Teams | Collaboration | Customer Service | Project Management

August 2021

Introducing Courier Inbox and Toast for Notifications That Don't Suck

We are excited to announce the availability of Courier’s newest provider, Courier Push! We have released Inbox and Toast, two open source React components that exemplify the potential future applications of this feature. With Toast, you can send your user a notification within your web application and Inbox allows you to create an embeddable notification repository so that your user can access all past in-app notifications.

Whiteboarding in Google Workspace

We know the best work happens when collaboration across teams runs smoothly. At Miro, we always look for opportunities to connect our work and fuel innovation to bring you the best whiteboard experience you can have, so you, too, can do your best work. That’s why we’ve partnered with Google Workspace extending existing capabilities within Google Calendar, creating seamless workflows within Google Meet, and supporting deeper integrations with Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

Choosing the Best Hybrid Meeting Venue

As pandemic restrictions loosen globally, your organization may be leaning towards having a hybrid meeting to slowly ease back into having physical attendees, while still remaining compliant to health and safety protocols. Unlike virtual-only meetings, hybrid meetings have additional requirements such as a physical venue, and the need of state-of-the-art audio & video production equipment. Here is a checklist of the factors to consider when choosing the best hybrid meeting venue.

The 3 Main Types of Content Services: Collaborative, Archival and Transactional

Over the past few years, content services have fallen into one of two different categories: transactional or collaborative. Transactional content, as the name suggests, directly relates to the case management content that businesses are working with on a daily basis. Collaborative content, on the other hand, has to do with all of those project-related documents that people are tracking to actively do their jobs.

Top 8 Advantages of Implementing BYOD in Your Organization

For many years now, organizations are taking several measures to bring about flexibility in their work culture. One such practice is Bring Your Own Device , popularly known as BYOD. BYOD enables an employee to work using their own device, giving them the liberty to carry work home or any other location. The main advantages of BYOD include helping businesses grow by saving money and increasing productivity.

How to level up your customer-centric marketing strategy with 3 templates

Customer-centric marketers are laser-focused on the customer experience. This strategic approach challenges marketing teams to better understand customers so they can offer value at every interaction based on customer needs and interests. Teams who adhere to this approach often invest a lot of time and energy understanding the psyche of the customers who matter to them most.

Applicable Strategies for Effective Team Management

Others may choose to see the manager or team leader job as a position of power, but it is a responsibility that requires you to manage your team while meeting the company's and team's expectations. Managing a team requires multi-tasking, where you have to deal with a different set of psychologies and motivate them to work together toward a common goal.

LinkedIn's first steps towards a centralized notification strategy

In the past, each LinkedIn application team decided their notification strategy in isolation. Business logic and infrastructure sharing were limited between the teams. This resulted in a fragmented and inconsistent tech stack across LinkedIn and a less than savory member notification experience. To combat this disjointed experience, Linkedin set up a small team to build an orchestration layer, the Air-Traffic Controller (ATC). This became one of the more complex notification systems and helped Linkedin grow into the top social platform for business and networking.

Introducing the Miro Professional Network

Whether you’re a freelancer, consultant, or small agency, chances are, the way you meet and collaborate with clients has changed a lot over the past year. And with remote, hybrid, and distributed work environments here to stay, Miro’s collaborative online whiteboard offers a more flexible, future-proof solution for getting things done seamlessly—in-person or across the globe.

Data privacy: most important regulations and 5 tips on data protection

Data privacy is one of the major trends in a highly digitalized world. As products and services become more digital, there is more concern about misuse of data and personal information. Countries around the world are passing laws concerning data privacy, and some of these laws are industry-specific. In this article, we will approach the topic of data privacy for businesses.

5 most important data protection trends in 2022 and beyond

Data protection is giving more and more headaches to businesses. Data privacy regulations are profoundly affecting the way organizations approach their data security. However, fines for improper data management is not the sole reason why companies are enhancing data protection methods. Namely, customers are more aware than ever of how their data is being handled, and they are increasingly interested in how organizations approach data protection.

Everything You Need to Know About BYOD Security (2021 Guide)

If your company allows employees to use their personal devices for work (Bring Your Own Device), you need a BYOD security policy . Today, most companies incorporate a BYOD culture due to rising remote work demands following the pandemic. While this may leave you open to cyberattacks and data breaches , a robust security policy can help mitigate any such BYOD risk. In this article, we’ll discuss why you need BYOD security and how to create an effective BYOD policy in just eight steps .

