Bolste vs. Google Chat

Bolste is best suited for companies that rely on team work and e-mail communication within/between departments

Well suited for businesses of all sizes. HOWEVER, I would say keep the chat groups limited at the departmental level, ensure that your moderator or the individual responsible for the group keeps it on topic, and have your IT team monitor it from time to time. Google Chat gets used so much in our organization that we have rules and regs in our Employee Handbook regarding its proper use (and when used PROPERLY, it can be very effective).

Incentivized

• Keeps everybody on the same page.
• Easy to access/use.

• Google Hangouts Chat allows you to send and receive messages real time with emoticons that can help you express your mood.
• You can download and upload image file that can be use for business process and more.
• Google Hangouts Chat also allows you to make a calls to reach other users.What I like the most is the awesome screen sharing while on call.

Incentivized

• There is only 7GB of storage in the Plus Pack.

• I wish it was easier to turn the sound off, I hate being in meetings and my chat is blowing up.
• Needing to "accept" a chat invite from someone within my org seems counter-intuitive.
• Some people have trouble getting their notifications before midnight, somehow?
• Prior to downloading the app, group messages didn't come up for me on my computer.

Incentivized

The updates, support, general reviews on Google Chat are great everywhere. The development of the features is ongoing and this adds a great value to Google as a big company in the market. Other applications are limiting communication while Google Chat is allowing communication to grow. It is very easy to use it and teach others how to use Google Chat.

It's not perfect. There are occasional glitches, drop-outs, and it takes a bit to get everything loaded and working. But it is significantly better than Zoom or GoToMeeting when you're in instructional settings. I know my teacher friends here like it and the administrators and parents seem to be satisfied too.

Incentivized

I have not needed to contact the support folks for Google Hangouts Chat, so I can't speak to this with any accuracy. The online instructions are fairly clearly written, so it is fairly intuitive to start with. I did not feel the need to use the support people anyway.

Incentivized

Prior to Google Hangouts, our company used Spark. Spark was not integrated into our email, therefore it couldn't be easily accessed in the same browser. With Spark we also couldn't search our emails for keywords in a conversation, searching had to be done manually. The one feature I enjoyed about Spark was a request to get a user's attention: If I had an urgent question and I wanted to ensure the recipient saw my message/question, I would request their attention and the message screen would pop up on their screen.

Incentivized

• In my work it allows us to report troubles that may cost loss of investment thru Google Hangouts Chat we were able to communicate on how to fix it.
• I hope we can make it on our own choice of colors to heightened workers vibe
• It is connected to your email

Incentivized