6 Things to Know About Real-Time Messaging Apps
Real-time messaging applications can improve communication in the workplace, but there are challenges around productivity and shadow IT. Click through the slideshow to find out how you, or your customers, can make the most out of real-time messaging apps.
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Fifty-seven percent of organizations surveyed by BetterCloud are using two or more real-time messaging applications. Of organizations with more than 5,001 employees, 20 percent use five or more real-time messaging apps.
BetterCloud said that there can be various reasons why an organization would use more than one real-time messaging app, "the most obvious being that departments have different needs. Sales teams may need to easily chat and video conference their prospects, which makes Google Hangouts and Skype for Business quality candidates. Engineering teams may need to configure integrations and Slack bots to receive timely information in a group channel rather than clogging inboxes."
Nearly a quarter of respondents (22 percent) admit they either don’t know or don’t care whether IT has approved their real-time messaging application.
BetterCloud said that in some cases if enough users adopt an unauthorized application, "IT may choose to embrace it instead of stomping out its organic growth."
The majority of users of Skype for Business, Google Hangouts, and Slack all say communication has improved because of real-time messaging.
Slack users in particular have seen an improvement in communication; 95 percent of Slack users report improved communication because of real-time messaging, even if it means more distractions.
More than half (56 percent) of respondents believe that real-time messaging with overtake email as their primary communication and collaboration tool in the workplace. Five percent said that this is already the case in their organization.
However, there are still 44 percent who believe that email will never be replaced by real-time messaging.
Nearly one-quarter (24 percent) of respondents said real-time messaging has decreased productivity in their organization.
BetterCloud suggests that "if real-time messaging has become a distraction, take action before things get out of hand."
"It may be necessary to roll out company-wide 'dark' hours, meaning real-time internal communication is halted completely or restricted to only urgent messages. If the problem is less widespread, simply communicating with your users from time to time may do the trick."
Seventy-one percent of small-to-medium sized businesses (1-1,000 employees) will not invest in another phone system at all or will not increase their investment.
As BetterCloud notes, the desk phone is dying in many modern workplaces. For those respondents who plan on rolling out another phone system, it could be their company's last.
Seventy-one percent of small-to-medium sized businesses (1-1,000 employees) will not invest in another phone system at all or will not increase their investment.
As BetterCloud notes, the desk phone is dying in many modern workplaces. For those respondents who plan on rolling out another phone system, it could be their company's last.
BetterCloud has released results of its first Trends in Cloud IT Monthly Poll on real-time messaging applications, where it surveyed more than 800 IT professionals and end-users in February to get a better understanding of how organizations of all sizes use real-time messaging applications, and some of the benefits and challenges they have experienced in using these apps at work.
While the full report goes into more detail, in the following slideshow Talkin' Cloud breaks down the key takeaways from the survey and how the findings can be used to make the most out of any real-time messaging application implementation at your organization, whether you are an end-user or provide collaboration or communication services.
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