Teams | Collaboration | Customer Service | Project Management

June 2022

Wire's New Accessibility Improvements

One of our promises at Wire is to provide the most secure and user friendly communications platform. Today, we’re proud to announce the first phase in our latest efforts to bring data privacy to a broader group of people through accessibility improvements to our UI. We love user feedback, and these improvements were partially inspired by our users’ inputs and our commitment to following accessibility standards.

Introducing Rocket.Chat's Updated and Simplified Pricing

For the past few years, Rocket.Chat has expanded and evolved to deliver a better communications experience for organizations all over the world. We have continuously invested in product and infrastructure enhancements that allow communication to flow freely between colleagues, partners, customers, communities and even platforms - without compromise. Organizations can own their data, customize anything within the platform and integrate whatever they need.

How to Build Trust in the Workplace in 9 Steps

When things go wrong at work, what’s your first instinct? To blame your people? To blame your systems and workflows? Or to get curious about what went wrong? Trusting relationships don’t jump to blame when bad things happen. Your employees know that instinctively. If you‘re quick to blame others in a crisis, it can affect teamwork throughout the organization. Now, does that mean you should blindly trust everyone in every situation? Of course not.

7 Best Practices for Managing Teams With Different Backgrounds

A company having a diverse workforce with different backgrounds is always tricky to manage. However, it is the responsibility of a manager to ensure that every member of the team is working as productively as they possibly can, even if that means taking the time to understand each person. The most effective teams are created when a manager is aware of the advantages and disadvantages of each employee, knows how to make the most of each person’s special skills, and promotes teamwork.

3 benefits of Miro's powerful Jira integration

Product development teams are constantly looking for ways to focus their time and energy on building products and reducing time spent on alignment and documentation. But oftentimes it’s too easy for complexity and tool overload to get in the way of progress – driving decreased product quality, disconnection, and delayed time-to-market. That’s why it’s so important for teams to use tools that unlock free-flowing creativity and innovation instead of inhibiting it.

How to Build a Winning Email List Segmentation Strategy?

If every email marketer possesses the possibility to make several wishes come true, one of them would be increasing the value proposition of emails. As we know, humanity lives in times when inboxes are flooded. That's why marketers understand very well that their goal is to find the proper method of attracting their clients. For this, marketers decide to send emails to customers that are both relevant and personalized.

TOP 5 TIPS: Write Jira tickets that save time and energy

Jira has a massive problem. And it’s not even Jira’s fault. Does any of this sound familiar? This is all because of Jira tickets; not how Atlassian has created the platform – but how we, as users, are writing them. Jira tickets, when written badly, can destroy productivity, cause friction, and lead vocal members of your team to demand a switch to a different platform. To avoid this, it’s important to know how to write Jira tickets effectively from the get-go.

The future of work depends on our "digital" body language

Erica Dhawan, the author and business consultant, is surrounded by cardboard moving boxes. Among the items she unpacked first were a bookshelf, a big plant, a ring light, a tripod, and a 4K video camera. For Mrs. Dhawan, settling in after a move from the Upper East Side of Manhattan to Florida began by first unboxing these workplace essentials. (Her discussion with Asana was sandwiched between virtual keynotes for an investment firm and a technology company.)

Digital Workplace Technology Landscape 2022

While organizations have offered remote work options even before the COVID-19, the role of the pandemic in accelerating the shift to a completely remote or at least a hybrid model of work cannot be overstated. In fact, in a 2022 survey about remote work, the majority of the respondents said that they can build a strong company culture even if employees are in the office only 3 days a week.

What is the Strategic Management Process? + How to Get Started

Every business needs to grow and adapt to its surroundings. If it doesn’t, chances are it won’t succeed — especially if competitors are taking steps to develop in the marketplace. Simply put, if your business doesn’t change to keep up with customer demands, it might not survive. This is where an innovation process can help. With a solid innovation process in place, your business can find the best avenue of growth.

Key Factors to Consider When Buying Chat Support Software

Buying chat support software for the first time may be overwhelming, especially with the tedious buying process and the countless product options on the market to choose from. This guide will walk you through key factors when shopping for the best chat support software for your business.

