HipChat

I just learned about this chat application that can be used across enterprises. I have a friend that works at Boeing and I believe they have an internal built chat system that they use. However, I was never aware of these 3rd party chat programmers catered for business models. Apparently, this type of application has been around, similar concept to Yammer and Campfire. In the past, I have used my personal accounts -- AIM, Gmail, Yahoo chat programs at work to communicate with coworkers.

I think this concept is very interesting and unique. The application is well-thought out for companies to use to communicate/get feedback. With this sort of technology, people will not need to email files and wait for recipient to receive, download and then respond back with email or phone. This makes communication much more efficient and separates employees' work from personal accounts used for social purposes. In addition, HipChat allows for group chats and individual private chats to occur simultaneously. Group chats are a great way to discuss and generate ideas. With these sort of capabilities, employees can cutback on time held in meetings and in sending emails throughout the day.

HipChat flat fee ranges from $9 a month for (12+ members) and up to $99 a month for 100 members. However, I'm not sure if this model will last if it can only house up to 100 members. I think this application should be especially helpful to large corporations with 500+ employees, which will allow you to chat with people throughout the corporation in different regions as well. HipChat could integrate the idea of Outlook to include each members profile: name, title, department, office location. Members would be searched by region or office location, and then by department. I feel that these enhancements to the tool would be more useful in large companies, since it is often times difficult to reach out to the appropriate contact.

Reference: HipChat application