Collaborative tools: Setting up instant messaging in the company to be efficient

What’s the status on the instant messaging? It’s not really an invention, but rather a link that has been made between consumer messaging applications that already knew millions of users and the corporate world! Indeed, instant messaging has arrived in our work tools to make our lives easier!

👉 Your collaborative tools? 

But what are the real benefits of these instant messengers and how can you use them properly so that they don’t become a nuisance to your work? What is instant messaging? What are the most commonly used instant messaging tools? What are the best messaging applications? What are the benefits of instant messaging tools in the workplace?

We tell you everything!

What is instant messaging?

It is no longer possible to ignore instant messaging tools in today’s business world! Well known by the general public, this tool is becoming more and more an indispensable tool in companies, to better communicate internally. The cause? A real saturation in front of emails! Indeed, emails, more and more numerous, become totally ineffective (long response time, difficulty to communicate with several people…). Conversely, having a meeting to find a small solution to a small problem with several people was also becoming too time-consuming. So, why continue to saturate when the solution already existed in our personal life with applications like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger?

Instant messaging has therefore emerged as a real alternative to email, SMS and phone calls. Instant messaging allows you to exchange not only messages, but also photos, videos and documents, all in a very fast way. You can share all this with a collaborator, like a discussion, but also with groups gathered around a particular theme or a common project or with a customer, a supplier or a partner that you can invite!

In short, send what you want, to whomever you want, in an instant!

Online instant messaging tools, how does it work?

This is the first advantage of online messaging tools! They are very simple and very intuitive since they are inspired by tools we use everyday like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger! You can talk with just one of your collaborator or take part in a group conversation!

You have a profile with everything it usually includes, in a very classic way (profile picture, small description, nickname, mood, status…).

The data you exchange with your employees is centralized and secure!

There are very often many integrations with your existing tools (agenda, task manager, your corporate social network, your document management…) and this tool is very often usable on a computer, but also on a tablet or on a phone which makes you very mobile! )

Why use a company chat room? What are the main advantages?

• Chat directly and in real time with multi-site teams, colleagues on the move or teleworking, in short you stay connected with the rest of your team wherever you are!
• Keep track of your conversations.
• Significantly reduce the number of emails sent and received, at least internally!
• Facilitate informal conversations: no signing, or pompous polite phrases Go to the essentials, without fuss!
• You can have conversations organized by project or by team, etc…
• You can also communicate directly with your customers, suppliers or partners on a specific project.
• Create real communities within departments, facilitating work in cross-cutting projects.
• Add some fun and lightness to your conversations!

What are the main disadvantages of instant messaging?

• Too many conversations kill the conversation and sometimes having many contacts can be counterproductive.
• It is necessary to pay attention to the way in which your data is secured!
• Sometimes the cat is still abandoned for the use of email…
• Notification, fast response time imposed, stress, loss of concentration… Used incorrectly, instant messaging tools can become complicated to manage!

What are the main features of Enterprise Instant Messaging?

Most of the time, instant messaging tools integrate all the functionalities already present in chat tools used outside of professional life:

• Sending text messages (with emoticons, GIFs, etc.), audio or video messages
• Private chat with a single recipient or multiple recipients within a group
• Sharing photos, videos, files (Word, PDF, Excel, etc.) very simply
• Quick reaction to a message with an emoji, an emotion
• Ability to conduct surveys
• Automatic notification on receipt of a message and management of notifications
• Muting a conversation
• Different statuses: online, busy, offline, etc…
• Telephone and/or video calls

Some additional features complement the needs of professionals and are not always present in everyday applications such as :

• The creation of public, private and confidential groups
• Inviting customers, suppliers, etc., to participate in a conversation (without having access to all other internal conversations)
• Videoconferencing, screen sharing or screen capture, useful for meetings or collaborative work

How do I choose a corporate instant messenger?

Choosing, installing and using discussion software in your company is not always easy. For all your collaborators to use it, it must be ergonomic, functional, and adapt to all profiles!

👉 What is a corporate social network? 

These solutions are sometimes free (freeware) for small teams, but most of the time they are paid to have all the functionalities. It also happens that some publishers include in their offer a volume of data storage: it is therefore important to evaluate your needs in terms of storage and sharing!

👉 Learn more about electronic document management 

The (physical and electronic) protection of data must also be a selection criterion to which you should pay attention!

Some examples of free corporate instant messaging tools (at least for starters)!

🔹 Microsoft Teams

👉 Discover Microsoft Teams!

🔹 Slack

The best known for team communication, it combines all the features, simple, fast and efficient! The tool is customizable, it allows you to send text messages, voicemail messages and emails. Videos. It is multisupport (you can find it on your computer but also on your mobile or on your tablet) and it has a search tool powerful enough to find the information you are looking for!
👉 What is Slack for?

👉 What are the alternatives to Slack? 

🔹 HipChat

Very serious competitor of Slack, it also allows you to send text, voice and video messages, you can also share your screen in the blink of an eye thanks to the screen sharing function, you can easily find your old discussions and find it on all your media!

🔹 Fleep 

The special thing here is that you don’t need to be registered on the platform to chat! This chat tool is therefore ideal for chatting with people outside your company who will not have to create an account just for a one-time project!

🔹 TypeTalk 

Here again, the tool is a bit special because it works more like a social network with a timeline that highlights the topics most liked by team members and allows you to create and classify your discussions thanks to hashtags!

Many other messaging tools exist with varying subscription formats, some, such as Microsoft Teams, are integrated into a complete suite of office and enterprise tools.

In short!

There are many solutions for instant messaging tools! To make sure you can use your tools, discover Cocoom! Cocoom integrates with Teams and Slack to boost their uses!