15 Employee Engagement Ideas for 2022

Have you ever seen The Office? Manager Michael Scott’s absurd ideas to boost employee engagement range from laughable to cringeworthy, but they all fail for the same reason: He has no idea how to relate to the people he works with. It’s hilarious to watch, but there’s a lesson in it too. If you want to boost employee engagement, activities and gimmicks aren’t enough. You have to start with a foundation of trust, respect, and genuine human caring.

Understanding the Jira Align Enterprise Insights Data Schema | Atlassian

Jira Align Enterprise Insights is a data mart of normalized and transformed Jira Align data that enables you to create your own reports with any modern reporting platform. In this video, you will learn about the Jira Align Enterprise Insights data schema, as well as, tips and resources for getting started.

3 Customer Service Career Paths You Should Know About

Customer service has grown to become a critical function across industries including airlines, software companies, retail, and even real estate companies. Because of this, a career in customer service is growing in popularity, while companies and individual employers continue to struggle with scaling their support teams as their business grows.

Slack open source: Top 3 reasons why companies adopt different platforms for team collaboration

Slack open source alternatives are getting a lot of attention right now. Why exactly? Well, if you were to survey the most productive teams, you’d find a common ingredient – efficient communication. That explains the rise of team collaboration tools in 2020 and mega deals happening in the industry, such as Salesforce’s acquisition of Slack. ‍However, right after adopting team communication tools like Slack, companies started to notice the downside of it.

Designing the Perfect Mobile Push Notification

Here at Courier, we recently announced a new focus on mobile notifications, which is the next big step to meeting our goals for our product. The biggest reason to focus on mobile is because it will drastically improve the user experience for anyone using mobile apps - which at this point, is everyone. This post explores the importance of building better quality mobile notifications and how to go about creating them.

'Digital by Default': A collaboration model for modern developers

When I joined Mattermost at the end of 2019, part of the allure was the unique experience of working at a 100% remote company. Little did I know that within three months, the whole world would lock down and countless companies became remote practically overnight.

7 Chatbot Features That Make Your Bot a Success

When chatbots were first introduced in customer support, they were only capable of executing rule-based commands that often led to poor customer experiences. Chatbot features back then weren’t developed keeping user experience in mind, and caused frustration instead of offering solutions. Chatbots have evolved over time, but so have customer expectations. Customers today do not accept experiences that are less than ideal.

Service Desk Best Practices To Unlock Value - A Complete Guide

All sorts of businesses need to provide service desk solutions, whether to help with in-house issues encountered by employees, or to better assist customers with whatever problems they encounter. Of course it’s not enough to simply set up a service desk and hope for the best; you have to put strategies in place to optimize the effectiveness of this resource, and to extract every drop of value from it as well.

13 Tips for Improving the Digital Workplace

The way we work is changing. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced companies to rapidly adapt to a new reality where remote and hybrid work is the norm, not the exception. This new way of working presents both challenges and opportunities for businesses. On the one hand, they need to be able to support their employees in this new environment and ensure that they have the tools and resources they need to be productive.

Collapsed Reply Threads are now generally available!

Collapsed Reply Threads is our most requested feature ever, with over 2,500 votes on our feature idea forum. Here’s what users are saying: So after a successful beta, we’re excited to launch Collapsed Reply Threads as generally available in Mattermost v7.0. Administrators can now enable Collapsed Reply Threads by default for all users, and we’ve improved server performance to support large-scale deployments.

Communication overload? Here's how threaded messages can help you reclaim your focus.

In an era of remote and hybrid work, keeping your team connected often means relying on a messaging platform. But with so many conversations happening simultaneously, the same channels you rely on to stay in sync can also cause information overload. That’s why threaded messages are one of our most-requested features and one that we’re so excited to finally release in general availability with Mattermost 7.0.

Cyber attacks on SMBs are surging, will you be ready?

Wire is already a critical tool for government protection for key intelligence, sensitive communications, classified data, and a powerful shield against the constant threat of data breaches. Not only is it a prime insurer for governments, but Wire also acts as a major defense against cybercrime for SMBs.

