The Best Instant Messaging for Business: Top Apps for Effective Teams

Introduction to Instant Messaging

I am sure none of you will need me to explain to you what instant messaging is. I imagine that anyone reading this will be aware of Whatsapp, telegram, or even iMessage. That awareness is really why the reason why instant messaging is so clearly a big deal.

When was the last time you sent an email to your friend? Or to your family member? The truth is, it is not as convenient. Not as informal, and not as useful for communication. So now taking this into your business, why should your communication platform be less convenient than in your personal life?

Instant messaging platforms for businesses are more important than ever. You not only save the time needed to set out a formal email, but also allow responses and messages to get across even easier than ever before.

Have real time conversations, collaborate with your team, and with clients in a way that was never before possible. Talk in real time, two party or multi party chats, video and audio calls, file sharing, and much more.

What is Instant Messaging for Businesses?

First of all let's set a quick definition. What is Instant Messaging?

It is the real time text based messaging between two or many users. This allows users to quickly and efficiently get direct messages across to recipients.

So now we have introduced Instant messaging, let's think about businesses. Business messaging has been a critical part of a tech-savvy businesses for almost 30 years. Starting from email, to now the new generation of text based chat.

Opening an app on your phone and sending a business message securely as easily as a text message, or a Whatsapp message is a huge advantage for businesses. That is why chat apps have become the future of all business communication.

You can now quickly and efficiently chat with your clients, patients and customers anywhere with an internet connection in real time. One could also useInstant messaging for internal communications.

These instant messaging platforms also now have pretty advanced capabilities. Most have the same basic features. Sending messages, viewing message history, group messaging, voice calls and video chat. These aren't shared by all, but definitely most.

Really the modern business in today's era of technology, has little to no need for email, other than as a factor of authentication. You will need an email address when signing up for these types of platforms.

Some of the most popular instant messaging apps of today are Google chat, Microsoft teams, Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp. We will take a look at these individually and see how they stand up as business tools.

Using Qwil for Instant messaging for business

So now let's take a look at a custom built solution for businesses. We have spoken about the social Instant messaging platforms, but what about one built exactly for a businesses needs. That is where Qwil comes into the fray.

Qwil is the all in one client communication platform. Unlike popular instant messaging software, we built it for you to use not only for internal business chats, but also with your clients and customers too. So what do we mean when we say all in one chat app?

Well it really is what it says on the tin. The downside of the rise of technology is having 35 different platforms to learn. Not only that but maybe you need to video conference, get a document signed and share documents securely? Are you going to use microsoft teams, docusign, encrypted email all separately.

This phenomena is now referred to as toggle tax . A study done by Harvard claims that employees on a normal day can toggle softwares up to 1200 times per day. Imagine the amount of time wasted here. Also imagine the scope for mistakes, even with a relatively small user base.

Qwil: The solution for businesses

This is exactly why we built Qwil. You are able to perform all of your client facing business tasks in one place. All in complete data security. Let's run through a few of the key features Qwil give you access to:

Instant Messaging Both Internally and with Clients

The issue with a lot of these business chat apps is that people built them for internal communication. For example microsoft teams. There are many that do use these platforms to communicate externally to their own business and clients but this is done mainly through work arounds.

Qwil allows you to set up two user types, staff and clients. Staff for internal chat and clients for users external to your business. You can differentiate and manage the two extremely easily.

Online and secure E-signature

You can directly move from messaging your customers, staff or clients to sending signature requests. All in a couple of clicks. Drag and drop your signature fields, and send requests directly and securely from within Qwil's in app chat.

If security is less of a concern, you can also send signature requests to be received directly from Qwil to the recipient's email.

Video Meetings & Audio Calls with Qwil Meet

You can host video meetings directly within Qwil. This could be an instant call, or a "Meet Now", or a scheduled call integrated with your calendar. Record your meetings, share screen and host multiple party calls compatible with any device or browser.

Secure Document Sharing

Drag and drop anything from bank statements, to identity documents straight into a chat with your client and send instantly. Qwil is an ISO certified platform. With banking grade security. This means that you don't have to individually encrypt each file, or worry about tricky portals. Your staff and customers can receive and send, secure documents as easily as sending a text message.

Banking Grade security capabilities and configurable settings

We have made Qwil configurable to all levels of requirements. If you are in an industry that security is required, you can enable 2 factor authentication for users, limit their permissions and much more.