The Future of Work: Reskill to Survive

A job used to be for life. 30 years of dedicated service, in the same career, doing the same thing. Every single day. And that’s what we wanted. Enough money to support a family and savings for retirement – only starting to really live our lives at the end. That’s not what work is anymore. It took a viral pandemic that brought the world to its knees to prove that the future of work isn’t rigid. It’s flexible, adaptable and always evolving with new technology.

This one rule will set your hybrid team up for success

This article originally appeared on Inc. In 2021, the hybrid work model became top-of-mind for business leaders. No wonder—the majority of knowledge workers (72%) say that, moving forward, they prefer a hybrid approach and a mix of remote and office work. And while the payoffs can be enormous, going hybrid is risky, especially because it can perpetuate a two-tier work environment.

Looking ahead to general availability of Collapsed Reply Threads

We appreciate all the incredible feedback the Mattermost community has provided about Collapsed Reply Threads since launching in beta in Mattermost Cloud and Self-Managed v5.37 and later. We are working as quickly as possible towards resolving known issues and then promoting this feature to be generally available.

The 12 Best Microsoft Teams Alternatives (2021)

Microsoft Teams is a house hold software used by all and our team at Nifty wanted to put together an all inclusive list for the best Microsoft Teams Alternatives that will most likely be more beneficial to your business. The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic has changed our lives in many ways. Most business owners have made it possible for their employees to work remotely from home for safety and health reasons. But many managers still have problems with managing their employees from afar.

Kanban in Jira Software (team-managed projects)

Kanban, along with its sister framework scrum, are the most popular agile methodologies today. By visualizing work, limiting work in progress, and managing flow, kanban allows teams to plan flexibly, while increasing focus, output, and transparency. In this quick video, we’ll show you the first steps to get started with kanban in Jira Software.

The Most Secure Encrypted Chat Apps in 2021

With the dawn of instant messenger apps, it may have gotten easier to communicate with people all over the world, and however, malicious individuals have discovered easy ways to infiltrate our data, business information, and so on. To your surprise, some famous chat apps don’t provide encrypted chats, with that said still few chat apps can provide you end-to-end encrypted communication. Some of the best secure encrypted chat apps are listed below.

Live Chat Software Reports & Analytics - Vision Helpdesk

Performance is the key to success. However, measuring your performance in comparison to others as well as the required standards is a challenge faced by everyone. Reports and Analytics are the means through which you can measure performance. We have developed statistical and graphical reports which are not only simple to generate, but also easy to understand, thereby helping in quick and detailed analysis and performance review.

Team Effort: Its Benefits, Examples and Ways to Encourage

It’s no secret that life has a way of testing us with unforeseen challenges. While it’s impossible to avoid every obstacle altogether, working as a team can make these trials far easier to overcome. When team members play off each other’s strengths, they’ll be able to function as a collective unit that’s greater than the sum of its parts. In this article, we’re going to go over some key benefits and examples of team effort. Let’s get right into it!

How I used Unity and Courier to Create a Notification-based Game

Hello, world! I’m Matt Graber. I just finished my undergrad at the University of Maryland. I started my game development career back in freshman year in the UMD AR club. I used to teach other students how to create augmented and virtual reality experiences with Unity, a cross-platform game engine. I also enjoy informal game jams and larger projects in Unity with fellow developer friends. Recently, I won the sponsored prize at the Bitcamp hackathon for building Package Person

What are the 5 rights of notification sending within LinkedIn's Communications team(ATC)?

In the past, each LinkedIn application team decided their notification strategy in isolation. Business logic and infrastructure sharing were limited between the teams. This resulted in a fragmented and inconsistent tech stack across LinkedIn and a less than savory member notification experience. To combat this disjointed experience, Linkedin set up a small team to build an orchestration layer, the Air-Traffic Controller (ATC). This became one of the more complex notification systems and helped Linkedin grow into the top social platform for business and networking.

6 tips for designing an effective office reopening plan

Companies across the world are thinking about reopening their office doors and welcoming their employees back when it’s safe. Too many, though, are adopting a “wait and see” strategy—that is, they’re planning to unlock their doors and wait to see which—and how many—employees show up. Companies that adopt this approach are setting themselves up for irreparable damage.

