Communication software is one of the technologies that have a profound impact on our lives. Now, more than ever, we can stay in touch with friends and family no matter how far apart we are. Moreover, communication and collaboration solutions are an integral part of digital workplaces, and they enable employees to be more flexible than ever. Nowadays, teams can collaborate on projects across countries and time zones.

Governmental agencies and public sector organizations are catching on to the digital transformation trend. Besides the need to upgrade their internal processes and services to citizens, they need to be extremely careful about data privacy and data security. Organizations in this sector look for secure ways to collaborate internally and with external partners. Moreover, they want to efficiently manage incoming citizens’ inquiries and requests.

As a team collaboration solution, we at Rocket.Chat are always looking for ways to make collaboration more efficient. Today, we are happy to announce a new app to the Rocket.Chat Marketplace that will make it even more easy for teams to work together and get more done. Most teams use a project management app to keep up with their day-to-day tasks as well as bigger projects.

Governments and public sector organizations recognize the increasing need to protect their data. With the increase of cyber-attacks globally and growing demands from their citizens to protect their information, public sector organizations are more frequently moving away from cloud-based software toward on-premise solutions.

On July 31, 2021, Skype for Business was retired. As it was an integral part of the Microsoft Office 365 package, numerous companies around the world were compelled to search for Skype for Business alternatives. Microsoft announced MS Teams and Microsoft Audio Conferencing as replacements to Skype for Business. However, some organizations were less than enthusiastic about the switch due to data security and data privacy concerns.

Gone are the days when email was the main channel of digital communication. In 2022, messaging apps are the way we all communicate in our personal and professional lives. We use WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Viber, and others to communicate with friends and family. At work, we rely on platforms such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Rocket.Chat. However, some of these messaging platforms have one big disadvantage compared to email - the lack of interoperability (or cross-platform messaging).

In the last two decades, digital transformation was one of the overarching trends in the world of business. Due to the constant technological advancements, organizations are always working on adopting new tools and finding better ways to serve customers with higher efficiency. Increased cybersecurity challenges together with the need for flexible solutions have put open source solutions on the map.

Open source solutions are becoming increasingly popular due to their many benefits. Organizations use them to leverage open source code’s transparency and flexibility. Now, government-related organizations across the world are also adopting open source software. One of the most prominent European Union governing bodies, the European Commission (EC), has been supporting the use of open source for a while.

Intercom has become an industry standard for talking to customers via live chat. In its 10 year history, Intercom set the bar for customer engagement with SaaS businesses pretty high. However, open source challengers are on the rise. The indisputable advantages of open source software over its proprietary counterparts have experts looking for open source alternatives to Intercom, too.

Businesses always want to provide the best customer service possible. To do that, they need the best customer service software to decrease response time and resolve customer inquiries effectively. However, organizations sometimes face challenges while acquiring and setting up customer service systems. They want a tool tailored to their needs that supports various customer service channels, and that allows them to control their own data. These criteria is met with open source customer service software.