Internal communication is an integral part of operations in the workplace. From top management down to rank-and-file employees, the dissemination of relevant information helps build a healthy workplace environment and maintain employee engagement.
While unavoidable barriers like environmental and personal barriers remain that result in poor communication, overcoming these barriers is key to improving internal communication and team collaboration.
And in light of the pandemic, more communication tools are available than ever to mitigate the challenges of remote and hybrid work environments and streamline workplace communication, and we’re here to help you learn about the best workplace communication tools so you can make the right choice for your team.
We’ve analyzed different communication tools and software that can boost productivity, streamline collaboration, and connect your distributed teams. Read on to learn our top 10 recommendations for the best workplace communication tools available today!
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Summarize this article for me pleaseBenefits of Using Workplace Communication Tools and Software
“Most major business costs go to property costs like rent and taxes. With the pandemic making it possible for work-from-home, it has reduced and realigned budgets into more value-adding investments like internal communication tools.”—Carter Seuthe, Credit Summit
So if you’re also considering investing in communication and employee engagement tools, then you’re on the right track! Aside from providing hybrid and remote teams a way to stay connected, business communication tools also benefit the entire organization. Here are a few key benefits of implementing these modern tools:
Streamline communication under one roof
Managers and team leaders can keep track of work progress, employee communication goals, and project assignments more easily by implementing one knowledge center tool or platform.
It’s easy to lose information in a barrage of data, information, and assignments, so team communication tools provide a one-stop-shop for tracking everything you need to know about an assignment.
Secure business communication
“More and more companies have been relying on technology—and for very good reason. However, these companies must also scrutinize these applications to avoid data loss or breaches. Data security should be one of an organization’s most important investments to avoid legal consequences and/or ramifications.” —Mark Pierce, CEO of Colorado LLC Attorney
With that being said, it’s crucial for businesses to choose team communication tools. Organizations can better protect business communication and sensitive data with the right internal communication tools with end-to-end security.
Enhanced collaboration, productivity, and employee engagement
“Leaders often find employee engagement as one of the most difficult tasks in maintaining an organization. Employee productivity is greatly affected by how they feel valued and involved, so making sure they are engaged and kept up to date is what highly effective managers should focus on.”—Tom Golubovich, Head of Marketing & Media Relations, Ninja Transfers
Putting employee communication at the heart of every organization is integral to keeping employee engagement and productivity at their highest. When you use internal communication tools, you allow an avenue where employees can consistently stay on the same page and be productive, effective, and efficient even when working from home.
Summarize this article for me please10 Best Workplace Communication Tools for Teams in 2024
When it comes to communications tools, these platforms are now powered by task management, instant messaging, document collaboration tools, virtual meeting, group chat, and video calls features.
So, how do you know which one is for you? Here is a roundup of the top 10 internal communication tools, along with their best features, limitations, prices, and reviews, to give you the insight you need to choose the right ones for your team and organization!
1. ClickUp
ClickUp is an all-in-one project management and productivity tool that aims to streamline workflow and team communication by bringing all your work into one centralized place.
With hundreds of features under its roster and a fully customizable platform, teams of all sizes from different industries can plan, manage, and track their projects and communication all within the same platform.
And because ClickUp is built with team communication features with collaboration detection, teams can seamlessly collaborate in real-time or asynchronously, making it possible to keep remote teams aligned and connected at all times. Use ClickUp’s digital Whiteboards for brainstorming and strategy planning sessions and ClickUp Docs to store ideas, SOPs, and so much more.
It even has a built-in messaging feature, Chat view, for instant messaging to keep your conversations alongside your work. And if you need another way to communicate with your team, you can use the in-app screen recorder, Clip by ClickUp, to let you create and send video messages within ClickUp.
And if you’re looking for a more efficient way to manage your emails, ClickUp offers an Email in ClickUp feature that allows you to send and receive emails without leaving the platform. Simply integrate your most-used email apps to ClickUp, such as Gmail, Outlook, or Front, and start replying to your emails within your ClickUp tasks. 📧
The features and capabilities of ClickUp make it easy for you to work and communicate with your teams without hopping from one platform to another, making it one of the best communication and project management tools today.
