5 Tools for Effective Communication in Your Organization

Gone are the days when a workplace was restricted to its physical location. Now, it doesn’t matter that an employee is at their home office, in another subsidiary’s location, or across the world for that matter, they can diligently work to achieve their business goals.

 As businesses become ever more globalized, contemporary workplaces emphasize a lot on the communication front. After all, without effective communication strategies and tools, remote teams would fall apart. 

Hence, the demand for sophisticated communication software has increased. According to a report by Global Market Insights, the collaboration software industry will surpass $8.5 billion by 2024. 

Moreover, the onset of the Coronavirus might as well irrevocably restructure the way business teams function as the need for social distancing arises. The collaboration software market evaluation may now just surpass estimates. 

We may see more and more communication tools pop up over time. If you require a stellar collaboration tool now, then this list may be of immense help in choosing the right one for your business.  

1. HipChat

The platform is great for popping a quick message to your teammates. Its quite simple in its interface and you can create multiple groups and communicate. HipChat allows you to share files and images, however, it’s not so ideal for sending large files. 

There’s two-way audio and video function along with the option for live audio/video conferencing and call sharing. You could make the most of @mentions, but the emoticons and bots still have room for improvement.  

The software also features 256-bit SSL encryption, private chats, Twitter posts, Instagram feeds real-time monitoring, and notification. 

It integrates well with Trello, Zendesk, SharePoint, Github, and Microsoft Office 365.

After a free trial period, you could choose from one of its two pricing plans: Hip Chat Basic and HipChat Plus. 

2. Monday.com

If you want to keep your project management endeavors simple, then you would love Monday.com’s attractive interface. The platform is full of great visuals and an uncomplicated structure when it comes to its customizable workflows and scheduling interface.  

The software permits comments, mentions, upload and attachment of files to cards on the task board. There is no video calling and screen-sharing feature, however, it does put a lot of emphasis into the open space with teams creating virtual spaces, where everyone on the team access live updates. 

Moreover, teams could check up on due dates, send messages, track time, build, and share files. Its integration with Slack is quite useful along with other apps such as Dropbox, Typeform, GitHub, Trello, Jira, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Gmail, and a lot more.

Monday.com comes in four pricing plans: Basic, Standard, Pro, and Enterprise. Prices differ as per the number of users with basic allowing 10 users.

3. Workplace

Facebook ensured that the entire world is connected via its platform. When it comes to connectivity for businesses, Facebook doesn’t lag behind and  has introduced its own communication software, known as the Workplace. 

The program entails well-organized team and project collaboration spaces updates from the entirety of your organization, live video chats for training sessions and announcements along with HD video conferencing, quick messaging features for one-on-on and groups, have a look at the organization charts when finding the right person and a lot more. 

Also, Workplace has unlimited storage for your files, photos, and videos. And only costs $3 per user every month.

The program supports integrations with myriad tools i.e. Google Drive and Dropbox, Envoy, Quip, Salesforce, Jira, and a number of scheduling apps including Google Calendar. 

4. Slenke

The platform with a visually appealing interface is quite efficacious in achieving all your time management, team communication, and task management goals.  

However, its communication aspect lacks the video and audio conferencing and screen-sharing feature, but it can be quickly resolved via integration with Zoom or Google Hangouts.

Its project management features will surpass your expectations. The Gantt timeline ensures the progress is visible from the beginning to the end. 

All the files, tasks, and projects are well-organized. The private chat option makes the use of any other software or email unnecessary, also, its encryption feature keeps all communication and file sharing secure.

However, Slenke doesn’t have a dedicated Mac desktop App and users tend to miss notifications when they are not working in the browser. In Windows, the problem gets resolved in PC’s desktop settings. 

Slenke allows integrations with scores of apps via Zapier, including Slack, Google Docs and Calendar, Trello, email services, Salesforce, Zoho, and GitHub.

The platform offers a free trial and its basic package costs $50/month and is perfect for small to medium-sized businesses. 

5. Flock

Last but not the least, the Flock app surpasses your ordinary messaging system with its stellar chat structure, which ensures unmitigated access to the entire organization via its team directory, and ensures communication across different groups and teams. 

The bookmarks, shared to-dos, anonymous polls, reminders, note sharing, conversation tags to highlight high priority info, and powerful search features streamline your team’s collaboration to the seventh heaven. Moreover, you can convert discussions into tasks, which is useful in project management endeavours. Bookmark manager can help you manage your bookmarks so you can have important pages saved for your meeting.  

Flock allows for video and audio calls, screen-sharing, private and group chats, and immediately extracts emails of all involved in the group convo, which lets you run a quick email across the team. All that on the cost of $4.5 for each user every month. 

The program supports integration with Airtable, Paperform, Asana, GitHub, Google Doc and Calendar, Slack, Trello, Office 365, and a dozen more apps. 

After All, is Said and Done

Another necessary tool to consider is reliable internet connectivity, upon whom these communication tools rely on. You may have purchased one of the best tools, but they may not work without an ultra-fast internet connection. 

While choosing your business internet provider, we recommend that you pay attention to the ISP’s customer service ratings apart from its connection speed and package features. It’s because a stellar service such as that of Spectrum Orlando Customer Service could spare you a lot of frustrations that are common in the telecom industry. 

As for the communication tools on the market, there are hundreds, if not thousands, considering the industry’s ginormous evaluation. We have highlighted a few, but we guarantee that they are one of the best.