Remote work continues to evolve as more employees have the ability to work from almost anywhere. The change to more remote employees has increasingly shown that team communication is essential. For this reason, businesses must use effective communication tools as a normal part of daily operations.

If you’re looking for better communication tools for your team, then you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the best internal communications tools for your business!

Real-Time Chat Tools for Remote Teams

Real-time chat apps are more than just tools. They’re an essential part of communication within a modern office. They’re effective for both in-house communications as well as communication with remote employees. What’s more, chat tools can make a business run more efficiently.

Here are some great real-time chat tools to consider for your company & remote employees:

1). Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a great chat app for a team. The service is a collaboration app that makes sure your team has those important, relevant conversations. It also works to keep your team organized.

Microsoft Teams offers different channels that employees can belong to. Within the channels, it’s possible to hold meetings, chat, and even share files. Channels can be set up for specific projects, too. There’s also a general channel where everyone can join in a chat.

Teams can also be easily tied to Microsoft’s SharePoint service, which is a document library and management system. Files that are shared in a specific conversation will be saved to this conversation’s folder, making it easy to find that file you were talking about a couple of days ago.

The Microsoft Teams app also makes it possible to hold online video calls and share screens. What’s more, the app is also great for online meetings, including company-wide meetings of up to 10,000 users! The app also offers complete telephony services through Microsoft’s 365 Business Voice VoIP service.

What’s more, Microsoft Teams can also integrate with a wide range of apps, including PowerPoint, Trello, Asana, Office 365, Microsoft Planner, Skype for Business, and many more.

Microsoft Teams is available through Microsoft Office 365 subscriptions.

2). Troop Messenger

Troop Messenger is another business chat app that’s great for the office and remote employees. The app makes it easier to stay in touch with everyone through one interface. It’s possible to share everything from files, conversations, work requirements, and more. Troop Messenger is a great solution for companies of all sizes—from startups to large organizations.

This app has a wide range of features, such as chatting in real-time. The app also provides security through a Pin and fingerprint. It also offers up to 15 GB of storage, multi-platform support (Web, desktop, iOS, & Android), as well as an unlimited chat history.

You’ll also find an attachment preview (before downloading), group notifications, contact sharing, and even offline messaging. What’s more, the app also provides support for audio and video calls.

Troop Messenger offers a free 7-day trial, as well as premium and enterprise packages.

Voice & Video Conferencing Tools

Staying connected is essential in the modern office, which is why voice and video conferencing tools are a must. Here are a couple of great tools to help your team stay in touch.

3). Zoom

Zoom has grown in popularity over the last couple of years. Zoom provides both video conferencing and message services available for desktop or mobile devices. The app is pretty easy to get up and to run.

Zoom offers HD video and audio, which can support up to 1,000 participants at one time. It can also display up to 49 videos on one screen (it’s best to have a big screen monitor for these types of meetings). What’s more, it’s even possible to save videos locally or in the cloud, along with searchable transcripts. Participants can also share screens, work together in real-time, as well as share notes, and more.

Some have worried about the app’s security, and for a good reason. In the past, it was easy for anyone to enter a meeting, usually for disruptive purposes. However, these days, Zoom uses 250-bit TLS encryption for meetings and shared files, as well as for automated scheduling from Outlook, Gmail, and iCal.

Zoom integrates with a wide range of apps, including Dropbox, HubSpot CRM, LeadMaster, Marketo, Microsoft, Outlook, Salesforce Sales Cloud, Slack, Zapier, and Zendesk.

The app is available for free (with basic features), pro, business, and an enterprise version. There’s also a free trial if you’d like to try the service out before committing.

4). Skype for Business

Skype for Business has been around for a while and makes it easy to stay connected with team members who work at the office or remotely. Skype makes it easy to start conversations through IM, voice, or video calls. In addition, Skype for Business can be used to make regular phone calls if you buy Skype credit.

The Skype for Business interface is very easy to use, with a clean UI. You can invite up to 250 participants to a meeting at the same time. Participants can view the meeting in Gallery View (this shows all participants), Speaker view (shows only the presenter), Presentation view (shows meeting content), or Compact view (shows only the titles of participants). On audio calls, a user will see participants’ pictures. It’s also possible to decide who controls the meeting (within the app).

The app features chat, conferencing, IM, video conferencing, monitoring, receiving, reporting & stats, SMS integration, voice mail, and more. In addition, the app integrates with Microsoft Outlook, Slack, Bitium, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Skype for Business is free, but you can enjoy additional features with a paid account.

Document Collaboration Tools

Here, we’ll take a look at a great document collaboration tool for in-house and remote teams!

5). Microsoft Office 365

Microsoft Office 365 is a suite of productivity and collaboration tools all based in the cloud. These tools completely integrate with Microsoft’s online apps (including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more), making this a comprehensive tool for collaborating with your team.

Microsoft Office 365 makes it easy to collaborate anytime from anywhere. The app comes with web access to email, documents, contacts, and calendars across a wide range of devices. What’s more, the app has built-in security and compliance, which means all your work and data stay secure. It’s even possible to see who has accessed to specific documents and more.

Microsoft Office 365 is available in three different packages, including Business, Business Premium, and Business Essentials. There’s also a free trial available, which doesn’t require a credit card.

Summing It Up

This is our list of a few of the best communication tools available to your company. With these tools, everyone at the office or working remotely can stay in touch and up to date.

When choosing a communication tool for your business, be sure to consider which types of communication tools are best for your projects. Choosing the right communication tools can quickly ramp up efficiency and productivity for in-house and remote teams!