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The Ultimate Guide to Communication Software for Business in 2021

Posted on September 16, 2021 | by anastasiia

As the world is adopting digitisation at a rapid pace, cybersecurity risks are increasing, with large enterprises being at the highest risk. Since 30% of security breaches occur because of internal actions, businesses need to secure their internal communication. Finding the right communication software for business can help.

Here’s a comprehensive guide to enhancing the security of your business communication with the best communication tools.

What Do You Need from Business Communication?

Streamlined and secure communication is the backbone of any business. It increases employee engagement and improves planning and management. Optimum communication ensures all departments, teams, and employees are on the same page, resulting in higher employee productivity and organisational efficiency.

Let’s look at the benefits of business communication.

Online Collaboration with Team Members

About 75% of employees consider collaboration “very important” to achieve the desired performance results. Effective business communication facilitates internal communication and promotes collaboration among employees. Collaboration improves employee engagement and enables them to perform better.

Collaboration also plays a crucial role in engaging remote teams. A large share of the global workforce works remotely, presenting the need for a robust communication system.

Event and Project Planning

Strong communication is a key aspect of successful project planning and management. It unites managers, stakeholders, and team members, ensuring that they agree on the project’s strategy, budget, and objectives. When the communication is clear, everyone understands their role, making employees more focused and increasing the chances of completing the project successfully.

Task Management

Managers need to assign and delegate tasks every day. An effective communication system allows seamless delegation of tasks without any inconsistencies. It improves management at all levels and improves operational efficiency.

What Kinds of Business Communication Platforms Are There?

Companies have different communication requirements. Some companies may need a secure messaging app, whereas others need full-fledged collaboration and virtual meeting tools. You can choose the platform that suits your requirements. Business communication tools are available in two categories: internal communication tools and external communication tools.

Internal Communication Tools

Internal communication tools help employees, teams, and departments communicate with each other. The purpose of these tools is to set clear goals, increase employee performance, and ensure that all members of the organisation are in complete accord.

Some internal communication tools used by businesses are:

Document Collaboration and File Sharing Tools

Sharing files and documents is a regular activity in all organisations. Many companies are moving from physical documents to digital documents to reduce paper costs and improve sharing and collaboration. Document collaboration tools enable seamless sharing of documents within the organisation. Team members can set edit permissions, make comments, and give suggestions.

Video Calls and Instant Messaging

Virtual meetings have replaced in-person meetings to a large extent. Over 70% of working professionals use video communication for 1:1 meetings, team meetings, standup meetings, and large group meetings. This increased use of video conferencing has given rise to the demand for video calling and instant-messaging tools.

Team Communication Tools

Using team communication tools isn’t new, and their usage will only increase in the upcoming months. These tools serve one major purpose: unified communication. Companies usually have various departments and teams communicating on different channels. This can cause a communication gap, leading to errors. A team communication tool provides a single platform for all internal communications.

Employee Engagement

Employee engagement tools help managers and HR teams increase employee job satisfaction and retain talented employees. These tools allow employees to interact with the HR manager and discuss any issues.

External Business Communication Tools

External business communication tools enable companies to distribute information to the public. This information can be in any medium, such as text, audio, image, or video. Two common types of external business communication tools are:

Chat Tools and Group Messaging

Messaging tools help companies share text, image, and audio messages with the public. These tools include text messaging apps, email responder tools, websites, advertisements, newspapers, magazines, and other solutions and platforms that help you reach a broader audience.

Video Web Conference

Businesses can use video conferencing tools for outreach. Social media channels like Instagram and Facebook offer live video functionality, a helpful feature for businesses to interact with their audience via video.

How Should You Evaluate Your Business Communication Tools?

The right communication tools can add immense value to your business. They can make your employees more productive and help you plan and manage your tasks better. However, if your current communication tools don’t support your objectives, they can increase your costs without adding value to your business.

Here is how you can evaluate your business communication tools.

How Is the Ease of Use for Team Members and Employee Engagement?

The ultimate goal of investing in communication tools is to make the life of your employees easier. If the tool is difficult to use and has a long learning curve, you’ll not be able to achieve the desired return on investment (ROI). It’s essential to have a communication tool that is easy to use for every employee in your t~~ime~~eam. Of course, it takes some time to get used to new software, but in general, the tool should be easy to use.

Do They Contribute to Project Management?

Many project management tools come with built-in communication and collaboration features. If your primary objective is project management, you could opt for a full-fledged project management solution (PMS). If you have a standalone communication tool, it should contribute to your project management efforts by integrating with your PMS.

Do They Work on Mobile Devices?

84% of remote workers check their mobile phone in bed, and 72% admit checking it on the toilet. With remote work being the new normal and mobile usage among working professionals increasing, businesses need tools that work on iOS and Android devices. Hence, support for mobile devices should be another key focus area when evaluating your communication tool.

Can They Handle Video Conferencing and Online Meetings?

Another prominent trend, along with remote work, is virtual meetings. Almost every company that relies on remote work conducts virtual meetings. Therefore, your communication tool should have built-in videoconferencing and video meeting functionalities.

Security is the Most Important Criteria for Your Communication Tool

When selecting communication tools, businesses limit their focus to features, usability, and pricing. Another essential component every communication tool should have is security.

Let’s discuss why security is the most crucial ingredient of business communication.

This is How Much a Data Breach Costs Businesses

If you’re a small business, data breaches and security issues can adversely affect your business. The Cost of a Data Breach Report 2021 by IBM shows that £2.7-3 million is the average yearly data breach cost. Apart from financial loss, security issues can ruin your business’ reputation, and you can risk losing your customers.

Basic Communication Tools Lack Security

Despite the rising costs of security breaches, basic communication tools lack essential security features. Over 60% of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are concerned about security risks. Companies need to prioritise security and upgrade their communication systems accordingly.

Secure Internal Communications Are a Necessity for Enterprise Level Companies

Secure communication infrastructure isn’t optional; it’s a necessity, especially for enterprise-level companies. When cyber attackers hacked LinkedIn’s database and posted the data of 700 million users on the dark web, everyone realised even the most prominent enterprises aren’t safe from cyberattacks. Therefore, enterprises and large companies need to take proactive measures to enhance the security of their internal communications.

Here is Why Messagenius is the Best Solution

You don’t need to spend endless hours searching for the best business communication tool. With end-to-end encryption, complete data ownership, and seamless integrations, Messagenius is the best choice for your enterprise.

Here’s why Messagenius is the best business communication tool for you.

Built for Secure Business Communications

Messagenius is one of the few tools that offers instant messaging with complete data security and ownership. Available in on-premise, private server, and cloud installation, Messagenius is a 100% GDPR-compliant tool that takes your communication security to another level. Some security features of the tool are:

Encryption keys accessible by a single admin only
Black Hole disappearing messages and Black Box modes
No involvement of third parties to store or access your data

Extra Features for Effective Business Communication

Cutting-edge security is not the only reason you should use Messagenius. The tool comes with various features that help you create a robust communication environment for everyone.

