In this article, you’ll learn:
Business communication comes in all shapes and sizes—think video calls, chats, audio calls, screen sharing, recording, or even leaving comments on documents.
Every team needs the right set of tools to make collaboration easy and keep things running smoothly. These tools help your team share info, stay in touch, and get the job done together.
With so many digital communication tools out there, it can be hard to pick the best one. To make it easier, we’ve rounded up the top 8 options to help you find the perfect fit for your business.
Top 8 Business Communication Tools For 2024
A recent poll by Gartner states, “79% of companies use chat tools for enterprise communication and collaboration.”
Some business communication tools have established a good name due to reliability, quality of service, and features. We have provided a brief description, key features, and pricing for each tool so that you have a fair idea of the good and bad aspects.
Slack - The Best for Real-Time Chat
Slack is one of the most popular real-time business communication tools. It allows you to create channels for facilitating team collaboration. Team members can chat in real-time and share files in the channels. Apart from that, users can send 1:1 instant messages, meet using audio and video calls, and record video clips to communicate with team members in multiple ways. For many companies, it is hard to imagine running a business without Slack.
Key features
- Channels to create tasks, share files, and organize work
- Huddles to meet with team members and 1:1 using audio and video calls
- Messaging to chat 1:1 with team members
- Clips to record video and audio messages
Pricing
Slack offers four plans:
- Free: 90 days of message history
- Pro: $7.25 per user per month
- Business+: $12.50 per user per month.
- Enterprise: Contact Sales
Zoom - The Best for Video Conferencing and Screen Sharing
Zoom is a dedicated video-conferencing app to facilitate business meetings with up to 1,000 participants. It allows you to conduct high-quality video conferences in a few simple clicks. You can chat with participants, add public comments, share a screen, and use a white-boarding tool within the meeting to share information effectively.
Key features
- Meetings to collaborate with teams
- Team chat to connect with your teams
- Cloud VoIP services for voice communications
- Zoom Mail and Zoom Calendar for client communication
- Zoom Scheduler to automate email or SMS reminders and confirmations (Google and Microsoft 365 integrations)
Pricing
Zoom offers five plans:
- Basic: Free with limits on feature
- Pro: $14.99 per user/month
- Business: $21.99 per user/month
- Business Plus: Custom pricing
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Loom - The Best for Screen Recording
Loom is the best screen recording tool for sharing video messages. It allows you to record your screen and camera on any device such as a Mac, PC, or mobile. You get enterprise-grade security such as SSO and SCIM to keep your data private and secure. The tool refers to itself as a ‘productivity platform’ that focuses on supercharging productivity by replacing thousands of words with one video message.
Key features
- Lightning-fast screen recorder to record your screen and camera
- Trim video with Loom editor
- Share a video with an embedded link
- Transcripts and captions in 50+ languages
Pricing
Loom offers three plans:
- Starter: Free, up to 25 videos/person and up to 5 mins/video
- Business: $12.50 per user/month
- Enterprise: Contact Sales
Microsoft Teams - The Best Chat App for Microsoft Office Suite Users
Microsoft Teams is the best business communication app for teams using the Microsoft suite of products. It allows you to communicate with team members via video/audio, chat, and phone. You can make meetings more meaningful with PowerPoint Live, Microsoft Whiteboard, AI-generated meeting notes, recordings, and transcripts.
Key features
- Meet for video conferencing up to 10,000 attendees in a meeting
- Chat to communicate with team members in real-time
- Make and receive calls directly in Teams with features like group calling, voicemail, and call transfers
- Channels to keep everyone in sync with shared task lists, files, and links
Pricing
Microsoft Teams offers three plans:
- Microsoft Teams Essentials: $4.00 user/month
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic: $6.00 user/month
- Microsoft 365 Business Standard: $12.50 user/month
Chanty - The Best for Scheduling Meetings
Chanty is a business communication app that focuses on bringing messaging, video meetings, and tasks together. It makes business meetings useful with screen sharing or letting someone else share theirs. You can also convert any message into tasks for effective task management.
Key features
- Create an organized space for each project to communicate with the team
- Switch from messaging to video call with a few simple clicks
- High-quality video conferencing for participants up to 1000
- Convert any message into a task or create tasks from scratch to manage a project
Pricing
Chanty offers two plans:
- Free: Up to five users
- Business: $3 per user/month
ProofHub - The Best for Team Collaboration
ProofHub is the best collaboration app for teams to work together on tasks effectively. It allows you to create and delegate tasks, share information with team members, add task comments and files, communicate 1:1 in real-time, and proofread digital assets online. Seamless team collaboration from one place eliminates confusion, streamlines communication, and improves productivity.
