3 Communication tools for startups that will make your life easier
In all our previous articles, we’ve been talking about the international nature of BidAway.com. A fact that is also reflected in the tools we use in our daily work to communicate with each other.
All of them have become fundamental pieces in our company, becoming 3 of our favorite tools. A must for any startup because they are simple and make life easier and more fun.
1. Slack
It’s a real-time messaging tool that includes all communication media in the same site and also has integrations with a lot of tools (e.g. Dropbox, Google Drive, Twitter, MailChimp, Skype, Trello, Zendesk, etc.).
It offers chat rooms organized by topics, as well as the possibility of creating private groups, sending direct messages and making video calls. You can access through your browser or download their application available both for desktop and mobile, as it has versions for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and Apple Watch.
Without a doubt, a simple and very practical tool that shouldn’t be missing in any startup. In fact, almost any startup in Silicon Valley uses this tool to organize itself internally, since it’s really easy to have a more immediate communication, whether we are in the same office or on the other corner of the world.
To communicate with each other, at BidAway we prefer Slack to email, because it’s immediate and reduces the amount of emails we exchange. This way we make progress much faster.
2. Bonusly
It’s a web application to motivate and recognize the work of your collagues in a fast and very fun way. It consists of recognizing and rewarding the work of your colleagues through points. The members of the team have a “bag” of points (called Bonusly) that can be given to their companions during the month. So, every time any of them does something that you think is worth a reward, you just have to give them the points you want, label it with a hashtag, and write the reason why you give these points.
In this manner, each member of the team collects Bonusly that can be exchanged for several rewards. In the case of BidAway, our CEO Luca Carlucci is continuously updating the rewards, like Amazon gift cards, discount coupons for online fashion stores, team dinners, activities we can do together, and even massages in the office! Such a luxury, we recommend it :)
3. Skype
The classic of the classics, but without it we couldn’t live in this business. It’s the most effective way to communicate with colleagues who travel or live in other parts of the world, as well as with all the members that are present in all our experiences (managers, operations managers, marketing managers, etc.). The best thing is that Skype for Business, in addition to offering standard instant messaging services and video-calls, allows you to organize meetings of up to 250 people and even the possibility to record them!
These are some of our favorite tools that we use in our day to day, which will result of great utility for any startup with an international vision that bets for an optimal internal communication and the creation of a good environment at work.