The chat app industry has exploded in recent years, with SaaS companies developing new and exciting ways to keep customers and employees connected.With so many options to choose from, how to you pick the best one for you? Luckily, there are several key considerations you can keep in mind when evaluating your options. Here are four essential points to consider when choosing a chat app for your business.
1. Security
When integrating a new app, one of the most important questions to ask yourself is if it's secure. A chat app is no different. Having a remote team means there's multiple points of entry that hackers and viruses can get into, so you need to make sure your tools are safe. Do they use end-to-end encryption? Do you have two-factor authentication available?
A chat app that keeps your team and business secure should be encrypted and have some kind of two-factor authentication. If you’re using a chat app in your business, security is key, because businesses are particularly vulnerable to attacks that can expose your team’s data and sensitive corporate info like financial records or client data. Be sure that your business uses the most secure chat app you can find when looking for a new tool.
2. Ease of Use
While it may seem obvious that the chat app needs to be user-friendly, more than one business has been tempted by chat apps that boast better functionality, only to find out later (much later in fact) that their team can't figure out how to use them. Now what's left is your team fumbling around trying to make it work. Why’s it so important? Because 79% of users admit that they leave if they’re unable to find what they’re looking for.
If the app is meant to be used by multiple people at once and will ultimately be your employees' go-to method of communicating with customers, ensure that everyone in your company will easily adapt to it. The easier the app is to use, the more willing employees will be to actually use it. The last thing you want is for half of your workforce to remain in Facebook Messenger or even WhatsApp simply because they're used to those platforms.
3. Collaboration Features
Choosing the right chat app can make it easier to collaborate with team members, especially when using a digital workspace that allows for communication across multiple tools. Some collaboration features to look out for include a channel-based organization system!
It's easy to get overwhelmed by all the channels and conversations happening within your chat app. The ability to quickly set up a channel or group chat with collaborators makes it much simpler to have focused conversations with specific people on specific topics. Also, try avoiding getting sucked into every single chat thread that crops up — you'll feel like you're missing out otherwise! Set some time aside each day so you can keep an eye on threads that need your input but leave yourself free from distraction as much as possible.
4. Integration with other apps
What's the point of getting a new app if it won't already integrate with what you're working on now? Find an app that works with many different business apps you may already be using. This means you won’t have to switch things up and can even work within your existing applications.
With tools like Desktop.com, you’ll have a digital workspace where all your favorite apps, bookmarks and teams are instantly accessible and organized in one place. Plus, because of its well-rounded functionality, it makes it easy for everyone in your organization to participate in and contribute to team conversations!
5. Choose Desktop.com as the Ultimate Business Chat and Collaboration Tool
Desktop.com is the ultimate centralizing tool you need to manage your businesses and teams effectively. Bring all your online content, tools and people into one organized and easy-to-manage space and communicate across video and chat in an easy-to-use platform. Instead of patching together your own tool stack, enjoy the benefits of a secure platform with unparallelled overview.