Key features of Messagenius are:

Send broadcast blast messages to multiple recipients at once
Track message delivery and proof-of-receipt
Send restricted messages accessible by biometric authentication or face ID.
Send priority messages and pin them for increased visibility

Integrates into Any Workplace Environment

Messagenius is ideal for both private and public workplace environments. The solution comes with numerous outside-the-box integrations, allowing you to customise the tool as per your requirements. Here are the main integrations supported by Messagenius:

Enterprise database sync
Intranet and custom internal systems
Conversational agents, chatbots, and AI tools

Contact Messagenius for a Free Consultation

Are you looking for secure, end-to-end encrypted, and feature-rich software for business communication? Your search ends with Messagenius.

Crisis communication with secure enterprise messaging | Messagenius

Crisis Communication: Are We Ready or Not?

Posted on October 6, 2020 | by Editorial Team

The Beatles once sang, “Help! I need somebody, not just anybody. Won’t somebody please, please help me.” Managers, C-suite, and employees can surely relate to these words, throughout their career.

There comes a time when all enterprises must face a crisis, be it big or small. One that has affected the globe is, without a doubt, Covid-19. However, crises have come and gone well before Covid-19, and not all enterprises have been as successful as KFC to overcome them.

As Warren Buffet said, “it takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.”

In today’s uber-connected world, there is ultimately no room for error when it comes to getting on top of a crisis. Even the cost of reacting too slowly, or ineffectively, grows by the minute. BP Oil and Volkswagen know something about this.

A crisis is often complicated, and it is impossible to understand how long it will last. As the crisis unfolds in real-time, circumstances can radically change, as will the requirements, roles, and responsibilities of the various people involved.

The types of messages will also change when in crisis mode, and the information audiences need and how they need to receive will be different to day-to-day operations.

When it comes to communicating during a crisis, the tools at your disposal become key in the success or failure of overcoming it.

We have come to learn as “crisis experts” that the damage caused by a crisis is not so much its nature but rather how well it is handled once it is at your door. There are three crucial elements to successful crisis management:

Readiness.
Fact-based approach.
How effective (all!) stakeholder communication is.

Messagenius offers admins Incident Rooms, Systematised tasks, Location Finder, and many more fundamental features that are not only helpful but are necessary to face a crisis head-on.

Expected and Unexpected Crises

There are contingencies that many enterprises take to avoid minor/major crises. Let’s take hospitals, for example.

There are times that sudden peaks for emergency care are expected, such as Saturday nights and flu season. Then there are the unexpected, like a horrific crash on the freeway.

However, there can also be expected and unexpected variations internally, such as vacation time or last-minute sick leave. Traditionally, the patients are often made to absorb the effects of this gap by having to wait.

Contingencies are put in place to replace a sick colleague or vacation plans or have people on call during flu season and weekends. While in case of unexpected emergencies, being able to reach the right people needs to be instant and seamless.

Using the Right Tools

Many businesses are still using services such as SMS, email, pagers, and phone systems, to alert various department heads.

However, these systems are not only out of date but usually very expensive, often ineffective, and do not offer the assurance that the alert will be received. Imagine trying to send an email to a surgeon in case of a critical event.

Take pagers, for example, additional devices need to be carried in addition to the smartphone to receive alerts.

Most of these systems do not provide proper delivery and read receipts. That’s why there is often confusion on whether or not the right person received or has seen an alert.

It is no secret that people pay more attention to mobile messages, but it is not just perception. The stats speak clearly, and they say that messages received via mobile have an open rate of 98%, whereas traditional email has an open rate of only 22%.

Additionally, these outdated systems are often not the best solution for fast and effective group communication, and both are essential for coordinating teams in crisis mode.

Team chats for secure work communications are increasingly popular, as they offer managers the right tools in times of a crisis (and beyond).

The Studies

69% of the 2,084 senior executives in organisations of all sizes, in 25 industries, and across 43 countries reported at least one crisis in the last five years, according to PwC’s Global Crisis Survey 2019.

Another study, a joint effort by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited and Forbes Insights, asked over 300 board members the following question:

Having been through a crisis, what are your company’s lessons, or what would you do differently?

34% Do more to identify crisis scenario
32% Improve detection and early warning systems
29% Execute a more timely and robust communications plan
29% Communicate more effectively with employees

These studies highlighted the importance of efficient coordination, decision making, and, more importantly, communication as fundamental steps in resolving a crisis.

The board, the C-Suite, and employees must work together, and this is where secure chat solutions for companies, like Messagenius, are fundamental for effective crisis communication.

4 Advantages of Messagenius in Crisis Communication:

Using the tools provided by Messagenius during a crisis, offer enterprises and the public sector several essential advantages:

Rapid alerting of teams, departments and external emergency services.
The group chats are perfect for direct feedback and follow-up communication
Chats can also be set up based on mission, topic, or location.
Sharing necessary emergency procedures, evacuation plans, mission photos, technical manuals, etc.is quick and seamless.

Whether you are in Finance, Education, Healthcare or the Armed Forces, Messagenius ensures employees and the C-suite are informed and ready to act when the unexpected strikes. Contact Us today for a free consultation.

Overcome a Crisis

One thing is for sure, crises can be overcome, but it takes teamwork, a united front, and, more importantly, strong communication between the entire enterprise. Crisis communication needs to engage employees before incidents occur during the event and after it has ended.

An organisation that ignores the powerful features of secure chat solutions for companies, may suffer more harm than necessary during a crisis, simply because they are unprepared.

Messagenius has a diverse range of tools for each stage of the crisis, which will help any enterprise, of any industry, overcome a crisis through a secure, compliant, and fully integrated messaging app.

Do not wait for a crisis to take place to act. Prepare for the unexpected and test Messagenius out today and secure the present and future of your enterprise.

Brexit and GDPR | How Does This Affect Your Enterprise?

Posted on July 28, 2020 | by Editorial Team

With COVID-19 hysteria subsiding and many European countries easing lockdown measures, life is, slowly but surely, returning to a relative normal.

While the post-COVID future is still somewhat uncertain, businesses in the UK need to start thinking of Brexit once again.

You may have recently read our post on GDPR, turning two this year. As highlighted in that post, GDPR was designed primarily to standardize data protection rules across the EU, as well as improve data rights and make data collection more transparent.

So those enterprises that thought Brexit was going to save them from the GDPR, need to think again. Any enterprise that trades with European member states and possesses information on EU citizens will be affected.

The UK was a driving force and one of the leading architects behind the GDPR.

As such, the UK has already agreed that GDPR will be absorbed into UK domestic law as part of the European (Withdrawal) Agreement. Both GDPR and the UK’s existing Data Protection Act 2018 will work to rule on data cases.

Now that GDPR is well and truly in effect and changes from Brexit approaching, compliant and secure enterprise messaging apps are now a must for organisations with a remote workforce that wish to keep doing business in Europe.

