves as fodder for reaction videos that we record and share on Snapchat or TikTok, to see how our friends (or followers) react. There might be time for a Zoom birthday party or baby shower, because it’s still Pandemic Times™ (and perhaps we’ve forgotten how to interact with people in person anyway.)
There are scads of apps for every purpose imaginable, all competing for attention and downloads. Professional environments have seen a similar boom, with productivity and collaboration tools trying to outbid and out-feature their competition to earn lucrative enterprise contracts. These commercial apps have learned from the social media giants, offering simple implementation and flexible integrations, which directly contribute to a blending of our personal and professional identities while online.
Simply responding to and mimicking existing technology isn’t enough to survive though. Technology and software tools can’t afford to mess up or slow down. Otherwise, they’ll lose our attention and become buried under the mass of notifications.
The Joy of AirSend
Naturally, we here at CodeLathe believe AirSend is a real solution for real people. It’s the ideal collaboration and communication platform for the modern identity, suitable for any project, personal or professional.
The weight of our decisions makes itself known when we become aware of how much time we lose switching between tasks. We go from our email to our calendar to a word document and realize it’s already been an hour with little to show for it.
The weight increases when we struggle to find a file we know exists, but the file explorer is convinced it does not. Or when we try to share said file (resurrected from the email archives) during a video conference, but the “share-screen” option isn’t working. Even though we’re not in person, we can feel everyone’s eyes boring into our soul as they all wait for the technical difficulties to be sorted. Politely though, because they’ve been there too.
This is not a unique scenario. Nor is it ideal. As our connections become ever-more digital, technological issues or dysfunctions are harder to tolerate, because they stymy our communication and distort our identities. The technology we use can become a barrier rather than a facilitator. There are plenty of options, certainly, in the tech- and app-saturated landscape. Yet few give us a truly holistic solution.
Where AirSend Shines
AirSend integrates all the features we’ve come to rely on throughout the pandemic and all the best aspects from social media, content sharing apps, and VoIP tools, organized into a free, easy-to-use (and easy to look at) platform. Here are just a few features represented by the deceptively simple dandelion icon:
Security features and protected data (2FA, password-protected channels, encrypted file shares)
Ease of access through integrations with Google Workspace and Microsoft-365 (more in the works)
Responsive messaging platform between groups and individuals, with VoIP functionality
Kanban-style board to manage actions, reminders, and goals
Wiki section to store relevant information, files, and links
All-in-One Platform
The application is organized around the spirit of communication, which is the most important ingredient when it comes to collaboration. Open the account and the first screen is a view of all your channels, arranged in Kanban-style boards. By clicking on one of the channels, you can dive into some of the more sophisticated functions.
Within each channel, the main view enables users to easily send messages, links, or files to the channel recipients. You can also start or join a video call. Better yet, everyone can share their screen and use presentation tools, without the struggle of transferring host rights. You can even set up a channel for you alone, as a repository for information, reminders, and specific files.
The left sidebar provides a list of all your channels, which can be organized into groups. Select the options icon to add to a group or drag-and-drop for a more tactile experience.
The right sidebar includes tabs for Actions, Files and Links, and the Wiki. Saved reminders or tasks can be viewed under the Actions tab (with the option of adding due dates and assigning actions to team members). Shared files or links are found under Files and Links, auto-added when sent as a message in the channel. Last but not least, the Wiki fills a vital function as the channel’s unique library of reference material. As an added touch, you can format text and add separate pages or folders for better organization.
These channels are malleable and accessible, not just to peers within your network. Each channel has a unique email identifier, so anyone can send files and text to a channel. No account necessary. Channels can also be shared via link with external users, with the option of password-protecting it for extra security.
AirSend recognizes the value of your time and effort. For channels loaded with information that needs to be shared with new team members or external clients, AirSend offers the “Template” functionality. Channels can be duplicated for different sets of recipients while stripping out channel-specific messaging history. To protect and retain data, you can archive channels, and these channels can even be exported!
When you need to buckle down to accomplish major tasks or projects, it’s easy to swap the messaging platform for an expanded Kanban view of the Actions bar. This view enables drag-and-drop features for better sorting of actions and sub-actions.
Kanban view of Actions tab, with drag-and-drop
Conclusion
Choosing the right technological tools and apps to balance your diverse needs and interests can have a major impact on your life. They influence not only how you present yourself to the world but also how you interact with your communities. Why waste time entertaining sub-par solutions?
AirSend offers the best of both worlds through simple and dynamic features. With a constant eye toward optimization, this tool only gets better with time. To sign-up for a free account and explore what AirSend can do for you, click here.
Hogg, M.A. (2004) The Social Identity Perspective: Intergroup Relations, Self-Conception, and Small Groups. Small Group Research25, 246-276. DOI: 10.1177/1046496404263424
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 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.
When it comes to the best business communication tools, we need to take a step back and address what elements need to be considered a business communication tool. Gartner’s definition of business communication is something that incorporates a persistent conversation space where people can collaborate in teams, communities, or networks.
Ideally, a collaboration tool should offer a seamless stream of conversations, similar to a river, and a place where collaboration can happen simultaneously. Each stream of conversation should also have a channel to flow through.
It should also be a tool that allows you to work internally and externally simultaneously. By that, I mean talking with clients or future business partners (external), while also being able to converse with team members in another conversation space(internal).
Now that we have defined what a business communication tool is let’s talk about the tools out there that could be considered the best. Here’s a list of what we think are the best business communication tools of 2020:
AirSend
Cisco
Google
Ring Central
Slack
MatterMost
Microsoft Teams
Symphony
Unify
Wire
Each of these tools will be reviewed through the lens of a business communication tool, along with other various factors, such as usability, convenience, blueprint and functionality, and solutions. Let’s begin with what we believe to be the number one business communication tool, AirSend.
AirSend is a new and simple communication tool that brings all of your productivity essentials in one workspace. To have a successful collaboration space, users need a convenient platform, simple design, and provides a solution to a problem. In this case, the problem is context switching.
Most collaborative/communicative tools believe that to have a successful contextual workspace, you need a significant amount of outside resources. In other words, the “solution” is to integrate with other tools to get the job done. But this is not a solution. Instead, it is a substitute for a solution. While integrating with other apps is undoubtedly great, efficiency is a lacking factor.
We spend most of our time switching between multiple apps to get what we need. Our time is not being appropriately used for productivity. AirSend provides a solution to this. AirSend’s vision/mission is to build a contextual workspace that improves the quality of life, maintain productivity, and increase focus.
We need a business communication tool where communication can happen seamlessly. But seamless communication is not all you need for a useful business communication tool. It would help if you also had the essentials, such as a place to track and manage tasks, file share and organization, and a place where you can keep important notes for later.
Of course, some tools carry these capabilities through the integration of other apps. The main difference between AirSend and other business communication tools is that AirSend introduces these capabilities through built-in functionality. In other words, users do not need third-party apps to get the job done.
We believe that by introducing built-in functionality, users can maximize productivity and minimize context switching. Imagine a tool where 80-90% of the user’s focus is through one medium. That is what AirSend is. Through a simplistic and clean UI, AirSend delivers built-in capabilities of task management, video/audio calling, file sharing, note management, and centralized conversation through channels.
Finally, the convenience with AirSend is that it is available everywhere. Through desktop and mobile, users can stay always stay connected.
Cisco Webex Teams combines cloud software with business communication. Also known as Saas software. Cisco Webex Teams is a safe and secure platform that integrates with other business tools to help with user workflow. One of the more renowned aspects of Cisco Webex is its hybrid solution.
The product offers multiple solutions, mainly to team collaboration, cloud calling, and video conferencing. With the cloud calling system, users can make calls from any device and any location. Cisco Webex offers its very own calling architecture, which gives users an easy path to the cloud.
With Cisco Webex Teams, users can message, meet, schedule, share files, call, and brainstorm ideas through a whiteboard.
Designed for a utility purpose, Cisco Webex positions itself as an ideal team collaboration tool. The product appeals to what most buyers look for:
A centralized conversation space
Content and application interaction
While Cisco Webex seems to solve some solutions to team collaboration through built-in capability, they do not appear to solve all the challenges. One of which is native task management. Additionally, for setting up meetings and calendar dates, a third-party application is required.
