Teams | Collaboration | Customer Service | Project Management

February 2022

Interoperability: Open APIs are a start, Open Standard is better

The EU’s next discussion on the Digital Markets Act (DMA) will take place soon and interoperability for online communications (messaging apps, collaboration tools and social media platforms) will be at the heart of it. Interoperability was one of the key features of the DMA when it was first advertised, as it’s completely aligned with the fundamental goals of the act.

Why Vision Helpdesk Is Ideal Live Help Chat Software

Efficient customer support plays a crucial role in your business’s overall growth and continuity. It starts with communicating with your customers using the right tools and platforms. With the increased technological trends today, you can easily reach out to your customers using live help chat software. This tool helps you stay connected with your customers and remain ahead of the game no matter the competition within your niche.

Introducing Rocket.Chat University: the learning hub for all-things open-source and Rocket.Chat

We’re firm believers in the power of open source. By being open, we’re able to share with the world - and sharing is one of Rocket.Chat’s core values. As a part of our open-source commitment and our mission to empower our community, Rocket.Chat is proud to launch our very own University program!

The Future of Work: Miro's Vision for Hybrid Teams

Companies worldwide are carefully reopening their offices and embracing a hybrid model — with employees working some days in the office and some from home or elsewhere. For hybrid to be effective and inclusive, those companies need a clear POV and a detailed plan. Here’s ours, as discussed by our leaders. Watch Miro’s Head of Operations Grisha Pavlotsky and Head of Product Varun Parmar talk about the key considerations as we design the next phase of work and how our product strategy works to ensure that our hybrid experiences are inclusive and engaging.

Slack vs Teams: A Head-to-Head Comparison

Microsoft and Slack have a history that goes back to 2016 when Microsoft attempted to purchase Slack. The deal did not materialize, and in response, Microsoft created its collaboration tool, Microsoft Teams. Slack and Microsoft Teams boast 12 million and 13 million daily active users, respectively – a direct result of the pandemic and the increase in remote work.

Will HR Workflow Automation Ever Rule the World?

Certainly yes, why not? We all know that the HR teams are the backbone of offices of all shapes and sizes, as they are the ones who identify and bring potential and skilful resources to the company. The automation of the HR workflows would beyond any doubt, help the HR department save time from doing the repetitive mundane tasks of talent acquisition, hiring, employee onboarding, employee management, payroll, performance appraisals, and others.

Adapting to the Changing Society as a Not-for-Profit

The scale of the not-for-profit (NFP) sector in Australia continues to grow. With the global crisis, there is a great opportunity to innovate, rethink, and venture out for the future of the sector. Last December 9, 2021, Convene sponsored a panel discussion about the investment of NFPs in innovation during these times. The session is part of the Governance Institute of Australia‘s (GIA) Not-for-Profit Governance Forum 2021.

Zulip Cloud security vulnerability with reusable invitation links

An internal investigation recently uncovered a vulnerability (identified as CVE-2022-21706) in Zulip’s invitation links. Specifically, a reusable invitation link could be used to join a different organization than the one it was created for. As a result, there was a potential for users to join any organization without an invitation (and bypassing domain restrictions). This vulnerability was discovered by the Zulip security team, and has now been fixed for all Zulip Cloud organizations.

What is the Employee Experience and How Does it Impact Your Business?

When we hear the phrase “Employee Experience,” several questions come to mind. First and foremost, what is it? Is it a top-of-a-mountain, mystical experience, where the employee discovers their value, worth, and employer appreciation? The simple answer is “Yes.” According to a Gallup report,” The employee experience is the journey an employee takes with your organization.

6 ways customer service chatbots increase customer satisfaction

The digitalization of businesses is growing at a rapid pace. Customers demand that products and services be available 24/7 throughout the year. Because of this demand, customer service chatbots are becoming increasingly popular among businesses. A chatbot is a software program that uses Artificial Intelligence and Machine language to operate. A customer service chatbot is being used in the e-commerce business for improved customer service.

Introducing Courier Elemental

Marking up notification emails with HTML out of the 1990s has always been an annoyance, but now notifications need to span across additional channels such as SMS, Slack, Microsoft Teams, mobile push, web push, etc. They also need to accommodate more dynamic use cases like magic login links, multi-language notifications, and location based alerts that have caused the content formatting challenge to become far more complicated and cumbersome.

How you can become a facilitator of change within your company

Your company probably has a strong set of values around things like inclusion, diversity, and sustainability. And like most companies, with a few positive changes, they can do a much better job living those values. That’s where you come in! For an organization to transition from solely preaching its values to living them, there must be people within who facilitate that initial change, especially around social initiatives like diversity and sustainability.