What do the numbers say?

A recent survey by 4sl, to over 200 IT decision-makers in the UK, found:

61% were specifically concerned about their ability to back-up data held in the EU.
60% were worried about their ability to transfer data from the EU to the UK post-Brexit.
59 % of enterprises worry that the time and money they have put into preparing for Brexit will be wasted.
55% did not know how Brexit would affect their disaster recovery processes.
43% had made preparations but had not yet put them into effect.

The data was taken only a few months before the world knew about COVID-19, so it is safe to assume that these numbers have not improved over the last few months.

Adopting Compliance

Enterprises with business in the EU need to protect the data of their customers and employees. Organisations must act now, protect their data, and ditch the idea that social media platforms can be a quick fix solution.

The adoption of smartphones and the use of consumer-grade apps in the workplace has led enterprises to be vulnerable to security risks. These apps lack the physical and technical safeguards necessary for enterprise communication.

Popular consumer messaging apps like WhatsApp or Zoom and even Slack, lack admin capabilities or do not offer clear and concise privacy policies. With these and many other apps, enterprises cannot be sure third parties will not view their data, nor can they be sure what then happens to their data.

Adopt a secure chat solution for companies, like Messagenius, that is GDPR compliant by design.

What are the risks?

The Adequacy Agreement is put in place to ensure that the data of EU individuals is protected even if transferred outside of the jurisdiction of the EEA.

Should the UK not be able to agree on terms with the EU, it will fall under a ‘third country’ status, a classification given to those countries outside of the EU/EEA. This ensures these countries follow strict laws that provide the same standard of data protection.

The UK government will most certainly look to create an adequacy agreement with the EU. However, this can only occur once the UK leaves the bloc officially.

From a GDPR perspective, should an adequacy agreement not be found before the Withdrawal Agreement ends, an organisation without secure chat solutions for companies, will have a lot of hard work in front of them to stay compliant.

In order to transfer and store EU customer data, including external employees living in the EU, there will be a strict set of guidelines that will need to be met. These changes will mean significant changes for enterprises in the UK.

Speaking at the GDPR Summit Roadmap for Sales and Marketing, Chris Combemale, Group CEO of the Data and Marketing Association, said:

“The GDPR has been implemented in the UK via the Data Protection Act 2018, which will remain the law in the UK. However, without an adequacy agreement in place, UK businesses and other organisations would need to find an alternative route to retain the free flow of data with the EU. We believe the UK cannot retain its position as a global leader in data, technology, and marketing if we do not have an Adequacy deal on future data flows with Europe.”

Inaction and uncertainty

Due to ongoing and widespread ambiguity on what the world will look like post-COVID, and the misinformation and disorganisation around Brexit, enterprises are unsure of what steps to take to stay compliant.

Without secure chat solutions for companies, enterprises risk falling short of meeting regulations or failures of critical functions.

But is it too late to prepare? Absolutely not.

With Messagenius, there are no third parties involved, no one has access to the data and communications, and so our clients are fully GDPR compliant.

Learn more about how Messagenius can help your enterprise become secure and compliant.

Taking the next steps

A good start for enterprises is understanding their data flows, where processing is performed, and where data is stored. It is time enterprises also learn to understand what legal, technical, and operational provisions they need to continue transferring data.

Secondly, enterprises need to come to terms with the fact that messaging apps do much more than just text messaging. Enterprise-grade apps offer much more robust functionalities, including allowing the sharing of comprehensive data such as pictures, voice messages, videos, and location information.

With all this data flowing throughout enterprises, it is fundamental that organisations provide highly secure, reliable, centrally managed and controlled messaging apps to meet the required standards of data protection and security.

Messagenius is an enterprise-grade messaging solution that combines collaboration, productivity, security, and compliance, in one simple to integrate app.

Enterprises that have chosen to prepare now will be in the best possible position for the future.

It’s time to get on board secure chat solutions for companies. Do not wait any longer and get ahead of the Brexit compliance race with Messagenius today.

Rethinking the Office and Work-Life. Is Your Enterprise up With the Times?

Posted on July 7, 2020 | by Editorial Team

Who would have thought that 2020 would bring such drastic changes to the world, in so little time?

The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted how many enterprises were not ready and unfit to support and create a work-from-home workforce.

While businesses in the UK have taken small steps to create a work-from-home environment, Italy has been lagging.

Before the start of the pandemic, this is what the statistics said about Europeans ‘sometimes’ working from home and the % of remote workers between 2008 and 2018.

Source

Working from home was becoming a growing trend in the last few years. The Covid-19 pandemic forced many British and Italian businesses to create entirely new structures.

That is why so many organisations moved to secure tools for remote communication apps to connect their workforces.

Unprepared for Immediate Change

Covid-19 forced many enterprises from various industries to find new ways to work and push them to rethink the role of offices and work life.

However, the urgency created to stop the pandemic from spreading, meant that many enterprises did not have the time to trial or research remote working strategies, pushing them to use consumer-grade apps that put sensitive data at risk.

Furthermore, many organisations were and still are not equipped with the required tech skills or understanding to operate remote working offices and the right technology, which is inevitably required for smooth operations and communication.

More than a quarter of the 200 senior decision-makers questioned in a recent poll, commissioned by Leonne International, believe their company lacks skilled workers to manage ‘widespread and long-term remote working for staff.’

Meanwhile, four in ten businesses intend to increase their IT and tech investment to support their working in home isolation.

Present & Future – Secure Enterprise Messaging Apps

The coronavirus pandemic has put a series of unimaginable events in motion that affected every industry, transforming the mobile messaging apps market.

These technologies are now at the forefront of enterprise change. They will be the new norm that will continue to be redefined and redesigned in a post-COVID-19 era, mainly because so many employees are happy working from home.

A study from Mckinsey found:

Eighty percent of people questioned report that they enjoy working from home. Forty-one percent say that they are more productive than they had been before and 28 percent that they are as productive.

While a Flexjobs survey conducted on 3,100 professionals found that 93% said they were more productive working from home, with 54% of the respondents being between the age of 30-49 years of age.

However, the biggest challenge for employees was staying connected.

Source

This is where a secure enterprise messaging app, like Messagenius, comes into play. You may be wondering how?

Whether in healthcare, education, defense, or even a start-up, working within distributed teams means that enterprises are now faced with more one-to-one communication with employees.

Sometimes managers require to speak with specific teams only or send one message to the entire workforce. When it comes to remote working, getting the right message across to the right people is fundamental to a successful remote workforce.

Messagenius facilitates the different facets of communication, allowing managers to send voice-to-text messages, blast messages, and even start private conversations with employees whatever the need may be.

Staying on top of trends and ensuring the workforce has the best means to communicate is paramount now to manage uncertainty, change, and continuously adapt to new and evolving market conditions. A secure enterprise messaging app can help you achieve this and much more.