Confluence Mobile App | Atlassian

Move work forward from anywhere with the Confluence mobile app. Download it now for Apple or Android. Be connected. Be creative. Be anywhere. Confluence Mobile gives you instant access to your team, projects, and customers. Confluence is a team workspace where knowledge and collaboration meet. It's a central source of truth for fast-moving companies. Confluence keeps everyone organized and aligned – with everything from meeting notes to strategy docs and IT documentation – so they can make better decisions faster and be more responsive to change.

Introducing Voice Calling and Screen Sharing in Channels

Coming from a traditional office environment, the ways of working tend to approximate in-person rituals. As the common adage goes “we want what we can’t have.” When you’re in the office together, the hierarchy of communication usually goes something like this: in-person > video > audio > text. But when you take a team and spread them across the world, a preference for synchronous, in-person conversations can drastically slow down collaboration.

Coming Home to Talk About the Future of Employee Experience with Parag Kulkarni, CTO at Simpplr

After so many podcasts, it is nice to return home. And by home, we mean back to the Simpplr family. Amanda Berry, Manager of Corporate Brand & Communications at Simpplr, has spoken with a bevy of subject matter experts in the Cohesion Podcast. In the 16th podcast, she was joined by Simpplr’s own Chief Technical officer, Parag Kulkarni.

Intranet vs. Extranet: What's the Difference?

With the rise of the hybrid and digital workplace, we must rethink the ever-changing workplace norms to foster an innovative and inclusive work environment. However, among new emerging workplace strategies and new technologies, sometimes it is crucial to start with the basics. Although “intranet” and “extranet” sound quite familiar, they both serve a unique purpose in your organization.

Courier Raised a $35M Series B to Make Notifications Delightful

We’re excited to announce that we’ve raised $35M to provide engineering teams with fantastic notification infrastructure! The round was led by GV with participation from our existing investors at Bessemer Venture Partners and Matrix Partners. “Courier is building the future of notification infrastructure. The company has a fast-growing set of customers with a need to provide the best possible notification experience.

Google Chat upgrade and FigJam: What's New in Asana, June 2022

At Asana, we’re all about helping teams maintain focus and alignment. That includes streamlining collaboration across applications. It’s no secret that juggling multiple tools slows down productivity. According to the 2022 Anatomy of Work Index, knowledge workers switch between 9 apps per day, leading to a heavy distraction tax. Luckily, there are ways to combat this digital overload.

Top 10 Business Communications Trends

TikTok. Jokes written by computers. Empty offices in downtown Denver. What do these things have to do with business communications? Everything. Today’s business communications tools and apps are agile, engaging, and smarter than ever thanks to huge changes in technology and rapidly evolving work trends. How are these new technologies changing the face of business communications? Here are the top 10 business communication trends you don’t want to miss.

How to Get GDPR and Customer Communications Right

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was big news for companies when it came into effect in 2018. It aimed to put more controls on how organizations manage the personal data of their EU-based users. Since the law’s enactment in 2018, some US states, such as California and Virginia, followed suit and passed their own data privacy laws for their respective residents. Companies that do business in those regions now have to ensure they comply with these legal requirements.

Open source software for dummies: advantages, licenses, and examples

Open-source software is the trendiest game in town. Although open-source software has long been used by individuals for their private use, organizations started implementing more and more of it. 🔓 Companies choose to implement alternatives to proprietary software for multiple reasons, like more flexibility and fewer costs. In this article, we’ll cover all the info you need to have on open-source software: what it is exactly, what are its advantages, and common examples.

Compare Best Online Chat Software for Your Website

Best Online Chat Software? We all know reaching out to prospective customers is the surest way to turn them into paying customers. Thankfully, there are many ways through which you can reach out to these buyers, such as through emails, phone, and social media. While these are all great ways, using online chats is your best bet. Research shows that chat software offers 73% customer satisfaction, while the rest offer about 44%.

Want to do more with less? Try some humility.

A new study has revealed findings that every leader of a large company should know. Why should every executive know about this new bit of research? The findings are essential for company leaders who want their organization to move with agility and focus because when valuable data, contacts, or best practices are locked away in a silo, information sharing can’t happen, and neither can doing more with less.