Top 5 Cybersecurity Trends in 2022

Cybersecurity in 2021 has been a challenge for many organizations around the world. No sector is spared from cyberattacks — even emerging companies and leading industry leaders from diverse industries are vulnerable to such attacks. In the US alone, the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) identified that the number of data breaches in 2021 has surpassed the volume of data breaches in 2020.

13 Slack project management integrations that optimize agency productivity

At its simplest, Slack is a channel-based chat tool that many agencies and client services teams use to discuss issues in real-time. Instead of relying on buried email threads, phone calls, or carrier pigeons, Slack has become a popular tool for one-to-one business messaging, private group chat, voice and video calls, and inter-business collaboration via Slack Connect.

Monday Blues: How to Stop Being Unproductive at Work?

Monday blues are understandable and acceptable. However, if your Monday Blues last until Friday, or you feel unmotivated at work throughout the week, there is a severe problem in your working style or routine that you must address as soon as possible. Without a doubt, being productive and focused at work throughout the week is a challenging task for most of us.

How Reputation Management Can Help You Stay Private?

Let's face it. Big Brother is watching. Whether you like it or not, you are leaving a digital trace and your personal life every time you use your favorite social media account (or several). And those crumbs of privacy you scatter along your way are eagerly collected, scraped, and analyzed by Facebook, Google, and other less benevolent corporations. They have a use for your information.

10 Excellent Slack Alternatives (Features, Pricing)

Slack is one of the most popular real-time work communication apps used by individuals, teams, and organizations. It offers quick chat functionality, easy file sharing, voice and video calls, and more. So why look for Slack alternatives? Well, Slack has its own share of drawbacks. For starters, the fast messaging and endless group chats make it difficult to track what’s happening. In this article, we’ll discuss some Slack drawbacks and suggest 10 Slack alternatives you can use instead.

Hybrid Work: How to Collaborate Smartly

If you’re not riding the wave of change, you’ll find yourself beneath it. Not so long ago, managing a work team meant everyone was under a single roof. Today, the situation is vastly different. Most employees prefer to work from home to retain a degree of freedom and autonomy over their lives. Some prefer to work from an office but only on a few days of the week and still others prefer to go back to the good old fashioned full-time office work.

How Internal Communications Can Show Value During Mergers and Acquisitions

Lately, it’s not hard to go on LinkedIn, read online, or hear the news about a merger or an acquisition (M&A) transpiring. Two weeks ago, Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines announced they were merging. Last week, WarnerMedia and Discovery announced they received government approval to merge into one large media conglomerate. And then there are the acquisitions going on in tech, healthcare, and everywhere else.

CIO Classified: How to create a great employee experience

With technological innovation accelerating faster than ever—and the pandemic entering a new phase—CIOs have never faced more uncertainty and complexity. That’s why we’ve partnered with Caspian Studios to sponsor Season 3 of the CIO Classified podcast. CIO Classified is a podcast for CIOs, decision-makers, and technology leaders that want to push their business forward and stay on the cutting edge.

Alternative to Sandes Messaging App in 2022

The Indian government developed a messaging app for the government called GIMS, which stands for Government Instant Messaging System. Government officials refer to it as Sandes, which means "message" in Hindi. "Sandes is a secure, open source-based, the cloud-enabled platform hosted on government infrastructure, allowing the GOI to maintain strategic control. One-to-one and group messaging, file and media sharing, audio-video calls, and e-government program integration are some of its features.

Remote Work: Next Steps for Your Team

A decade ago, telecommuting or “working from home” was new and only offered to those in higher management as an extra perk. This is because high-quality audio and video streaming tools needed for telecommuting are typically overpriced at that time. Fast forward to 2021, the world gets hit by a pandemic, and overnight, everybody had to evolve to the new normal.

9 HipChat Alternatives (True & False Competitors) Reviewed in 2022

As I’m writing this in January 2019, I suppose we can already talk about the tool using past tense. HipChat WAS a popular messaging and collaboration service owned by Atlassian, launched in 2010 (years before Slack!). HipChat was a decent Slack competitor for years. Even when Frisco-based SaaS was already picking up steam, HipChat managed to get ahead of its arch-rival a few times.

5 DevOps tips - all don'ts!

This blog is a safe space – so let’s just say it. DevOps is hard work and boring. There. We said it. To most people in tech and software, DevOps is tedium and busywork that gets in the way of the “real” work – making software. This is why it’s often left by the wayside, or done improperly. So, what if we told you that if you got it right, your job would be better, more fun, your business more profitable – all that kind of pie in the sky fantasy stuff?