The role of IT leaders and Managers

Enterprises learned that older means of communication, such as SMS, email, pagers, and phone systems were not suitable to connect the entire workforce. These outdated systems proved to be quite ineffective as SMS alerts do not generate enough attention for critical events.

While email has become the primary standard for communicating in many enterprises and the most prominent system through which data flows, organisations found that email alone was insufficient, and it was particularly vulnerable to security attacks.

Not exactly what a business needs when dealing with a remote workforce.

Let’s not forget the social media platforms enterprises and employees flocked to at the start of the pandemic, only to find that these options did not offer the necessary security (see the Zoom fiasco).

A study from Parliament Street to 200 senior decision-makers in the UK found:

43% are thinking about using apps or instant messaging instead of emails post COVID-19.
63% are planning to increase their IT spending to make employee communication more user-friendly.
61% plan on changing their digital strategy to make flexible working more efficient for their workforce.

Furthermore, they all agreed that they were committed to remote working once the virus passes.

Due to the coronavirus crisis, the need for communication tools is expanding quickly. Our secure enterprise messaging app, suitable for all industries, including public authorities and healthcare organisations, can accelerate and secure data exchange in critical situations and day-to-day operations.

Check out how Messagenius was able to help the Healthcare industry in this unprecedented crisis and how it can continue to do so once it is all over.

Saying goodbye to old habits

A blueprint for remote working: Lessons from China encapsulates perfectly the sentiment of change in this covid-19 environment for enterprises:

For managers, the challenge is to lead, inspire, and direct their team in their daily course of work, while being physically remote. Upping the levels of interaction can also work well here.

One chief information officer, responding to a McKinsey survey, said he’s texting the entire company with regular updates because it’s a more human way of communicating than via the official corporate channels.

Enterprises must use this point in time to break from the rigidity of the past by moving away from old habits and systems which are inadequate for this new era for organisations.

It is time for enterprises to create a well-planned return to offices, reinvent their position, create a better talent experience, boost teamwork and efficiency, and reduce costs.

More importantly, decision makers will need to understand what that shift means and what the new tech-enabled operating model can look like.

IT managers can become leaders of innovation, rather than merely active managers avoiding stumbling blocks. How enterprises react to employees’ new needs will likely shape their competitiveness in the years to come.Do not wait any longer. Lead your business to an innovative and more productive future with Messagenius .

If you are interested in a test installation, Contact Us today.

10 Key Principles Every Savvy Exec Must Understand About Instant Messaging for Business

Posted on July 1, 2020 | by Editorial Team

There are more instant messaging accounts than there are people on the planet. In fact, business estimates put the number of instant messaging accounts at over 8.6 billion.

Here’s the first crucial question: Which instant messaging apps are your team members using?

Statistics tell us the most popular chat programs:

Roughly 56% of employees use Slack.
Skype is still used by 12.5% of employees.

The majority of people in your organization are already using some form of chat tool.

The world of Shadow IT makes it impossible to know how many of your staff are using chat tools not designed for business. Since your company does not know the scale of the usage of these apps, your business also does not know the risks it is being exposed to by apps that are not secure, fit for purpose, or GDPR compliant.

In this article, we are going to tell you the 10 things every savvy executive and decision-maker must know about instant messaging for business.

What Should You Know About Team Chat Apps?

While more and more enterprises have been using instant messaging apps for some time, many misconceptions still exist. The result has been a multitude of news stories on hacks and issues with WhatsApp, Zoom, Telegram, Slack, Signal, and Microsoft Teams, to name a few.

There are big differences between the usage, functionalities, security, compliance standard, and overall quality of consumer vs. enterprise-grade apps.

In the early 2000s, researchers had already found many benefits instant messaging would bring to enterprises. Twenty years on, and there are still many misconceptions keeping organisations and their workforce from embracing instant messaging for business.

Let’s take a look at the ten most common misconceptions today and what you need to know about them.

1. WhatsApp, Zoom, and Facebook Messenger are the highest standard of IM app

The most common misconception is that consumer-grade apps are fit for the task. Since so many people use WhatsApp, it is safe to say that it is the best, right? Wrong.

Secure enterprise messaging apps work on entirely different principles and are built with your professional needs in mind. Instant messaging for business needs to accomplish a few crucial tasks:

Maximize security for your team and your data with enterprise-grade encryption and protection.
Help your team collaborate more efficiently while eliminating distractions.
Provide the communication tools you need to manage your people and projects effectively.

Apps like Messenger, WhatsApp, and Zoom do not meet all these criteria.

Messagenius is different because we built it from the ground up to provide secure instant messaging for business use, not just personal chats. While Messagenius is user-friendly and set out like a consumer-grade app, the built-in features that keep your workplace secure and connected are entirely different.

Read more on the high-quality features that make up a great secure enterprise messaging app.

2. Instant Messaging Apps are Always Distracting and Counter-Productive

If you use an app for work that your employees use to keep in touch with family and friends, then yes, it can be distracting.

Just as the offline environment around employees needs to promote work and productivity, so should the chat environment.

Secure enterprise messaging app is designed to offer fast, real-time communication in the workplace, increasing efficiency and productivity. Your team can use enterprise instant messaging software for video calling, screen sharing, group chats, project management, and simple text messaging. These collaboration tools will help your team get the most from each other.

According to a study by Software Advice, on nearly 150 employees using enterprise-grade messaging apps for work, 66% found it easier to overcome small issues faster. 70% agreed they saved time via instant messaging rather than phone calls or emails, and 21% saw a moderate to a significant increase in their productivity.

3. Creates silos between teams and colleagues

For enterprises concerned that business instant messaging apps will decrease teamwork and collaboration, as well as face-to-face communication, there is no evidence that instant messaging services have a bigger impact than any other communication tool.

However, a study conducted in 2018 found that reducing workplace distraction increased team productivity. The study also found that the biggest distractions at work were small talk with colleagues, meetings, phone calls, and office noise.

Adding an instant messenger will create an environment that allows for fewer outside distractions but increases camaraderie. Your teams can use group chats and even group video chat to stay in touch and reduce the barriers to getting stuff done.

Professor Amabile, who co-authored The Progress Principle, says, “People are more creative and productive when they experience more positive inner work life, including more positive emotions, stronger motivation toward the work itself and more positive perceptions of the organisation.”

4. Management has no control

That may be true with consumer-grade apps; however, at Messagenuis, we know that being a leader means knowing how well your team is doing, how productive each department is, and the importance of having a solid overview of your enterprise.

With a secure enterprise messaging app, you can count on having all this detail, as well as being able to remove people from specific chats, creating personal conversations, inform when you are available, and many more features.

5. Secure enterprise messaging apps do not have special features over WhatsApp or Zoom.

The quick answer is they do. Secure enterprise messaging apps offer many more features than any consumer-grade app can ever provide.

As per the point above, managers and IT leaders have a dedicated dashboard with key analytics, but they can count on several other great features. Such as self-destructing messages, blast messages to reach your entire organisation, message delivery tracking, biometric authentication, to name a few.

