Remote working is here to stay. In 2023, 61% of businesses reported unwillingness or reluctance from employees to return to the office. Business communication tools that make remote work more efficient, then, are increasingly business-critical.
When you can’t walk to a coworker’s desk to ask a question, a lot can get lost in translation. Someone might misinterpret your tone in an email, or a task could fall through the cracks altogether. The last thing you need are slowdowns that could mean loss of productivity and revenue.
Luckily, there are affordable tools designed to keep everyone in close contact, no matter where they work. That’s why, according to a report by Buffer, remote communication and collaboration is improving more each year.
In a nutshell, communication tools are digital solutions that help teams collaborate and perform more productively. They also help businesses to communicate better with customers and stakeholders outside the business.
There are many different ways to communicate in the workplace and beyond, so naturally, there are many different tools on the market that serve different key purposes. From team messaging to video calling, project management to task management, there’s something for every need.
The one thing that all these tools have in common is that they can help you and your teams to connect in real time, even if you’re not physically in the same space.
What are some types of communication tool?
There are many different kinds of business communication tools. Here are some key examples.
1. Social intranet software
Social intranet software is often the foundation of many other communication tools in the workplace and provides a central portal from which everyone can get the information they need. So all kinds of communications, documents, team or company news, contracts and projects can be kept in one dedicated place, and all staff – in or out of the office – can access them.
This option helps to facilitate a more adaptable workplace for a disparate workforce. It also helps to increase productivity and cohesion by connecting employees to specific targets without the need for them to waste time sending information back and forth. Everything is in one place, and a strong business vision and ethos is far easier to integrate.
2. Chat tools (private and group messaging)
Employee teams need collaborative business communication tools in order to work efficiently. Without a virtual workspace, it can be tricky for staff members to stay in touch, quickly pass along their ideas during online meetings and closely follow group progress. There’s the incessant risk of missed emails, and of ultimately impenetrable and endless message threads. And the ability to drag and drop files is a handy bonus. This allows team members to share materials during a conversation. There’s also the opportunity to integrate with platforms like Slack, which enables you to combine all your business communication tools.
3. Task management
Task management software helps all staff reach their goals with maximum efficiency. Managers can assign tasks to team members and subsequently closely follow their progress. They can set deadlines and prioritize specific tasks in an organized fashion. In turn, team members are always well oriented and know what to work on and when.
4. Cases, issue tracking, and ticketing software
The modern customer wants to be able to connect across multiple channels. And yet many customer service representatives lack the business communication tools they need to offer sufficient customer support. So customer queries are regularly lost, call volumes rise, staff are carelessly designated, and customers are left disappointed by inadequate service.
In this regard, issue tracking software is a key business communication tool. Customers or employees can refer to a case or ticket number; the case or ticket will then be referred to the right employee for a timely resolution. This can massively streamline the customer query side of the business, and can draw key customer feedback to help you improve your service.
5. Analytics and sentiments
If you don’t have an accurate way to analyze how well you’re performing, you won’t necessarily have the best idea of what you’re doing. You may well be manually monitoring some performance-related information on a spreadsheet, but this is both time-consuming and far from ideal.
In terms of recording and assessing your performance, an analytics and sentiment feature is one of the most effective business communication tools. You can automatically accrue key information such as how many members are reading an article, how many have commented on a post, and even what different types of feedback mean. The information will form a comprehensive report you can draw on to make improvements, and celebrate successes.
6. Discussion forums
Your employees need to share information to keep things moving, build morale and grow a thriving working community. Hosting a discussion forum means experienced staff can help new starters to get to grips with new processes. It also allows all employees to ask questions as they need to, discuss projects and deal with workplace issues – all in all, a key communication tool.
Keeping a record of discussion forum conversations can form a handy working support archive.
7. Alerts and notifications
Content – however exciting or interesting – is nobody reads it. Your business may be putting out cutting-edge, perfectly-freighted, incredibly interesting content, but you need the right business communication tool to get the most out of it. (And sending an email is not likely to be anything like a 100% efficient means of letting people know.)
