Item: Chatter (discontinued)
Rating: 10
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Salesforce.com heavily in my organization with many different business functions engaging with SFDC. We have Chatter enabled on virtually all of our SFDC objects and we use Chatter to collaborate directly on the records being discussed. Having this discussion directly in the tool instead of emailing back and forth is a real boost to productivity since it's attached to the record, and ensures that the conversation is preserved for later reference.

In addition to collaborating on standard CRM records, e.g., a sales team discussing an opportunity, I am involved in Salesforce.com enhancements and collaborate with them on support tickets and user stories by using Chatter on these records.

Pros and Cons

The ability to embed the Chatter feed on any Salesforce.com record. Having that context directly on the record in question is key. I've had a scenario of collaborating on the same records before and after implementing Chatter and after implementation my job became much easier.
Replying directly to the email notification about a Chatter message posts the reply directly to Chatter. This is very useful for a quick response while doing something else, without having to login to Salesforce.com. This is especially useful while on a smartphone.
Interface is very simple and easy to use. On any record where Chatter is supported, just expand the feed, @mention anybody who needs to be included, and write the message.
Ability to follow a record even if you're not directly included in a conversation, in order to see any updates. This is especially useful if you need to see when a record is updated and you have automatic updates set to post to Chatter.

My only complaints with Chatter have been solved. I used to be annoyed that attaching files required clicking an "attach" button after browsing and selecting. I was also annoyed that there was no rich text formatting (e.g., bolding, underlining, and other features useful in a communication tool) but those have been solved in product updates. I really have no complaints, because the product is simple and does the job well.

Return on Investment

The ROI is hard to quantify but compared to how we in my company would traditionally collaborate on SFDC records, via email, this takes about a third of the time, and a tenth of the time if it's put in terms of finding old conversations by digging through emails, vs. finding the SFDC record and searching the chatter feed.

Alternatives Considered

We did not consider an alternative for Chatter. It's so embedded and does the job great, so there was no need to consider an alternative.

Other Software Used

Smartsheet

Likelihood to Recommend

Any type of collaboration on a Salesforce.com record should be done on Chatter. Take a scenario where I need to ask a question about some record, say an account. I could email the person I have to ask and copy in the Salesforce.com URL, or I could @ mention them and have that conversation stored for later reference. For most scenarios its the obvious, easy choice. The exception to this is if it's a private conversation, for example about someone's response that was inappropriate. But for items that can and should be discussed within the appropriate groups setup, Chatter should be the only tool used.

Why chose anything else?

Overall Satisfaction with Chatter