Corporate messenger is a tool with instant messaging, file transfer, group chat and other related functions for office work. Employees from different departments, premises and cities, joining the same group, instantly receive information and have the opportunity to quickly discuss it. The discussion recording can be exported or printed as a conference backup.
Corporate messenger features
Instant Messaging is one of the very first online collaboration tools. It still serves as the basis for many office services today. Almost every collaboration tool available on the market offers an instant messaging feature in addition to the features users are most familiar with: voice, video, or screen sharing.
However, for most instant messaging tools, the service is hosted through a publicInternet, which can lead to the potential loss or theft of sensitive data or information. Because of this risk, companies are looking for systems that can be hosted on their own private network and have the communications they need to run their business.
Unlike traditional communication methods such as email or phone call, chat is the advantage of corporate messenger:
- When a company is preparing to release a new project, the elements of which require close communication between departments and departments, he can perfectly cope with the tasks, instantly process all the necessary information.
- Eliminates time delay, no need to wait for a busy phone line to become free, no limit on size and type.
- Offers more features to make communication smarter and more convenient, such as using the snapshot feature, adding text and callouts to make everything clear.
- Unlike a free public mailer or chat, a corporate messenger will not allow employees to talk to friends, families during working hours.
- All user accounts or corporate mailer contact list will be controlled by the IT department. Everything that happened through the messenger will be recorded on the company's server. This ensures a secure and confidential instant messaging network within the office.
4 Reasons to Choose Corporate Communications
Office communications in today's business environments is becoming more important to improve production efficiency. Free messengers such as Yahoo, MSN or Skype are popular and help people communicate. You can talk with friends, share photos, make videos for families, and what's more, they are absolutely free. But there are some disadvantages of free messengers that may force users to abandon their use in an office environment.
Four reasons why a corporate LAN messenger might work better for daily office communications:
- Safety. Message encryption occurs in an enterprise instant messaging solution. Unlike a free messenger, it encrypts all data transmitted via the instant messaging network.
- Everything is under control. It is configured and launched within the company, IT departments have full control over all communication. The system offers many useful features to fit the needs of the company.
- Improve work efficiency. You can set your presence status, send a message to a group, share a screenshot, receive an alert when there is a new incoming message. A sent message will not show its contents unless the recipient logs in with their corporate communication password.
- Reliable technical support. The corporate messenger for the local network does not have unresolvable failure problems, as the software manufacturer offers fast support and troubleshooting assistanceproblems.
In general, the messenger is safe and stable for business communication. Therefore, the user can easily choose the appropriate one to replace emails, phone calls and free messengers for the office.
Required equipment for SMS service
Some of the most common questions for users or customers who need corporate email: which corporate messenger to choose and the tasks it can perform, or what is the difference between traditional Exchange service and Office 365? The answer to these questions is quite simple and depends on the needs. A small office will probably not have the same communication needs as a large company or telecom operator looking to provide an email service to their customers.
Compulsory Enterprise Messaging Bundle:
- Data hosting. Nowadays, the ability to guarantee the location of their data is becoming an important element for European companies. This is done to ensure responsible use of data and monitor the rules around the current security of the corporate messenger and user tasks.
- Availability of services. Another element to consider is the guarantee of the availability of the service offered by the provider.
- Technical support. You need to make sure that the provider performs personalized customer service. Many companies offer solutions for electronic communications andsecurity, but not all of them guarantee individual monitoring and scalability according to the needs of the firm.
7 major development trends for 2018
As computerization continues to grow, interaction with partners and customers is becoming an increasingly important factor for companies. While contributing greatly to the success of these companies, communication procedures should become more efficient. Global messaging providers have identified seven trends whose impact will be critical this year for corporate messenger (response and description):
- The workplace of the future. The modern office is slowly moving towards the cloud. To meet the growing demand for collaboration and mobility, many companies are moving to cloud solutions such as Microsoft Office 365.
- Related companies. In the future, the success of a society will largely depend on its ability to abandon outdated methods. The development of intragroup ecosystems will develop. Companies prefer to constantly interact with their partners and customers, exchange information on different platforms and make joint decisions. By using enterprise messaging services, companies can significantly improve their communication procedures.
- Industry 4.0 and the Internet (IoT) is now an integral part of the business supply chain for the best corporate messenger. By 2020, about 25 billion devices will be connected via the Internet. To providefor reliable and automated interaction with each other, the various standards must be securely linked internationally.
- Strengthening security requirements. As IoT devices become more interconnected, the potential for malicious attacks increases. As a result, network devices must be able to reliably identify themselves and communicate securely with each other.
- Acceleration and innovation. During the digital transition, companies must meet customer expectations to stay one step ahead of the competition. Innovative cloud communications solutions seamlessly integrate with existing IT infrastructures and easily adapt to new emerging requirements.
- Multichannel communication. With the rise of mobility, the time, place, and way in which consumers buy a product are variable. In order not to miss the “magic moment” when a customer actually decides to purchase a product, companies must be able to jump in at any stage of the selection process, targeting their customers with relevant offers available anywhere, anytime.
- Full IP. In the coming years, many telecommunications service providers in Europe will move to a fully IP-based data transmission system, the development of this type of corporate messenger is nearing completion. Therefore, companies will have to gradually address the challenges associated with this migration.
Five enterprise messaging systems
Consider instant messaging systems thatintended for use in a private corporate network. These systems tend to be client-server based, have different feature sets and are rated as "all in one" by the client. Five applications:
- BigAnt is a basic instant messaging system with a few extra niceties. Apart from the main chat function, it also offers offline chat, group chat, voice and video chats. Accounts can be configured manually or imported from Active Directory for ease of setup. The BigAnt standard costs $299 for the server and $15.90 for each client license.