An alerts and notification tool solves the problem. With such a tool you can notify your staff about important company news, or send direct, relevant updates to the people who need them.
8. Employee profiles
For your business to be as connected as possible, your staff need to know each other. There are many reasons for this, but let’s focus on one: without such information, it might be tricky for one staff member to know which other staff member they need to contact with a query. And with modern-day business models, there’s a fair chance many staff members may never come physically face-to-face.
An employee profile is a useful business communication tool because it contextualizes and personalizes everyone in your organization.
9. Workflows
However big or small your company is, we’re all usually busy. One thing that can waste huge tranches of collective time is: unnecessary waiting for information. Your manager may be overwhelmed, or another staff member may be in a succession of meetings.
A workflow tool means everyone can get on with what they need to without having to wait for confirmation or updates. If an employee completes a project, the relevant departmental member is notified. They can know what has been completed without leaving or interrupting a meeting; and a staff member can know what’s next on the docket without needing to ask.
Why are communication tools important for business?
Have you ever gotten lost in a never-ending reply-all email chain? Or had a day so full of back-to-back meetings you weren’t able to get any work done?
You’re not alone. How many hours do we lose every day digging through our inboxes and wasting time in unnecessary meetings that could’ve been a quick message or email?
While online communications tools won’t necessarily eliminate all emails or meetings, they can help you work with other people more efficiently.
For example, group messaging and chat tools let you fire off quick messages, while project management tools help employers monitor projects and quickly prioritize tasks.
With these facts in mind, it’s understandable why there are so many apps out there designed to help us communicate faster, collaborate better, and ultimately get more work done in less time.
Still, it can be tough to know which tool is right for your business. That’s why we’ve compiled the following list of communication tools. Whether you’re a two-person startup or running a Fortune 500 company, there’s a solution on this list that’ll fit your needs.
The 15 best business communication tools, categorized
All communication tools aren’t created equal. It can be hard to know which platform really offers the greatest functionality for the price.
That’s why we’ve rounded up some of the best options and categorized them for you, based on their available features and what they’re best at:
Best in the business
1. RingEX by RingCentral: Powerful features and greatest value for small businesses
Instant messaging. Video conferencing. Phone calls. Task management. File sharing. You get all of that and more from RingCentral, the collaboration and communication software for business that combines all these helpful features into one unified team workspace.
With RingCentral, you can chat in real time from any device or location. You can share links and files, create team group chats based on projects, themes, or departments, and dial into video calls and meetings with just a click.
If you’re tired of having all your emails, discussions, and resources scattered across various platforms, you’ll love how RingCentral streamlines all of your team’s communication into shared conversations, files, tasks, and calendars.
RingCentral also integrates with many popular business tools like Google Drive and Box, and it gets a lot of love from its users for how easy it is to use and how simple it is to turn conversations into actionable tasks.
Here are a few of the top collaboration features in action:
Assign tasks in a snap
Start either an audio or video meeting in the same app
Oh, and you can switch between a phone and video call too
Drag, drop, and share files
Customer quote:
“This service has been extremely reliable and the customer service has been a 10! RingEX has helped my company to [. . .] connect team members in a very fast and efficient way!” Ray Jackson, RingCentral user
Pricing:
RingExTM comes in three r tiers, ranging from $20/month to $35/month.
🤯 On top of all this, RingCentral could cut your costs by up to 50% or more, by eliminating expensive on-prem maintenance and unburdening IT.
Explore the RingCentral Advantage for small businesses:
💰 You can also use this calculatorto see roughly how much your business could save by using RingCentral to support your team’s communication with each other—and clients.
All-in-one communication tools
2. 8×8: Good for call management
The upsides
Like RingCentral, 8×8 offers an all-in-one communication tool. It’s a feature-rich option with a streamlined interface, enterprise-grade security, and plentiful call management capabilities includingcaller ID, call forwarding, transfer, park, hunt groups, and ring groups.
8×8 doesn’t publish its prices online—you have to talk to their sales team—which makes it harder to compare it with other small business communication tools. But feature comparisons reveal some limitations, especially in terms of integrations (there are only 68, as opposed to more than 300 with RingCentral).
