Instant messaging is one of the most popular and fast-growing communication channels in the workplace. It is seen as the best replacement for emails as it allows messages to appear instantly, avoiding any formalities that are associated with group calls or emails. With around 269 billion emails sent every day, instant messaging apps play a key role in reducing email overload.
During the lockdown, instant messenger apps helped employees, who are scattered over geographies and time zones, to remain in constant contact with one another. Of late, instant messaging apps for PC have turned out to be indispensable tools for the remote workforce. According to a recent study, around 43% of employees are now using instant messaging at work.
There are a few downsides to this instant messaging as well. Often, instant messaging apps for business get siloed among various tools used within the organization. Though the main focus of these chat apps is providing a way for teams to chat, companies also use emails, shared documents, phone calls and to-dos. For example, your sales and marketing team may be using instant messaging along with their CRM, your development team might be using Asana or Trello, and your senior management might still be using emails only.
Unfortunately, using different apps for chats, emails, documents, to-dos and calls creates communication silos. Later, if you want to refer to a specific conversation or files, you will have to search in multiple places and remember all the information in memory to visualize the big picture. Another issue with instant messaging apps is you can get stuck in long and never-ending group chats that demand your attention 24/7. It puts pressure on you to be online & available all the time.
Why instant messaging is better than email
Back in the 70s, emails were ruling the business world as the most popular communication channel. According to Radicati, in 2020, the number of email users reached the 4 billion marks, which means that over 50% of the world’s population was using email. The latest reported number in 2022 is close to 4.26 billion. The predicted user growth rate is 3%, or around 100 million more each year for the next three years. So, in 2025, the number of email users worldwide should be approximately 4.6 billion. With the advent of instant messaging tools like AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, and MSN Messenger in the 90s, instant messaging emerged as a strong contender against emails. Today, instant messaging accounts for a total of more than 7 billion users.
Though both compete against each other for the top slot, they are distinctly different. While personal users prefer instant messaging, business users prefer email. Also, it has to be noted that instant messaging cannot survive on its own, as email is mandatory to sign up on any chat platform.
Email is easily accessible, and it is preferred for long-form communication that needs to be sent to multiple recipients and archived. But when it comes to the workplace, instant messaging has an edge despite the restriction that all the users have to be on the same platform. Instant messaging enables real-time conversations and advanced collaboration in the form of audio/video calls, screen sharing, call recording and playback etc.
Here are a few reasons that make instant messaging superior to emails
1. Instant messaging facilitates collaboration
When it comes to collaboration, emails will not be able to match instant messaging. Emails have several restrictions on file transfers and file size uploads.
Instant messaging is real-time and allows unlimited size file transfers as it focuses more on collaboration and teamwork. It supports tools like whiteboards and screen-sharing that will enable virtual brainstorming and visualization of goals, metrics etc.
2. Instant messaging saves time
Sending emails and waiting for responses is a frustrating and painful process. According to Adobe’s email usage study, the average American spends 209 minutes a day checking their work email. On the other hand, getting in touch with team members instantly increases the speed and efficiency of collaboration.
Instant messaging is a synchronous communication that elicits immediate responses from teammates working in various locations. It also works offline so that your teammates can think and respond at their own pace and avoid the compulsion to be online all the time.
3. Instant messaging reduces clutter
Emails can quickly clutter up your inboxes with so many inquiries, announcements, notifications, spam, social updates, newsletters, promotions, forwards, reply-alls etc. You may have nothing to do with these emails most of the time. If you have multiple email ids, the time you spend sorting the emails will double.
It is direct and concise. It plays a massive role in reducing the number of emails that are sent back and forth. Group chats can target a specific team or project, reducing the unnecessary reply-all and forwards. With effective group chat, you can experience a significant reduction in the number of emails cluttering up your inbox.
4. Instant messaging boosts productivity
People working on projects must collaborate closely, and email alone will not serve the purpose. With emails, team members will be spending most of their time waiting for responses rather than doing the actual work. Emails are more prone to spam, junk, and malware attacks, slowing down teamwork and hindering productivity.
It increases the communication speed between the team members. It allows team members to send and receive information in real-time, improving the response time and minimizing the waiting time.
With instant messaging, your teams will experience a high level of engagement and lower workflow disruptions, improving overall productivity. Many studies have shown that replacing emails with instant messaging leads to a 20-25% increase in productivity.