How to set goals for contractors: think SMART

We all want to be successful in what we do. But to be successful, we’ve first got to define what success is– otherwise, we’re just working aimlessly. Think of it like this; you get in your car, and you start driving– with no destination in mind. Where are you going? Where will you end up? What’s the outcome going to be? Sure– you might have a nice drive. Or you might get hopelessly lost.

7 Collaborative Processes A Leader Must Follow

Collaborative processes are essential to create an organization that is on the same page and in sync with one another. A collaborative process and culture in the workplace is defined as the existence of open and free-flowing interchange of information, data, skills, and sometimes even customers and clients when necessary. It is the opposite of a “hoarding” culture, where employees feel that every man or woman is out for themselves.

A Sit Down with Wire CEO: The Future of Secure Messaging

Encrypted communication and collaboration app Wire claim that it is“the most secure collaboration platform.” I had heard this before, many times in fact, but had never seen any proof of this notion. One of the ways the company does this is via encrypting every message sent and received, reducing the chances of a malicious intrusion.

10 Best Team Communication Tools for Small Business

In today's modernizing environment, team members can no longer rely on one-on-one interactions with colleagues and communicating every petty information or transferring essential files via email, which can be a time-consuming process due to its etiquettes. Choosing team communication tools can be the best decision because it not only improves communication but also team productivity, collaboration, and time management.

Introducing Element Voice Messages, all new VoIP, and so much more...

Hi all, We’re incredibly excited to release major new versions of Element across all three platforms, introducing Voice Messages at last as a first class citizen! Element Web/Desktop 1.8, Element iOS 1.5 and Element Android 1.2 are here today (today-ish, depending on time zones and platforms), fulfilling all your voice messaging fantasies. Grab it whilst it's hot!

Virtual Agent in Live Chat Software - Vision Helpdesk

In today’s cut-throat competition, every penny is precious. Why spend extra on manpower, when the virtual agent can get it done for free. Vision Helpdesk – Live Chat has the Virtual Agent inbuilt in the system. The Virtual Agent can take care of the instant level one support for your client, thereby reducing the load on your staff. Questions and their Answers can be pre-fed into the virtual agent. The virtual agent also links directly to the Live Chat where staff can connect and continue providing support to the client, thereby leading to instant and efficient customer support.

17 best team collaboration software to skyrocket your business in 2021

Team collaboration software market is growing stronger every day. With companies switching to hybrid work models and leaders realizing how important collaboration is, it is expected that teams will be increasingly using collaborative tools in the years to come. There are numerous examples of team collaboration software on the market. We are bringing you the list of best solutions in four categories essential for simple collaboration – regardless of where you work from!

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

We’ve all been part of the group projects at school where we have that one ‘leader’ who decides whose ideas are interesting and dismisses the others as unamusing. In addition to our leader, we had the lazy one who did nothing but took credit for the hard work of others. Based on those past experiences, it’s no wonder why most of us dread the idea of working together with others. And yet, something incredible happens when people come together to create something new.

Nodemailer and the SaaS Paradox of Choice

Early stage companies are constantly evolving their product to fit the market they operate in. They reach customers to keep them engaged using a high magnitude vector that contributes to their success. Architecting the communications strategy for your product thus becomes an important problem to tackle, which in turn can cause second-order effects like having to trade off the speed of product development iterations.

[Webinar Recap] Trends transforming employee experience and company brand in 2021

As organizations reimagine the future of work and the hybrid workplace, the employee digital experience will emerge as a key component to maintaining company culture. The past year has led companies to create experiences for their employees that are personalized, engaging and built on connections with a source of truth.

Building an Integration? Here's When to Use Apps instead of Plugins

In the last few months, we have been working on a new Apps framework for developers. The idea behind this framework is to make it easier for more developers to integrate external applications or their own applications into Mattermost. But wait a moment, don’t we have Plugins for that? Yes, but Apps provide some advantages to developers over Plugins.

Risk Management Transformation

Risk managers are facing possibly their biggest challenge in these pandemics hit times. Increasing regulatory pressures, complex demand from remote worker management, aligned with previously unseen volumes of data. This perfect storm of circumstances is driven by the complexity and demands of risk management, each with their own unique compliance and regulatory challenges. Across all sectors, radical transformation is required to address increasing internal and external challenges.

How to Set Up a Content Workflow Management System for your Team

For any online business to scale via organic means content marketing and a content workflow management process are crucial for creating growth workflows that every digital business should be starting with. Do we still need to remind ourselves of the value of content creation? Hopefully Not! I believe you create content on a weekly or monthly basis and you know the value of content.