8×8’s file sharing is also limited. You can drop docs into any chat you like, but the functionality ends there. Unlike RingCentral, there’s no way to collaborate on a file or pin it for later, so you’ll have to scroll back through the chat to find what you need. Several of the low-star reviews on G2 mention poor customer support and billing issues.1
3. Vonage Business Communications: A feature-rich platform
The upsides
When it comes to features offered on their communication tool, Vonage isn’t far behind RingCentral. It’s another all-in-one platform that works across devices and is reportedly easy to use. Price-wise, there are discounts for higher numbers of users—although you’ll have to get in touch for a quote if you have more than 99 employees.
The lowest-priced package is a little sparse, with no video meetings or team messaging. There’s no visual voicemail or on-demand call recording until the top tier, and the whole platform is light on third-party integrations.2
There are a few recurring themes in user reviews that make you go, “Hmm…”
According to some users, Vonage experiences technical glitches with call quality. There appears to be some disparity between the desktop and mobile apps, and users report having to open separate interfaces or windows when switching between tasks or communication channels.3
It’s possible that you’ll have a worry-free experience with Vonage, thanks to their feature-rich app that’s user friendly, but make sure you ask lots of questions upfront and get guarantees in writing before signing that contract.
4. Broadvoice: Good on customer service
The upsides
Broadvoice is another affordable player in the world of VoIP that happens to offer some additional communication tools for teams. Like RingCentral, their app allows you to start a conversation in the messaging feature and quickly switch to a video chat. This can really come in handy for keeping projects on track and avoiding misunderstandings.
In user reviews, the platform receives high praise for its customer support particularly during implementation/onboarding.4,.
Broadvoice’s pricing information is somewhat confusing, with no explanation or comparison of the “Virtual” plan, and a separate set of plans if you want to integrate with Microsoft Teams. In fact, there are very few integrations in total.5
If you want video meetings (and most companies do), you’ll have to go for the most expensive tier, which also includes call recording and virtual fax. Video is provided through the platform’s “Communicator” app, and capacity tops out at 50 participants. The same app only provides softphone and chat functions in the mid-range plan.
Our biggest advice: if you decide to pursue Broadvoice for your professional communication tool, make sure to ask plenty of questions upfront about what’s included in the Communicator app, so you know exactly what you’re getting.
5. MiVoice Business: Reliably secure
The upsides
MiVoice Business by Mitel is a unified solution with business telephony features pluschat, video conferencing, and file sharing. It’s flexible as it can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud (public or private), and has an administration portal enabling you to change or add users easily.
Mitel is hot on security, with authorization and authentication (SSO and MFA) and role-based access controls. The company also offers a range of compatible phones and accessories.
No pricing is shown on the website, so it’s unclear how affordable this platform actually is—Mitel just says that it’s suitable for businesses of all sizes. It’s also not clear if other Mitel apps like MiCollab and MiContactCenter are included in the package, or if there’s an extra charge.
Several reviewers mentioned difficulties in getting the product up and running, and a lack of online training materials. . Others had issues with tech support, saying it was hard to reach them in a pinch and felt the product itself isn’t economical for smaller businesses.6
6. CenturyLink: Good for Microsoft integrations
The upsides
CenturyLink is pretty different from the other UCaaS providers on this list because it’s also an internet provider for small businesses. However, the Connected Voice packages for businesses come with a digital phone service, video conferencing, instant messaging, and file sharing.7
As well as plug-and-play installation and an admin portal, there are plenty of calling features including caller ID management, visual voicemail, priority ringtones, and auto attendant.
The drawbacks
CenturyLink doesn’t go into much detail about its features, and it’s also unclear what the price points are for their two digital phone tiers—other than to say that the pricing starts at $95/month. If you’re interested, you’ll have to call or chat with them to find out.
There aren’t many user reviews for the business package, with more people using CenturyLink for residential internet services. But its performance and customer support gets slated by many reviewers8, which is not a great sign for business clients.