5. Instant messaging builds relationships
Emails are more formal and unsuitable for building close personal relationships which plays a vital role in the modern collaborative environment. The impersonal and standardized nature of emails doesn’t allow team members to demonstrate their real personalities.
Instant messaging is great for building camaraderie and relationships as it allows team members to make a personal rapport and get to know each other in real-time.
6. Instant messaging safeguards data and privacy
When it comes to data security and privacy, emails are more prone to attacks like malware, phishing, ransomware and other cyber threats. According to a report, 82% of organizations have faced email-based security threats.
In the case of internal messaging, since the stakeholders are primarily internal, there is less scope for their software to get attacked or hacked by outsiders. Though no software can be free from these security issues. With instant messaging tools there is an option for companies to go for third-party software which help companies bypass these risks. Most cloud-based tools come with end-to-end encryption, which ensures data security and in-built anti-virus with malware integration to protect against viruses and malware attacks.
Problem with instant messaging
In spite of its many advantages, all is not well with instant messaging. The common grouse against most popular instant messaging tools is that teams can get stuck in long and never-ending group chats that demand their attention 24/7. It puts pressure on all team members to be online & available all the time, resulting in burnout and employee disengagement.
Most popular tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams do not use instant messaging effectively. Also, in most of these tools, the conversations happen in broad channels and not on specific topics. Due to this, the context gets lost, and information gets buried. To avoid the stress that group chat creates, many team members resort to direct chat, creating information silos and knowledge opacity.
Besides, instant messaging tools only focus on chats, but the information needs to be shared in many other ways, such as emails, online documents, and social media. There is no way to bring active conversations from all these different forms in chat channels.
How is Clariti's instant messaging is different from other chat tools
Clariti is one of the best messaging platforms. Unlike other instant messenger apps, in Clariti, there are no chat channels. There is no need to track all the chats in the channels constantly. Any Clariti user can start a group chat and add members as needed. Existing members can be removed, and new members can be added based on the conversation flow. This way, users are alerted to join a chat only when necessary.
Also, instead of replacing emails, Clariti has combined email with chat for team communications. While Clariti doesn’t discourage people from using emails, it has made it unnecessary when communicating with other Clariti users.
When you receive an email in Clariti, you can start chatting from the same email with other Clariti participants. This reduces email forwards and the wastage of time in copy-pasting contents in chats.
Besides, Clariti maintains the connection between the original email and subsequent chat, thereby making it easy to reference the context of the discussion at any time. So, in Clariti, both email and chat can co-exist without conflict or redundancy.
Choosing the right tool
We hope the instant free messaging apps and messaging platforms listed above will make it easy for teams to stay on the same page and even communicate with customers. Some instant messaging apps for business offer free trials and can integrate into other apps you might already be using. All instant messaging platforms have something unique to offer.
But while choosing one, it’s important to determine what works best for you and your organization. Just because one app has a cool feature, does not necessarily make it a great fit if you have no use for it. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. So, make sure you’re choosing the right software that fits you best!
Most Popular Instant Messaging software's for businesses in 2023
1. Clariti
Clariti is one of the best free instant messaging platforms for startups and small businesses to unite their teams in different locations so they can communicate and work together efficiently. Clariti’s subject chats are great for instant messaging because they provide context for the conversation. In Clariti chats, you can see at a glance what the conversation is about and who is involved. This makes it easy to catch up on conversations and stay up to date on what’s going on.
With traditional messaging, it’s easy for messages to get lost in the shuffle or for misunderstandings to occur. But Clariti helps to prevent miscommunication. It allows all team members to have conversations in one place, making it easier to follow along and ensure that everyone is on the same page. It also saves time.
With traditional messaging, teams often have to waste time cc’ing everyone on every message, which can quickly become tedious. But with Clariti subject chats, teams can simply add people to the chat as needed and then remove them when the conversation is over. This makes it much easier to keep conversations organized and streamlined.
With traditional messaging, it can be tough to go back and find old messages that you need to reference. But Clariti’s subject chats make it easy to find old conversations. You can easily search for keywords or topics to quickly find the conversation you’re looking for. This is a huge time saver when you need to track down information from previous conversations.
Finally, Clariti’s instant messaging is more efficient than traditional messaging. They provide all of the benefits of traditional messaging (i.e., context, clarity, ease of use) while also eliminating many of its drawbacks (i.e., wasted time, miscommunication, difficulty finding old messages). For these reasons, Clariti chats are ideal for instant messaging and should be used whenever possible.