Element launches E2EE Location Sharing

Location sharing can be seen in both a positive and negative light. Great in the sense that it provides an extra layer of safety and convenience to users. Ever tried finding your friends at a festival without location sharing? Impossible. A lone worker who wants the comfort of those back at base knowing where they are? Yes please. But, of course, it can also be a massive invasion of privacy and yet another opportunity for data mining and more ******* adverts.

Level up cross-team collaboration: Say hello to Asana Flow

At Asana, we’re all about making cross-team collaboration seamless. Today, we’re excited to introduce Asana Flow, a suite of new features powered by the Asana Work Graph data model and purpose-built to drive effortless coordination for individuals, teams, and organizations.

Explore new world-class workflows: Introducing templates built by Discovery Inc., ClassPass, Awin, and City of Providence

When done right, workflows provide the clarity cross-functional teams need to reach their goals faster. Today, we’re making it even easier for you to visualize and build automated workflows. As a key part of Asana Flow, we’re thrilled to share a slew of new and customizable workflow templates created in collaboration with leading organizations around the world.

Creating movement in a workflow (part 3 of 3)

Once the foundation of your workflow is in place, how do you add the handoffs and automation that bring it to life? How do you get your workflow to...well...flow? The Workflow Builder helps you visualize how Asana's features come together to create a seamless flow of work. This is the third video in a three-part series.

Workplace Jargon - It's time to go; Slack commissions workplace communication habits survey

The growing secret to successful hybrid work? Informal chats, emojis and gifs! New data from a national survey of 2,000 remote and hybrid workers illustrates a preference for more informal and emotive communication. A finding that holds true across millennials and Gen Xers.

FOSDEM 2022's communication infrastructure was provided by Element Matrix Services

FOSDEM 2022 took place on Matrix 5-6 February, seeing anyone enthusiastic about free and open source software - from anywhere across the globe - meet, share ideas and collaborate. For a full write up from a pure Matrix perspective, visit the Matrix blog post. Element was a sponsor of FOSDEM 2022 and our Element Matrix Services (EMS) team provided all of the chat infrastructure for this year’s event.

How Virtual Engagement Activities Can Foster a Creative and Innovative Company Culture

Human beings are built to be communal. People thrive off the company of others, especially in the workplace, and it fuels creativity and encourages the performance of fellow employees. Not that it has to be consistently competitive, but certainly socializing with colleagues can inspire our mode of thinking.

Preparing for Your Virtual or Hybrid AGM: A Checklist

The year 2021 has passed, and it’s a new year for another annual general meeting. The previous years have opened up AGMs to venture out of the four-walled conference halls. In addition, the global crisis has become an accelerant for companies to adopt digital solutions and explore virtual and hybrid AGMs.

How to Internationalize Your App's Product Notifications

Internationalization in software development, known as “i18n” for its number of letters, is as vital as ever for modern companies. Web-based products and services are no longer tied to geographical and cultural boundaries and not every potential customer speaks English. You might have designed your app with your native region in mind, but you’ll eventually need to expand your supported languages and regions to cater to a global audience.

Electronic Meeting Software for Healthcare Boards

In the field of healthcare, clinical governance is the primary priority to maintain the health and wellness of the patients. Advancements in medicines and practices are developed to support the goal of clinical governance. Similarly, healthcare boards also work towards achieving better healthcare board governance. This means making workflows more efficient to sustain the business while complying with regulations.

A white label messaging app to create your own brand messenger

Want a secure custom branded web-based messenger, but don’t want to pay a fortune? You can have exactly that using Element Cloud, from just $15 per month! via GIPHY A branded Element web app is ideal for organisations and communities who want all the benefits of open and secure end-to-end encrypted messaging, but with a customised interface to make it look like their own.

The 4 most popular Slack alternatives: how do they compare?

Slack alternatives: why should you consider them and what are the best ones? There has never been so much talk about team collaboration software as nowadays. The world is witnessing a new working model and improving productivity while working hybridly has become high priority. Among so many options, we've noticed that organizations are looking for Slack alternatives.

Is WhatsApp secure enough for businesses? A quick guide for secure messaging

Is WhatsApp secure for companies? Can employees carelessly discuss work-related matters via WhatsApp? WhatsApp users were caught by surprise last year when they learned that some of their data is shared with Facebook. Millions of users received a notification about the platform’s Privacy Policy Update in 2021. But the news triggered a question: how secure is WhatsApp and is it actually secure for companies? The reactions were diverse.

Is the Cloud good for the environment?