Best features
- Fully customizable platform: Customize every part of ClickUp to fit your team and business needs
- 15+ custom views: Choose from over 15 ways to view your work, including Chat view
- Chat view: Send instant messages to your team and keep conversations alongside your work
- Email in ClickUp: Manage all your email communications in one place without the need for extra programs and software. Send company news, assignments, tasks, information, and critical messages in ClickUp without needing to change tabs
- Whiteboards: Create visual aids for virtual meetings, and map out projects and ideas to communicate plans with your teams
- Watchers: When someone is assigned as a watcher, they will automatically get notifications when updates are made on a task—eliminating the need to follow up manually
- Assigned comments and mentions: Create action items within a task and assign them to others or even yourself, and use the mentions feature to bring their attention to items within tasks or Chat view
Limitations
- The software does not have a built-in feature for video calls for virtual meetings. However, it does have several app integrations with video calling software like Zoom integration that allows you to start a meeting within a ClickUp task using the Zoom meeting button or the /zoom slash command
Pricing
- Free Forever
- Unlimited: $7 per member per month
- Business: $12 per member per month
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
Customer ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7 out of 5 (5,732 reviews)
- Top 50 Product Management Products
- Capterra: 4.7 out of 5 (3,553 reviews)
- Top Performer in Project and Task Management Software
2. Slack
Slack is a communication and instant messaging platform where teams can come together to form flexible and seamless communication and collaboration.
Slack’s setup is designed in a way that teams within teams are easily accessible and identifiable, with its ‘channels’ at the heart of its UI. Much like Discord, Slack utilizes channels so teams can effectively separate conversations and discussions by project or topic for a more organized way to store and keep track of conversations.
Best features
- Channels: Organizes conversations into dedicated spaces
- Huddle: Within channels, Slack allows you to talk on Slack Huddle, which allows you to communicate via audio or video call
- App integrations: Integrate Slack to various tools and software like ClickUp, Google Drive, Zoom, Loom, Google Calendar, Microsoft Teams, and many more
➡️ Try the ClickUp Slack integration
Limitations
- Messages, files, and conversations older than 90 days are hidden under the free plan
Pricing
- Free
- Pro: $7.25 per month
- Business: $12.50 per month
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
Customer ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.5 out of 5 (30,942 reviews)
- Top 50 Products for Remote Work
- Capterra
- 4.7 out of 5 (22,843 reviews)
3. Microsoft Teams
When it comes to hybrid work for modern employees, Microsoft Teams has become an important communication tool for video calls, group chats, and internal communications tools needs.
Microsoft Teams allows you to host meetings anytime and anywhere, with its meeting features, including Together Mode and Dynamic View, make remote meetings and webinars as close and as interactive as possible.
As a communications tool, Microsoft Teams helps connect remote workers through easy-to-navigate chat and collaboration features, including channels and shared channels, as well as make separate teams rooms and answer and receive phone calls through the program.
Best features
- Microsoft Office 365 integration: Seamlessly integrates with the most widely used Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel programs to help make team meetings and discussions more convenient
- Breakout Rooms: Breakout rooms allow you to host mini-meetings as part of a larger meeting
- Together Mode: Brings remote teams together by putting everyone’s video feed together onto one shared virtual background
- Presenter Mode: This mode allows presenters can see slide notes and upcoming slides while meeting attendees cannot
Limitations
- Microsoft Teams is solely for team communication and does not include project and task management features for work collaboration monitoring
Pricing
Home and Individual Prices:
- Free
- Microsoft 365 Personal: $6.99 per month for one person
- Microsoft 365 Family: $9.99 per month for six people
Business Prices:
- Microsoft Teams Essentials: $4 per user per month
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic: $6 per user per month
- Microsoft 365 Business Standard: $12.50 per user per month
Customer ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.3 out of 5 (13,423 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5 out of 5 (8,927 reviews)
Compare Slack to Microsoft Teams!
4. Zoom
Zoom has become an invaluable communication tool that helped make team members stay connected and has become one of the most effective communication tools in the workplace over the past few years.
As a communication tool, Zoom’s “one platform” to connect, create and innovate slogan is a true testament to what it can do when it comes to connecting team members.
