5 best messaging apps for work from home

The global COVID-19 cases are inching towards the 200,000 mark and governments across the world are issuing advisories on social distancing to contain the disease.

The corporate world too is encouraging its employees to work from home. Under such conditions, messaging apps become very important for work co-ordination.

Here are a few of the best ones out there:

WhatsApp

WhatsApp is the most widely used messaging app in the world. The Facebook-owned platform is easy to use, user-friendly and allows you to communicate to a large group instantly. It also has a broadcast feature, where you can send a message to multiple people's personal chats at once.

Slack

The Slack app provides you three different options: Direct message, private channel and a public channel. It has a keyword-based search feature. Slack has acquired competitor HipChat and is one of the most popular messaging apps.

RingCentral Glip

A firm with a lot of call-based work systems can use this app. Someone with only RingCentral can connect to Glip users too. It offers free unlimited posts, storage and guests with 500 minutes of unpaid shared video chat.

Google Hangouts

Corporate Houses with G Suite need not look further than Google's own messaging app Hangouts. You can create a room and invite members to it and anything you share reaches every member of the room. It works like WhatsApp groups. Hangouts also offers a video chat capability of 250 participants joining in at once.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is packaged with the Microsoft Office subscription, which is readily accessible. The app works across Android, iOS, Windows, Mac and web. The app is best suited for business conversations and meetings.

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