Cisco Webex Teams is a great software. It is an excellent alternative for those looking for team collaboration and outside integration. Users will find the product’s usability exciting with neat trinkets, such as built-in screen capture. However, the product is lacking in some elements. If we want to boost collaboration/productivity, shouldn’t communication tools focus on minimizing integration?
Having a conversation workspace results in high performing collaboration. But to get work done, platforms need tools (preferably native to the software/product) and a simple UI to help guide the conversation workspace. Having the essential tools and UI guide the flow of productive conversations also means guiding the flow of getting work done.
Google is another SaaS software designed to combine cloud software with team chat. Like Cisco Webex, Google Chat is another possible solution for team collaboration.
Google Chat integrates with GSuite, which allows users to access and share files, and use all the essentials GSuite offers, such as Docs, Sheets, and Slides. The idea behind the product is to provide a more accessible alternative to user workflow by providing all the essentials in one.
One thing to particularly note is that Google Suite is a cloud office suite. Cloud Office Suites broke into the team collaboration/chat sector with a solution. This solution was to result in work getting done faster and smarter. Of course, we all want a tool that can enable us to get the job done with convenience, and that is what Google set out to do. Google Suite provides convenient solutions of:
Streamlining communication through email and chat
Carry meetings through Google Meet
Store and share files with a cloud-based server
Increase collaboration with GSuite itself (Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc.).
To add to the convenience of collaboration, GSuite also offers third-party integrations.
However, GSuite is not perfect. According to various reviews found on Capterra, there is a common negative theme: UI/UX. Multiple reports state the GSuite’s UI is clunky and usually takes users through a rabbit hole of complexities and confusion. Because of the poor UI, users also say that communicating with others is difficult. The difficulty in communicating with team members poses a negative impact on productivity.
After all, to ensure productivity, a platform needs a space for centralized communication. Google Suite is a reliable strong team collaboration tool. With advanced capabilities, users can save time switching between various apps to get work done. The only downside to the product is the complexity of the UI design.
RingCentral is a communication platform designed to bring a unique communicative experience. The specialty behind RingCentral is its cloud phone system. The idea behind the platform is to reinvent the communication experience with a tool that does it all in one: Messaging, video calling, and audio calling.
Additionally, RingCentral takes their product one step further by incorporating teamwork solutions: task management, teams and direct messaging, integration of apps, and convenience.
The platform is most known for its seamless and easy-to-reach communication via the cloud phone system. With RingCentral’s cloud phone system, users can check voicemails at a glance, set up local numbers, and flip calls to any device.
They are reinventing the communication experience with convenience, which results in a new form of communication—a form of communication where work can get done seamlessly.
Though the platform focuses on effective communication, RingCentral oversimplifies its UI/UX design, making it more complicated. Users say that the overwhelming simplicity of the product leads to the confusion of many unnecessary features. In other words, there are too many non-essential features in the product. The product looks cluttered with too many openly available features.
RingCentral’s unique solution, unified cloud communication, pushes the conventional thought, and propels the communication medium’s new standard. By also adding team collaboration to the product, RingCentral is an excellent solution for both small and large businesses. However, with an oversimplified appearance, the product’s complexity could result in a lack of productivity.
Slack is a team communication tool designed to replace email. The platform functions through the integration of other apps. Slack wants to minimize and replace the time we spend buried in our emails. The solution to the problem is presenting all the information we need in one place: a channel.
Through channels, users can absorb the information they need quickly and efficiently. Additionally, with the concept of channel organization, users minimize time spent browsing through their conversation history. Image a platform that has separate channels for everything:
Announcement Channel
Social Media Channel
Marketing Channel
Threads
Users can make a plethora of channels they need. Efficient teamwork/collaboration succeeds through the incorporation of channel organizations. Having channels is excellent for organized communication, but it is not what propelled Slack to its repertoire today.
Integrations
There is a reason why Slack is called “The King of Integrations,” and that’s because it is the king of integrations. Slack offers over 500+ integrations. From Google Drive to Asana, Slack’s vision is to enable workflow with everything in one space.
The concept of the product is impressive. Imagine a tool where you can quickly absorb information in a matter of minutes, while also tracking tasks and storing files through a third-party application.
That is what Slack is: a team collaboration tool powered by integrating with other third-party applications. The functionality of the product sounds simple, but when testing the product, there are some complexities.
One of the more significant challenges to the product is that Slack is a communication tool. To use Slack, users need to sign up for many of the third-party applications that Slack offers. Some of these applications are also not free, which means putting more money toward external products.
The second biggest challenge is that Slack is not ideal for multiple clients. For example, let’s say you are a business that is sustained by client relationships. If you were to choose Slack as your ideal communication medium, you would need to have multiple Slack accounts to have a client-to-client relationship.
Having the capability of making public and private channels, sharing files within channels, and having bots to help guide productivity is excellent. However, Slack lacks built-in capabilities. Instead, their concept of organizational readiness focuses on third-party apps.
Integrations are not terrible, but it is also not as efficient as we would like it to be. The reason is that we are not minimizing the context switching. We are still spending an enormous amount of time switching between various apps.
Mattermost is an open-source enterprise team communication platform that provides organizations with messaging and file-sharing tools for web, PCS, and mobiles. The company enters the team chat market industry as the first of its kind at the enterprise level: an open-source encrypted chat platform.
The problem most enterprise-level team chats face is the lack of security and privacy. Especially when developers send information-sensitive data through third-party apps. MatterMost provides the solution for DevOps and remote work:
The Cloud: deployable to both public and private clouds
Integrations and plugins
Atlassian
Encryption + Selh Hosting messaging
Security
MatterMost has the potential to further grow into a more robust and secure tool. Being open-source, DevOps and users can customize the product to whatever best fits their needs.
In four years, the platform has accomplished many of the common issues team communications faces. However, the product is not finished. There are still many upcoming features, such as call and audio (currently in beta). In the future, users can expect the product to be equal with the other highly ranked team communication tools.
Microsoft Teams is a cloud-based solution designed for business communications to help teams manage chat, meet, file sharing, and team discussion. User workflow is also improved tremendously with the addition of Office 365. Boiled down, Microsoft Teams is three items:
The Cloud (One Drive)
Office 365
Communication (teams and outlook)
Similar to GSuite, Microsoft Teams mission is to enable work getting done faster and smarter. However, like most tools that strive to solve all of the team collaboration challenges with a “simplified” solution, they lack a particular element; and that is designing a simple product.
Microsoft Teams follows this theme by also delivering a sophisticated tool. According to reviews on Capterra, most users agree that the UI to Teams is not well made, making the product’s usability challenging to use.
Additionally, according to a survey we made several weeks ago, users who used Microsoft Teams mention that the integration is not the best it could be. Especially with project management tools.
Microsoft Teams has the right idea of combining One Drive with team productivity applications. It is a great way to change how employees work. But with a poorly made UI, changing how people work to be more efficient will be difficult.
Symphony is a team collaboration tool made for the finance industry. One thing to note is that platforms designed to solve a specific problem or market to a particular audience, like Symphony, offer specific solutions. With Symphony, they are data encryption, compliance, and certifications. Symphony also offers various features:
Bots and apps
Automated trade flows
Collaboration capabilities: messaging, file share, and conferencing
Lately, business communication tools that adhere to both internal and external usage gain traction to industries that involve finance, consultative advice, contracting, etc. Majority of the business communication tools we see now attract internal workflow.
But, few team chats have focused on the concept of business-to-client communication (external). Symphony is one of the few business communication tools that tackle the external business-to-client conversation.
Symphony drives productivity with a kanban-like design, so users can place what’s most important first. Finally, the product is a great tool to have secure conversations with clients and enterprises.
Unify is the Atos brand for communications and collaboration. Unify’s product is Circuit. Circuit (Unify) enables organizations of all sizes to transform the way they collaborate, creating a more connected and productive workforce. This solution would result in improved team performance and business efficiency.
Unify is also available through web and mobile collaboration. The platform features:
Unified Communication
Voice Messaging
Voice Conferencing
OpenScape Cloud/Business
One of the more desirable concepts to Unify is its ability to deliver more productivity with less complexity. The way the platform provides this solution is with the OpenScare Business. With its hybrid communication to its deployable cloud services. Like Cisco Webex and RingCentral, Unify also has its very own product line.