When you use Clariti’s instant messaging, you don’t end up wasting time locating data in information silos and can be significantly more productive without any additional effort. Everything on a particular topic is at your fingertips whenever you need it. There is no learning curve at all. Try Clariti today and see the difference.
2. RingCentral
RingCentral is a cloud-based messaging app that helps businesses of all sizes transform the way they communicate. It provides an array of products and services to maximize efficiency in their operations, with solutions like unified messaging, online meetings, and contact center software. RingCentral also works closely with its clients to customize their solutions for optimized productivity and cost savings. Furthermore, customers benefit from the benefits of easy scalability, global availability and round-the-clock customer support – giving businesses complete control over how and when they communicate with their employees, partners and customers. With RingCentral powering ever more business communication needs across the globe, it’s clear that this platform is helping keep businesses meet the ever-changing demands of today’s world – one connected enterprise at a time.
3. Google Chat
Google Chat is one of the most popular instant messaging platforms for users to send private, real-time messages with individuals or connect with teams. It’s designed so that plans and ideas can be easily discussed virtually in one place. With Google Chat, users have the flexibility to stay connected any time and from anywhere, as well as the ability to communicate with groups in a safe and secure environment. Furthermore, conversations are conveniently organized by topic and can be quickly accessed later on. Whether it be quick chats between two people or exploring ideas in large groups, Google Chat features useful tools to make communication easier and more productive.
4. Discord
Discard does more than what an instant messenger app does. Using Discord, you can create a home for your communities and friends, where you can stay close and have fun over text, voice, and video. Whether your part of a school club, a gaming group, a worldwide art community, or just a handful of friends that want to spend time, Discord makes it easy to talk every day and hang out more often.
5. Amazon Chime
Amazon Chime lets you go beyond instant messaging. It lets you choose the communication options that are best suited for your business. You have the option to choose from meetings, chat, and business calling or use Voice Connector to direct your voice traffic over the internet.
With Amazon Chime, you have the flexibility to choose the communication option that fits with your business needs, and the freedom to scale up or down as needed.
6. Mattermost
Mattermost is an innovative instant messenger app that supports the transfer of messages, files and other media quickly and securely. It offers a variety of features to businesses, teams, and individuals including group collaboration, easy integrations between apps, multi-language support; advanced search capabilities; end-to-end encryption; compliance with industry standards such as ISO 27018; mobile device access; rich message formatting; customizable service plans; and much more! Plus, Mattermost provides exceptional customer support so that users can easily get help with any problem they may encounter. With these features combined, Mattermost is a state-of-the-art solution for instant messaging that delivers powerful performance in an easy-to-use package.
7. Workplace
Workplace developed by Meta Platforms is more than just an instant messenger app. It facilitates online groupwork, instant messaging, video conferencing, and news sharing. Workplace is designed to simplify communication, collaboration, and team organization. It helps employees connect with each other quickly, integrate their calendar availability, share pictures or documents securely, store company-related information in one accessible space and more. Key features include setting up team pages, creating task lists and holding discussions across devices. With Workplace, organizations can now stay productive and informed on the go in an easily scalable platform built for productivity.
8. Chatwork
Chatwork is an all-round instant messenger app for business that is designed to help global teams communicate, collaborate and increase productivity. The platform includes secure messaging, video chat, task management and file sharing functionality.
9. Troop Messenger
Troop Messenger is one of the most comprehensive office instant messenger app for business with amazing security, facilitating safe and secured business data sharing. It offers a collaborative work forum for businesses. This business chat application is one among all group chat apps which comes with unlimited group creation. It is not only instant messaging for business but also lets you share files of diverse format along with current location and contacts.
10. TeamViewer Meeting
TeamViewer is more than an instant messaging platform. TeamViewer Meeting lets you hold face-to-face HD VoIP videoconferences and audio calling, with your coworkers or your entire team, scheduled group meetings (up to 300 people), desktop screen sharing and session recording. It has all the essential meeting tools to collaborate securely with your teams and clients, from anywhere, anytime. TeamViewer Meeting installs on your desktop or mobile phone for quick access.
11. Slack
Slack is one of the best instant messaging platform for business that connects people to the information that they need. By bringing people together to work as one unified team, Slack transforms the way that organizations communicate. Slack makes it easy to contact your colleagues – you can message anyone inside or outside your organization and collaborate just as you would in person. People can work in dedicated spaces called channels, which bring the right people and information together. Slack supports asynchronous work. When work is organized in channels, you can access the information you need in your own time, regardless of your location, time zone or function. Ask questions, catch up with new developments and share updates without having to coordinate schedules.