Data Storytelling by Mauricio Bernardo da Silva

It happens to the best of us: We're presenting a crucial data analysis, but the key stakeholders keep nodding off, while others scroll their phones. Surely their lack of attention span is to blame… isn’t it? But there is something we can do to better hold attention. By tapping into storytelling techniques, we can build a storyline with actionable data insights to keep our audience engaged, from start to finish.

Tutorial: Using Collapsed Reply Threads on Mattermost

We're excited to announce the general availability release of Collapsed Reply Threads, our most requested feature ever. In this video, we'll walk you through what's new with the feature as well as give a quick rundown on how we use Collapsed Reply Threads here at Mattermost to be more productive.

Atlassian alternatives: tools that (kind of) work the same

The tech-first world we live in might never have been, were it not for Atlassian. Atlassian’s product family includes some of the most advanced productivity platforms and software tooling systems, all intimately linked. Every tool works together seamlessly, facilitating everything from DevOps to Payroll, and from support tickets to marketing plans. But Atlassian isn’t the only player in the game. There are alternative platforms outside of the Atlassian stack.

How Team Management Software Boost Commercial Real Estate Sales?

Technology has long been used to simplify business processes, but in the digital age, software has become our productivity savers, communication initiators, and management leaders. Team collaboration tools can help your team improve their overall quality of work. However, real estate teams often overlook these tools because agents mainly work independently. This can sometimes silo processes that benefit from collaboration.

Tips and tools for effective remote collaboration

Remote collaboration is the process of working together towards a common goal while being physically apart. It is the staple of digital workplaces and is a must-have in the time of remote and hybrid work. The world of work now implies a dispersed workforce and team collaboration is an essential ingredient in business success. Yet, many organizations struggle to implement effective remote collaboration.

Exploring the Role of Audit Committees in Corporate Governance

Audit committees are vital in every company as they are involved in maintaining the company’s financial stability. One of their responsibilities is to prevent any misconduct in auditing and fraud in the company’s finances. Thus, they are crucial in gaining the trust and confidence of investors and stakeholders. Audit committees have an impact also on the board’s plans and decisions.

Simpplr's Summer '22 Release: Ida

We’re excited to share our new Summer ‘22 release, Ida. This release introduces additional Live EX™ functionality, which combines the best of employee communications with the latest in employee experience technology. Here is a quick overview of this release: With this release, we also previewed some future capabilities that are entering an early adopter phase.

Samsung builds a happy framework with Slack | Slack

The framework R&D group of Samsung MX is creating their own Digital HQ where they can collaborate as if they were playing a game through Slack, which can be more closely connected. "It was thanks to Slack that gave us the best solution in terms of security and productivity that we were able to improve both our performance and our organizational culture." - Sally Jeong, Vice President, Framework R&D Group, Samsung MX

12 Workplace Collaboration Software to Watch Out for 2022

An adage goes, "Communication is critical to a company's success." More or less every company acknowledged the importance of communication, hence the preceding quotation was changed to "your workplace collaboration software plays a crucial role in the business's success." With the advancement of the digital world, the requirements have also evolved, therefore you can't afford to stick with an outdated or subpar workplace collaboration tool.

Engineering at a High-Growth Startup with CTO at Hightouch, Josh Curl

Welcome to the "Hacking the Engineering Process" meetup! Data infrastructure startup Hightouch invented the category of "Reverse ETL", and grew to hundreds of customers such as Spotify and Blizzard in under two years. What's it like working on the tech behind a company experiencing such fast growth? Join us as we go through the entire technical journey, from the early MVP to a hardened system processing billions of data points a day. We'll talk about everything from systems architecture to engineering culture and hiring.

Syncing customer data with Hightouch: Crafting Saas

Join Courier pigeons Nica and Shreya as we talk to Hightouch team members Mary and Andrew about how to sync customer data with Hightouch. The Courier and Hightouch integration means that you can send notifications using just a user ID and rely on the integration to find all the contact info you need for your users.