Similar to RingCentral, Unify presents a new kind of collaboration that focuses on communication. However, the product lacks some collaboration tools that could better help streamline communication. Some of the tools Unify is lacking in is task/project management and calendar management.
Unify is an extension of team/social collaboration. The addition of the OpenScape Cloud and hybrid communication is a nice touch. But again, with a focus on communication, some elements of collaboration are lacking.
Wire is a modern-day collaboration tool that meets advanced security and user experience. Similar to Symphony, Wire focuses on business-to-client and team-to-team communication.
What’s particularly worth mentioning is that Wire offers guest room access making it easy for client interaction to happen.
Wire features:
Personal and group chats
Conference Calls
Screen/file sharing
Availability status
Mentions
Integrations
Wire allows you to securely add Calendars, Financial information, Development progress, Corporate News, or CRM information to conversations. With the focus and solution on security, users can send encrypted messages without fearing a breach.
Additionally, the simplistic UI design of the product makes it easy to use. Some reasons to consider Wire would be:
Security/encryption
Guest Room functionality
Integration
What do people look for in work communication tools?
Several weeks ago, we had surveyed what people looked for in team chat apps. The results were surprising. Below is a chart of what people look for in the current team chat industry.
When looking for a business communication tool there are three common core capabilities that you need to consider:
Integration/ built-in functionality
Security and compliance
UX/UI
File sharing
These three capabilities are the makeup for business communication. With a common problem comes a unique solution, and a unique solution emerges a new form of thinking.
Each tool listed today provides its unique solution to a common problem that we face in the team chat industry. There needs to be a channel organization or space where centralized conversation can happen to encourage seamless workflow. Secondly, there needs to be some sort of easy access to integrations or built-in collaboration tools. Finally, there needs to be a tool that has a simplistic design.
AirSend’s Mission
If we want to change the way people work, we need to address what is preventing us from being productive? We believe that one of the issues that prevent productivity is having too much context switching.
One-to-three hours of our day is wasted everyday switching between apps to get work done. The introduction of more built-in functionality would solve this problem.
We use AirSend as our digital workspace for our marketing team. Even though AirSend is our product, we sincerely believe that AirSend can help your organization, too. Give us a try and let us know what you think!
AirSend is a versatile digital workspace to share files, send messages, and complete tasks. See how AirSend can help you.
The phrase “team chat ” has become synonymous with the phrase “team collaboration.” As new communication tools are being developed, so are collaboration features. As we know it, 2020 is the year where team chats are breaking boundaries.
Many companies are developing the “do-it-all” chat software. Ideally, the “do-it-all” chat software should combine collaboration features that allow work to be done with minimal effort. In other words, have all the business essentials in one place. That way you minimize the extra tabs and workspace.
In this blog post, we are going to share our list of groundbreaking team chat tools of 2020. Each tool’s description will have the features and functions, pricing, and the pros and cons to them. Without further ado, let’s dive into the 25 best team chat tools of 2020.
It would be weird if we didn’t believe AirSend was the lead groundbreaking tool for team chat and collaboration. One of the great features with AirSend is that it carries the ideal collaboration tools needed to get work done. Tools, such as task-management, premium built-in file storage, audio/video calling, and personalized notebooks made for each channel.
Most importantly, AirSend’s productivity train is continuously chugging, which means that we are constantly delivering new updates and features. New updates and features mean new ways for efficient communication and collaboration.
Pricing
If you sign up now, you can get AirSend Pro free for one year! In the picture below are the features that come with AirSend Pro.
Image of AirSend’s Pricing
Pros to AirSend
Compared to other team chat tools in which both parties need an account, AirSend only needs one person to sign up to have a conversation. This feature is called email-to-channel. To learn more about this feature, read our blog post. Rather than switching between many communication tools, you can now keep all your conversations from one place.
Cons to AirSend
AirSend is still in its beta stages. Because AirSend is still in development, there will be consistent updates and added features to the product.
Chanty is a simple AI-powered tool with an easy-to-use interface. One of the big selling points to Chanty is that they keep a balance between features and usability, hence the simple and easy-to-use design. They also come with built-in task management and unlimited messages.
Pricing
Chanty is free! They also carry a Business plan which runs about $3 user/month. The only difference between the free and business plan is that business carries audio and video calls.
Pros to Chanty
Like AirSend, Chanty is constantly developing. As of right now, they are in the process of developing audio and video calls. Additionally, collaboration with Chanty is endless.
Cons to Chanty
While Chanty is a great team chat and collaboration tool, they are not ideal for large teams. In their free plan, there is a limit of 10 users and 10 GB of storage per team.
One of the biggest selling points to Microsoft Teams is the smooth integration of Office 365. This becomes useful if you depend on Office 365 for your daily tasks. Furthermore, Microsoft Teams is great for keeping all your team’s chats, meetings, files, and other apps together in one place.
Pricing
When it comes down to pricing, Microsoft Teams can be a little daunting. The free version of Teams allows chat and collaborations. However, under the free plan, there are partially included essentials, such as:
meetings and calls
productivity apps and services
security and compliance.
Limited storage: 2GB per user and a total of 10 GB is shared among your team.
There is also a $5 monthly plan that is not much different from the free version, except an increase in storage (1 TB per user). Finally, there is the $12.50 monthly plan. This plan includes everything.
Pros to Microsoft Teams
As said before the great thing with Teams is that it allows for smooth integration of Office 365. Users have the capability to edit, delete, and pin messages. Users can also create a new thread and share files, provided it fits with the limited storage. If you use Office 365 daily, Teams might be worth considering.
Cons to Microsoft Teams
There is plenty of room for Microsoft Teams to grow. After thorough research of use cases and reviews, there are many aspects where Microsoft Teams is still lacking. Some use cases have mentioned that setting up the app was not an easy task.
Additionally, users must set up a unique email for each user in their team. Microsoft Teams also does not support drag and drop functions.
MatterMost is a wonderful communication tool to have that is specifically designed for having a private cloud and an opened-sourced channel.
MatterMost targets large enterprises. They also implement self-hosting capabilities. With self-hosting capabilities, users can have greater control over privacy and security.
Pricing
Luckily, before fully committing to MatterMost, there is a 30-day free trial. With the E10 edition (basic) and a minimum of 10 users, the price is $39 per user. Annually making it $390.
There is also an E20 edition, which is an advanced enterprise edition that roughly charges $8.50 monthly.
Because the E20 edition is made for larger corporations, you must get a quote from MatterMost before continuing to pay. To see what each plan offers, click here.
Pros to MatterMost
Though MatterMost is priced on the higher end, MatterMost offers premium control over privacy and security.
Additionally, you can run the messaging platform behind your organization’s firewall.
The way we see it, MatterMost is great if your organization is large enough to have or require self-hosted team messaging.
Cons to MatterMost
MatterMost lacks video and audio conferencing, and users cannot share screens. With MatterMost’s almost overwhelming design, the UX becomes difficult to maneuver. After researching some alternatives MatterMost had to these cons, we believe that aside from AirSend’s built-in wiki capability, Microsoft Teams would be the better choice.
The way we see it, Slack is the king of integrations. Additionally, Slack’s goal is to replace email. That being said, they provide all the tools that you would get with email into Slack.
Pricing
Here is an image of Slack’s current pricing. Some key things to note is that with the free plan, there is a limit to integrations and search history.
Capture of Slack’s latest pricing
Pros to Slack
Slack is built as a communication tool, so it offers a variety of options when it comes to conversations. Conversations happen in public or private channels and can further be separated into threads. Slack also allows audio and video calling.
Cons to Slack
According to several use cases, Slack’s UI design can be a bit overwhelming. Slack’s noise-to-signal ratio is also really high, making it hard to be productive. Further, they carry steep prices that may not be in peoples’ interest at the moment. Finally, Slack only offers third party file storage and task management.
Flock is one of the more promising team chat software. Flock is incredibly easy to use, and with integrations from Google Suite, and a built-in shared to-do list, productivity seems promising.
They also carry other features, such as guest accounts, one-way announcement channels, and a five-column interface. They also support video and audio calls.