Want to know more? Check out all the great features offered by Messagenius.

6. Instant messaging chats are a high-level security risk

Security and privacy are a primary concern for any enterprise. It is also the reason why enterprises do not invest in instant messaging apps. If you are looking at WhatsApp, Zoom, or Slack, for example, then yes, privacy policies are ambiguous, and security breaches are a constant worry.

Enterprise messaging apps offer stringent security, and your privacy is not a commodity to sell to the highest bidder.

These enterprise-grade apps are created so that your organisation can share and store sensitive data in a secure and, more importantly, compliant IT environment.

Test Messagenius out today to make your enterprise secure.

7. Instant messaging apps can cost a lot of money, and they don’t provide a good ROI.

For many, adding instant messaging programs to the workforce does not provide ROI, but they are wrong.

A failure to implement business messaging apps decreases the productivity of high-skill employees and management by 20-25%, according to McKinsey and Company.

Secure enterprise messaging apps benefit businesses in terms of team calls/chats, file sharing, incident reports, data sharing, and productivity.

But the benefits do not stop at the technical aspects of business messaging apps. By introducing the right instant messaging app in your workplace, you are investing in a complete transformation of your workplace culture, driven by employee productivity. Using white label instant messaging software, such as Messagenius, also helps you reinforce your brand every time your employees log in.

8. Instant Messaging apps are difficult to manage in a professional environment

Secure enterprise messaging apps, like Messagenius, help IT leaders keep the work-chat environment professional.

These security-centric apps will add value to your day-to-day business tasks. For example, one of Messagenius’ features is admin control rooms.

Admins can create public or private channels for one or all the operators online, who, apart from having a regular chat list, also have a dashboard from where they manage all the requests and work-related issues.

Discover our features such as Live Location, and create a seamless and secure working environment.

9. Email is better than instant messaging

Resistance to change is one of the biggest threats to any enterprise. As generation Z, and millennials before them, enter the workforce, the change will be required for any enterprise to continue to exist.

As the exchange of information moves faster towards ‘real-time’ communication, email can no longer handle all the requirements of a modern workplace. The best instant messaging apps support video conferencing, voice chat, audio calls, and group chat. All these add to the communication options for businesses.

Instant messaging apps are fundamental to enterprises and are to be used together with email.

10. Instant messaging can be intrusive

Even email is considered to be intrusive, so much so that France introduced a law against emailing employees after 6 pm. In Italy and the UK, there are no laws but, are they necessary?

With the right internal communication strategy, instant messaging does not need to be intrusive, and you can achieve the desired work-life balance.

Your business can schedule the interactions between team members. Video conferencing can be arranged for core hours. Voice and video messages can be left for convenient times. File sharing in the chat app lets teams share their work at any time.

Bottom Line

Secure enterprise messaging apps are not merely technologies for the future or only specific industries.

They help improve productivity, facilitate collaboration, quicken the execution of business processes, provide a high level of security, reap assured ROI, and add value to the short and long-term business operations.

The dynamic nature of secure enterprise messaging apps means that they are an integral part of a variety of workplaces.

Are you ready to reap the benefits of Messagenius? Do not waste any more time, Contact Us, and empower your enterprise today.

GDPR Turns Two | Secure Enterprise Messaging Apps Are a Necessity Now

Posted on June 23, 2020 | by Editorial Team

Happy 2^nd Birthday GDPR!

On 25 May 2018, after years of putting the GDPR together, the EU shook the proverbial cages of businesses around the world, and introduced the world’s toughest data privacy legislation.

The GDPR was set up so consumers could trust enterprises with their data, and to date, it is still the most complete set of rules to protect users.

Two years on, we see that the aim of the GDPR is a positive one, and it is pushing many private and public enterprises towards a much-needed digital transformation. However, many businesses are still not compliant.

A digital transformation can help enterprises be more productive, secure data, offer more efficient operations, and increase margins. That is why enterprises need to adjust to a world where employee-centric applications and productivity suites need to be made available to their workforce.

Enterprises from varied industries are turning to technologies such as Messagenius, a secure enterprise messaging apps.

These secure messaging apps provide a private, secure, and GDPR compliant communication tool that can help turn things around for enterprises of all sizes.

GDPR Compliance & Secure Enterprise Messaging Apps

While many are still struggling to meet the long list of GDPR requirements set out by the EU, there is a reason for its inception; companies need to provide a higher standard of security for personal data. In order to do so, enterprises will be audited and fined should they not adhere to these regulations.

Since its beginning, many big fines have been slapped on large corporations, more notably, Facebook Germany (51,000EUR) and Google (50 million euros); however, the list is long.

Amongst the many checkpoints, there is one regulatory requirement found in Article 25 of the GDPR that is proving to be one of the most difficult to solve: “data protection by default and design”.

By default, companies/organisations should ensure that personal data is processed with the highest privacy protection (for example only the data necessary should be processed, short storage period, limited accessibility) so that by default personal data isn’t made accessible to an indefinite number of persons (‘data protection by default’).

Regardless of this, studies have found that 81% of workers reuse passwords across accounts, often sharing corporate and personal passwords via social media channels and that over 600,000 facebook accounts are hacked daily.

Using consumer-grade messaging apps to communicate official information is a huge risk for enterprises; the ramifications are endless and include costly data breaches, privacy breaches, and heavy fines under the GDPR. As such, it becomes a need for enterprises to look for a better option – a GDPR compliant secure enterprise messaging app.

The Data Security + Data Privacy Equation

This equation comes down to a very simple set of rules:

which data is protected
how it’s protected
whom it’s protected from
who is ultimately responsible for that protection

Data security is more about securing sensitive data, and you certainly do not need to be an IT manager or expert to understand that one. Data security primarily focuses on preventing unauthorised access to data via breaches or leaks, regardless of who the unauthorised party is.

However, privacy is concerned with ensuring that the data is consumed compliantly and with the consent of the data owner for any given entity processes, stores, or transmits.

Widespread communication and collaboration messaging apps, most obviously WhatsApp or Zoom, but also Telegram, Slack, or Signal are secure, offering ‘end-to-end encryption,’ so third parties are unable to see your messages.

But how secure are they, and are they appropriate for professional use? Do their privacy policies exclude the possibility that they (Facebook, Zoom, etc.) cannot view your messages? Apps such as Telegram, Slack, WhatsApp have access to so much of your data that we are not always aware of. These apps can see IP addresses, location of the users, other files and apps installed on your phone/tablet/laptop, contact lists, photos, as well as audio recordings. Not to mention Alexa and Siri listening to you even if you’re not using your phone/tablet.

As Kalev Leetaru wrote for Forbes in 2018, “social media companies collect so much data even they can’t remember all the ways they surveil us.” Another reason why the GDPR was introduced.

The core business of these consumer-based apps is to increase the number of users. Their success comes only in terms of the number of users and levels of interaction, so you could say it is volume over value, quantity over quality. Adoption/usability is everything.

