Hola,

 

Wondering what, if any , people are using for internal company chat etc.

 

Ideally looking for an open source solution for a small group within a larger company so we can see when each other is online / chat / screen share.

 

Not adverse to buying a solution if it fits, but the likes of Lync is just too much overkill.

 

 

Cheers,

 

 

Company I work for used Yammer, kind of died off though

I've heard quite a few people mention telegram. Not used it myself though.

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Lync (now Skype for Business) may seem to be overkill, but it's very, very good. We're using it in the office now - it's meant that people in the various national depots can share screens, etc and the built in voice calling is saving a fortune on landline and mobile bills... Works best with a Windows phone as it integrates completely - can pick up a Skype call when out and about as long as you have enough signal (at least 3g from experience). 

All I will say is for the love of all that is holy, find ONE solution and support/mandate/enforce it for everyone.

 

My company currently uses:

An internal Jabber server

Atlassian HipChat

Slack

Another, separate instance of Slack

Lync

Skype

 

Almost everyone can be found on one of these services - however, you're doing well if it's one you can also have an account on. IM is a really useful tool, and thankfully the people I use it with most are easy to find on Jabber, but on the off chance I need to speak to someone on another product team, it's a real pain because everyone has been allowed (and/or encouraged) to go off and do their own thing.

All I will say is for the love of all that is holy, find ONE solution and support/mandate/enforce it for everyone.

 

My company currently uses:

An internal Jabber server

Atlassian HipChat

Slack

Another, separate instance of Slack

Lync

Skype

 

Almost everyone can be found on one of these services - however, you're doing well if it's one you can also have an account on. IM is a really useful tool, and thankfully the people I use it with most are easy to find on Jabber, but on the off chance I need to speak to someone on another product team, it's a real pain because everyone has been allowed (and/or encouraged) to go off and do their own thing.

 

That is part of the fear.  Hopefully with it being a small group of engineers we will stick with one solution.    We dont need a mobile solution as these are guys sat at a desk ( whether that is in an office or at home like me )

We are relying too heavily on email atm , and this is no good in real time.

Slack works https://slack.com/ also emails a catch up summary if you want.

 

That is part of the fear.  Hopefully with it being a small group of engineers we will stick with one solution.    We dont need a mobile solution as these are guys sat at a desk ( whether that is in an office or at home like me )

We are relying too heavily on email atm , and this is no good in real time.

 

In fairness, some of this has evolved because our company has expanded majorly through acquisitions. Lync is primarily an Austrian thing, because they've just always used it and it's tied to their pre-acquisition Active Directory (so no one outside can get an account easily). Ditto Slack, which it started on the East coast of the US. Jabber was primarily implemented on the West coast. I'm not sure where HipChat came from, but that's primarily an Engineering thing regardless of physical location. So there's a lot of crossover between product teams (which at one point would have been separate companies), as well as a lot of separatism. It's sort of like a weird Venn diagram, with no single way to include everybody. However, if you're a fairly small group starting from scratch then you'll probably be fine, if only because presumably someone has the authority to say "this is what we're using, deal with it"

Thanks for the input.

I have a small test group of 6 or 8 guys to give a few of the apps mentioned a whirl and see what works for us.

Cheers,

We're using Openfire (server) & Spark (client) for a small group of users. Integrates with Active Directory and easy to set up & manage. It's based on the XMPP/Jabber protocol but is aimed at corporate use. 

 

Openfire: http://www.igniterealtime.org/projects/openfire/index.jsp

 

Spark: http://www.igniterealtime.org/projects/spark/index.jsp

We're using Openfire (server) & Spark (client) for a small group of users. Integrates with Active Directory and easy to set up & manage. It's based on the XMPP/Jabber protocol but is aimed at corporate use. 

 

Openfire: http://www.igniterealtime.org/projects/openfire/index.jsp

 

Spark: http://www.igniterealtime.org/projects/spark/index.jsp

 Thanks for that.  Like the look of it.  AD integration is a plus.