What’s special about Zoom is that it caters to a number of collaboration and connecting features for all employees, including Zoom One for all your meeting and chatting needs, Zoom Spaces for innovative video solutions, and Zoom Events for virtual events.
Best features
- Virtual meetings: As one of the go-to video call and group virtual communication applications, Zoom offers HD video and audio meetings for up to 1,000 participants
- Meeting recording: Zoom allows you to record audio and video meetings
- Zoom Chat: The team chat features of Zoom help team members communicate seamlessly and look back on conversations through searchable history and a 10-year archive
- Zoom Whiteboard: This whiteboard feature helps speakers provide virtual visual aids to help send information and message to the audience and team members
Limitations
- Users need to download their app to host or attend a meeting
Pricing
Pricing plans for Zoom One:
- Basic: Free
- Pro: $14.99 per month per user
- Business: $19.99 per month per user
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
Customer ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.5 out of 5 (52,537 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6 out of 5 (13,457 reviews)
- Top Performer in Meeting Software
Check out these intranet tools!
5. Google Workspace
Google Workspace is a business app and collaboration tool that helps you connect not only with team members of the organization but with clients and outsiders as well. Google’s applications are some of the most widely used business apps around the globe, and a single workspace by the same developers helps seamlessly organize internal communications.
Best features
- Google Meet: Host and attend video meetings; video meetings are encrypted, which means your meetings and conversations remain private
- Integration: Seamlessly join Google Meet video conferences through integration with Google Calendar or Gmail
- Productivity apps in one place: Google Workspace’s integration with the entire Google Workspace universe allows team members to jump from video calls, answer chats, collaborate, and answer emails in one platform
Limitations
- While Google Workspace is excellent at allowing users to collaborate on Google Office files, it requires one to have a Google account. Microsoft Office files, for example, can be opened through Google Workspace but forces it to be converted to a Google docs or sheet file
Pricing
- Business Starter: $5.40 per user per month
- Business Standard: $10.80 per user per month
- Business Plus: $18 per user per month
- Enterprise: Call for pricing
Customer ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.6 out of 5 (40,276 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7 out of 5 (134,531 reviews)
6. Flock
Flock is one of the many online collaboration tools in the market that has revolutionized employee communication over the years. As modern workplace tools have replaced traditional communication methods, Flock makes use of powerful productivity tools to improve internal communication in the organization.
In particular, Flock helps improve internal communications strategy through its channel messaging, video calling, file sharing, integrated search, and business productivity tools in one system.
Best features
- The channel messaging feature allows effective cross-communication, either through 1:1 conversations or team channels
- Flock has a built-in video-calling and voice-calling system or allows integration of other video-calling applications like Zoom
- With an integrated search feature, there’s no need to scour thousands of messages or files to find the information you need
Limitations
- The free version does not include the video call feature, and file storage capacity is limited only to 5GB
Pricing
- Starter: Free for small teams
- Pro: $4.50 per user per month
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
Customer ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.4 out of 5 (227 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5 out of 5 (310 reviews)
7. Pumble
Pumble is a team communication tool that helps make business communication faster and easier. It lets team members communicate in real-time with channels, threads, one-on-one direct messaging features, voice messages, file sharing, and video meetings.
Best features
- Pumble’s private and public channels allow team leaders to create a communication plan to keep members connected according to their needs and assignments without clogging up a single chat group
- Pumble allows you to record voice messages, so anyone can leave voice recordings to channels or as direct messages and have team members replay them any time
- Through its search history feature, team members can easily navigate through the app and look for information, links, or files by typing in any keyword
- Pumble also gives its users an avenue for meetings—which you can do via voice, video, or screen sharing
Limitations
- While Pumble is a free communication platform, some features are limited to the paid plan, including guest access, video conferencing, screen sharing, 10GB storage per user, permissions, user groups, and customizable sections
Pricing
- Free forever
- Pro: $1.99 per user/month
Customer ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.5 out of 5 (14 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7 out of 5 (127 reviews)
8. Discord
While many people associate Discord as the go-to communication platform for the gaming industry, that doesn’t mean it won’t serve its purpose as a great business and team communication tool. Discord is a well-known voice, video, and text communication service that serves all kinds of groups you can imagine—from fandoms, gaming teams, friend groups, business teams, or school organizations.