Pricing
With Flock, there are three pricing plans:
Free
Unlimited messaging
10,000 searchable messages
10 public channels
5GB total per team
Single team admin
1-1 Video calls
Pro Plan: $4.50 monthly
Unlimited search history and messaging
Unlimited private and public channels
10 GB per team member
Multiple team admins
Group video calls
Screen sharing
24/7 priority support
Enterprise Plan: $8 monthly
Includes everything plus 20 GB per team member
Pros to Flock
Flock offers built-in tools, such as app integration, polls, to-do lists, the ability to create public and private channels, reminders, and many more.
Cons to Flock
With recent reviews and case studies, a major con to Flock is its five-column interface. Having a busy interface can make users feel overwhelmed.
Much like Discord or Slack, having a complex UI design can leave the user experience lacking.
Furthermore, specific features designed for team collaboration is nice, but some of them feel unnecessary.
Rocket.Chat is an open-source team chat software. With a similar Slack UI design, Rocket.Chat carries seamless conversations, along with a full range of customization. They also carry the similar function of making public and private channels.
Pricing
Rocket.Chat has umbrella pricing. What we mean by this is that they carry two major plans, and underneath those plans are the subscribed plans.
The first plan we will go over is the Self-Managed plan, in which you can host your own channels.
Self-Managed Plan
Community Version is Free
Pro Plan- $30, per user, annually; $3 per user, monthly
Enterprise Plan: Quote
The next major plan is the SaaS plan, which is a cloud offering hosted by Rocket.Chat
SaaS Plan
Bronze Plan: $20 per user, annually; $2 per user, monthly
Silver Plan: $40 per user, annually; $4 per user, monthly
Gold Plan: Quote
Each plan requires a minimum of 10 users
Pros to Rocket.Chat
One of the cool things with Rocket.Chat is that you can easily migrate and export files.
There is also real-time automatic translation, end-to-end encryption, LiveChat, and endless customization.
Cons to Rocket.Chat
Though having an open server is great, the maintenance to one is not that easy. Having your own open server means you also have to manage your own backups, security, and knowing how to fix things in case of failure. And if you’re not that tech-savvy, Rocket.Chat may not be a good fit for you.
Telegram is a cloud-based mobile and desktop messaging app with a focus on security and speed. The selling point to Telegram is that it is available on many of the most widely used platforms. Telegram is also free.
Pros to Telegram
With Telegram, you can send messages, photos, and videos to people who have Telegram, and to those who are in your phone contacts. You can also create groups for up to 200,000 people or channels.
They also have cool features like bots, secret chats, self-destructing messages, and support large files. If you are looking for a free communication tool that carries a lot of features, Telegram may be worth considering.
Cons to Telegram
Though Telegram carries a lot of features, they lack the features and functions for team collaboration. Like WhatsApp, Telegram is made for casual conversation with friends and family.
Introduced in 2016. Facebook Workplace is a team chat tool that prioritizes connection through broadcast and announcements. With the same layout as your personal Facebook account, Facebook Workplace allows you to connect with employees and have everyone on the same page.
Pricing
Facebook Workplace carries three tiers of pricing. We will list the top features that come with each plan.
Free:
Up to 50 teams
Group video calls
5 GB storage per person
Auto-translate
Live-video sharing
Available on mobile apps
Advanced: $4 per user, per month
Unlimited teams
Group video calls
1 TB storage per person
Organization chart
Surveys
Safety check
Enterprise: $8 per user, per month
Everything included.
Pros to Facebook Workplace
Facebook Workplace offers integrations of G Suite, Office 365 and Dropbox. And it’s like Facebook, but adapted for work. So anyone can start using it right away. This can also be seen as a negative, and here’s why.
Cons to Facebook Workplace
Because Facebook Workplace carries the same UI design as the normal Facebook, collaboration and communication can seem a bit unusual. If you are looking for a tool that has more of a professional layout, Facebook Workplace may not be the ideal solution.
Ryver is a team collaboration tool that makes managing your team simple and hassle-free. Similar to Slack, Ryver’s goal is to solve the world’s email problem and replace the outdated way many teams collaborate.
Pricing
Ryver offers three plans:
Starter: $49/monthly
Up to 12 users
Unlimited chat
Unlimted file sharing
Task management
Voice and video calls
Unlimited: $99/monthly. As of right now, they are currently offering the plan at $79/monthly
Everything included in the starter plan
Unlimited Users
Custom invite links
Enterprise: Originally $199/monthly, but right now it is being offered for $149/monthly
Everything included from the Unlimited plan
Single Sign-On (SSO)
Premium Support
Advanced team management
Testing Sandbox
Pros to Ryver
Essentially, Ryver is a combination of Slack and Trello. The selling point is that they surround their platform around a kanban based idea. They also include forums, teams, and one-on-one interaction.
Cons to Ryver
Aside from Ryver’s steep prices, they also require third-party integrations. Their biggest client for integrations is Zapier. This means that the majority of your integrations need to come from Zapier. This would be counterproductive for companies looking for a team chat that is easy-to-use and does not require a lot of strict integrations.
Glip is a collaboration software that offers free messaging, real-time text, voice, and video, task management, screen sharing, shared calendars, and note tracking.
Pricing
Glip carries two plans: the free version and the $5 per user, per month. Between the two plans, almost everything is the same. The key differentiator is the shared minutes. In the free version, there is a limit of 500 minutes, and in the paid plan it is a limit of 1,000 minutes per user, per month.
Pros to Glip
Glip has quite a few built-in options. Users can create and assign tasks, schedule meetings, set deadlines in a shared calendar, and keep track of notes. There are also unlimited integrations.
Cons to Glip
After studying quite a few use cases, there are common themes mentioned that ultimately are cons to Glip. For starters, they have fairly working features, however, Glip doesn’t have any individual feature that excels.
Additionally, Glip forces you to download its proprietary app, RingCentral Meetings. You cannot integrate other video conferencing apps. Finally, the interface is messy, and there are problems with trying to integrate apps. If you are not tech-savvy Glip may not be ideal.
Fleep is a team communication tool that lets you chat with any other Fleep user out there. Similar to Skype, all it requires is an account and you can connect to anyone else who has an active Fleep account.
Pricing
Fleep carries three pricing plans:
Free
10 GB File Storage
Native apps
Unlimited 1:1 conversation
Business: 5 Euros, per user, per month, billed annually
100 GB File Storage
Teams
Organization Settings
Task Management
Enterprise: Must have a Quote
100 GB Storage
Includes features from the Business plan
Pros to Fleep
Fleep is an open network that allows you to connect with anyone in the app. There are also unlimited integrations.
Cons to Fleep
Like Skype, Fleep is user-based and not team-based. This makes it hard to communicate with other people specific to your team.
Jostle is a cloud-based simple intranet solution. They offer communication, company culture building, internal bulletin board, and much more.
Pricing
Jostle is priced on the number of employees your company has. To give an overview, we went with the minimum required. However, the higher the employee count is, the cheaper the prices are.
15 minimum User:
Silver Plan: $9.33 per user, billed annually
Core Intranet
Integrations
2 powerups
Gold Plan: $13.33 per user, billed annually
Core Intranet
Integrations
Single Sign-On (SSO)
5 power-ups
Platinum: $16.00 per user, billed annually
8 power-ups
Features from Gold Plan
Pros to Jostle
As said before, Jostle carries features that help with company culture, productivity, and collaboration. Features, such as bulletin boards, news articles, calendar entries, and announcements.
Cons to Jostle
While the product is amazing for building company culture, it is not the ideal solution for communication. The UI design makes it hard for users and teams to communicate effectively.
Gitter.im is a chat and networking platform that helps to manage, grow, and connect communities through messaging, content, and discovery. Though it is made community building and targeted towards developers, it also works well as a team chat app. The best part, they are free.
Pros to Gitter.im
Gitter.im allows for private and public communities. It is also incredibly easy to use, and there is unlimited integration. Finally, the UI is visually appealing.
Cons to Gitter.im
As said before, Gitter.im is originally marketed towards creating communities. So the features and functionalities are community-based. However, if this is not a problem, Gitter.im would be worth a shot. Finally, Gitter.im carries a design similar to Reddit.
Wire is a modern-day collaboration tool that meets advanced security and user experience.
