Review: The Instant Messaging App We Love To Use — Slack! (And Some Other Options)

When it comes to messaging apps, most businesses just use multiple platforms. They are inundated with pings and pop-ups throughout the day — and it can be tough to keep track of everything, mainly when messages are scattered across a variety of apps.

That’s why we are excited about using Slack! It’s a messaging app that helps you communicate more efficiently and effectively — plus, it’s super user-friendly and fun to use. So if you’re looking for an app that will make communication easier for your teams (and make your teams more productive), Slack is worth trying.

Introduction 🧐

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and frequent lockdowns, businesses are functioning remotely more than ever. More people are working from home, and they use messaging applications to communicate with each other.

Such messaging apps help coworkers communicate better and be proficient in their work. These apps also help them stay in touch with colleagues, whether chatting about the latest developments or planning a meeting. They can integrate instant messaging, text messages, and video calls into one hub, so there’s no need for multiple communication channels.

If you’re like us, you hate managing multiple messaging apps for work and personal communication. So we chose Slack, a messaging app that claims to help you “organise your team’s conversations in one place,” almost a year ago. Does it live up to the hype?

Indeed, Slack has become the go-to app for office communication. With its intuitive user interface and fun features like updating your status to playing trivia games with your colleagues, it’s no wonder many companies are using this particular messaging service over others.

This review will discuss the pros and cons of using Slack for work communication. Spoiler alert: We love it! Read on to find out why.

Messaging Apps for Businesses 📱💰

Business messaging apps have several advantages over email — there’s no doubt about it. From increasing productivity to making your messages more engaging and fun — they’ll keep you on top of things in a new way!

Choosing the right messaging app for your business can be tricky, as there are a lot of messaging apps out there, and it can be hard to know which one is right for your business. Hopefully, this overview of the five most popular messaging apps will help you decide what’s right for your business.

1️⃣ Slack

Slack is one of the most popular messaging apps for businesses, and for a good reason. It’s simple to use and has many features, including file sharing, searchable archives, and seamless integrations with other tools.

What’s best with Slack is that it is easy to communicate with team members through dedicated channels. You can quickly add team members to huddle calls and conduct meetings.

Slack is available on desktop and mobile devices and has a free and paid subscription option. So no matter the size of your business and the resources available, you can always choose the best plan.

2️⃣ Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is more than just a chat app; it’s the hub for your entire business. With fast connectivity to other Microsoft products and features like audio calls with text messaging transcriptions, this platform will help your internal communications in any situation. Using Teams integrates seamlessly into other Microsoft tools like Outlook and OneNote, so they’re all accessible from one place — even when communicating outside their platforms.

Microsoft Teams is bundled with the Microsoft 365 Business account. If your employer pays for other apps, you might have access to Teams! Since Teams comes with the Microsoft suite, you don’t have to buy it as a standalone application, as unless your company uses Microsoft products, there’s no point in using Teams.

3️⃣ Google Chat

Google Chat is a messaging app included with G Suite, Google’s suite of productivity tools. Google Chat (previously Hangouts) offers text messaging, voice and video calling, and screen sharing. It’s a good option for businesses that already use other Google products, as it integrates well with them.

Google Chat might not be enough to set up a Workspace account, but it’s perfect if you’re already invested in the platform. Companies can use this quick messaging system for short discussions or updates, either one-on-one or in separate groups. Unlike Slack or Teams, Google Chat isn’t as versatile and UI-intuitive, but it gets the job done!

4️⃣ WhatsApp

WhatsApp is a messaging app popular among everyday users, but it’s also useful for businesses. It offers end-to-end encryption for all messages, meaning only the sender and recipient can read them. It also offers group messaging and file-sharing tools.

WhatsApp is a great way to contact your team and clients. You can use it for chatting, sharing files, or just sending quick messages to update them on the latest product launch without having an email chain folder full of copies they might not have seen yet. Sleek and minimalistic, WhatsApp is ideal for small to midsize businesses for instant internal communication.

5️⃣ Twist

Twist makes it easy and convenient for workers from around the globe. With features like chat integrations with email systems, teams can board members to share updates about projects they’re working on together — not just work-related stuff either.

This tool does have something everyone needs, whether big or small teams are being used. Twist is a tool that supports remote teams through asynchronous communication. Also, it’s easy to read and track conversations no matter when you catch up on them because of its encryption system.