12. Zoho Cliq
Zoho Cliq’s instant messenger app for business allows you to view multiple chats at a time and even search messages to find what you’re looking for. Voice and video calls are just a tap away. Command shortcuts and custom-built bots help automate tasks.
13. Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is not just an instant messaging platform. Whether you’re working with teammates on a project or planning a weekend activity with loved ones, Microsoft Teams helps bring people together so that they can get things done. It’s the only app that has chats, video calls, meetings, files, tasks, and calendar in one place. Easily connect with people through group chat and bring plans to life. Work with teammates via secure meetings, video calls, document collaboration, and built-in cloud storage. You can do it all in Microsoft Teams.
14. Facebook Messenger for Business
Facebook Messenger for Business is an instant messenger app that can be used to connect directly with customers to answer questions, address concerns and make it easy to for them to place orders. Messenger has more than 1.3 billion users across the world.
15. Twist
Twist organizes all team communication in one central location. Team conversations can be grouped by channels that can be public or private, and messages can be sent without interfering with thread discussions.
16. Flock
Flock is more than an instant messenger app that provides faster, more organized way for teams to communicate. Flock provides one-on-one chat and public and private channels. It offers multi-party video and audio calling and screen sharing. It also integrates with over forty third party apps including Google Drive, Github, Trello, Asana and many others and provides a set of business apps including Shared To-dos, Reminders, Polls, Note Sharing, Code Snippet Sharing and so on.
17. Ryver
With unlimited file-sharing, messaging, calls, and more, Ryver, an instant messenger app, organizes all instant messaging for business, communication and collaboration within one app. Teams can collaborate on any tasks with 1-1 and group messaging and voice/video calling. Features include group messaging, voice/video conferencing, screen sharing, task management, SSO, topic discussion channels, file sharing, search functionality, and more.
With Ryver, teams can create custom channels open topic-related discussions among the team. Users can communicate and collaborate on tasks via chat messaging with file-sharing or through voice and video calls with screen sharing. Ryver can turn any conversation into a task and will track all tasks with a progress board and integrated checklists. Ryver integrates with Active Directory or Okta credentials to simplify log-ins with SSO. Ryver also integrates with other third-party software such as Asana, Basecamp, Box, Salesforce, and more. Users can access Ryver through mobile devices with iOS and Android apps.
18. Brosix
Brosix is a powerful and easy-to-use instant messaging platform designed with team communication in mind. Brosix gives its clients a fully administrable private team network, which provides an exclusive and secure collaboration space. Client’s control who is added or removed from the network, and can easily manage users through a range of administrative features. Brosix comes with a package of unique features and tools aimed at boosting team collaboration and streamlining communication. From a range of chat options, to screen-sharing and unlimited file transfers, Brosix is designed with the modern work environment in mind. This makes it an excellent solution for enterprises looking to improve their productivity.
19. Spike
Spike is more than just an instant messenger app. It supercharges your email. Email, chat, calendar, calls, collaborative docs and to-dos are all in a single powerful Inbox, so you can focus on getting things done faster. Spike blends traditional emails with instant messaging, providing better context for each conversation, and reduces clutter – allowing for better interaction and a more human (and modern!) way of communication. Spike works on top of your existing email and is available on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows & Web.
20. Cisco WebEx
Cisco Webex is a collaboration application that provides instant messaging, voice, and video calling capabilities. Cisco Webex is an app for continuous teamwork. Move work forward in secure workspaces where everyone can contribute anytime with messaging, file sharing, white boarding, video meetings, calling, and more. It works on virtually any device.
Conclusion
When it comes to choosing between email and instant messaging at work, it offers many advantages that email can’t match. Blending real-time communication like instant messaging and collaboration tools like screen sharing and voice calling is important to do synchronized teamwork and improve workplace efficiency.
With Clariti, you need not restrict yourself to instant messaging. You can dramatically improve how you communicate, collaborate, delegate, and so much more!
Frequently Asked Questions
How is instant messaging used in business?
Instant messaging refers to formal and informal communication between employees both within and outside the organization. Instant messaging can be either direct messages that one user sends it to another user, or it can be group chats. Clariti is one of the best instant messaging tools that lets users communicate asynchronously, without the compulsion to be online all the time.
What is a business instant messaging software?