Pricing
Wire carries three price plans: Wire Pro: 4 Euro, Wire Enterprise: 8 Euro, and Wire Enterprise Technology. To see their features, click here.
Pros to Wire
Wire carries all things needed for collaboration. They carry personal and group chats, conference calls, screen and file sharing, availability status, mentions, and message reactions. Best of all, Wire has a guest room feature, in which you can talk with clients or even conduct job interviews.
Cons to Wire
One of the downsides to Wire is that they do not carry built-in task management. They also lack project management tools. Having a lack of these tools may make it hard for teams to collaborate and get work done.
Jitsi is a free open source video conference software. Jitsi thrives on their new form of communication, video conferencing. In other words, all communication happens over video. The selling point to Jitsi is that they are one of the few video conferencing software that offers encryption-based calls.
Pros to Jitsi
The big pro is that Jitsi is free to use. Arguably the second biggest pro to Jitsi is that it is open-source, and you can make your own servers. Jitsi also does not require accounts. Users have the option to create accounts for the purpose of attaining transcripts and meeting history.
Cons to Jitsi
Compared to other video conferencing software, Jitsi does not support Saas, iPhone, iPad, and Android. They are also very limited in integrations and features. Further, Jitsi does not carry On-demand webcasting, record&playback ability, nor whiteboard.
Discord is known for its all-in-one voice and text chat. While Discord is originally meant for gamers, they offer a lot of features for a free communication tool. Discord also offers channel organization, only placed in a more complex UI design.
Pricing
Another benefit is that Discord is free.
There is also a Discord Nitro in which you get more customizations than you would with the free version.
Customizations can range from animated emojis, and creating a unique tag for your profile. Annually, Discord Nitro is $99.99. Monthly it is $9.99.
Finally, there is Discord Nitro Classic, which has everything the Nitro plan has, except for a Server Boost. Annually it is $49.99, and monthly it is $4.99.
Image of Discord Nitro
Pros to Discord
Like AirSend, users with Discord can seamlessly switch between private and public channels. Discord also does not offer integration with apps you might use for work.
But if your team only uses text, voice, or video conferencing, you should be fine. Lastly, Discord is the only chat in this list that offers push-to-talk features, along with an instant invite link.
Cons to Discord
Discord is great for team communication. Additionally, with a busy UI design, you feel like you are doing more with less functionality. However, it is important to remember that Discord is specifically meant for gamers. So, the UI will be more complex than what the average business chat needs.
Lastly, like Slack, the noise-to-signal ratio is extremely high with Discord. Because of this, distractions can happen and important information can get buried among the chatter.
Flowdock is a real-time team chat software that brings all of your workplace conversations, work items, and tools in one place. With Flowdock, you can prioritize work, solve problems, search and organize across teams, locations, and timezones.
Pricing
Flowdock carries three plans:
Free- up to 30 days with Standalone features
Standalone: $3 per user, per month
Unlimited flows
Endless history
Infinite integrations
Enterprise: $9 per user, per month
SSO
Integration-auto removal
Data-encryption
API
Administration
Custom Data Retention policies.
Pros to Flowdock
Some pros are having organized conversations, message tags, bots, file-sharing, integrations, custom emojis, and gifs.
Cons to Flowdock
One of the main cons to Flowdock is that the organization leaves to be desired. The main feature of Flowdock is its shared inbox, where project management tools, customer feedback, and version control systems are stored. Though the threads help with organizing conversations, there is not much else for users to custom organize their workspace.
SquidHub is a collaboration app for people who want clarity, simplicity, a bit of fun, and a great way of working together.
Pricing
There are three plans:
Basic: Free
2 groups
1000 MB Storage
Unlimited search history
Premium: $4.99 per user, per month
Unlimited:
Groups
Storage
Search
Copy groups
Organizational view
Permission control
Disable message board
Enterprise: Must have Quote
Pros to SquidHub
Aside from its fun name, SquidHub makes it easy to find files, optimize communication, share a task list, have a built-in calendar, and many more. Best of all, SquidHub’s design is like that of a kanban, leaving the organization at its finest. Finally, SquidHub’s UI design makes it easy-to-use.
Cons to SquidHUb
Like Slack, SquidHub does not offer built-in file storage, rather you have to integrate third-party file storage platforms. If file-integration is not a concern for you, then SquidHub is definitely worth a shot.
Convo is a team communication app that brings all business essentials into one place. Essentially, you can use this tool as a central place for having discussions, collaboration, and making faster decisions in real-time.
Pricing
There are three plans: Free, Pro, and Enterprise. For the Pro and Enterprise version, it is custom pricing. To see what each plan has to offer, click here.
Pros to Convo
One of the things the platform likes to preach is fewer meetings, better collaboration. Ideally, this would mean having real-time chat and file sharing. Further, you can customize your notifications. Finally, a nice touch is that they offer acknowledgment posts, that way your message is heard loud and clear.
Cons to Convo
A downside to convo is that the UI design is a bit overwhelming. They have multiple ways in which you can carry a conversation via instant chat, group chat- private and public, and email integration. They carry a lot of neat features, but the communication is being sacrificed at the hands of collaboration features and integrations.
ProofHub is a team communication software that brings all your project communications together in one place.
Pricing
They carry two plans
Essential: $45 monthly, billed annually
40 projects
Unlimited users
15 GB Storage
Core features
Ultimate: $89 monthly, billed annually
Unlimited projects and users
100 GB storage.
Core features
Advanced custom roles
Custom workflow
Pros to ProofHub
Some highlights to Proofhub is that they have 1:1 chats, group chats, and tagging. They also carry a similar Kanban design to help with visual appeal.
Cons to ProofHub
Unfortunately, the majority of Proofhub relies on third-party integration. While it is nice to have a built-in Kanban, it is hard to make up for the lack of other built-in features. For those who are opposed to integrations, or do not feel comfortable connecting personal tools to work, Proofhub may not be the ideal choice. Finally, they carry features that can appear overwhelming and not needed.
Asana lets you work anytime, anywhere. With Asana, keep remote and distributed teams, and your entire organization focused on their goals, projects, and tasks.
Pricing
Image of Asana’s current pricing
For a list of features each plan carries, click here.
Pros to Asana
Some of the many pros to Asana is its color-coded tasks, email integration, google drive integration, and time tracking through integration with EverHour.
Cons to Asana
Though Kanban-style is great, a downfall to Asana, which inhibits the use of Kanban, is that tasks can only be assigned to one member per team. Further sub-tasks are difficult to work with, and the interface can sometimes feel overwhelming with the graphics. Finally, some users have reported that Asana sends too many emails of tasks being due. This can be sometimes annoying.
Twist is a chat platform built by an internationally distributed team at Doist. Ideally, Twist makes it much easier to keep track of a conversation and refer back to it later. They also target remote teamwork, making it suitable for an organized communication hub, share updates, and keep track of messages after several years.
Pricing
There are two plans for Twist
Free
Access to 1 month of comments/messages
Up to 5 integrations
5GB file storage
Unlimited guests
Unlimited everything
$5 per user/per month
Pros to Twist
Some highlights to Twist is the organization of threads to keep discussions in order. This is helpful for companies that have a lot of employees. Unlike most other chat platforms, Twist lets you disconnect to focus on your work. It is similar to a “do not disturb” mode that you would find on your phone.
Cons to Twist
A con to Twist is that in their free package they do not offer as much compared to other team chats. Twist gets the basic job done, but if you are looking for more usage in a free tool, Twist may not be ideal.
Bonus: to see what are the latest free communication tools for remote work, read our blog post.
According to Troop Messenger, their chat software integrates multiple features and functionalities on a single interface offering ease of use and heightened user experience. Troop Messenger comes with all the basic functionalities needed for group chats: voice-video calls, screen sharing, file sharing, and filtering content.
Pricing
Troop Messenger comes with three price plans:
Premium: $1 per user/ per month
7-day free trial of enterprise
150 GB of storage
Enterprise: $5 per user/per month
1 TB storage
Self Hosting: $5+ per user/per month
To see their feature and function list, click here.
Pros to Troop Messenger
Troop Messenger allows users to send messages or attachments to multiple users. Troop Messenger also features an unread message filter, which helps for looking at missed messages. Finally, a big plus is that they carry self-hosting and API delivery options. This is beneficial for large companies.