Key features
- Centralized task management to create, delegate, and collaborate on tasks
- Built-in chat to communicate with team members in real-time
- Collaborative notes and project discussions to brainstorm at the project level
- Online proofing to review, edit, and share feedback on digital assets
Pricing
ProofHub offers multiple flat-fee paid plans. This allows you to add unlimited users to account for one fixed price. You get a 14-day free trial to try all the premium features for teams of all sizes. Visit the website for more information on pricing.
Notion - Best for knowledge base management
Every company needs to create an online network for sharing and accessing knowledge resources with its people. Notion is a knowledge base management tool that allows you to create a company’s intranet. You can centralize all of your company’s knowledge resources with Notion Wiki. Not just that, you can also create the knowledge resources using built-in advanced Docs.
Key features
- Create documents beyond plain text with code snippets, math equations, tables, images and videos, and more
- Create a centralized library of a company’s resources
- Create projects and collaborate with teams on tasks
- Calendar to help you schedule meetings
Pricing
Notion offers four plans:
- Free: Collaborate with up to 10 guests
- Plus: $8 per user/month
- Business: $15 per user/month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Google Docs - The Best for Co-Editing Documents
Business communication is often accompanied by the presentation of documents to provide context to the discussion and results in creation of new documents during brainstorming. Google Docs is your online document to share information and create something together. It allows you to access, create, and co-edit documents online from anywhere. You can store all the documents in Google Drive cloud storage for centralized document management.
Key features
- Edit together in real-time and track the changes with version history
- Smart Compose and spelling and grammar suggestions to help you write faster with fewer errors
- @-mentions to add relevant people, files, and events to your document
- Use comments, suggestions, and action items for collaboration
Pricing
Google Docs is free to use. However, there is a limit on the storage. You can create documents with up to 15 GB of storage. To get additional storage, you need to switch to Google Workspace plans.
Google Workspace offers four plans:
- Business Starter: 30 GB per user
- Business Standard: 2 TB per user/month
- Business Plus: 5 TB per user/month
- Enterprise: 5 TB per user/month
How To Choose The Right Business Communication Tools For Your Business?
The purpose of using business communication tools is to make it easy for teams to communicate effectively and efficiently. Therefore, it is very important to choose the right tool that makes your life easy and builds trust in tech teams.
Here are the five practical suggestions to make a decision for your business:
Understand your business needs and evaluate communication gaps
Ask questions like:
- What areas do you need help with such as internal communication, document sharing, task management, meetings, and/or online proofing?
- What technology and processes are you currently using for communication?
- What are the current communication challenges you are facing?
Based on the answers, document your business communication needs.
Create a list of features you need to solve your business objectives
Based on your business needs, decide on the type of communication tool you need and create a list of must-have features in your business communication tool.
For example, if you are using emails to assign tasks and share information, you require project management software to make it easy for you to share tasks, add information, and track progress. Look for features like task management, task comments, file sharing, progress tracking, and project reports.
Ease of use, learning curve, and scalable
Training employees on new software is a big challenge. Tools like employee recognition software can help ease the transition by promoting engagement and positive reinforcement, making it easier for teams to adapt. Therefore, it is important to choose a business communication app that is easy to use and comes with a minimal learning curve. Also, make sure the software is scalable because you do not want to find a new app just because an existing one cannot handle a growing team’s needs.
Security and support services
Safety of information and support services are among the key concerns for a business. Make sure the tool you choose adheres to the industry security standards and data safety and privacy policies and provides proactive support services.
Compare the features, pricing, and value for money
Comparing the features, pricing, and value for money of all the top business communication tools. You can visit the company’s website, read reviews on top websites, and run free trials to compare the options. Ensure you are getting all the features you need and high value for money.
Improve your business communication with the right tool
Business communication tools facilitate the free flow of information, streamline communication, and hold people accountable by recording every interaction. This results in enhanced operational efficiency, seamless working together, and increased quality of work for improved chances of project success. The only thing you need to keep in mind is to invest in the right business communication tool that serves your business needs.
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is a versatile freelance writer passionate about SaaS and B2B. Her expertise extends to team productivity, project management, marketing, and human resources. With a knack for crafting insightful content, she helps her clients thrive in the competitive business landscape.