What does this lead to? ‘Growth by design.’

Take something as small as the contacts list on a mobile device, for example.

Many employees that use consumer messaging apps for work, will have ‘friendly’ and ‘professional’ contacts on their phones. These contacts are uploaded to the messaging app automatically and do those professional contacts know, or have they given consent for this? Of course not.

How many times have private communications leaked to the public, even though Whatsapp may offer secure ‘end-to-end encryption’? Ask the likes of Jeff Bezos.

Simply put, these apps might be strong enough on security, but they do not offer the privacy options required for professional use.

The Struggles of IT Decision Makers

A survey conducted by Vanson Bourne to over 900 senior IT decision-makers found:

IT leaders are also struggling to comply with mandates from senior business leaders within their organisations.

“Nearly 80 percent of respondents stated their executive team believes it is the public cloud service provider’s responsibility to protect any data stored in public cloud environments, which is fundamentally incorrect,” said Rajamani. “This shows executives are confusing the availability of data with its recoverability. It’s the organization’s responsibility to protect its data.

Other surprising data from the survey indicated that:

38% of non-compliant businesses do not understand when consent is required to hold and process data.
35% are unsure how they should monitor their employees’ use of personal data.
34% don’t understand what procedures are required to ensure third party supplier contracts are compliant.
21% of businesses admit that they still have no cybersecurity strategy in place.

However, smart, efficient, and transparent management is possible with the right tools.

Messagenius & GDPR Compliance Checklist:

Messagenius does NOT store the address book of the user.
Messagenius does NOT use or store data unless it is required to provide the messaging service.
Messagenius does encrypt, pseudonymise, and anonymise personal data where possible.
Messagenius provides comprehensive configurations and policies to protect data.
Messagenius allows you to delete users and all related personal data.
Messagenius gives full transparency in its privacy policy and terms of how personal data is used, processed, and stored.
Messagenius guarantees order data processing in compliance with the GDPR.
Messagenius has a messaging archive that is fully searchable (with access by authorised persons only).
Messagenius has audit logs and ensures record keeping requirements.
Messagenius allows for someone to be appointed and ensure GDPR compliance across the organisation.

Do you have questions regarding this GDPR checklist for a secure enterprise messaging app? Or would you like more details on how Messagenius provides all the GDPR requirements of data protection, security, and compliance? Contact us today.

To Wrap Up

Long before the GDPR, there were many data protection regulations in place. However, they were never taken seriously as a threat. The arrival of the GDPR has finally created a shift in the threat level to non-compliant enterprises, bringing a new age of serious sanctions against those who violate people’s right to privacy.

Two years on from the introduction of the GDPR, businesses have more steps to take to achieve compliance, and they need to address the challenges of handling data. But now they can get some help from secure enterprise messaging apps such as Messagenius. Technology that can help enterprises manage their data more effectively, help lower compliance risks, improve their competitive positioning, and create a happy and more productive workforce.

So, what are you waiting for? Get in touch with our dedicated team and get compliant today.

Consumer vs. Enterprise Messaging Apps

Posted on June 9, 2020 | by Editorial Team

How to secure communication of your remote workforce

Not all collaboration and communication tools are created equal, and not all are the right choice for enterprises. This is more obvious when talking about consumer vs. enterprise messaging apps, where data protection, security, and compliance are worlds apart.

Take WhatsApp or Zoom, two current examples of consumer communication technologies. These tools are often considered for enterprises but have a track record of putting data at risk and not meeting the security standards required to protect from serious security threats, and let’s not forget the ambiguous privacy policies.

As the COVID-19 crisis has turned remote working into the new norm at a global level, security issues will be a growing threat for enterprises. That is why a dedicated secure enterprise messaging app is needed to support and connect a distributed workforce.

For enterprises, the lines between ‘easy to use’ and secure applications are not clear because employees are increasingly turning to consumer-grade tools even to communicate with colleagues.

Add the great marketing gimmicks of WhatsApp and the hype around Zoom during this Covid-19 crisis, for example, and now confidential data is being shared in insecure IT environments.

The consensus is that these tools are ‘free’ and ‘popular,’ so “why shouldn’t our business use them too.” But this is where many small to large businesses go wrong.

Why? In part, it’s because nobody reads the ‘terms and conditions’ or ‘privacy policies’ for consumer apps. We have all done it for one app or another. They are free, after all, but at what cost?

A Deloitte survey of 2,000 consumers in the U.S found that 91% of people consent to legal terms and services conditions without reading them. For younger people, ages 18-34 the rate is even higher with 97% agreeing to conditions before reading.

The language is too complex and long-winded for most, and apparently, consumers are willing to accept that the worst most companies will do is sell their name and email to a third party that wants to advertise to them. (source: Business Insider)

Then there is the infamous ‘End-to-End Encryption’ myth found in many free consumer applications. With so many ‘grey areas’ and dodgy ‘privacy settings,’ these apps are not the right tools to share sensitive customer data or work communications.

Covid-19 | The distributed workforce in the UK and Italy

According to the UK Office for National Statistics website, from January to December 2019, only 5% of the workforce was working from home. While recent statistics from April 2020 show, the percentage has skyrocketed to an incredible 49.2%.

While according to The Digital Economy and Society Index, Italy is 5th last in Europe, in digital performance. This goes to show that Italy was not ready to have the country’s workforce work from home.

Forbes highlighted that from the 570,000 smart workers in 2018, the number of remote workers in Italy, during the Covid-19 crisis, jumped to 8 million!

For example, many government agencies had to close their offices, and urgently create a remote working environment for employees. Due to a lack of alternatives and disorganisation within these, employees are still using consumer messaging apps to stay in touch with various departments, passing sensitive information over unsecured servers.

WhatsApp & Zoom

You all would have heard of or read various articles on why you should not use WhatsApp for Work. However, if you somehow missed some of the security/privacy issues found with Zoom, do not miss the articles from The Guardian & Wired UK.

Chris Stokel-Walker, a freelance journalist that writes for Wired UK, wrote in a recent article:

‘…privacy experts have been sounding warnings about Zoom’s privacy settings, cautioning that they’re a quagmire of over-intrusive elements that can learn far more about you than they actually need to. Zoom’s privacy policy sort of says it doesn’t sell your data – … “But there’s still an incredible amount of secondary processing you leave yourself open to in the app – and that’s before we even get to the tracker and cookie payload that comes with the web client.” says Daragh O Brien, a data protection consultant with Castlebridge, an Irish company.’

Widely used applications such as WhatsApp and Zoom will go under the magnifying glass because of the simple fact that so many people use them. However, they are not the only ones with ‘not so clear’ privacy policies. The list is endless, and this is cause for great confusion amongst IT managers and employees alike.

That is another reason why enterprise applications have been created. They are there to offer peace of mind and set clear policies to ensure your data is secure, with no strings attached (read: The tools for managers).