No one beats 3CX on price. In fact, the SMB phone system is free for up to 10 users, with calling fees starting at $1 per month. There’s no contract involved. You can choose to upgrade to the higher tiers as your business grows.9
The package includes some free basic communication tools like video (for up to 25 participants) and team chat, plus the ability to connect with customers via SMS and WhatsApp. You can also have voicemails and faxes sent to email.
You can probably guess that with 3CX, you get what you pay for. The team collaboration features are extremely limited: no file sharing, storage, or annotation available. You also have to pay for customer support, while user reviews mention glitches and connectivity issues.10
This might be a good solution if you need something fast and cheap for small business communications, but we would encourage you to keep your eyes out for a more sustainable option. That way, you don’t have to look for a new communication tool in the near future.
Slack is a well-known communication app, particularly popular for its team messaging feature. You can follow everything related to team projects and work through chat “channels.” This also means that everything is kept in one place—a handy feature when you’re working on multiple projects.
There’s also Slack Connect, which works as a social network and lets you collaborate with other organizations in the same way you do your own. Slack integrates with a host of other business apps.
The drawbacks
Slack is very much focused on team messaging, but when it comes to meetings and conferences you may find it’s lacking in the features you need. You can have video and audio calls in the Slack app, but only with up to 50 people.11 (A full business communications platformlike RingCentral can provide HD video calls for up to 200 users.)
There’s no native document collaboration feature, and it can be a little tricky to search for a specific past conversation and keep track of notifications in threads.12 Compliance and security features are limited until you reach the top tier, which is custom-priced.
Google Meet is a communication tool used across many businesses. It’s free with a Google account, and if you are already familiar with Google products, it should be a smooth experience for you. It’s also pretty secure, with end-to-end encryption.
Video calls come with features like in-meeting chat, live closed captions, and a raise-hand option. To ensure everyone’s on-time you can also send invites through Google Calendars.
As well as video meetings, you can audio-call a number or group directly via the Meet Legacy Calls feature, formerly known as Google Duo and now combined with Meet.
The drawbacks
If you can get by on the basics, Google Meet will likely suit your business. But if you want “premium” features like the ability to record a meeting, set up breakout rooms, or view your guest list, you’ll need to sign up and pay for a Google Workspace or Google One subscription.13
You may run into some issues if your meetings usually run over an hour. Yes, there’s just a one hour limit per meeting on this mobile app. This might do the job for small businesses that just need weekly catch-ups. However, if you need more than this, we recommend shopping around for software like RingCentral Video, which delivers up to 24-hour meeting duration capabilities in the Video Pro+ price package.
With Skype, you can make free HD video calls from your iOS or Android phone, tablet, or desktop no matter where you are in the world. You can also call a mobile or a landline directly from Skype, and send SMS messages. Don’t forget the instant messaging feature, with reacjis and @mentions.
Skype allows you to record video calls, and they also come with integrated screen sharing. Plus, you can turn onlive subtitles—so, even if the audio connection does dip out, you’ll still be able to read what your colleague is saying!
The drawbacks
There are additional charges for Skype’s “premium” features such as voicemail, SMS, or calling outside of Skype.14
Skype can sometimes lag, meaning the connection is lost and communication breaks down halfway through a call. A number of user reviews mention this type of problem, as well as the fact that the mobile app takes up a lot of space on your phone.15
Trello is all about teamwork. It uses template Kanban boards to organize tasks within each project. This very visual way of communicating is great for creative teams, who can add to each “card” with text, documents, or images. You can also set deadlines and assign each person a task with the color-coding feature. This could encourage employee engagement as everyone is responsible for their own column.
This software is great for those who don’t necessarily need video calls and phone calls in order to communicate. If your work is more project-based, then this could be a great option for you. It’s affordable, too, and there’s a free plan.16
The drawbacks
Trello is great for making notes and planning tasks, but its drawbacks lie in the fact you can’t make calls through the app. This can be challenging for teams who want to talk about ideas featured on the boards.
It may be best to use in conjunction with another software app like RingCentral’s, which actually has a Trello integration. That way, you can work from Trello then switch to HD video calls in just a few taps.
