Team communication without Skype

Skype - everybody is familiar with it and many use it. Without a doubt, it is one of the best instant messaging services available and perhaps that is why a lot of companies have chosen to use it as an internal communication solution. But the truth is that instant messaging did not develop much in the last 15 years.

The list of popular messaging applications is long, including MSN Messenger, ICQ and Yahoo Messenger. They all did the same job at basically the same level - exchanging text messages. And then what brought them to an end? Disruption. Skype simply added one new feature, which changed the game completely: video-chat. This game-changer made Skype so popular and people began to get accustomed to it. But can a tool, which is being used as a business communication facilitator, be regarded as the best one just because people are used to it? Definitely not!

What is the problem in using Skype for business purposes?

Basically, there is no issue associated with using Skype. But this statement can be quickly overturned when considering the specific needs of your business. If you simply intend to call your customers or need to engage some of your co-workers in a video chat, Skype is a really great tool. You can even exchange files. But that is when the advantages of using Skype already come to an end. Think about your business processes and what usually happens next. You have just asked your colleague for a file and he sent it to you. You even got some annotations. That’s it.

Now you have the file, but another co-worker needs it, too. So what do you do? You have to send him the same file, as well, and, in case you do not forget, you will send him the same annotations you received from the initial colleague. This is a process, which is called redundant. What this basically shows is that you have to do everything at least twice, especially when something unplanned happens – and as we all know most things in business cannot be predicted. This is why your business should use a real collaboration platform.

What can Stackfield do for you in this scenario?

Let’s visualize the same case example using Stackfield. You and your team members can be added to one Stack, a designated working area for a specific project. You can all communicate freely within the Stack, delegate tasks, add notes, upload files and even comment on them. Simply put, one person can upload a file in the Stack, add annotations in the form of a comment and instantly after that every team member that benefits from proper rights can download the file.

All this happens with end-to-end encryption, so no external party gets exposed to what you are doing within your Stacks. This sort of file management enables you to search for files or notes at a later date. Moreover, through the versioning of files, you will always view online the newest version of a file, complemented by a version history (e.g. whenever you are searching for an older version of a file, you can easily trace it back). The traceability is another essential part within the communication app. You can add posts or files to your favorites and therefore you can easily filter items. Additionally, you can delegate tasks and attach files to them. This feature helps your colleagues to know exactly what they are supposed to do. Adding files to tasks has never been seen before at another collaboration platform, although it is an easy and quick way to point things out.

Skype is a great tool - but it is not the right tool for business collaboration. If you want to place a phone call to one of your clients it is without a doubt the best option, but it is not the right one for transmitting files or important content, such as passwords. (Keep also in mind that their servers are located in the USA and with no end-to-end encryption be sure that the NSA knows all about your messages and calls – SSL encryption is already hacked, and it is by far not as safe as a client-side encryption method. Learn more here)

Stackfield helps you to increase the efficiency of your company and your team. You can streamline every kind of process due to its flexibility. Therefore you will save time and invest it wiser than answering questions such as “Could you send me these files? Are they still up to date?” or “What are they all about? I forgot about this.” Even if you are using Skype for phone calls do not forget to take notes, but do it on Stackfield.