10 Project Management Challenges with Expert Solutions

Project-related issues are inevitable, but how you’re prepared to solve those problems will determine how successful your project will be. As project managers, you know there are many complex elements to balance, and it’s a challenging profession to tackle. It’s your duty to put all key factors into perspective when mapping out a new venture with your team, delegating all the time, money, people, and resources involved in getting a project off the ground.

7 ways to establish an empowering collaborative culture in your workplace

The benefits of team collaboration are clear. Employees can do more and perform better when they work together towards a common goal. Working collaboratively brings out the best in each employee and they take pride in knowing that they are part of a team. As a result, employees are happier and less stressed, which increases engagement.

What is asynchronous messaging?

Messaging is how most of us communicate in our daily lives nowadays. But do you know the difference between synchronous and asynchronous messaging? Do you know that you do both? We communicate asynchronously with our friends, coworkers, and customer service agents. Find out the benefits of this communication method and why you should introduce it as your customer support channel.

The Developer's Guide to SaaS Compliance

As SaaS applications usually collect and process sensitive user information, keeping this information secure is key to building user trust and ensuring long-term business success. One of the ways for SaaS providers to communicate how exactly their users’ data is kept safe is through compliance with security and privacy standards.

11 Extremely Useful Tips to Have a Productive Day

Of course, not all days can be the same. You are a human, not a machine. But if you find yourself saying “The to-do list keeps getting longer” more than “I had a very productive day at work”, then you have landed on the right page. This blog is for everyone — managers, employees, and founders who want to get hold of their day and not get led by the tasks. Before I begin, I must mention that the spiraling to-do list isn’t necessarily your fault.

Scale your ambitions with Miro

Miro Gives Scale-Ups the Tools to Succeed The big leap from startup to scale-up — it’s what you’ve worked for and dreamed of, but it might happen very, very fast. Let Miro empower you to scale effectively, by collaborating, communicating, and planning with ease. Find out more here. Want more Miro in your feed? Please LIKE and SUBSCRIBE. You can click the bell to get notified about new videos.

Start your next venture with Miro

Get Growing with Miro’s Startup Program Join the Startup Program now and get $1,000 in credits. To make your startup thrive, you have to wear many hats and handle many moving parts. Miro gives your team all the tools to collaborate, communicate, plan, and stay organized during those highly unpredictable (but often fun) early stages. Want more Miro in your feed? Please LIKE and SUBSCRIBE. You can click the bell to get notified about new videos.

What we launched in May 2022

May was a future-looking month of innovation for Miro, with a slate of newly released product updates, making diagrams more robust and stylish and workflows more secure and streamlined. At Miro Next, our virtual conference, we unveiled a new platform and variety of new features and integrations designed to help organizations unlock new ways of collaborating and innovating, pushing beyond the boundaries of a typical digital whiteboard.

Connected and Aligned: Your Hybrid Team in Miro | Miro Next

In this never-before-seen session, we’ll get practical with best practices for distributed and hybrid work, learn to use Miro features and skills to include all voices in collaborative work and create a one stop Miro board for teams to gather information, share resources, and align expeditiously on what’s most important.

Element Call Beta 2: encryption, spatial audio, walkie-talkie mode and more!

Back in March, we announced the first beta release of Element Call, our voice and video conferencing app powered entirely by Matrix. Since then, not only have we been busily using it for all our own internal small-group meetings (it currently only works with up to eight participants - give or take) but we’ve also been working hard on improving and updating it. That makes it really exciting to announce our first major update to Element Call: Beta 2. So, what does this update bring?

Software startups: how to avoid growing pains

We live in a time where information is everywhere. Information about everything. How to make perfect pasta. When to plant potatoes. Which exercises build muscle the fastest. Even how to start a company, and how to run it. This is all truly great stuff that blurs the lines between education and entertainment. You can learn how to do something, from an experienced practitioner, and usually for free. But the reality of software startups is almost always shielded from you.

Conducting Live Q&As in Annual Meetings: A Guide

During annual general meetings, your organization does not only present your financial reports and plans to your shareholders or members. Instead, you allow them to voice out and discuss company matters with you. After all, what is a meeting if it’s only one-way? AGMs are an avenue to strengthen your relationship with your shareholders and members. Fostering engaging discussions creates better conversations that would benefit both sides.

