Team chat software as a business communication tool

You probably landed on this blog because you searched for something like “team chat software” or “business communication tools”. Well, what a good writer am I and thanks to Google for ranking me high on these terms. Cheers, mate. 😄

Team chat software is a type of business communication tool and I would highly recommend you to use it (as you will read later). But before you do, let me help you in your decision making process.

• The importance of business communication tools
• Team chat software vs live chat software
• What are the advantages of team chat software? 
• What are other useful business communication tools?
• 5 types of business communication tools

The importance of business communication tools 💬

In this era, all businesses undergo their digital transformation. Everything that happens offline will also or only happen online. Manual tasks get replaced with automated tasks or have an easier process when done digitally. This generates more time to focus on what actually matters. 

Because what does actually matter? People do. The employees that are currently doing manual tasks, wasting time and being full of frustrations. The customers that as a result of the employee’s frustrations or slow business processes are not satisfied in their experience. When you have more time to focus as a business, the better your results will be.

Focus brings quality

But let me get back to that another time. Business communication tools solve a huge problem. In the end, everything is communication. The more focused you are on optimizing quality communication, the better your performance will be. 📈

Digital communication tools take a lot of barriers away from traditional communication solutions. These solutions can make the difference in making your company more successful than others. 

Let me phrase my favorite Charles Darwin quote;

“It is not the strongest companies that survive, not the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change”

Charles Darwin

You might have noticed I changed his quote a bit, from species to companies. But the wisdom does not change. It is the survival of the fittest among companies and companies that do not adapt usually do not survive. 🦁

Business communication tools deliver several advantages:

• Increase productivity
• Enable to work remotely
• Enable efficient communication
• Create high employee satisfaction (Less frustrations)
• Save time and money
• Increase focus

Can you imagine the difference in performance of companies that adapt to these tools and those who don’t?

The differences between team chat software and live chat software 📖

There is a lot of confusion at companies when picking the right business communication tools. Not everyone has a tech background or belongs to generation Z. Yeah, you know, those small people with their fancy new gadgets doing musical stuff all day. 📱

Your life, unlike mine,  probably was not built around knowing the difference between team chat software and live chat software. So I hereby welcome you to read my explanation.

What is live chat software? 💬

Live chat software is software that enables you to have a real time chat with customers that visit your website. Live chat software is not only used on websites, but also in digital portals and has the main purpose of generating leads and customer support.

Of course, if you are used to email and now suddenly use software like Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Trengo team chat the terms could be a bit confusing.

Disclaimer: Those products are not called live chat software. 

What is team chat software? 💬

Team chat software is software that enables you to chat with your team. Yeah, also live and real-time. But the biggest difference is that a team chat does not involve communication with your clients. It is only meant for you to communicate with your team. 

No wonder Microsoft calls it Teams and Trengo calls it Team Chat.

The main objective of team chat software is to communicate efficiently with your colleagues. That is why it is often referred to as a replacement of email. Well actually, the replacement of internal emails. 

Or should we call email from now on, slow real-time team & live chat software?  🤔

Nah, I don’t really like that. 

Anyway, let’s get back on topic. Here you have the difference in one sentence to share with your colleagues in the decision making process: 

Team chat software is a business communication tool meant for internal communication and live chat software is for external communication. 

You can add “with your team” after internal communication and “with leads & customers” or “with anyone visiting the website” right behind external communication to clarify it some more. 

The advantages of team chat software 🔆

As you can imagine, using chat software with your team has a lot of advantages. The main advantage is an increase in productivity. Chatting real-time with your colleagues overcomes the problem of having to wait and sending back and forward emails, making internal communication more efficient. 

Another advantage is that your whole team can work remotely. There is no need to be in the same office. Working a day from home does not interrupt any activities. It is as quick as communicating in the office. Even better, everything is written down and you can go back to it whenever you want.  

5 types of business communication tools 💻

You now know the difference between live chat software and team chat software. But to make your decision process even more complicated, I have added three to the list. 

• Team chat software
• Live Chat Software
• Shared inbox software
• Customer service software
• Knowledge base software

Of course, I won’t let you go without any explanation. ⬇️

Shared inbox software

Let’s start with shared inbox software, also often referred to as team inbox software. While team chats are replacing internal emails, shared inboxes are replacing all your inboxes. Why? Well, there are 2 main advantages of these solutions. 

You know how hard it actually is to collaborate in your normal email inbox? Most people are still using a team chat to ask questions to colleagues or create endless threads of CC’s and BCC’s. But that is over now that shared inboxes enable you to collaborate between each conversation. 

And as companies utilize more channels than email, it would be nice to receive it all in one inbox right? Again a problem that is solved, because shared inboxes usually do more than just email. You can receive Voice calls, WhatsApp messages, Facebook Messenger, Live chat (the one I mentioned before), you name it. Who would not want that, right?

Customer service software

This one was probably expected. Customer service software is probably one of the most important business communication tools. Are you going to use one Gmail account to reply to the 1000 emails you receive with your @customerservie email address? While keeping a clear overview of your customers?

Don’t think so. 

Knowledge base software

We have already reached the last one. This one is a little bit different, because it does not contain conversations. Knowledge base software is a digital help center for customers or employees. Just like a library but with all the advantages of it being online. You can list articles that can be found through categories or a powerful search engine. It creates a self service portal for customers and employees, saving you a lot of time. 

Time flies when there is a lot of information to digest. 

I can hear you thinking: 

“Thanks Luuk, you just made our decision making process more complicated.” 

Well, everything has a reason. What if there is a solution that includes them all? 

Drumroll please! 🥁

………….

Meet the mother of all business communication tools! 👑

That is why we have built Trengo. An easy and affordable business communication tool that covers all your needs when it comes to business communication. Trengo is a shared inbox for all teams, a customer service software solution, a knowledge base solution, a live chat software solution and team chat. All in one inbox - so you never have to switch inboxes or software solutions again.

Thank us later 💚. 

And as with everything in life, you have to experience Trengo. I have added this huge call-to-action block below (can’t be missed) and I invite you to try it out. 

Don’t forget to let me know what you think.