Group Communications Apps

Communication is a central part of our everyday lives. It enables us to work together, share information, and accomplish incredible things. From email and instant messaging to video communications and phone, there are communication methods for virtually every need and use case.

man typing with zoom chat

Clear, effective communication has become especially important as teams become increasingly dispersed across offices and remote work locations, such as shared workspaces and home offices. However, the rise of these different communication channels has spawned an ever-growing number of applications with different features and functionalities. This can make it very difficult to coordinate, locate, and centralize communications among teams using a wide variety of solutions.

 

A group messaging app makes it easy to consolidate your communication solutions and helps to streamline collaboration by providing an ever-present space where teams and employees can easily and quickly share information and other resources

What is a group chat app?

Group sitting in lobby

A group communication app is a central location for teams and organizations to communicate and collaborate. While some apps offer one method of communication, such as messaging, others offer multiple methods of communication alongside messaging in one application, such as phone, video conferencing, and more. Group communication apps also work on a wide variety of devices and give you the flexibility to communicate in the way that best fits your needs.

 

For example, you can use group chat software to message a single co-worker, a group of contacts, specific teams, or even send messages to yourself as quick reminders. This also applies to the various communication methods available, allowing you to use video conferencing, phone, and instant messaging to communicate with individuals, groups, or specific teams. With a group comms app, you’ll have all of your communications tools right at your fingertips instead of being spaced out across different technologies.
Group communication apps have experienced a huge rise in popularity as working from home became more prevalent. With fewer employees working from the office, organizations can no longer solely rely on traditional in-person communication methods such as watercooler chats and team huddles to build company culture and open up communication lines.

 

Organizations require a standard platform where they can host the majority of their communication and collaboration. This helps to ensure that every employee has access to the same features and functionalities while reducing friction in the user experience. Group communication apps enable all employees to communicate and collaborate as if they were together in person, empowering them to be productive and effective no matter where they work.

What makes a good communication app?

Ariel view of desktop

When most people think of group chat apps, they often think of group chats, but they are not necessarily the same thing. A group chat is an instant messaging conversation that includes multiple people or teams, allowing them to message each other and see messages sent to the group. You can create a group chat on many group communication apps. However, a good group messaging app also allows you to host different types of conversations, such as phone calls and video meetings.

 

While there are many apps that offer a range of features, a good group chat app has the following characteristics:

 

Ease of use

If your solution isn’t easy to use for all employees, partners, and stakeholders, regardless of their technical ability, it won’t be effective. The solution should have an intuitive, streamlined interface that enables a frictionless experience on a range of devices and supports both internal and external contacts.
 

Numerous communication tools

Specialized apps that focus on a specific communication method such as phone or messaging are great, but they won’t provide the flexibility your teams need going forward. Your solution should offer multiple channels for communication to ensure employees can communicate in the way that best fits their needs and the situation.
 

Collaboration functionality

An enterprise-grade communication app provides features that amplify your team’s communication and collaboration, such as screen share, file sharing, and whiteboarding.

How to choose the best group chat app?

Woman standing at desk

The best group chat apps can cover a wide range of solutions for different use cases and industries. However, the best communication apps for your organization will be:

 

Intuitive

A group communication app should have a simple interface with features that are easy to navigate and leverage, as well as readily available resources to help troubleshoot issues.
 

Scalable

The ability to scale your group communications solution as your organization grows is crucial. Choose a solution that will allow you to easily add infrastructure and accounts as your operations expand.
 

Name your chat

Creating an accurate and descriptive title for your team work chat will help your teammates easily find the conversation in the chat UI, providing a resource where they can find specific information such as project or policy updates.
 

Flexible

There are tons of different devices and technology solutions available to the modern workforce. Your group communication app must work effectively on a wide range of devices to ensure everyone has access.
 

Innovative

New use cases and technologies are surfacing every day, and you’ll need to ensure that your solution can provide new features and updates to meet the evolving needs of your workforce.
 

Cost effective

Even the best group communication application isn’t a good choice if it’s too expensive — you’ll need to make sure that your solution is cost effective while providing the features you need to succeed.

Zoom’s collection of communication apps

doctor virtual meeting

Zoom provides the features and functionality that customers need to communicate effectively. With Zoom Meetings, Zoom Phone, and Zoom Team Chat, Zoom’s unified communications platform helps to facilitate collaboration across workspaces and remote offices with a frictionless user experience.

 

Zoom’s unified communications platform offers:

Enhanced flexibility

Zoom operates reliably on a wide range of mobile devices, desktops, phones, and laptops, helping your employees stay connected, regardless of what device they are using.
 

Cutting-edge features

Features like screen share, whiteboard, and in-meeting chat allow for dynamic collaboration sessions, while the ability to share files over chat and instantly start a video meeting or phone call encourage seamless and frictionless communication.
 

A robust security framework

The Zoom platform provides system admins with the tools they need to create a customized security infrastructure that protects communications without compromising the user experience.
 

Integrations with leading workspace applications

We recognize that the best workspace solutions are the ones that integrate with other leading solutions. With the Zoom App MarketplaceZoom Apps, and our native integrations, you have access to hundreds of leading workspace applications that enhance your productivity, such as Sharepoint, Box, and Asana.
 

Zoom’s intuitive user experience is consistent across devices, making the application easy to deploy and frictionless to adopt. One app makes video meetings, phone calls, interactive webinars, and chats easy for everyone to use.

 

Zoom’s team communication app, otherwise known as the Zoom client, keeps mobile and desktop collaboration seamless and flexible so your team can stay productive wherever they are. With the Zoom client, you can:

  • Invite internal and external participants to chat
  • Easily search and find messages, files, and shared content
  • Manage and customize chat channels as an admin
  • Identify the right stakeholder through an enhanced profile contact card with job title, department, extension, and more
  • Seamlessly access third-party integrations right within the Zoom client
  • Easily indicate status and online presence to show when you’re busy, in a meeting, on mobile or desktop, or offline

 

This means that you can instantly access all of your day-to-day communications solutions without having to navigate to another application or use a different piece of hardware. Here are just a few of the things you can do with the Zoom client:

 

Elevate chat to a video meeting or phone call

Need to change up your communication style on the fly? Start a video meeting or phone call at the click of a button right from Zoom Team Chat.
 

Share Zoom Whiteboards in Chat

Keep those creative juices flowing with the ability to share your Zoom Whiteboard within Zoom Team Chat, providing your teams with a centralized digital space for collaboration.
 

Receive notifications when a contact is available

Get down to business faster with the ability to receive a notification as soon as a contact who is busy or in a meeting becomes available again.

Get in touch with a Zoom expert

Group chat apps enable consolidated, secure, and frictionless communication between teams and are a critical asset for organizations of any size. For more information about how Zoom can help your organization embrace the future of communication, be sure to reach out to a Zoom expert for a demo today!