Team communication apps gain traction in the enterprise

Although 99% of companies prefer email for communication in the workplace, collaborative chat apps are on the rise. This is according to new data from tech marketplace firm Spiceworks, who conducted a study of over 900 IT decision makers across Europe and North America.

Chat apps on the rise

Today, collaborative communication apps are more common than ever before. The larger the company, however, the more likely it is to adopt them.

In 2016, 42% of small businesses, 38% of mid-size companies, and 53% of large businesses were using collaborative chat apps. Fast forward to 2018 and 58% of small businesses are using these, alongside 61% of mid-size companies, and 70% of large businesses.

In terms of brands, Skype for Business has managed to hold onto the top spot since 2016. At present, 44% of enterprises currently use Skype - up from 36% two years ago.

However, Microsoft Teams is also on the rise and is currently the app of choice for 21% of businesses. Slack came in third place, with 15% of organisations choosing the relatively new platform - up from 13% in 2016.

Nevertheless, not all chat apps are benefiting from an increase in growth. In fact, Google Hangouts adoption dropped since 2016 - only 11% of enterprises are currently using it compared to 16% two years ago.

Company size impacts collaboration

Overall, large businesses are more likely to use Skype for Business in order to communicate. 46% of mid-size companies and 36% of small businesses currently use it, while a majority of large businesses (54%) do so.

This trend is also true for Microsoft Teams and Google Hangouts. In these cases, too, larger companies are more likely to have higher adoption rates than their smaller counterparts.

While the overall adoption of Google Hangouts decreased over the two years, the app has become more popular in large businesses. In these larger companies, the app has grown from 11% in 2016 to 18% today.

According to the report, this shift could be a result of Hangouts recently gaining enterprise-level functionality. G Suite also tends to be more popular in larger companies, while smaller firms prefer to use Slack.

Listen to leading UC expert and VP of Nemertes Research, Irwin Lazar, discuss communication trends that businesses should look out for in this podcast