Drive employee impact: New tools to empower resilient leadership

In this new era of work, leaders have an opportunity to equip teams with clarity, alignment, and focus. Today, we’re proud to unveil a suite of new enhancements designed to help you do just that. According to the 2022 Anatomy of Work Index, workers spend 58% of their time on work about work, with 42% suffering from burnout and imposter syndrome at the same time.

Best Practices for Creating Newsletter Content

One of the biggest complaints from internal communications professionals is that employees don’t read their content. My next question is always, “do you know why?” The resounding answer is that employees are busy and don’t have time to read everything. This especially comes up when discussing an all-employee company newsletter. The average newsletter open rate is approximately 65-68%.

16 best chat platforms in 2022

Probably one of the three: an app to talk to coworkers, an app to talk to your friends, or an in-app chat where you engage in conversations with customers. Due to the newest Digital Markets Act issued by the EU Parliament and Council, the Big Tech gatekeepers will have to open their APIs to interoperate with other messaging platforms. This means that users will have more choice: they will not be limited to use the household name just because others use it.

Connected and Aligned: Your Hybrid Team in Miro | Miro Next

In this never-before-seen session, we’ll get practical with best practices for distributed and hybrid work, learn to use Miro features and skills to include all voices in collaborative work and create a one stop Miro board for teams to gather information, share resources, and align expeditiously on what’s most important.

The Qualities of a Good Team Member: What Makes Teams Effective?

For the record, this is not another blog post about how multitasking and working under pressure are good team member qualities: leave those to the 80s! People tend to believe employees must work really hard to be considered good, but when it comes to effective teams, there are other important teamwork skills that matter, all while maintaining good levels of employee satisfaction.

Rocket.Chat's Roadmap Reveal #2: What's In Store for The Rest Of 2022

One of the biggest questions we get from our community is: ‘What’s in the roadmap!?’ That’s why we’re giving you full access to Rocket.Chat’s roadmap. Join Rocket.Chat’s CEO and founder, Gabriel Engel, and VP of Product, Chris Skelly, as they walk you through what’s next for the world’s largest open source communications platform in 2022 and, most importantly, why. And... that’s not all. We really want your input. We will be taking questions and feedback live so we can continue to build together.

The Power of Website Chat Software for Business

Website Chat Software: Businesses today are using more technology than ever before. Technology doesn’t just help close the communication gap, it become a central tool to promote business growth. One technology tool that is particularly useful for businesses is website chat software. Read on to learn how businesses benefit from website chat software and why Vision Helpdesk is the best solution for your chat software needs.

Product Roundup: Improved mobile app, admin and Marketplace interface and UX

This quarter, we've worked hard to improve all product areas with new functionalities and enhancements. Continue reading to learn more about the latest features and improvements in team collaboration, omnichannel, and Marketplace. ‍

How to Build Security for your SaaS User Communications

Modern SaaS application providers handle sensitive user information every day, from customer names and email addresses to application code and third-party API secrets. It is thus more important than ever for web applications to adhere to the highest security standards, not only to maintain their business reputation and avoid financial losses but also to protect their users.

10 best team communication apps to use in 2022

Team communication apps are essential to successful digital workplaces. Remote workers around the world depend on communication with their colleagues to effectively collaborate on important projects. Today, we’re surrounded by numerous workplace technologies. Yet, it seems like the simple instant messaging apps have made the most impact on our remote and digital work experience. There are numerous team communication apps on the market today.

Is Flexible Working the Future Approach to Employment?

Every major or minor change in the world transforms the world’s ways to some degree. Nowadays, the world observed the lockdowns, isolations, and quarantines. Moreover, these uncertainties affected everything. A person’s lifestyle, way of thinking, and even how one works and does daily chores. In survey made by Gartner in 2020, 74% of organizations said they planned to move at least 5% of their workforce online. Most offices give their staff the flexibility of working hours during these days.

Is Consent Management Vital When it Comes to Data Privacy?

The percentage of people using the internet every minute of the day is overwhelming but not shocking, to say the least. The “side effect” is that users unknowingly allow companies and applications to find their confidential data. There is a need to have a system that helps people determine the data they are willing to share with companies.