Twist can be an excellent alternative to Slack, especially for companies looking for something budget-friendly and simplistic.

What’s Slack? 🤔

If you’re like us, you’re always on the lookout for ways to improve communication and collaboration within your team. And Slack is one of the best messaging apps out there.

Slack is an internal messaging app that has become increasingly popular recently, especially among businesses and teams. It’s simple to use and has various features that make communication easy and efficient.

It is a cloud-based platform that allows users to communicate with each other in real-time. It’s also super easy to use and integrates with many other productivity tools, making it an even more powerful way to stay connected with your team.

In other words, Slack allows coworkers to communicate for better productivity. Slack can be used for various purposes, such as sending direct messages, sharing files, and creating channels for group discussion.

What’s So Good About Slack? 🌟

Slack is for teams that make communication simple and efficient. You can easily connect with teammates, stay up-to-date on projects, and much more. Plus, it integrates with various other tools and services, making it even more powerful.

Initially, Slack started as an email replacement and quickly became popular because it was so different. The app embraced playfulness with emojis, reactivity (reaction using emojis), GIFs, and many more. And then, they added more features such as customisable status alerts or forwarding your emails into Slack.

Here are some of the reasons why you should use Slack for your team:

• Slack makes communication simple: With Slack, you can easily send messages to teammates without having to CC or BCC anyone. Plus, you can create channels for specific topics, projects, or various teams, which helps to keep conversations organised.
• Slack is efficient: You can easily search for messages, people, or files with Slack. This makes it easy to find the information you need when you need it. Sending messages is secure and fast as well.
• Slack lets you communicate with people outside your organisation: Slack connect allows you to get in touch with people outside your company, such as business partners, vendors, and customers. You can bring communication out of inboxes and into channels — and work quickly and collaboratively. This helps you strengthen relationships with your clients by providing them enterprise-level support in a short space of time.
• Slack integrates with other tools: With the help of APIs, Slack integrates with various other tools and services, making it even more powerful. For example, you can integrate Slack with Google Drive to easily share files or with Dropbox to automatically sync files between devices.
  • We’ve now integrated 48 different apps with Slack, from Google Calendar to HubSpot to GIPHY.
• Slack breaks the monotony of work: The integration of fun little apps such as Donut (which allows you to interact with a team member once a week informally) and Trivia – Games | Virtual Coffee (which enables teams to play fun games and quizzes together) also helps to break the monotony of work and encourage serendipitous office vibes.

Overall, Slack is a great messaging app for teams that makes communication simple and efficient. Slack is worth considering if you’re looking for a way to improve team communication.

Some Limitations 💭

Although Slack is an excellent tool for communication, it has some limitations. It lacks a built-in video conferencing tool. To have a video call with more than 15 people, you need to use a third-party tool like Zoom, Google Meet, or Skype.

Of course, you can use Slack calls for audio interactions or use their voice-first, lightweight huddles that allow you to conduct one-to-one conversations with screen-sharing options. Yet, you’ll need a third-party integration for larger team meetings and conferences — or use an altogether different app.

Slack can be expensive for larger teams: It comes with three pricing plans Pro, Business+, and Enterprise Grid. You may have to pay between $10-20 per person per month or cancel anytime based on your plan. In addition, Slack might not be as robust as some other tools, making it difficult to find messages from years ago. The data export for all older messages is only available in Business+ and Enterprise plans.

Here’s What We Think 🤗

Despite these limitations, Slack is still a popular and valuable communication tool for many businesses and individuals. It can be a bit busy and noisy if you’re trying to focus on what’s happening in the conversation when other things are distracting you from your work or meetings (such as too many pop-up notifications or huddle alerts!)

Fortunately for those distracted by these factors more than they would prefer (or even tolerate), Slack offers some settings that may improve how you interact with messages and reduce visual overload. It’s a highly understated feature that needs to be used more for enhanced productivity.

Final Thoughts 💡

Overall, Slack is a great messaging app with a lot to offer, but it’s not perfect.

Despite the few limitations, we love using it because of the many different things you can do with it. You can integrate it with many other apps via APIs and only use Slack to get updates on emails, meetings, project management tasks, etc. — and that’s the best thing of all. That’s why if you’re looking for a great messaging app with lots of custom integrations, Slack is definitely worth considering.

Don’t hesitate to speak to us to learn more about Slack and the available custom integrations!