Cons to Troop Messenger
At its core, Troop Messenger is a chat app, and its collaboration is second. Troop Messenger carries little-to-no integrations. The lack of integration compromises for the overwhelming features that come with the platform.
Zulip combines the immediacy of real-time chat with an email threading model. With Zulip, you can catch up on important conversations while ignoring irrelevant ones. Zulip is an emerging leader of business collaboration tools.
Pricing
Below is a capture of their latest image pricing
Capture of Zulip’s current pricing
Pros to Zulip
The selling point to Zulip is that they are arguably the best at handling synchronous and asynchronous communication. Zulip carries a lot of features and integrations. They also have a nice design for the messaging itself. With its amazing email threading model, Zulip allows users to catch up on important notifications/conversations while muting the irrelevant ones.
Cons to Zulip
Functions and features aside, the UI design of the whole platform is not desirable. True, the messaging is visually appealing, but the overall design leaves the feeling of a “senior-citizen” aesthetic. Personally, the brand colors remind me of my grandmother’s bathroom who had the same color scheme.
Conclusion
These are what we believe are the latest 2020 groundbreaking team chat tools, however, this list barely scratches the surface. There are many amazing team chat tools out there. We look forward to seeing our future competition and hope that each team chat tool rises to the challenge.
We use AirSend as our digital workspace for our marketing team. Even though AirSend is our product, we sincerely believe that AirSend can help your team too. Give us a try and let us know what you think!
AirSend is a versatile digital workspace to share files, send messages, and complete tasks. See how AirSend can help you.
Image of Workchats
Recently, there has been an emphasis on Slack alternatives for team communication. The reason is that team chats, like Slack, forget that “less is more.”
Slack is known for its top-notch functionality and versatility, however, with a continuous path of innovation, Slack can seem a bit overwhelming. Aside from the neverending features of Slack, the monthly cost to have an account also builds up. For Slack Standard, it is $6.67 monthly, and for the Plus version, it is $12.50 monthly. Further, Slack only offers third party file storage and task management. With AirSend, we have a built-in file-storage and task management. To see how AirSend is an alternative to Slack, read our blog post.
We realized that Slack is not for everyone. And because of this, we realized that there is a market for team chats that are more affordable, simple, easy-to-use, and versatile. That is why we made AirSend.
AirSend is a perfect team chat app that not only allows you to have seamless conversations, but also to share/organize files, track your to-do’s, and keep notes.
Capture of AirSend
Though we like to think we are the best, we also take the time to acknowledge our competitors who also deliver. Here is a list of our seven best alternatives to Slack:
AirSend
Discord
Microsoft Teams
Mattermost
Zulip
Riot.im
Rocket.Chat
In this blog post, we will discuss specific features and functions, pricing tiers, and the pros and cons of each platform. Without further ado, let’s dive into the seven best alternatives to Slack.
Of course, AirSend is at the top of the list. It would be weird if we didn’t believe that our product was the best alternative to Slack.
One of the selling points to AirSend is its seamless communication. This feature is designed to make your life easier. We do that by allowing you to switch from channel to channel without ever having to leave your current tab.
Having seamless conversations also allows you and your clients to continuously stay in the loop. Whereas with Slack, you need to have an account for each team you are in, AirSend is an open network. In other words, AirSend requires only one sign-up. You can now also sign up with your Google account.
Pros to AirSend
As said before, AirSend allows for easy seamless communication. Compared to Slack which only allows 10,000 of your team’s most recent messages, AirSend’s message history is unlimited.
AirSend combines the attributes of our competitors with a clean and simple UI design. We replace Slack, Microsoft Teams, GDrive, Todoist, and Trello all together. Best of all, if you sign up now, you can get AirSend Pro free for one year!
Cons to AirSend
AirSend is still in its beta stages. Because AirSend is still in development, there will be consistent updates and added features to the product.
Discord is a great platform that enables all-in-one voice and text chat. Slack and Discord carry almost the same UI design, so if you are looking for a “busy” design, Discord may be a good option for you. Further, the selling point to Discord is that they give you full control over your server.
Pricing
Another benefit is that Discord is free.
There is also a Discord Nitro in which you get more customizations than you would with the free version.
Customizations can range from animated emojis, and creating a unique tag for your profile. Annually, Discord Nitro is $99.99. Monthly it is $9.99.
Finally, there is Discord Nitro Classic, which has everything the Nitro plan has, except for a Server Boost. Annually it is $49.99, and monthly it is $4.99.
Pricing aside, the great thing with Discord is that it does not carry the overwhelming functionalities of Slack.
Capture of Discord Nitro
Pros to Discord
Like AirSend, users with Discord can seamlessly switch between private and public channels. Discord also does not offer integration with apps you might use for work.
But if your team only uses text, voice, or video conferencing, you should be fine. Lastly, Discord is the only chat in this list that offers push-to-talk features, along with an instant invite link.
Cons to Discord
Discord is great for team communication. Additionally, with a busy UI design, you feel like you are doing more with less functionality. However, it is important to remember that Discord is specifically meant for gamers. So, the UI will be more complex than what the average business chat needs.
Lastly, like Slack, the noise-to-signal ratio is extremely high with Discord. Because of this, distractions can happen and important information can get buried among the chatter.
One of the biggest selling points to Microsoft Teams is the smooth integration of Office 365. This becomes useful if you depend on Office 365 for your daily tasks. Furthermore, Microsoft Teams is great for keeping all your team’s chats, meetings, files, and other apps together in one place.
Pricing
When it comes down to pricing, Microsoft Teams can be a little daunting. The free version of Teams allows chat and collaborations. However, under the free plan, there are partially included essentials, such as:
meetings and calls
productivity apps and services
security and compliance.
Limited storage: 2GB per user and a total of 10 GB is shared among your team.
There is also a $5 monthly plan that is not much different from the free version, except an increase in storage (1 TB per user). Finally, there is the $12.50 monthly plan. This plan includes everything.
Pros to Microsoft Teams
As said before the great thing with Teams is that it allows for smooth integration of Office 365. The UI is very similar to Slack and they even offer the same functions and capabilities.
Users have the capability to edit, delete, and pin messages. Users can also create a new thread and share files, provided it fits with the limited storage.
Cons to Microsoft Teams
There is plenty of room for Microsoft Teams to grow. After thorough research of use cases and reviews, there are many aspects where Microsoft Teams is still lacking. Some use cases have mentioned that setting up the app was not an easy task.
Additionally, users must set up a unique email for each user in their team. Microsoft Teams also does not support drag and drop functions.
Lastly, if you are wanting to look for a team chat platform with integrations, Slack would be the choice. But if integrations do not matter, and you use Office 365 daily, Microsoft Teams is the go-to choice.
Mattermost is a wonderful communication tool to have that is specifically designed for having a private cloud and an opened-sourced channel.
Like Slack, Mattermost targets large enterprises. However, unlike Slack, Mattermost implements self-hosting capabilities. With self-hosting capabilities, users can have greater control over privacy and security.
Pricing
Luckily, before fully committing to Mattermost, there is a 30-day free trial. With the E10 edition (basic) and a minimum of 10 users, the price is $39 per user. Annually making it $390.
There is also an E20 edition, which is an advanced enterprise edition that roughly charges $8.50 monthly.
Because the E20 edition is made for larger corporations, you must get a quote from Mattermost before continuing to pay. To see what each plan offers, click here.
Pros to Mattermost
Though MatterMost is more expensive than Slack, Mattermost offers premium control over privacy and security.
Additionally, you can run the messaging platform behind your organization’s firewall.
The way we see it, Mattermost is a great alternative to Slack if your organization is large enough to have or require self-hosted team messaging.
Cons to Mattermost
Now, with all the positives said, I am sure you are wondering why Mattermost is not above Microsoft Teams. Well, for the specific cons we are about to mention, Microsoft Teams has.
Mattermost lacks video and audio conferencing, and users cannot share screens. With Mattermost’s almost overwhelming design, the UX becomes difficult to maneuver. After researching some alternatives Mattermost had to these cons, we believe that aside from AirSend’s built-in wiki capability, Microsoft Teams would be the better choice.
With team chat software there should be an emphasis on various mediums of communications. These mediums should offer text, audio, and video, or a greater alternative should one of these mediums be absent.