Scheduler & appointment booking

Be done with Calendly and single use appointment booking with Qwil scheduler. You can share a link directly with your customers and they can book straight into your calendar. This can be for a video call or a physical meeting. Manage and maintain event settings & choose when your available hours are.

AI integration

As with anything AI has made technology even easier to use. Get chat summaries and AI assistance to help streamline your workflows.

Benefits of Instant Messaging Chat apps

It would be safe to say just from the experiences you have felt in your personal life, it is pretty clear that instant messaging is easier than emails and phone calls. A nice user friendly interface and real time messaging are enough to give it the win over email. We would all prefer organized communication to long chains of emails and documents scattered across.

Embracing technology across business as a whole has helped many without too much technical knowledge boost efficiency. Not only do you save staff time wasted chasing people over the phone, or in trying to communicate over email, but also you allow for significantly increased engagement with clients.

Chat Apps in your business also help as collaboration tools. All of your team can be on the same page. This happens through the power of group chats. We've all had the feeling. An email thread with any more than 2 people trying to talk. It's a mess. That is why instant messaging makes team collaboration and team communication so much easier.

Multiple people can have a conversation through sending chat messages into a group chat. You will be certain nobody is left behind, and 1-1 channels can be opened at any time for anyone in a group that is shy to ask questions.

There is also the customer support side of things. You can offer customer support for your clients in real time with instant messaging. It takes no time at all to respond to an instant message. In a business where you may have a large number of support requests, every second saved adds up.

A lot of instant messaging customer support can also be done with automated responses. This will free up the time of your staff that they usually spend dealing with trivial issues.

Streamlining your business with Qwil & instant messaging

One of the best things technology has brought to businesses is integration. Putting all elements of your business together. Instant messaging tools are no different. Being able to message, video call, sign documents, host chat conversations and file sharing capabilities mean all your client communication can be done in one place.

A good business instant messaging software will also have some third party integrations. This could mean connecting the chat app with your CRM . Most instant messaging platforms will have limited integrations. However if you use one of the big CRM softwares, it is likely they will connect. This will boost productivity even further.

Top Instant Messaging Apps

Whatsapp for businesses

Whatsapp again can be a great tool for businesses to chat both internally and externally. It allows for video calls, screen sharing, voice messages, group chats and document sharing. However it does pose some problems in the world of business.

Users on Whatsapp are not verified, this means that anyone can pretend to be you or be your customers. Despite the fact that they now also offer business accounts, the end user verification is not there.

End to end encryption and GDPR also falls short if Data centres are not within GDPR protected places. For anything secure and confidential, you may run into problems if you are using Whatsapp. The disappearing messages can also be an issue for compliance reasons.

For medical practices it also does not meet HIPAA requirements.

Google Chat for Google Workspace users

Google chat has recently become more popular in the workplace. Especially amongst google workspace users. For all the talk about the outdated nature of email, we do all still have one. So being able to use video conferencing and chat with colleagues through the same platform is a plus. It also allows for seamless integration with other google apps, which is a nice touch especially if you use google workspace.

However it is only for internal communication. It also lacks the security features to be used universally in businesses. That is why Google chat does not necessarily tick the boxes for businesses in 2025.

Microsoft Teams for Businesses & Facebook messenger

Microsoft teams is a very popular instant messaging platform that also offers video conferencing and a solid integration with other Microsoft products. This can be particularly useful when using Microsoft teams as your internal messaging platform in your business. Although team communication is made very easy by Microsoft teams, and it does a great job for internal group chats, it is not built for client communication.

As a tool for team collaboration, and team communication it does a great job. Facebook's messenger is also widely used, and this is probably a big reason why so many people trust teams and microsoft collaboration tools. However if you really think about it, and ask yourself, do you want a seperate tool to talk to clients and colleagues?

That is the fatal flow with Microsoft teams, it is purely for teams. It also lacks some of the other functionality required for client communication. Things like signatures, security in file sharing and more. The lacking in HIPAA compliance is also something to note.

Features of Instant Messaging Apps

Instant messaging apps do generally share a lot of the same functionality. From Google chat, to microsoft teams, the core functionality is the same.

You can send and receive messages, host video calls, share files, send voice messages, perform screen sharing and more. With the majority also having advanced search capabilities so you can easily find relevant conversations.