Best features
- One of Discord’s most well-known features is its invite-only feature. As the name suggests, users can create private communication Discord servers that are only available and accessible to those who have received an invite link from the team administrators—keeping communication as private as possible within the team
- A Discord server allows you to create topic-based channels where the team can communicate different topics through separate channels, allowing for maximum productivity in the conversations.
- Through voice channels, team members can enter into a public voice call where other team members can just pop in without having to call
Limitations
- A buzzing Discord server will make it impossible for anyone to reflect on conversation history, especially when tens and hundreds of topics are created (Check out these Discord alternatives)
Pricing
- Free
- Nitro: $9.85 per month
- Nitro Classic: $4.92 per month
- Server Boost: $4.99 per month
- Nitro Basic: $2.95 per month
Customer ratings and reviews
- Capterra: 4.7 out of 5 (240 reviews)
9. ProofHub
ProofHub is an all-in-one project planning software that allows team members to plan, collaborate, organize, and deliver projects.
With team communication tools bombarding the market, ProofHub provides you with project planning and team communication features in one with an easy-to-understand UI for doing team discussions, making announcements, and share company news.
Best features
- App integrations with DropBox, Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, and Drive
- Kanban boards and Gantt Charts for effective project management and organization
- ProofHub provides a central notification center for company-wide announcements for easier communication with employees
Limitations
- With the lack of budgeting tools, this software is not recommended for managers looking to effectively manage their budget within one app
Pricing
- Ultimate Control: $99 per month billed monthly for unlimited projects, unlimited users, and 100GB storage
- Essential: $50 per month billed monthly for 40 projects, unlimited users, and 15GB storage
Customer ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.5 out of 5 (74 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5 out of 5 (76 reviews)
10. Troop Messenger
Troop Messenger is a communication solution that allows instant messaging, audio and video call, group chat, file sharing, and remote screen sharing.
Best features
- End-to-end encryption so work conversations are safe and secure
- The burnout window feature allows for an incognito chat for more private conversations
- Aside from voice calls, you can also send audio messages like you would in your regular phone messages or Facebook messenger
Limitations
- The difference between Troop Messenger as compared to some on this list is that it is mainly focused on team member communication rather than project management
Pricing
- Premium: $25 per user/month
- Enterprise: $5 per user/month
- Superior: $9 per user/month
Customer ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.6 out of 5 (71 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.8 out of 5 (15 reviews)
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Makes a Good Workplace Communication Software?
When searching for communication tools, your goal should be to find those that fit your growing needs, offer flexibility and security, and are cost-effective.
“Tech innovation comes at a great cost. Managers need to strike that balance between cost and benefit and carefully assess the ROI of significant investments that affect a huge chunk of company operations.”—Shawn Plummer, CEO, The Annuity Expert
Here are a few key features to keep in mind when you’re on the hunt for internal communication tools:
- Collaboration features
- App integrations
- Project and task management
- Voice and video conferencing
- Direct and group messaging
- File sharing
- Team mailing list
- Encryption and security features
“Data breaches and cyber incidents are one of the most rampant legal cases over the recent years. Organizations should place utmost priority in using apps and programs that place cyber security above anything else so as not to compromise sensitive data and information.” —Amy De La Fuente, Director of Public Affairs, Bosco Legal Services
Summarize this article for me pleaseKeep Your Remote Teams Productive and Connected with ClickUp
Whatever features, benefits, or budget you have in mind in choosing the best workplace communication software, you should be able to carefully assess your organization’s needs and, especially, your employees.
The best internal communication software should support remote and make asynchronous communication, knowledge-sharing, and collaboration as easy and seamless as possible from top management to the staff level.
All-in-one productivity tools like ClickUp is an excellent project management and communication tool for your entire organization. It’s packed with thousands of features for collaboration and communication to give your teams what they need to hold group discussions, monitor project workflow, and collaborate on plans and projects in real-time, wherever they are.
ClickUp is free to try—connect your distributed teams connected, level up your cross-functional communication, and bring all your work in one place today!
Guest Writer:
Roman Shvydun is a freelance writer. He writes informative articles about marketing, business, productivity, workplace culture, etc. During 10+ years of content creation experience, his articles have helped numerous entrepreneurs to scale up their businesses.
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