Multi-Company Help Desk Software: What Is It and Its Benefits?

Using separate help desks for each store or brand can be confusing, especially when your customer service agents have to learn how to use the different software systems. One way most business owners are using to overcome this challenge is by using one centralized system to help them efficiently manage their companies’ data without requiring different logins. Multi-company help desks are great for growing companies that need more than just basic customer service software.

Productive Processes and Profit Begins at Home!

In this age of 24/7 Client focus, it is easy for Practice Management to lose sight of the fundamentally important job of looking for internal systematic operating process bottlenecks. In many cases hidden away in the business, there are functions that remain supported primarily by a mixture of seemingly permanent ‘temporary Shadow Systems" such as spreadsheets and shared drives, all supported by manually driven processes.

Live Chat Software Automation and Round Robin Rules - Vision Helpdesk

Boost your Customer Support with the Simplicity of Live Chat Software Automation. Industries have to cope up with many challenges like providing quick and efficient responses, pro-active support, round-the-clock availability, etc.. all this while having an edge over the competitors. The zeal to be a market leader has made Automation a necessity in the Service Industry.

Our Slack integration just got a whole lot better! Here's how you can make the most of our brand new features

Slack is undoubtedly one of our most popular integrations to date. With that in mind, we’ve implemented some of your suggestions to improve your experience using Slack with Teamwork and we think Version 2 of this integration will be a game-changer.

Why Software Accessibility Matters

Making sure your software and its documentation is accessible is not only the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do—and it’s actually not that difficult. An accessible product is as usable as possible for everyone, regardless of their physical and cognitive abilities. For example, blind people should be able access your documentation with a screen reader, and neurologically atypical people shouldn’t be distracted by flashing screens, pop-ups, or carousels.

Elevating team collaboration with Miro and Google Workspace

Imagine a typical day at work that starts with checking Google Calendar to prepare for where you need to be and when. With engaging discussions, your teams create Google Docs to take notes on the important decisions coming out of the meetings and begin writing briefs to kick off your company’s next big project. Then you turn to Sheets to track the KPIs and leverage Slides to prepare the final presentation for your executive leadership by 4pm that day.

Architecting Your Customer Notification Strategy w/ Sandor Nyako

In the past, each LinkedIn application team decided their notification strategy in isolation. Business logic and infrastructure sharing were limited between the teams. This resulted in a fragmented and inconsistent tech stack across LinkedIn and a less than savory member notification experience. To combat this disjointed experience, Linkedin set up a small team to build an orchestration layer, the Air-Traffic Controller (ATC). This became one of the more complex notification systems, and helped Linkedin grow into the top social platform for business and networking.

Architecting Your Customer Notification Strategy w/ Sandor Nyako | LinkedIn Engineering

In the past, each LinkedIn application team decided their notification strategy in isolation. Business logic and infrastructure sharing were limited between the teams. This resulted in a fragmented and inconsistent tech stack across LinkedIn and a less than savory member notification experience. To combat this disjointed experience, Linkedin set up a small team to build an orchestration layer, the Air-Traffic Controller (ATC). This became one of the more complex notification systems and helped Linkedin grow into the top social platform for business and networking.

Messaging apps: 8 most important security features to look for

Messaging apps security is, along with other security concerns, one of the biggest must-haves when it comes to digital transformation. As workplaces move from the physical world into a digital one, employers are looking to ensure highest security standards while fostering the culture of collaboration. However, there are some challenges they encounter along the way.

10 Internal Communications Best Practices During COVID-19

COVID-19 changed how companies communicate with their employees overnight. Many changes came out of necessity and a lot of the changes are still inflight. But we do know this: organizations are rewriting internal communication best practices as we speak. Simpplr Research interviewed customers and communication leaders to understand how changes are constantly evolving. In this eBook, we've highlighted 10 emerging best practices that are helping companies manage their crisis communication, keep their distributed employees connected, and make the most of this unprecedented situation.

Survey Results: State of Internal Communications During COVID-19

This year's internal communications report is twofold: the annual State of Internal Communications 2020 and the State of Internal Communications, COVID-19 edition. COVID-19 has disrupted the norms of most organizations in operations and in communications. Simpplr Research surveyed over 600 participants to learn how IC has evolved and adapted to the new working environment and how organizations plan to transition employees back to the workforce.