Business instant messaging software is an intra-office communication that can also be used outside of a business setting. Business instant messaging software is also a great productivity tool that makes conversations easier to track and improves employee engagement and teamwork. Clariti is one of the best businesses instant messaging software that lets users communicate asynchronously, without the compulsion to be online all the time.
Which is the best instant messaging app for business?
Clariti is a relatively new instant messaging app that has been gaining in popularity among small businesses and the startup community, especially in the technology and media markets. A key reason for its success has been its ability to address issues that other long-standing tools like Slack and Teams have perpetuated with their chat-focused communication paradigm.
Clariti goes well beyond just simple instant messaging and instead brings your chats, emails, call, to-dos, documents…in one app and automatically links related items in a Workspace. Workspace adds topic-centric organization to your communications, so you are never lost or waste time searching for information.
What is the best texting app for business?
Clariti, TextMagic, ProTexting, Text Request, Textline, EZ Texting, Message Kite, Zingle TextMarks, Trumpia etc are some of the best texting apps that help businesses to connect with both internal and external stakeholders.
What are examples of instant messaging applications?
Clariti, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Chanty, Rocket.Chat, Google Chat, Ryver, Glip etc are some of the best examples of instant messaging applications.
Which is the best free chatting app?
Clariti, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Chanty, Rocket.Chat, Google Chat, Ryver, Glip etc are some of the best examples of instant messaging applications.
Why use business instant messaging software?
Business instant messaging software allows employees to communicate with each other in real-time, without any delays that are generally associated with email communication. When employees need any assistance or clarification, they don’t need to make phone calls, send emails, or leave voicemails and wait for a response; they can instantly connect with their colleagues and get the answer.
Instant messaging is definitely a better alternative when compared with calls. Instant messaging software also keeps a record of all the conversations, just like texts and emails, which is very useful when you need a reference. Clariti is one of the best businesses instant messaging software that lets users communicate asynchronously from anywhere, anytime, without the compulsion to be online all the time.
Is instant messaging safer than email?
Email is not as private as most people think. To deliver messages, email 4 servers must relay the message: your email server, your recipient’s email server, and 2 additional servers that act as a buffer between the sender and recipient. This means that every time you send or receive an email, 4 different computers handle your message. Any of these computers could potentially store a copy of your message or even share it with others without your knowledge. Additionally, email messages are typically stored on servers for long periods of time, making them vulnerable to hackers. Even deleted emails can often be recovered by someone with access to the server.
In contrast, instant messaging is a much more private form of communication. Instant messages are typically only stored on your device and the device of your recipient, and they are not relayed through any third-party servers. This makes it much more difficult for hackers to access your conversations, and it also makes it more likely that your messages will be deleted permanently if you choose to do so.
Additionally, many instant messaging apps offer end-to-end encryption, which means that your messages are encoded in such a way that only you and your recipient can read them. This makes instant messaging one of the most secure forms of communication available.
What are two benefits of instant messaging?
In today’s fast-paced world, instant messaging has become an essential tool for businesses of all sizes. By allowing users to communicate in real time, instant messaging can help to improve efficiency and collaboration. In addition, instant messaging can help to reduce the need for face-to-face meetings, saving time and money. As a result, it is not surprising that instant messaging has become one of the most popular applications in the business world.
How important is instant messaging?
In our fast-paced world, it’s more important than ever to be able to communicate quickly and easily. That’s where instant messaging comes in. By definition, instant messaging is a system that allows users to exchange messages in real time. This can be extremely beneficial for both personal and professional reasons. For example, if you need to ask a quick question or coordinate plans with someone, instant messaging can be a lifesaver.
It’s also useful for keeping in touch with friends and family members who live far away. In addition, many businesses now use instant messaging as a way for employees to communicate with each other. With instant messaging, there’s no need to wait around for an email response – you can get an answer right away. As you can see, instant messaging is a vital tool for modern communication. Whether you’re trying to stay connected with loved ones or simply need a quick way to get information, instant messaging is the way to go.
What is the main difference between email and instant messaging?
The main difference between email and instant messaging is that email is asynchronous and Instant Messaging is synchronous. With email, messages can be sent at any time and the recipient can check them at their convenience. With instant messaging, both sender and receiver must be online at the same time to communicate.
Another key difference between the two communication tools is that email is a one-to-one communication tool while instant messaging can be used for group chats. This means that multiple people can be included in an instant message conversation. Finally, email messages are typically stored on a server and can be accessed from anywhere. Instant messages, on the other hand, are generally stored locally on the device where the conversation is taking place.
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