Secure Enterprise Messaging Apps

What makes enterprise messaging apps that much better for businesses? Let’s look at just three of the most important features:

Security. Data should be encrypted, stored securely, and meet the highest levels of security certifications.

Messagenius has the added multi-factor authentication, but more importantly, your data does not get stored on external servers.

Admin Features are important to ensure effective communication throughout the enterprise, leading to higher productivity.

Analytics. Nowadays, data is everything, and it is the best way to review what works and what does not work.

Track how effective your communications are within your enterprise with easy to read, on-screen, data.

Learn more about the great features the right enterprise messaging app can provide.

Final Thought:

The standards for remote working were changing at incredible speeds, even before the start of the Covid-19 crisis.

Now industries ranging from transport to government agencies to hospitals can finally look to Messagenius, an easy to use, secure enterprise messaging app that supports a distributed workforce without compromising the security, compliance, or reliability of the enterprise communication channels.

admin features for management and team leaders

The Tool for Managers, Leaders, and C-suite

Posted on May 25, 2020 | by Editorial Team

Smart, efficient and transparent management is possible.

Secure enterprise messaging has become an important part of any workplace, as IT leaders rely heavily on communication, productivity through collaboration, and smart management.

These apps allow for streamlining internal and external communication channels, as well as secure data, and ensure enterprises comply with regulatory requirements.

While reliability and industry compliance is fundamental to enterprises, IT leaders require messaging technologies that offer administrative control, as well as being user-friendly.

Through the understanding of the technology, top management and decision-makers can start to adopt a platform that can face the demands of today’s workplace.

Take a look at how a secure enterprise messaging app can help you.

Stay in Control

One of the most important aspects when being a leader is knowing how well your team is doing, how productive each department is, and, more importantly, having this detail at the touch of a screen.

With a secure instant messaging app, you can rely on a Management dashboard, aka your control center.

Here you have a summary of all the interactions and communications between employees, tasks started/completed, incident reports, and more, with the bonus of having all the information graphed and well set out for ease of use.

This dashboard allows you or an assigned manager to identify bottlenecks in any workflow, especially when it comes to cross-department communication or field workers.

Blast Messages

Another difficult task for admins is getting the message across to all departments, in a direct manner.

Blast Messages let managers reach all or specific departments without the trouble of searching for particular contacts or worrying that a department gets left out.

Send Blast Messages through a two-step verification process, so you will not be sending the wrong message out. Ever.

Message delivery tracking

When having to delegate a large number of tasks to managers or department heads, knowing that your message goes to the right person is key.

With proof-of-receipt and biometric authentication, your message is opened and read by the right recipient, at all times.

The sent messages are opened either through the use of a fingerprint or a numerical code/captcha.

An alert is sent to the admin informing them the message was received, opened and read by the intended user.

Priority messages

There are times when things either take a turn for the worst, such as a mistake derailing an entire project or you need to prioritise one task over another.

As an admin, you can set up “high priority” labels, so particular messages get pinned to the top of a recipient’s screen.

These priority messages are highlighted to separate them from the rest of your messages.

Admin Control rooms

Admins are required to be in different places at once, and we know that it is virtually impossible. Or is it?

An admin control room is one account for all the operators online, who, apart from having a regular chat list, also have a dashboard from where they manage all the requests and work-related issues.

These chats are displayed in easy-to-read cards, allowing you to view various conversations at the same time.

Additionally, the live location feature lets you and members of that room know where each field worker is, by displaying messages on a map to easily recognize the sender, as well as deliver blast messages or emergency signals.

Incident rooms

Knowing when an emergency is happening in real-time can save lives in a hospital, for example.

Or when an intern sends confidential information to stakeholders, and a prompt response is required to protect years of hard work.

An incident room can be opened by any field worker to highlight a problem, and all appropriate contacts are added automatically to the chat room.

All contacts will have an overview of the issue at the start of the chat: who created the incident room, as well as the role, position, duty, issue category, and the location of the worker creating the incident room.

Preset tasks help to complete the job and encourage members to see what needs to be done to fix the incident as efficiently as possible.

Members can pick up one or more tasks by clicking on the preset assignment.

Once resolved, download the PDF document, which will include participant information, issue type, time-stamped chat history, voice messages transcribed into text, and any images exchanged during the completion of the incident.

Automated task assignment and reminders

Calendars or reminders on your phone can be useful in your personal life. However, as an admin, you need to ensure that there is an easy and effective way to remind a team or entire enterprise of certain jobs.

Through this feature, preset tasks are set up by admins and displayed as an easy to read button. Once a job is picked, a description of the task at hand will appear for the user.

A notification is then sent to the admin, showing who picked up the task, at what time, and its successful completion.

Availability statuses

Knowing about an incident in real-time is surely useful; however, it is only helpful if you are around to delegate the problem or solve it yourself.

Let your employees and peers know when you are available via a preset status such as ‘out of office,’ ‘do not disturb,’ or ‘in a meeting.’ Alternatively, customize your very own status.

Change your statuses yourself and on the spot or set them up for a specific time (1 hour, two weeks, until 4 PM, etc.), after which it will return to the default status: “available” and you can take the lead once again.

Systematise

Being in control also means understanding when you need to take full control or if it is the right time to let others provide useful insights; otherwise, conversations can get distracting and confusing.

The Systematise feature allows you to control the conversation and can set up who can read or who can reply to your messages.

More importantly, you can set this up in numerous chats so you can communicate effectively with different teams or departments and delegate what needs completion.

And finally

In today’s ever-evolving workplaces, IT leaders need a secure enterprise messaging app that not only helps them stay connected but also assists their employees to be more productive.

The right app will make it easier for high-level decision-makers to deploy and manage tasks based on the scale of the organization today and the size it will grow into in the years to come.

Read more on how instant messaging can help enterprise messaging systems increase productivity.

And the winner is…Messagenius!

Posted on May 7, 2020 | by Editorial Team

La nostra soluzione di messaggistica sicura enterprise si è classificata prima in cyber security della challenge di open innovation “Modelli e tecnologie digitali per l’innovazione della Pubblica Amministrazione” organizzata da Sogei, la società di Information Technology del Ministero dell’Economia e delle Finanze, insieme a Lazio Innova.

Un riconoscimento importante che certifica l’alto livello di sicurezza, confidenzialità e compliance di Messagenius da parte dell’ente che guida la trasformazione digitale della Pubblica Amministrazione italiana e che ha nella cyber security, nella sicurezza infrastrutturale e nella protezione dei dati personali il proprio principale driver di innovazione

Chi siamo

Messagenius è un’app che offre una soluzione di messaggistica sicura enterprise a disposizione di clienti pubblici e privati, mantenendo un costante orientamento alla sicurezza. Offre a dirigenti e dipendenti la possibilità di comunicare meglio tra loro ed incrementare la produttività lavorativa puntando ad una continua innovazione del sistema, con un unico obiettivo: restare connessi in sicurezza, anche da remoto.

