Compass Intelligence notes chat and messaging platforms are set to explode across the enterprise space
The worldwide enterprise chat and messaging market will reach $1.9 billion by 2019, driven mainly by a changing structure of today’s workforce and the need to communicate effectively and immediately, while performing other work activities. The culture of work is changing. Today’s workforce is more dispersed. Mobile devices and ubiquitous connectivity mean workers are always on and flex time has become a norm. The number and sophistication of business applications continues to grow. There is too much data to digest. Email, the connective tissue of business communications, is beginning to fail in its critical mission as workers become overwhelmed in its volume. All of these factors slow productivity, collaboration and communication.
But now, a consumer-like sensibility and ease of use is being applied to modern work challenges. Focused on increasing productivity, collaboration and communication, chat platforms like Slack and HipChat are emerging as legitimate business application contenders in a market dominated by established powerhouses. How? Chat applications are providing easy to use searchable synchronous and asynchronous communications and file sharing/archiving for work teams. Further, like consumer chat applications WeChat and Facebook Messenger, these enterprise chat platforms offer integrations to a broad range of applications, enabling users to work in different applications without ever leaving the chat platform. Integrations to established and upstart business applications are exploding, ranging from calendar/meeting, project management and expense reporting to travel booking and customer relationship management. Chatbots, smart applications that perform work functions and are controlled through chat interface, are bringing even more efficiencies to bear.
The terms “enterprise chat platforms,” “enterprise chat applications“ and “chat enabled collaboration” all refer to chat interface business applications used for communications, collaboration and productivity. They are typically cloud-based (though not all are) applications that can be used across desktop and mobile devices regardless of the operating system. Some solutions will focus strictly on the communications function, including peer-to-peer and group messaging, voice calls, teleconferencing and video/Web conferencing. They will be referred to as enterprise messaging applications.
According to a Compass Intelligence estimates from 2015, 59% of the world population between the ages of 14 and 65, more than 2.8 billion people, were using mobile messaging communications regularly. The number of regular messaging users as well as the volume of traffic for personal and business communications will continue to grow. This historic shift is causing a sea change across a vast range of businesses.
Mark Beccue is president of Mark Beccue Consulting and also serves as senior contributing analyst at Compass Intelligence. He is a veteran market research analyst with more than 20 years of experience in market and business strategy. Beccue provides clients with syndicated and custom qualitative research services. Specialties include B2B and B2C market intelligence, analysis and insights. Previous positions include market intelligence analyst for Syniverse, a vendor to the global mobile operator community and senior analyst with ABI Research. Beccue has been cited hundreds of times by international media outlets, including CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, Businessweek/Bloomberg, Internet Retailer, CNET and ReadWriteWeb.
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