If you upgrade your phone every year or two, you’re not alone. If your company regularly renews tech contracts and gives you the latest laptop to take home – and if you’re lucky enough to drive an electric car – well, good for you! But there’s a catch. And it’s huge. Laptops, phones and electric cars need batteries. Extracting the lithium and other rare metals required to make those batteries is resource intensive. Sometimes dangerous.

Intranet Examples for Your Digital Workplace

As the modern Intranet finds a home in more and more companies, they are learning to leverage it to fit their unique organizational needs. Simpplr wants to encourage your business by sharing what you can accomplish to build organizational-wide collaboration, enhance your employees’ engagement, and create a company culture that is distinctive yet complementary to your work environment.

Direct Mail Marketing Complete Guide: Secret of A Successful Business

Are you new to the marketing business and want to connect with potential clients? Are you familiar with direct mail? Direct mail marketing approaches potential customers that a business might not have reached otherwise for many reasons. Hence, this tool can be creative, relevant, targeted, and engaging in sparking a relationship and lay the first bricks to build trust. A report shows a 5 to 2% average response rate for direct mail campaigns. To know more about this robust tool, keep reading the post.

Build relationships with your customers through Conversational Commerce experience on Instagram

We are excited to announce the launch of Rocket.Chat’s Instagram Direct App, enabling businesses to integrate their Instagram Business account with our Omnichannel solution. The new integration helps businesses build relationships with customers, facilitating a conversational commerce experience in Instagram DM and providing a single omnichannel platform for the various consumer touchpoints.

The 6 Best Basecamp Alternatives

Basecamp has always been a top project management solution due to the fact that it charges a flat monthly fee regardless of how many users you have besides also being jam-packed with features. That being said, the unorthodox Basecamp pricing system has put it in a rather awkward position. While the $99/month price point is actually a pretty good deal if you’re working with large teams, it can be pretty expensive for companies of lesser scale.

Demo: How a chatbot automates tier-1 IT support

Augment your IT Helpdesk team with Slack or Microsoft Teams chatbot and app workflow automation, from Workativ. For companies using Slack or Microsoft Teams, Workativ enables you to deliver an AI-powered contextual IT Helpdesk chatbot with app workflow automation, to enable 24/7 conversational self-service for your employee support.

Why should you use software for education [+10 examples]

The educational sector is currently going through major changes. The pandemic has made all education switch online for a while - and this was a wake-up call for many schools and universities to start investing in software for education. It is evident that the whole education system is lagging behind when it comes to digital transformation. However, the pandemic kick-started the growth of the EdTech market, which is expected to reach $404B by 2025.

6 student collaboration tools to improve online group projects

Student collaboration tools are becoming increasingly important in contemporary education. When students collaborate, they are engaged in the learning process. Thus, collaboration in the classroom can lead to improved learning outcomes. However, student collaboration takes many forms today. Since digital education is being introduced to schools and universities, a new way to collaborate outside the classroom had to be designed.

Top 6 Jive Alternatives for Team Collaboration

Jive is a well-known intranet and collaboration software. Founded in 2001, it is one of the pioneers in the team collaboration industry. Having said that, Jive is not the only team collaboration software available in the market. There are plenty of tools (both old and new ones) which are great alternatives to Jive. In this article, we have used our experience in the team collaboration space and compared Jive with similar tools based on features, price, and user reviews.

Nurturing an Ethical Hybrid Workplace

The current global epidemic has definitely changed the workplace sphere — a digital setup became a must in efforts of continuing operations. Now that much progress is being made with vaccine rollout in hopefully seeing an end to the pandemic, employers are exploring new work arrangements. One of which is a middle ground between working remotely and physically — a hybrid workplace setup.

How HR is Responsible for the Workplace Human Experience

Why do people choose the jobs they do? This intriguing thought was the subject of a conversation between Amanda Berry, Manager of Corporate Brand & Communications and Head of Internal Communications at Simpplr, and LaToya Lyn, Chief People Officer at Help Scout, during the tenth Cohesion Podcast. The question “Why do people choose the jobs they do?” was also the catalyst of LaToy’s quest for understanding the dynamics of how people go through their career journey.

How to Use Mattermost for Secure Collaboration

When we ask our customers what IT teams appreciate most about Mattermost, security is often at the top of the list. The fine-grained control of Mattermost capabilities and the ownership of their critical data within Mattermost are the two most cited benefits. But ownership of data also implies responsibility, and much of the burden of this responsibility is placed on IT to manually execute.

