Team communication apps; a lot of people might think such apps are a walkover or may be like Facebook messenger. Let us be honest with each other: team & communication apps are not walkovers but rather streamline communication across organizational teams and their team members regardless of location.
Communication among team members using text message, WhatsApp or another messenger is now an old fashioned thing.
Using WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger for communicating with employees is unprofessional and also, not worth it. Skype is elementary as more customized communication apps have started surfacing and improving the whole scenario.
Are communications amongst Organizational teams an overlooked topic?
Communication is overlooked. Numerous mainstream options in software and platforms for professional communication are not good. They result in messages being overlooked or missed out. Professional messages are lost in a stream of personal communication.
For team leads, it is hard to determine if employees really checked the messages. At times in conventional messaging platforms, context of messages is misunderstood. Then employees also forget reading important messages. This is why controlling internal communications becomes hard and next to impossible.
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Employee communication app – Factors companies should look for when looking for one?
There are some things companies should definitely be on the lookout for in a team and they are as under:
- Ease of use: Employees require an app which they can use easily, does not hang, and is not complicated. It should have a seamless and simple user interface(UI).
- It should have multiple communication modes: There are numerous kinds of workplace communication like instant messaging, video conferencing, employee alters and intranets. The more modes an app has, the more chances of easy collaboration.
- It must have group communication capabilities: Each organization deserves the best solution. It must help them organize conversations into groups, especially topic wise, event wise, project wise and the like.
- Robust admin features: Such group communication apps should give managers the chance to manage items easily, control data and remove users (plus their data) from the app if the need arises.
Team communication app – the best ones experts recommend
Organizations and professionals often find it difficult looking for the best team communication app. Afterwards, when it comes to organizational communication on a professional scale, personal recommendations do not work.
Thus, we will now examine expert recommended options which are as under:
Connecteam
Connecteam is the all in one team communication app and is top of the line. It gives professionals all the needed tools to easily and effectively be in communication with team members. It also helps keep everyone engaged and informed, and also helps leads find out who read the message.
Moreover, its development company offers great support in case of a breakdown and the app is budget friendly. The only problem is that it causes issues in software integration.
Here are some worthwhile features:
- Built in chat feature.
- Regular updates.
- Employee category.
- Vast base of knowledge.
- Helps conduct surveys and live polls.
The app’s price starts at USD$ 29 per month for the first 30 users only. A free trial for 14 days and free plans are available too.
Troop Messenger
Troop Messenger brings the team together for collaboration and interactions through a unified interface. It allows screen sharing and one on one conversations, voice and video calls, audio messaging, group conversations, and a desktop version of the app too.
The app allows employees to share files, filter content and even bookmark files & messages they need. Moreover, it also facilitates intra-corporate and government level communications thanks to its storage capacity and robust security features.
Other features include a company directory, file sharing and push notifications. However, it is quite an expensive app. Pricing starts at USD$ 75 a month for the first 30 users. Free trial for up to a month is available. However, it is best to purchase the app’s paid version.
Chanty
Chanty is an AI based team communication app providing chat, audio and video calls, screen sharing and of course, pinned content features. It al;so provides low level project management capabilities. Messages are turned into tasks. The app is easy to use with an intuitive user interface (UI) making it user friendly.
The app integrates well with Dropbox, Google Drive, GitHub and Trello. As it keeps everything in one place, it helps in easy tracking of tasks, conversations, pinned messages and other content. Chanty is available for Android and iOS devices. It is also available for Windows, macOS and online too (as a web app).
Pricing started at USD$ three per each user a month. It does not offer a free plan for the long term and is suitable for teams having 10 members at maximum.
Slack
One of the best team communication apps, Slack is well known among most marketing and sales teams in numerous companies. High tech companies around the world are in love with it. An intuitive interface, robust integration capabilities and integration with more than 1500 apps makes it one of the best apps in this category. It even offers project management features.
There is a catch: Each employee must have their own email address to invite other employees for join group communications. No doubt it provides some of the best one on one and group chat features, individual and team audio calls, video conferencing and drag n drop file sharing.
Pricing starts at USD$ 7.25 each month per user. It does provide a long term free plan with 5GB of file storage.
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Google Meet
Google Meet was earlier called Google Hangouts. It began as an authentic team collaboration app. The app helps team members start and engage in various communication channels without much effort.
Google Meat offers direct and group messaging, Gorup conference calls in High Definition (HD), voice calls and screen sharing. Being part of the Google G suite, it offers a desktop extension on Google Chrome and supports many computing devices. Custom Administrative control options are available.
The only problem with Google Meet is that it is not a free software. Pricing starts at USD$ 12 per each user a month. Free trial of 14 days is available. A long term free plan is available to G-Suite users and account holders.
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is also a hot favorite. Apart from group chats, it helps employees carry out video conferences, video and audio calls and collaboration without constraint on location. It allows users to access, share and edit a wide array of MS office documents. The software is easy to use on mobile devices and computers. Screen sharing is also available.
Since it is also available for free, it also provides smooth communication quality. Only catch: Users require an activated Microsoft monthly subscription to avail and utilize its features. Pricing starts at USD$ 4 per each user a month. A long term free plan is also available.
Conclusion
The available options for team communication apps are wide and many. Yet, companies are picky (and need to be like that) because each option is not the same. The apps mentioned in the list are indeed one of a kind but also the best and also worth using.
The best options are paid options. The apps mentioned are quite good to use and should not be overlooked. This is the reason why companies should definitely give these apps a try. It will help them streamline organizational communication.
