Thoughts or suggestions on an interoffice chat app
 

I am thinking that it might be better to use messaging more with people I work with rather than email only. It would unclutter the inboxes of simple stuff is the basic reasoning. Have any of you tried this? What are your thoughts on this compared to email?

If you use a chat/messaging service do you have one you recommend? I travel a fair amount so it should work on iPhone (and iPad) and Android as well as Mac and PC desktops. Are their Google options people can recommend? Thanks for any suggestions.

The email system you are using can influence the best options. If you're using Exchange Server + Outlook, the most integrated option is probably Lync - although it's not free and will require you to install it on a server. If you're using Office 365 this is much easier and can be deployed as part of the cloud-based service.

If you're using Google Apps or Gmail, I'd recommend Google Hangouts, which is also well integrated into Chrome.

Both have clients for each major OS.

You could also look at Skype if you want a solution that is relatively independent of the email system you are using.

My company just uses AIM as the corporate default. Several of our clients do, too, which is handy.

The stock AIM client is awful, however. I'd recommend Pidgin as the best all-around chat client there is. At least, it's my favorite. :)

If you use Lotus Notes, there is a built-in chat functionality for other Notes users.

Yammer.com

A searchable IM transcript is a pretty common feature these days but if you end up without it, you'll probably regret it. Some enterprises prefer not to have this kind of paper trail, but I find that it's really useful. I especially like the ability to enter a keyword and search all transcripts of all chats, or filter by username, dates, etc.

I shut off my skype that I was using to communicate with my team and I'm thrilled. Another step to a more productive and peaceful life. Both -- more productive for sure, more peaceful for sure.

We use Lync and I hate it - not intuitive, frequently disconnects, and goes offline whenever we VPN in while on a guest network. Not a good choice for people who frequently work from client sites (IMO).

Previously have used communicator, sametime, and webex connect - all of which I liked much better.

That's nothing to do with Lync, that's to do with how your company has set it up. Lync, especially if you use voice and video features should not go through a VPN externally as it will degrade performance.

Depending on your target audience, either IRC for the tech-savvy or Skype for the non-tech-savvy (almost everyone has a Skype account these days), and there are Linux, Windows and Mac clients for both.

My personal choice is IRC, why re-invent the wheel with an IM app like Yammer (totally pointless IMO, and I have actually used it) - you can get a room on Freenode relatively easily, as long as you have the know-how to be an op (it's not that difficult!). You can always set up your own IRC server if you don't like bouncing off Freenode.

HipChat by Atlassian.

Chat is a time thief that prevents focus on the task in hand. Leave your communication to emails which you can tackle in your own time and in line with your schedule. If it's that urgent people can call or text.

Start using chat and your office productivity will fall.

Link to a random important/urgent matrix

(Possible exception - useful side chat during conference calls)

I'd very strongly disagree with that.

TL;DR - it depends on your industry and your use of the IM system. If all you do is say "Hey Dave, fancy getting a beer at lunch?" or "How was the pub last night?" then yes I agree with you, IM is pointless, but it does have huge benefits for teams that need to communicate, especially across offices/continents.

If your job relies on communication (like, for example, systems support or development, or anything that requires cross-office communications) then IM is really invaluable. I've worked on a systems team that had colleagues in Boston and London, and IRC was absolutely central for us for a couple of reasons.

Primarily it allowed us to communicate quickly (we all had the window open 24/7) with anyone, anywhere (even though the London team were all on the same bank of desks, we all communicated on IRC), and due to the "chat room" atmosphere, anyone could chip in with their opinion or suggestions. You could ask open questions like "Apache isn't responding, but CPU/RAM seems OK, anything I should check before kicking it?" and there was always scrollback in case you missed something important.

Of course there's the opportunity for a bit of banter and off-topic chatter, but if all you do is "chat" on your office IM system, the problem is you and not the system and there needs to be either better policing/moderation of the chatter (something IRC has inherently with the channel operators) or more willpower from the people involved. Let's face it, if you're one of these people that would spend the day on Facebook if your corporate proxy policy didn't block it, you deserve to be locked down.

IT says it is because of the program - we have all complained but are SOL since it sounds like no one wants to spend money on a new one.

Unfortunately, since we spend 90% of our time at client sites we really have no choice whether or not we use VPN since we need to be VPNed in to get things done. We've all opted to just stop using Lync.

Is that only for intra-company communication? Seems like this could be a good solution since it's web based (I think) but it says "Only people with a verified company email address can join your company network. " We already have an intra-company IM...I need something so I can chat with the client.

Honestly, I'd just stick with Gchat or AIM. They are ubiquitous. They can be web-based if you need.

If you need/want encryption, you can use Pidgin with any supported chat service and the Off The Record plugin, which encrypts everything between you and your chat friend - and if you use it correctly, protects against man in the middle attacks and provides perfect forward secrecy. But if you have to chat between a lot of people it will become a big headache.