I Dati

Stando ai dati pubblicati dal ministero del lavoro, quasi 2 milioni di lavoratori Italiani sono attualmente in smart working, tendenza in rapida espansione con la diffusione del COVID-19. Solo 6 mesi fa erano solo 570 mila italiani a lavorare da casa. L’incremento esponenziale di tale fenomeno registrato in questo periodo ci mostra l’importanza di essere connessi con i propri collaboratori e colleghi in modo sicuro. Lo smart working non sarà più una soluzione per il breve termine, ma diventerà la norma anche nel nostro Paese.

L’80% dei dipendenti pubblici opera da remoto. Un dato che fa subito pensare, ma come comunicano tra loro? E soprattutto, i dati sono trasmessi in modo sicuro?

Perché la Pubblica Amministrazione

Il dato evidenziato dal Global Mobile Consumer Survey di Deloitte, ha riscontrato che nel 2019, nove italiani su dieci ha uno smartphone e utilizza anche un’app di messaggistica.

Anche i dipendenti e dirigenti pubblici utilizzano sistemi di messaggistica istantanea, però si sa che utilizzando app commerciali si possono creare non pochi problemi di sicurezza (prendiamo Whatsapp o Zoom come esempi). Molto spesso i dipendenti pubblici utilizzano questi sistemi per condividere anche informazioni professionali riservate (ad es. Documenti d’identità, coordinate bancarie, contatti personali, ecc.) spesso accettando condizioni sulla privacy e di accesso ai dati del telefono senza conoscerle nel dettaglio.

Ora più che mai, è importante che il sistema pubblico utilizzi una soluzione di messaggistica istantanea con alti standard di sicurezza informatica, in modo da fornire, a tutti i dipendenti un’app mobile per i propri smartphone, da poter utilizzare in completa sicurezza.

Affinchè l’app possa essere accolta e usata nel più breve tempo possibile deve possedere un User Face intuitivo simile alle più diffuse piattaforme, ma anche una facilità di utilizzo che possa abbassare il ‘resistance to change’ che si può incontrare specialmente in contesti come la P.A.

Messagenius offre un’app mobile che permette lo scambio di messaggi/file istantanei, chiavi di crittografia dinamiche e personalizzabili, conversazioni indelebili in una scatola nera o messaggi che scompaiono in un buco nero ma che in tutto questo garantisce sicurezza e proprietà esclusiva dei dati. Nessuno avrà accesso ai vostri dati, neanche Messagenius.

Gli standard comunicativi e produttivi hanno visto una crescita importante grazie alle rivoluzioni tecnologiche. Tecnologie video, vocali e di messaggistica istantanea vengono usate quotidianamente per comunicare e collaborare da remoto in modo rapido ed efficace. E’ arrivato il momento che anche la P.A. possa trarre i vantaggi da un’app di messaggistica sicura enterprise come Messagenius.

Messagenius - instant messaging for your company productivity boost

Ways instant messaging boosts workplace productivity

Posted on May 4, 2020 | by Editorial Team

An easy way to communicate at work is essential, but surprisingly challenging to get right.

In today’s ever-evolving workforce, the ‘when, where, and how we work‘ continues to shift, employees need communication platforms that increase efficiency and productivity. It’s time for employers to integrate state-of-the-art tools that empower their employees and increase their workplace flexibility but decreases their costs. Used effectively, instant messaging will lead to a culture of teamwork, collaboration, and security, which, in effect, make the business more productive.

Instant Messaging improves communication

In a survey conducted from November 2017 and January 2018, by the corporate arm of the Economist,

“Respondents say communication barriers are leading to a delay or failure to complete projects (44%), low morale (31%), missed performance goals (25%) and even lost sales (18%)—some worth hundreds of thousands of dollars”.
Source

Instant messaging is less distracting than a phone call and more direct than an email response, as well as the bonus of being able to monitor whether your contact is available or not. Users may set up status messages to remind others whether they are away, which adds to the usefulness of instant messaging as a beneficial communication device.

Effective interactions between team members are the key to productivity.

Less distracting, more personal

A 2018 study found that reducing workplace distraction, increased productivity. The study also found that the biggest distractions at work were small talk with colleagues, meetings, phone calls, and office noise.

Respondents perceived that if these issues could be resolved with a more direct line of contact: 75% would be more productive, 57% would be more motivated to work to the best of their ability, 51% would be more confident in their ability to complete their tasks well, 49% would be happier at work, and 44% would deliver higher quality work.

Source: Udemy In Depth – 2018 Workplace Distraction Report

By default, interacting with employees through instant messaging enables them to be succinct and to the point. Instant messaging apps should eliminate much of the internal churn and duplication of visits and emails. It even provides more personal contact between remote workers and managers.

Return on investment

The words any manager wants to see. ROI is an essential metric for efficiency, and replacing travel expenses has been one of the most significant advantages of instant messaging. Already in 2004, Radicati Group created a report on the economic and efficiency gains of instant messaging.

In the report, employees were provided with two typical daily tasks, both with and without instant messaging, and found that companies could save an average of 40 minutes a day per user with instant messaging. They estimated that an organization with 5,000 people could see a $37.5 million a year savings in productivity.

Today, companies in the US alone waste 15% of their time and $37 billion on unproductive meetings, while in the UK, a research found that by improving connectivity and using instant messaging technology, employers would recover 3.14 hours of work per week. That is a staggering 18 extra working days per year, and a £34.1 billion gain in productivity, with the right tool.

While meetings are necessary from time to time, a workplace messaging app can help your team eliminate the bulk of them, as well as help you save money.

Quick search, faster results

The average worker spends 20% of each week trying to locate their colleagues and track information, according to McKinsey. From the data above, we know that improving communication in the workplace solves part of that problem. With the help of built-in search tools that are standard features in the leading instant messaging apps, workers can locate vital job details the same way they would perform a search on Google.

Security

What was the average cost of data breaches in 2019 globally? Over $3.92 million per country, with the UK and Italy in the top 10 countries in the world facing such threats and high costs. So, securing your data is fundamental to your productivity, as much as any of the points above. The improved privacy and protection of data that instant messaging provides may be the most significant advantages for your company. Although the use of free consumer-grade chat apps for work-related communication poses privacy and security risks (read our post), company instant messengers, such as Messagenius, help businesses of all sizes avoid the next data breach.

Mobile messaging apps are crucial to business communication today, as the workforce is becoming increasingly mobile. There’s no denying the workforce is changing. Consider that around 40 percent of the workforce works remotely at some frequency, 73 percent of companies are projected to have remote workers by 2028 and that the global mobile workforce is expected to reach 1.87 billion people.

With workplace instant messaging technology, team members can communicate efficiently and stay engaged, both critical factors to achieve increased productivity. From an organization’s perspective, when the technology is used to its maximum potential, return on investment is a guarantee, by saving time, as well as securing your data, which all lead to higher levels of productivity.

Take your enterprise to the next level with Messagenius. Contact us today on how we can help your workforce achieve high productivity.