The majority of these platforms also offer extensive message history. However in a app like google chat, or microsoft teams, the record keeping is not neccesarily infinite as you may require it to be for your business instant messaging platform.

Generally they all have unlimited messaging, so that you can chat as much as you need to. However though these things sound good on the surface, there are some issues when you change to a business context.

How Qwil solves the problems with traditional instant messaging platforms for businesses

Qwil was built for businesses. There are many elements in which Qwil solves all of the above problems. Really it boils down to the industry you are in and requirements you have. As a business not performing confidential activity, and using Google workspace, maybe google chat will do the job for you. Especially if you are only using it internally.

However when you get to more complex businesses, finance, medical and legal industries, you run into issues with security. File sharing is a huge issue for these platforms, not only for file sizes but also for confidential chat messages that should only be sent in 2FA platforms.

Qwil is invitation only, only users you invite to your Qwil can join your business instant messaging platform. Once users complete their 2FA verification, with the 2 factors you set, you know you are talking to the right person.

Collaboration and Productivity

Qwil allows you to have both internal and exteral chats. Both public and private channels with broadcasts and the chat butler, as well as easy and smooth asynchronous communication.

Group conversations mean that all users can be kept up to date on the jobs at hand. A great benefit for task management. You can also assign chats in Qwil, enabling users can delegate to the right people with only a couple of clicks. Allowing for quick and easy project management.

Save time switching between platforms. Qwil does it all in one place. Video calls, e-signatures, chat, document sharing and all within banking grade security. The time saved by not having to switch across and learn multiple platforms is off the charts.

Security and Compliance

Qwil messenger is completely secure and compliant. Not only do we comply with ISO security regulation, but we are also fully GDPR and HIPAA compliant too. These are some things which google chat, google workspace and Microsoft instant messaging software cannot claim.

Qwil was built with security and compliance in mind. Once you are set up, the instant messaging software takes care of everything for you. Simply send and receive messages as if you were using any social instant messaging platform.

Choosing the Right Instant Messaging App

Choosing the right instant messaging app can be difficult. It comes down to, what are the requirements your business needs to comply with. For some businesses that do not face clients, or do not require securiry and compliance measures, maybe google chat and google workspace can do the job. As clearly these seem to be the "best of the rest".

However why take that risk, you can achieve full peace of mind by ditching other, work-around instant messaging platforms for something custom built for your business to interact securely with clients.

By ditching the additional single use apps like docusign, zoom. and google chat, you can put all your work into one place. This also means significant cost saving along the way. You no longer have to pay for the instant messaging platform, the e-signature, the video conferencing, and file sharing platform. Find all of the above in one place.

Implementation and Onboarding with Qwil

Implementing Qwil in your business has never been easier. Not only can you get set up automatically, but one of our highly skilled tech team will help you onboard all your staff and clients over a video call. They will also discuss the security needs of your business and help you to get your Qwil configured as quickly as possible.

Implementing Qwil is as easy as pie. You are already familiar with instant messaging apps, this will feel no different. Qwil has a sophisticated user interface in which everything is easy to find. You can quickly get set up in no time at all.

Best Practices for Instant Messaging Apps

Now you must remember, this is not email!

You don't have to set up every message with "Dear sir/madam". You don't need to sign off each message. People see your name when you send an instant message. You should use concise and efficient language.

Consider the tone of your messages when you send them. It is easy to cross the line to sounding rude. Also take advantage of emojis, reactions, and gifs to bring a more personal touch to your chat.

Using your instant messaging app for customer support is a great touch for businesses.

To Sum Up

Instant messaging has come front and centre to all of our lives when it comes to communication. We use it for everything now, friends, family, even strangers on the internet. So now we need to consider it in our businesses.

There are many instant messaging platforms out there, and many options laid in front of you. All of which in one way or another have their benefits.

As a business you need to make the right decision based off your needs. Knowing what these are is the first step in making an informed decision. Social channels are not really viable in a business sense. This is mainly for security and compliance reasons.

Qwil Messenger was built from the ground up to save businesses time, money and streamline productivity. Gone is the need for 5 single use apps to communicate with your clients. You can do it all in one place in complete security with Qwil Messenger.

Consider making the switch to the Instant messaging platform built for your needs. Try Qwil today!