Asana is an all-in-one task management tool with good communication capabilities. You can create tasks and assign them to team members, and create subtasks within those to keep work as detailed as possible. As well as this, the team can split the tasks into columns to match their workflow as they complete one task and move onto another.
What’s more, colleagues can leave comments on tasks and engage in project conversations—and receive automatic updates when someone’s left them a comment or a new task.
The drawbacks
The free tier is a little limited in that you can only collaborate with up to 10 teammates, although that may be enough for very small businesses.17
Some users have found that Asana’s features don’t go far enough to meet the needs of businesses with more complex management tasks. Others say there’s a bit of a learning curve for new users, and the interface can look cluttered and overwhelming.18 So, if you require a more robust but user-friendly tool, software like RingCentral could be a better option.
Jira is a project management platform that gives you some of the features of a business communication toolby integrating third-party apps.For example, you can message stakeholders via Slack, Teams, or email to get sign-off on a project component. The idea is that Jira becomes a collaboration hub for your team.
As a team leader, you can plan sprints and distribute tasks, and track them from conception to completion. Project boards show the status of everyone’s tasks at each stage of the workflow.
The drawbacks
You’ll have to pay extra for enhanced security, and you only get 24/7 support if you’re paying for the Premium tier.19 Jira doesn’t have an offline mode, so if your internet goes down then work will grind to a halt. Reviewers say that it’s not easy for beginners to learn, and that the customization options are complex.20
If you’re looking for an easy-to-use communication tool, RingCentral is a great option. The interface is user-friendly, and you also get the added bonus of being able to HD video call and phone call through the app.
A huge part of company communication is the ability to share and edit files within the organization. With Dropbox Business, you can bring in files from your other apps and organize them all in one place. Make changes to files within the app, and send them off for an e-signature with HelloSign.
The drawbacks
Dropbox Business doesn’t have any native video or phone calling capabilities. So, while it may help to keep the team organized, communication is limited. You can, however, integrate tools like Slack and Zoom to discuss projects in the app.
If you’d like all of these features in one place, then you could try RingCentral, which also integrates with Dropbox to streamline your workflow.
15. ProofHub: Combines file sharing and project management
ProofHub is a file-sharing platform that also offers project management and team communication capabilities. You can upload, organize, and collaborate on files and images, and give approvals and feedback. There’s a built-in feature for 1:1 and group chats, plus the option to create discussion topics for a specific project.
The drawbacks
The main downside of ProofHub is that it has very limited integrations, and Slack is the only communication tool among them. This issue is frequently mentioned in user reviews.
Since there’s no free plan available, users also say they’d prefer the free trial period to be longer than 14 days in order to get a feel for all the features. Other reviewers mention that ProofHub’s notifications are not very user-friendly.21
7 tips for choosing the best communication tools for your business
It can be overwhelming to find the right communication tool for your unique business—even when presented with a list like the one above—but we have a few tips to help you in your search.
1. Look for an all-in-one solution
There are some powerful, multifunctional options on the list below, and they’re worth a second look. Why? Having all of your communication needs in one place—file sharing, team messaging, and video chats, for example—cuts down on toggling between different apps.
According to recent research, employees jump between different applications and websites over 1,200 times a day. This kind of inefficiency might seem small at first, but it adds up to time lost, tasks missed, and mistakes made.
In short: the more features, the better.
2. Find tools the whole team will love
Chances are good that your team members range in age and tech savviness. When shopping for your new communication tool, consider everyone’s abilities. Clean, simple platforms that offer truly intuitive functionality can go a long way toward enthusiastic adoption by employees of all abilities.
A gentler learning curve is good for your team and your business. It means less time spent on training and frustrations, and more time spent doing the work that matters. It might be a good idea to involve your less tech-happy team members in the test drives to ensure you find a product that makes their lives easier, not more stressful.
3. Security is key
Remote teams of all sizes have learned the importance of a secure connection. But it’s still vital to pay close attention to online security. This goes double if your business handles sensitive information: think finance, education, healthcare, insurance, and high tech.
If confidentiality is important to your team and customers, find out how many layers of security are offered by the communication tools you research. (For example, RingCentral offers enterprise-grade security as standard.