The selling point: Hangouts Chat offers virtual rooms that can hold up to 8,000 people. Further, like Slack, users can create threaded conversations, and bots that can integrate with G Suite and other third-party platforms.
Hangouts Chat is much like Microsoft Teams in that Hangouts Chat is deeply integrated with the G Suite Package. The perks to this are being able to view files directly from Drive and Docs directly in conversations.
Pricing
Because Hangouts Chat and Meet are integrated with GSuite, you have to pay for the GSuite Plans.
The basic plan is $6 monthly, per user, with the main limitation of 30 GB to your Google Drive.
The next plan is Business, which is $12 monthly, per user and an unlimited Google Drive Space.
Finally, there is the Enterprise plan, which is $25 monthly, per user.
Pros to Hangouts Chat and Meet
Like Slack, Hangouts Chat offers dedicated space for group conversations. Unlike Slack, each room in Hangouts Chat is private by default. This means that you have control over who you can invite to your room.
There is also the smart reply feature like that of what you see in your Gmail. The biggest pro, however, is that Hangouts Chat is deeply integrated with GSuite.
There is also an app called Hangouts Meet. This app is made for video calls. The Hangout Meet offers a bot that integrates directly with your Google Calendar to schedule meetings for you.
Cons to Hangouts Chat and Meet
Though Hangouts Chat supports integrations, they do not support the same amount of integrations that Slack has. Several users fear that Google will shut down apps that are often used. Due to this fear, users lack the assurance or trust in Google.
Furthermore, there are no notification settings specific to rooms. Though Hangouts Chat and Meet do not offer all the integrations that Slack has to offer, Hangouts Chat is easier to use. Lastly, Hangouts Chat and Meet are two separate apps, so when trying to find an all-in-one workspace, Hangouts Chat and Meet may not be suitable.
If you have GSuite, Hangouts Chat and Meet are perfect to use.
The selling point for Riot.im is that they are an open-source, interoperable collaboration app. Don’t panic! There is nothing complicated about this. Matter of fact, this just means that Riot.im has the capability to build bridges with users who use other team chat apps. They are currently running on Web, iOS, and Android.
Pricing
IT’S FREE! Riot.im is currently free, with future plans to have paid, hosted accounts.
Pros to Riot.im
The major pro is that Riot.im can connect to other chat teams, such as Slack, Gitter, IRC, Twitter, and SMS. The other positive is that Riot.im gives you the option to host your own open-source servers
Cons to Riot.im
Riot.im lacks other tools needed to make a successful team chat software. While the feature of building bridges to other team chat software is certainly a game-changer, Riot.im lacks the ability to have integrated task management and built-in notes.
In terms of integrations and features, Slack has more to offer.
However, if you are looking for something simple and clean, then Riot.im is worth a shot.
Rocket.Chat is an open-source team chat software. With a similar Slack UI design, Rocket.Chat carries seamless conversations, along with a full range of customization. They also carry the similar function of making public and private channels.
Pricing
Rocket.Chat has umbrella pricing. What we mean by this is that they carry two major plans, and underneath those plans are the subscribed plans.
The first plan we will go over is the Self-Managed plan, in which you can host your own channels.
Self-Managed Plan
Community Version is Free
Pro Plan- $30, per user, annually; $3 per user, monthly
Enterprise Plan: Quote
The next major plan is the SaaS plan, which is a cloud offering hosted by Rocket.Chat
SaaS Plan
Bronze Plan: $20 per user, annually; $2 per user, monthly
Silver Plan: $40 per user, annually; $4 per user, monthly
Gold Plan: Quote
Each plan requires a minimum of 10 users
Pros to Rocket.Chat
One of the cool things with Rocket.Chat is that you can easily migrate and export files.
There is also real-time automatic translation, end-to-end encryption, LiveChat, and endless customization.
Cons to Rocket.Chat
Though having an open server is great, the maintenance to one is not that easy. Having your own open server means you also have to manage your own backups, security, and knowing how to fix things in case of failure. And if you’re not that tech-savvy, Rocket.Chat may not be a good fit for you.
But there is no need to worry! If Rocket.Chat is not a good tool for you, there is six other alternative team chat software that would certainly able to adhere to your needs.
Results
Our goal with AirSend is to do less with more. Our mission is to be the #1 team chat tool.
We want to deliver a team chat platform that allows you to take care of all your business needs in one place. A platform that delivers maximum productivity.
We use AirSend as our digital workspace for our marketing team. Even though AirSend is our product, we sincerely believe that AirSend can help your team too. Give us a try and let us know what you think!
AirSend is a versatile digital workspace to share files, send messages, and complete tasks. See how AirSend can help you.
Email is the John Wick of communication tools. No matter how many new apps—chat, forums, Slack, IM, Microsoft Teams—come along to kill it, email always survives. In fact, email use in the office went up in 2019, as workers spent more than three hours a day inside their inboxes.
Email persists despite having the worst qualities for office collaboration. It’s closed, meaning new team members don’t see old email discussions, and it’s ephemeral. Think about it: How many times a day do you search your inbox? Those conversations get lost in the stream of daily communications just as easily as a hallway conversation. Ninety-nine percent of the information there won’t be useful unless you track it somewhere else.
Given that email is a waste of time and doesn’t work well as a collaborative medium, it makes sense to add other tools into the company repertoire. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Your mix of tools will vary based on factors like the size of your team, the demands of your industry and whether your organization is mostly local or remote.
Communication vs. Knowledge-Sharing
But there are approaches you can take to determine the right tools for your business. First, you should recognize that there’s a significant difference in communication software and knowledge-sharing software. Just as using a screwdriver as a hammer is a recipe for a trip to the ER, using email to manage a project is equally doomed to fail.
It’s almost impossible to track tasks and to-do lists in an email string and just as hard to figure out when items should begin and end. Email is also a distracting medium, so if you’re focusing on managing a project, you’ll inevitably be distracted by the pinging of your inbox.
Synchronous vs. Asynchronous
It’s also vital that everyone has the same expectations on how these tools work. For communications, there’s synchronous and asynchronous. A conversation (or even an online chat) is synchronous and calls for real-time responses. Emails and discussion forums are asynchronous and don’t require immediate answers.
Tackling synchronous work with email results in missed communications. You’re responding while the other person is reading or responding, and messages pass each other like ships in the night.
Don’t Dismiss Maintenance
When it comes to knowledge-sharing products like wikis, file repositories or project management software, maintenance is everything. Without a vigilant organizing hand, information can overwhelm the best of these tools. And beyond a certain point, finding relevant information becomes a bigger drain than the effort to organize it. Just as there can be too little written information, there also can be too much information. Both are dysfunctional for companies.
As good as email search tools are, they’re never quite up to the task of finding specific pieces of information in a sea of documents. There’s a small chance you’ll recall the correct phrase that leads to the nugget of data you had in mind, but it’s more likely that you’ll turn up a pile of unnecessary messages.
Everyone Must Join In
Finally, these tools only work when everyone on the team uses them. It’s also critical that colleagues understand when to use each piece of software. It doesn’t happen automatically; it has to be intentional.
If you don’t get everyone on board with your new tools, they’ll default back to their trusted email system, and your original problems won’t be solved.
There’s going to be some trial and error before you find your right match. Don’t try to force-fit tools into your business. Find what works for your style and use it.
As a side note, here are
the tools we use every day: AirSend for chat/file sharing, Zoom for
audio/video calls, Bookstack for
wikis, Discourse for discussion forums, Trello for task management and YouTrack for bug tracking.
In the last decade, team chats have become more popular in the workplace. Employees working remotely and teleworking are influencing this change. As this form of communication becomes more common in the workplace, emphasis on chat etiquette is needed.
Chat etiquettes are important for maintaining professionalism while using this technology.
We asked our employees what their top 10 chat etiquettes are.
Use Appropriate Emojis
Emojis have been the on-going trend for efficient messaging. However, due to the efficiency of emojis, we often tend to overuse them. For instance, sending five smiley faces with two thumbs up is not needed.
Further, be conscious of the emojis you send. Often times, people don’t quite understand the meaning you are trying to say with an emoji, so keeping it simple will ease the confusion.
Chat Etiquette #1:Don’t overuse and be conscious.
