As more and more businesses are working from one, it is more important than ever to keep the communication channels accessible and open. This is quintessential to ensure that things are done in their time. But, in all honesty, now the emails are not enough. Today’s fast-moving companies are looking at multiple modern communication channels to boost productivity amongst workers and stimulate problem-solving.

With features, such as screen sharing, group chatting, productivity tools, and video conferencing, the communication tools streamline the whole process of working together. However, the best kinds of communication tools do a lot more than just team chatting. These applications connect the people within your organization and put them all on a shared platform of ideas, knowledge, and talent. Further, they help overcome the business challenges, such as syncing the different groups to motivate them into working towards the common business outcomes and goals.

Slack

Slack presents small businesses with a comprehensive and robust potent chat tool. Beyond group and one-on-one chatting, Slack also enables team and individual video and audio call conferencing. Overall, with Slack, both communication and collaboration are simplified. You can use the software to organize teams, an array of other items using hashtags or projects, and share the files by importing them to Slack or via Dropbox, Google Drive, or any other file-sharing platforms.

In Slack, all the chats and the files are archived, synched, and searchable if you need anything later. Further, Slack has an incredible feature, which lets you edit on other people’s screens. Lastly, with this software, you get numerous third-party integrations, such as Google Slides or Sheets, for seamless viewing and sharing of the files amidst calls and conversations.

‘In March 2020, our office was shut for work from home, and ever since then, the complete collaboration has happened over Slack. It helps complete routine office tasks effortlessly as communicating and keeping a tab of the project’s progress is easier now,’ comments Sonya, an associate with TopAssignmentExperts.

BlueJeans by Verizon

It would not be wrong to say that we all have a specific means and way of attending online meetings. However, if you do not have any particular meeting platform, you can try BlueJeans. It is a cloud-based platform that provides the attendees the flexibility to join the video-conferencing via phone, desktop app, or browser, all while keeping the meetings more productive with an array of collaborative features available across multiple platforms. Some of the top features of BlueJeans include the ability to share screens, host meetings in the town halls or conference rooms, and record meetings. Thus, combining workflows is easier with BlueJeans.

For instance, with the software, you can conveniently schedule the meetings with Google Calendar and Outlook and integrate the software with other prevalent business services and applications.

What’s more? The content in BlueJeans is shared AES-GCM 256-bit encryption, and conversations can indeed prove beneficial with real-time closed captioning, especially the users with hearing disorders. Further, the users who do not have audio or video-call equipped devices can regularly phone in and be a part of the meeting.

My team and I have been using the BlueJeans software for communication. It has been beneficial for us, shares Stephen, an associate who works with a platform where you can avail of ‘pay someone to do my coursework’ services.

The prices for the software start at 9.99 USD per month per host if you shop for the annual plan. You can even shop for the Pro version that can accommodate approximately seventy-five participants. The plan will cost you around 12.49 USD per month per host if billed annually.

Flock

Another one of the best software, which is great for the teams who wish to work collaboratively on a project and discuss common interests in the channels, is Flock. On the software, the employees can conveniently share files, exchange messages, share screen, host video conferences, manage the to-do list, automate repetitive processes, set up calendar events, and do so much more from one single cross-platform tool.

Further, the tool also seamlessly integrates with prevalent business tools, such as MailChimp, Zoom, Asana, Google Drive, and Google Calendar. So, it means having Flock in your system would result in spending lesser time shuffling in-between applications. Some other fun extras that come with the tool include animated stickers, dark mode, and a diverse set of emojis for the team to express fully. In all, these can promote good company culture.

With Flock, you get a supremely generous free plan. You can add as many members as required in the free plan and enjoy features, such as ten public channels and one on one video calls and messages. On the other hand, in the Pro version, you can unlock an array of additional features, such as unlimited channels, accentuated admin controls, guest accounts, video conferencing, and accessibility to priority support. Moreover, you can get this at 4.50 per month per user. So, in all, it is a steal.

‘We at TFTH love using the Flock application for seamless collaboration and communication. It is great,’ shares Justine.

Basecamp

Lastly, we have the Basecamp application, which helps bridge the gap between the clients and the staff. This software has been designed to make it effortless for people in several departments within the company to communicate, share files, and collaborate on different projects.

By consolidating client relations, project management, internal communication all in one place, Basecamp provides you with a streamlined and efficient solution to manage a bunch of internal collaboration and communication needs. With the Basecamp’s discussion board, the very need for hard-to-navigate and complicate email chains is done away with, and all the discussion about the subject can be carried out in a single place. Moreover, the application also manages the to-do list and the tasks for the staff members.

So, these are the four best communication and collaboration applications for small business owners. Of course, this is not an exhaustive list. So, if you have more such suggestions to add to this list, you can let us know in the comment section below.