We asked 9 entrepreneurs from the YEC what they rely on the most for communication among team members, here's what they said.
No one needs to be yelling from office to office, or sending unnecessary emails. It's simply a waste of time. That's why we asked 9 entrepreneurs from the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) what they rely on most for communication among team members. Their best answers are below.
1. HipChat
Hipchat is our go-to tool. Beyond standard one-on-one messaging, Hipchat lets us build rooms around functional teams and bring people together for ad-hoc conversations. Our team has taken advantage of its API to automate tasks and build amazing things. We even have a bot integrated into Hipchat that sends out GIFs at a moment’s notice -- a high priority for any startup that's serious about their GIFs. – Emerson Spartz, Spartz
2. Slack
Our team switched from Hipchat to Slack in less than a day, and everyone loves it. It's really easy to learn, the integrations are fantastic, links and file uploads show up inline and all the conversations are searchable for later. Also, the ability to create a Google Hangout from inside a chat room is one of the coolest and most useful features I've ever seen. – Mattan Griffel, One Month
3. Campfire
We use Campfire and it's awesome. It's great to have password-protected group chats, and since it's network agnostic, our team members can use it no matter what other chat network they're on. It's also got a great suite of add-ons and extras, many of which are free, so we can really customize what we get out of it for customer service, development and design. – Dave Nevogt, Hubstaff.com
4. Basecamp
At Ajax Union, we use Basecamp both for internal team communication and for bridging the gap between staff members and our clientele. Basecamp makes it easy for people in different positions at the company, especially those who wear many hats, to easily share files and stay in the loop on projects and client information. It's easy to use and a go-to for getting team communication up and running. – Joe Apfelbaum, Ajax Union
5. Redbooth
While technically a task tracking application, Redbooth has implemented a fantastic built-in chat software. This combines being able to assign tasks and using the same window to communicate with members about those tasks. It helps keep chat oriented to business communication, which maximizes productivity among the entire team. – Cody McLain, WireFuseMedia LLC
6. Wrike
We use Skype and chats within Google Docs to communicate. However, we find that it's very important to tie discussions to particular tasks and projects. We use Wrike as our task and project management tool. With the ability to easily “@” message a team member through tasks and the activity stream, Wrike lets us message each other while bringing context to the conversation. – Miles Jennings, Recruiter.com
Related Article: 7 Affordable Productivity Tools for Small Business Owners
7. Kato.im
We're huge fans of Kato.im for internal communications. It has seamless integration with GitHub and other services that allow us to provide context and data behind the conversations we're having. We use it religiously in our office. – Brewster Stanislaw, Inside Social
8. Microsoft Lync
For our internal team, we use Microsoft Lync as it allows us to have a truly unified communications platform, blending video, phone, instant messaging and collaborative work environments into one space. It greatly increases the productivity of our firm. – Michael Spinosa, Unleashed Technologies
9. Bitrix24
I have tried many different apps for internal team communication and Bitrix24 is the best by far. Bitrix24 has group chat and video, document management, its own cloud, a calendar for planning, email, a CRM system, human resource capabilities and much, much more. There isn't anything that I wish Bitrix24 could do but doesn't. The best part is that you can pick and choose which parts you use. – Robert De Los Santos, Sky High Party Rentals