Likelihood to Recommend 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).
Read full review Spike makes it simple to remain in touch with your peers and teams. It is simple, and searching for team members in the search tab is quick. Moreover, this tool makes screen sharing easier for presentations. The software is incredibly user-friendly and simple to use. Spike's versatility is enhanced via instant texting through this app. The visual and audio call quality is outstanding. Except for cloud storage, Spike does not connect with other applications. While there is a solid rationale for this, since everything - calendar, notes, tasks, team communication - can be made in the app, it loses some value if you prefer, for example, Microsoft To-Do and OneNote or Google Projects and Keep to organize your tasks and notes. I'd like to see a less costly email, calendar, and contacts-only subscription for solitary users.
Read full review Pros 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. Read full review There is an uniform experience because it consolidates email accounts. Spike's chat-like interface is its main selling feature. Files may be easily shared by connecting to cloud services. Read full review Cons 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. Read full review I wish the calendar was more robust and provided a comprehensive look. I'd also want to have multiple windows open. The inability to sync settings across devices. Configuring several devices with the same settings takes effort, particularly when it comes to custom IMAP. Email Signature in HTML is still not taught as the capability, which I'd love to see. Read full review Likelihood to Renew 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.
Read full review Usability 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.
Read full review Support Rating 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.
Read full review Alternatives Considered 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.
Read full review The first one to use after google calendar is spike, after all the features that I've already mentioned,like the possibility to send a voice message, videos,photos etc... And the possibility to chat in real time and a good organization and planification and the priority feature is my favorite
Read full review Return on Investment 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 Read full review However, the app is too tiny to accurately quantify its return on investment (ROI). Multiple times, I've gotten to zero emails in my inbox. It was easy to communicate without exchanging long texts. Read full review ScreenShots