Reflecting on 2021: 13X Product Usage, 14X ARR, 5X Team Growth

Companies have been remaking the work experience over the past couple of years. This has included adjusting the way they hire, reshaping communication standards to operate well in an at least partially remote atmosphere, and developing a stronger culture overall. These shifts and changes have certainly created obstacles for scaling, but we are proud to announce that 2021 was a fantastic year of growth at Courier!

How to use design thinking in product development

ProSiebenSat.1 combines leading entertainment brands with a wide Dating & Video as well as Commerce & Ventures portfolio under one roof. Offering the latest in entertainment on any device, ProSiebenSat.1 is the company behind some of the most exciting TV broadcasts in German-speaking countries, using its TV reach and advertising power to build up consumer brands. Furthermore, ParshipMeet Group, a leading global player in the dating segment, is part of ProSiebenSat.1.

Embracing Virtual Meetings for Nonprofits and Religious Institutions

When the COVID-19 virus spread across the globe, social gatherings were suddenly prohibited and people were required to stay at home. Regularly busy fast-food restaurants slowed down their operations. The once lively hotels turned into ghost towns. The ever-crowded airports seemed larger than usual.

What is App Fog? How do I solve it?

Messaging apps are meant to be simple, but the sheer volume of them can be overwhelming. You speak to Gran on Facebook because, let’s be honest, that’s the only app she knows how to use. Then we have Lucy over on Instagram. Your friends are split between Signal and Telegram. The family group chat is on WhatsApp, where you can’t get a word in edgeways. Your longtime work friend Jonathan keeps in touch via LinkedIn. All things work related go via email… and so on.

Rocket.Chat listed as a preferred collaboration platform for the public sector by the Swedish Government

Digital transformation in the public sector is already a reality. More than ever, public sector organizations are becoming aware of their need for digitalization. Even so, change is not always easy since public-sector organizations have high standards and specific requirements for online solutions. Data privacy is government agencies’ top concern; they’re the ones that should set the bar when it comes to protecting users’ information.

Skype vs Slack with Pros & Cons - Which App is the Winner?

We were pretty happy to use Skype during the last decade. Skype has managed to become a synonym for instant communication just like Xerox used to be a synonym for photocopying. We’d ask people to meet on Skype, and added our Skype names to the email signature. It’s also been a part of our everyday life at work. Then Slack popped up in 2013 and turned the world of business communication upside down. Was it the first app of a kind? No.

A guide to the Blue Ocean Strategy

Looking for a way to align your business goals, improve your internal processes, and refine your strategy? If the answer is “yes,” a balanced scorecard could be just what you need. When used correctly, a balanced scorecard helps businesses identify the best growth opportunities. It focuses on a range of different business areas, allowing leaders and managers to align their goals and keep employees on the same page, no matter what their role is in the company.

Plot Diagrams: Why They Matter and How to Create One

Every writer knows the terror of the blank page. You can have a whole cast of fully fleshed-out characters, a vivid setting, and an awesome idea. But what do you do after you type “Chapter 1”? If your stories always lose focus once you start working on them, you might need to do some planning first. A plot diagram keeps you from getting lost while you tell your story. It’s like a map you can follow on your expedition through the lands of creativity.

In The Great Resignation, freelancers hold the key to growth

Back in 2018, we thought that the biggest change in employment would be the gig economy. That was before the pandemic. Before furlough, before remote working became the norm, before homeschooling and the massive tip in balance brought on by a killer virus. The biggest shift in employment was yet to come. And it wasn’t the remote life; it was The Great Resignation. It’s still happening – accelerating, even – and it’s got businesses worried.

The Audacity to Achieve ROI in 3 Steps With Internal Comms

People understand the purpose and perhaps the strategy in creating internal comms. However, can you describe how to achieve a return on investment (ROI)? And in three steps? That was the core of the conversation between Simpplr’s Amanda Berry, Corporate Brand & Communications Manager and Head of Internal Communications, and Jason Anthoine, Managing Founder of Audacity, in the ninth Cohesion Podcast.

Element welcomes Polls!

Voting for a new feature in a messaging app? Deciding where to go for lunch? Soliciting friends’ advice on whether to go on that second date?! We all know the pain of group decision-making, especially in busy chat rooms. We’ve seen creative uses of reactions as an informal way to see which option is most popular, but a lot of you have been asking for the ability to run proper polls. So….

New to Confluence Cloud | Atlassian Migrations

This video shows you what you need to know about Confluence Cloud if you have been using Confluence Data Center or Server. You’ll learn the newest features only available in Cloud and how you can get your work done faster and more beautifully, in Confluence Cloud. To learn more about the migration process or how Cloud differs from Server or Data Center, visit the migrations hub.