- Messenger for corporate network Bopup. It has the same features as BigAnt but focuses on voice and video. It is capable of linking to newsletters, Active Directory import, file transfer and distribution, and claims that the client software works well with Citrix and Terminal Server environments. Again, has message archiving available for all regulatory purposes. Bopup costs $190 (RUB 12,900) for the server and $12.90 (RUB 12,900) for each concurrent connection, with the client's price reduced in certain amounts.
- DBabble is one of the smallest software feature sets on this list, and is also fine-tuned to fit your business needs. System administrators can change almost every piece of text on the web or Windows client and insert images in certain places, such as logos and even advertisements. DBabble has the abilitycreate groups for IT support, where a user is randomly assigned to an available support person for one-on-one communication. The price for each server is $485 (33 thousand rubles).
- Openfire, along with its Spark client, is the only free and open source system on this list. It also has a small set of core features - text chat only, but there are many plugins to extend the functionality, including voice and video. Openfire is the only server software on this list that does not run as a system service on Windows, it must run as an application.
- Winpopup LAN Messenger is the only choice on this list where server software is optional. Because of this simplicity, it does not have an extended feature set. It is limited to group and individual chat. Using Winpopup LAN Messenger is free for three users and then costs $14.95 (1000 RUB).
Decentralized Jabber Network
Corporate messenger Jabber is another instant messaging system. The Jabber/XMPP network is decentralized, which means there is no single server provider for it. Anyone can install a Jabber server using free software. All these servers communicate with each other using the XMPP standard. Jabber became the original form of the communication protocol now called XMPP, Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol. It was invented by Jeremy Miller in the late 1990s when it wasabout real-time communication in the format "My contacts are online right now" and server-side contact list maintenance.
The term "extensible" implies that there are many official extensions to XMPP called XMPP Extension Protocols (XEPs). Some of these extensions are the reason why Jabber is in demand again. They add new features to transform XMPP into a more modern messaging system. These features have been implemented in XMPP with the following directions:
- Message Carbons (XEP-0280) allows the server to send SMS to all devices in the account.
- SMS archive management is a database where all messages are stored so that offline devices can come and collect them later.
- Flow control resumes session for devices after internet failure.
- Client status indication informs the server whether users are actively using the application or whether it is running in the background. To save battery life, the server will not send unnecessary information to devices.
- Push Notifications (XEP-0357) allows the XMPP server to wake up mobile devices to force them to read new messages.
Live Chat
Messenger is a cross-platform, mobile-enabled enterprise chat messenger that bears all the risk of using instant messaging onworkplace. Program Features:
- Secure instant messaging with Micro Focus eDirectory TM user authentication and SSL message encryption.
- A contact list that displays user information based on the info available in eDirectory Micro Focus.
- Fully secure apps for iOS and Android mobile devices.
- Supports Windows, OS X and Linux platforms.
- User presence indicators showing when users are online, busy, idle, or have user status in GroupWise and Micro Focus Vibe.
- Lock presence indicator.
- Multi-user conversations.
- Archive for corporate search.
- Broadcasts.
- Personal story.
- Chats.
Slack service app
Since the introduction of the popular corporate messenger Slack, business messaging apps have quickly become the go-to tool for daily communication across all the groups that bring podcasts together across the company. In fact, this is one place where you can communicate with colleagues, both in real time and asynchronously. Collaborations can be individual, invited only, or whoever in the organization decides to join. Used wisely, these services can increase productivity, improve teamwork, and even help build corporate culture. Slack integrates with dozens of other tools, so itscan be used by third party developers. If this is not enough, you can use another application.
Multifunctional application - secure corporate messenger Glip by RingCentral. It offers several tools that Slack doesn't have. For example, Glip has document co-authoring, a team calendar, and task management tools. Glip also has built-in image and PDF markup tools, which is a real bonus for teams that frequently discuss visual material. If your team is already using RingCentral Office VoIP for $7.99 at RingCentral, there is no additional charge for Glip.
WhatsApp for small businesses
WhatsApp has released a special application of the popular Russian corporate messenger for use by small businesses to communicate with customers. WhatsApp Business adds key features in the form of a business profile, for mail, shopping websites, smart messaging tools like greetings, and more. For those who use a business number and personal WhatsApp, Business and Messenger are installed on the same device, while they can be registered with different numbers.
Business is also compatible with the web browser client. Program Features:
- Function of quick replies with an image.
- WhatsApp sessions of companies that have verified their account phone number are in line with their business and are operational, instantly after receiving the confirmation badge inprofile.
- It is free and available for any OS, including Android users.
WhatsApp Business is currently in use in Russia, the EU, Mexico, the UK and the US, with a global rollout to the rest of the world in the future.
Linux Migration: Enterprise Collaboration
Corporate messenger Linux completes the review series on corporate collaboration and communication. The vast majority of organizations rely on Microsoft technologies (Exchange, Office, etc.), so using Linux in these environments can be a little tricky depending on the level of management challenge.
If an employer has chosen the Office 365 communications environment and related services, and professionals often need to hold meetings and calls, then using Linux as the main desktop OS will probably only be possible in conjunction with a Windows virtual machine that has messaging applications. They put instant messaging, texting, private forums, video calls and sometimes even screen sharing into one dedicated collaboration app. If the employer also uses some other meeting technology, then Linux can be used as the primary desktop OS.
Business leaders must evaluate their choices based on specific needs and make the right decision for any OS, be it Windows, OS X or Linux.