Be Polite
With companies that are continuously growing, it is always good to be aware of diversity. If you have to ask yourself whether sending a text/image is appropriate, it most likely isn’t.
Chat Etiquette #2:Be aware of diversity.
Tag Specific People
Much like other platforms, such as Slack, Facebook Groups, or Discord, the noise to signal is extremely high. To eliminate this issue, tag only the people necessary. Doing so will eliminate the hundreds of sitting notifications.
Further, use the tagging option judiciously and sparingly. The purpose of tagging someone is to not only decrease the noise-to-signal but to also symbolize notified importance.
Having a tagged one-on-one conversation in a channel with a multitude of people is not a notified importance. Rather, this just increases the noise-to-signal. To have deeper conversations, create a separate private channel, where you discuss freely.
Chat Etiquette #3:Use tags for notified importance and use them judiciously.
Quote Messages
Maintaining the context of a conversation is easier with quotes. Though tagging is efficient, tagging doesn’t give the context of a message, often making it confusing as to what context is for who.
Chat Etiquette #4:Maintain context with quotes.
Use Appropriate Names
Use appropriate names when making a channel. Having a channel named #Sqaud would not be professional. As much as we love to customize our channels, remember that professionalism is key to being in a business/job setting.
Chat Etiquette #5:Appropiate names.
Avoid Politics and Religion
Avoid controversial topics. Avoiding offensive topics shows mindfulness, respect, and cooperation. Working together is a high priority. Carrying offensive conversations disrupt workflow, relationships, and professionalism.
Chat Etiquette #6:Avoid controversial topics.
Post in Relevant Channels
Posting in relevant channels maintains communication traffic. Posting in relevant channels also maintains a consistent workflow.
Creating private channels to have deep and meaningful conversations. Posting in relevant channels decreases the noise-to-signal ratio.
Chat Etiquette #7:Post in relevant channels to maintain communication traffic.
Consider Using Video or Audio Calls for Deeper Discussion
Minimize extensive conversations with voice or video calls.
Having video or audio calls will increase ideas, innovation, and in the long run, productivity. With productivity comes efficiency. Consolidating messages = efficiency.
Chat Etiquette #8:Minimize extensive conversations with voice or video calls.
Consolidate Messages
Short and straight-to-the-point messages are key to minimizing communication traffic. Sending paragraphs of messages takes time away from tasks that require greater priority.
Increase efficiency by getting the point across in as few words as possible. There is no need to send an odyssey of a message.
Chat Etiquette #9:Consolidate messages leads to efficient communication.
Use Well-Known Acronyms
According to research, sending acronyms is the number one way to efficient messaging. For example, using acronyms, such as “ttyl,” or “brb,” are acceptable.
If someone has to search the acronym it doesn’t work. Use acronyms that are well-known. Lastly, remember to be appropriate. For example, saying “lmao” most likely wouldn’t be wise.
Chat Etiquette #10:Acronyms = efficiency.
Summation
In summation, team chats are slowly becoming the preferred mode of communication. With team chats, emphasis on chat etiquette is needed.
Chat etiquettes are a crucial element in maintaining professionalism, efficiency, and workflow productivity.
AirSend helps businesses and professionals create a versatile digital workspace to share files, send messages, and complete tasks. See how AirSend can help you.
Do you ever wish to communicate with like-minded people who have synonymous interests, hobbies, theories, or ideas?? Do you also wish to have conversations in which you can opt-in a private only intimate setting? We have your solution. AirSend. In today’s blog post, we will give you the step-by-step process of how to create a secure channel to have the best conversations of your life.
How to Create a Community
We believe communication should be the focal point between every relationship built. To do so we needed to create a platform that allows for an intimate setting. One, where unlike others, you can solely chat with others on the specified interest. In the video below we present a how-to scenario on how to create a Community.
With so many people in a group, the noise-to-signal ratio is high. Put another way, the hundreds of notifications (noise) you receive from Facebook Groups are usually irrelevant messages that do not pertain to you.
With AirSend it is the opposite. Anything you send in the channel is relevant to what you want it to be. AirSend is perfect for creating deep and meaningful conversations in a close-knit community. A community that is involved in their interest/hobbies, and who wish to spread their passion to other like-minded individuals.
Through tight security measures, you have the pleasure of sending invites to those you want in your community. Additionally, you can customize your built-in wiki, assign actions, and assign files. In other words, AirSend is a platform that builds communities through invite-only. Whereas with Facebook Groups or Discord, for example, there are thousands of people who join groups.
Our Purpose
We want our communities to feel inspired when they use AirSend. Compared to Discord and Facebook Groups, where they too have invite-only, they also have hundreds of members in their specified community. How is one supposed to feel a part of their community when there are endless threads of conversations happening, and you aren’t sure where to jump in??
AirSend relieves this pressure, by allowing you to control the channel the way you want to, and to have the perfect conversation with a few other people. We want you to have innovation. We wish for you to feel the excitement of having an amazing conversation through a technological medium.
Much like Discord and Facebook Groups, AirSend strives to build communities. BUT the difference that sets us apart is innovation. AirSend strives to create close-knit communities. This allows for ease of communication and 24-hour exchanges of ideas, theories, comments, interests, likes and dislikes, everything.
The Essence of AirSend
We believe that having a great conversation should include efficient and, if possible, limited context switching. In other words, creating a micro-networking environment.
What is micro-networking you might ask? Well, as the name implies, micro-networking involves networking in a small secure environment through one platform. I.e. Micro. We are the first-ever platform to deliver innovation through micro-networking.
With a clean UI design, micro-networking has never been clearer. Unlike Discord where the visuality is overwhelming, AirSend has a clear cut design, made for accessible and visually appealing clicking. With AirSend you can feel comfortable having the conversations you love.
AirSend allows you to customize your built-in community using our wiki. Further, we give you the efficiency of context switching and uploading and sharing files. Best of all there are several designated locations to see your files uploaded. In your specified channel, and in your profile center where you can see ALL the files from your various communities.
We strive for our clients to feel inspired to innovate when they converse with their community. Building your own micro-network is the new medium to innovate. AirSend is the new medium.
AirSend helps with community building by creating a versatile digital workspace to share files, send messages, and complete tasks. See how AirSend can help you.
Communication has developed, formed, and transformed our society for centuries. Without the development of communication, we most likely wouldn’t be where we are today.
In today’s blog post we are going to discuss the tendrils of communication.
Communication
Communication is when the receiver conveys or shares the ideas and feelings behind the message.
Often, messages can have different interpretations depending on how they are perceived. This leads to different feelings than the intended meaning of the message. Conversations come from the idea of interpretation and the intended meaning of messages. This leads to four categories of communication.
Categories of Communication
There are four main types of communication:
Verbal
Non-Verbal
Written
Visualizations.
Verbal Communication
Verbal communication is the transfer of information through speaking or sign language. Additionally, this form is seen in face-to-face conversations, video conferences, and phone calls. Verbal communication is the most common type of communication because it is the most efficient.
Non-Verbal Communication
Non-verbal is the use of body language, gestures, and facial expressions to convey information to others. This category is most helpful when trying to understand others’ thoughts and feelings.
Written Communication
Written communication is the act of writing, typing, or printing symbols to convey information. Note here that the difference between non-verbal and written is that non-verbal dives into body language to communicate.
Much like the Cuneiform script seen in the Sumerian city of Uruk. Common forms of written communication can be seen in the workplace.
Visual Communication
Visual communication is the act of using photographs, art, drawing, sketches, charts, and graphs to convey information. Visuals are often used to aid presentations and provide helpful context alongside written and verbal communication.
Further, categories of communication are used every day, and because they are the most common types, tendrils have sprouted. In other words, categories lead to the next advanced form. An advanced form in which we use the categories and transform them into types of communication.
Summation
In this blog post, we discussed the core of communication and what it means, which is the base level. Additionally, we discussed the categories which form the second tiers to communication. In the next part, we will discuss the types and styles of communication.
AirSend is a versatile digital workspace to share files, send messages, and complete tasks. See how AirSend can help you.
Do you want to learn how to effectively use your communication skills for your business? Click here to read our book corner blog on Verbal Judo.
Have conversations, share files, complete tasks, and get work done in one space.