Want to learn more about video conferencing security? Download this guide:
Learn more about RingCentral Video's enterprise-grade security features and keep your meetings on lock.
🎉 Enjoy!
4. Think (and ask) about scalability
We wager your goal is growth. More customers means more tasks for your team, and maybe even the need to expand your ranks. This could mean growing pains for your communication tool of choice if you don’t think far enough into the future as you shop.
It’s a good idea to find a communication tool that will grow with you, instead of capping out. That way you can carry the platform into the next phases of your business for greater continuity, with no need to retrain everyone on a new tool as you scale up.
5. Look for great customer support
Every once in a while, you may run into a technological problem that even your most top-notch tech guys can’t solve. To cover for that, it’s best to look for an internal communication tool that offers a fantastic level of customer support to help you out during these times. This might be through social media, phone support, or email.
For example, if you’re on an out-of-office-hours call with a client but experience a technical issue, you might not be able to get help if your communication tool only provides 9-to-5 customer support.
Invest in a tool like RingCentral, which offers 24/7 unlimited phone and chat support from its Standard plan onwards, and you’ll never get caught short. This means you can be back up-and-running as soon as possible, minimizing the inconvenience for your clients.
6. Does it have a range of features to suit your needs?
As you read this guide on team communication tools, you’ll see that not every tool offers an abundance of features. Some are more specialized depending on your industry and business needs. For instance, Jira is designed for software teams, whereas Trello is mostly used by creative teams.
Some businesses simply don’t have the need for many features. However, it can’t hurt to have them there.
Perhaps you’ve never considered the idea of having an HD video calling tool that can also help you manage tasks and offer business analytics. RingCentral can do all of this and more. Imagine collaborating with colleagues on a Trello project board and hopping straight onto a quick call to explain your additional notes. This is all possible with a clever tool like RingCentral.
Analyze your business’s needs, and think about whether you’d benefit from additional features—such as Outlook or Gmail email integration—that you haven’t tried yet.
7. Ensure it’s cost-effective
Whether you’re a startup or a growing SMB (small to medium-sized business), you need to choose a cost-effective communication tool that will fit within your budget. Consider whether the features available are worth the price being asked.
Does it offer multiple forms of communication? Or is it just focused on team messaging or phone calls? Additionally, look at whether the tool offers a range of upgrade options as you grow and expand.
Which is the best business communication tool for you?
RingCentral is a clear industry leader and offers some serious bang for your buck, thanks to hundreds of integrations, team collaboration tools, and high-quality phone and video service.
But we know every small business is different, and that’s why we pulled together this diverse set of business communicationtools for you to investigate as you weigh your options and priorities.
Whatever app you choose, look for multiple communication options. Instant messaging might be fun, but video and voice calling will truly help your team stay connected, get that face time, and feel like they are part of the team, no matter where they happen to be.
Our final piece of advice: it’s always a good idea to take these products for a test drive with your team, so you can choose with confidence the option that makes their lives easier and increases productivity.
Make sure you take advantage of free trials or demos from the tools on this list, or any others that you’re researching, before you buy.
You could start with RingCentral’s free demo today.
Business communication tools FAQs
What are business communication tools?
In a nutshell, a business communication tool is any piece of software or app that helps employees, employers, and stakeholders at a business to stay connected and collaborate. The better and more streamlined your business communication tools, the more your business will excel.
What’s the most effective business communication tool?
In today’s fast-paced business environment, a unified communications platform is often the most effective tool. It can allow your teams to access everything they need in one place. No more switching apps and windows to use separate communications channels or find elusive information.
What are the different types of business communication?
Broadly speaking, there are four different types of business communication.
Upward communication (information sent up the company hierarchy, for example a report sent by a staff member to a supervisor)
Downward communication (information sent down the company hierarchy, for example news about a change to a work process delivered by a line manager to staff members)
Lateral communication (information sent by a manager to another manager, or by one team member to another)
External communication (information a company receives from outside, for example customer contact or from another organization)
What is the most popular business communication tool?
The most popular business communication tools are different types of social intranet systems, instant messaging options, task management systems and variant video and voice conferencing services.
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