Item: Mattermost
Rating: 9
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Mattermost as a communication tool for the entire organization. Management can send a message to the entire organization using an "Announcements" channel that all employees are auto-subscribed to. Additionally, we have channels for each specialty area within the company. HR created a channel for people to "Ask HR Anything". Members of a team can create their own channels and manage their own members. I find it intuitive and dare I say fun to use.

Pros and Cons

Intuitive interface.
Easy to create channels.
Mobile and Desktop apps let you stay connected anywhere.

Would be nice to be able to arrange pinned posts.
Would be great to have a NOTES section per channel for links, phone numbers, text blocks, etc.

Return on Investment

Faster response times than email to a group or an individual.
Ability to engage a group of SMEs in a single channel.
Ability to quickly construct a channel of colleagues to stay in touch with during remote work day.

Open Source Platform

Mattermost being open-source is an attractive proposition to the customer software consultancy I work for. The ability for our developers to be able to dig into the source code and modify the software to our specifications is a game changer. That being said, I don't believe we've altered it at all.

Ease of Integration

I have no direct experience with this.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Teams and Slack

Microsoft Teams feels quite clunky and the video chat is buggy. Slack is close but maybe not quite as feature-rich. Mattermost just feels like the right tool for a company my size ~1000+ users. No one has had any major issues with this tool and there haven't been any complaints. The zoom integration is great.

Key Insights

Do you think Mattermost delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Mattermost's feature set?

Yes

Did Mattermost live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Mattermost go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Mattermost again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Visual Studio Code

Likelihood to Recommend

Mattermost is suited well to a medium-sized or bigger organization. I find it much more enjoyable to use than Teams. However, a smaller company can get away with a less robust option. I've found it very useful as a tool to communicate with knowledge centers throughout our company. Anyone can join a channel and ask a question of the group. This feature creates a feeling of community within a largely remote workforce.

Users and Roles

1200 - Most business functions are represented. Human Resources, Business leadership, Special interest groups, Business Teams, Client Teams, etc. Mattermost allows our business to communicate in a manner which is both broad and focused. Our executives can communicate to our entire company in one place. HR has a dedicated channel for broad questions to be answered. Client teams have their dedicated channels, etc.

Support Headcount Required

2 - We have two people on staff that manage Mattermost. These are tech savvy developers with many years of experience between them. In general the management of Mattermost software itself does not appear to be terribly involved. In my experience there has been very little downtime to perform upgrades.

Business Processes Supported

Communication between leadership and the entire company.
Team member communication while on client projects.
Human Resources channel.
Hangout Lounge for our remote team members to socialize, post memes, etc.

Innovative Uses

Several special interest groups formed organically.

Future Planned Uses

IT service desk possibly.

Likelihood to Renew

It's a good tool that our people enjoy using. It's open source! It's less expensive and less cumbersome than the competition.

Mattermost contributes to a sense of community among remote teams.

Overall Satisfaction with Mattermost