The rise of Slack has made it clear that chat is back and it’s back in a big way.  It’s a fantastic chat app that companies use for internal communication.

At QiqoChat, we’re looking do the same thing for organizations that want to use chat-like collaboration tools when their members do not work together on a regular basis.  For example, this situation applies to online communities and trade associations.

Online communities have different needs than companies.  Specifically they are looking to help their members build relationships and share knowledge whereas companies are looking to create specific work products and documents.  Different needs require different tools, however the basics of helping people connect live and in an efficient way remain the same.

AssociationsNow ran an article about this recent rise in chat applications:

It’s been about two decades since the chat room was truly in vogue, but this year could prove a turning point for chat in the private community sector. Need proof? Check the success of Slack.

Chat, especially in room form, is having a bit of a renaissance as we enter 2015. Once the territory of AOL, Gmail, and the ultra-technical users who could tell you what Internet Relay Chat (IRC) does, we’re reaching a point where the intimacy of chat could become more important than ever.

With QiqoChat we provide chat to our users so that they can engage in “collaboration escalation” which means that they can connect quickly and easily with chat and then they can arrange a video chat right there on the spot or even schedule a live audio/video event for another time.

Of course, chat for chat’s sake is not what anyone is looking for.  Fortunately Slack and QiqoChat help organizations harness chat as part of their day-to-day operations to help their members be even more productive.

What do you think about this recent rise of chat?