Brosix

Comments: Brosix has been so helpful in coordinating with team members and sometimes customers. I'm able to use status states that Brosix creates to indicate to others if I'm available or not; additionally, I've been able to create my own custom ones that are helpful to let others know not only that I'm unavailable, but I have created other custom status states that handle specific scenarios (particularly "conducting webinar", "focused project", and "break") so they know if they need to avoid messaging me at all (such as when I'm in a webinar and can't have messages pop up on my screen for everyone watching the webinar to see.) Also, they have lots of nice features that I use frequently, such as sharing my screen, sending files/screenshots, creating a chat group with multiple contacts, and viewing history. We also use the Profile message to state what our schedule is for the next several days. It makes it much easier to coordinate with people to see their schedule on our dashboard without having to ask them.

Pros: Ease of use, ability to see each others profile messages at-a-glance, lots of useful features available

Cons: Sometimes gets wonky after updates (either super tiny or super large font/icons), doesn't save any part of ongoing conversations to log file if the computer crashes

Comments: There are a lot of features that we love using, easy to use and the cost is competitive.

Pros: Security, ease of use and costs. It was very easy to set up and even easier to maintain.

Cons: In the beginning, we had several setup issues and support was hard to get a hold of. In recent years they have improved the support and it's much easier to contact them. We do not use the web or mobile version of the IM due to the inability to mute chat rooms/groups as we can do on the desktop.

Comments: Allows us to train and couch our agents without clients knowing. We set up groups which is great on our end depending on who we need to communicate with all at one time. Can also share screens to help in more detail or send documents within the Brosix messenger. Has been a great fit for our agency.

Pros: We have 3 offices. Brosix allows each office to communicate, especially if someone is with a client or on the phone. Brosix is easy to install and add each when we add agents to our offices.

Cons: With groups, not sure how to remove an agent when they are no longer with the agency or with that specific department.

Comments: I used Brosix to set up a few private team network chats for some of my best clients, and I've always been satisfied by it. People who work in the tech field often require specific tools tailored upon their unique needs, and Brosix has always prove to be flexible yet secure enough. I advised several companies to install and use it, and so far, my experience has always been positive.

Pros: Brosix is incredibly simple to set up and use. You just install it, and no maintenance is required. Even those technically impaired ducks who fumble with nearly all other instant messenger app were able to catch up with it in no time. The full end-to-end encryption on all communication channels means that is amazingly secure as well, which is a great selling point especially for tech enterprises and organizations that must struggle with strict compliance requirements (I'm thinking about HIPAA, for example). On top of that, I found it much lighter than other chats such as Skype, which is always a bonus.

Cons: Some people complained about its "retro" style that makes it look like a somewhat old tool. However, I personally appreciate this style since it has a cool nostalgia feel that is particularly appealing to the nerdiest tech geeks out there. I understand that not everybody may like this design, though, so ultimately YMMV.

Comments: The experience in general is excellent, it is the only tool we use in the company for communication between employees, the history of the conversations is a remarkable function.

Pros: The ease of use, the implementation in the company was very easy, it is constantly improving functionalities, technical support, many tools such as support and video conferencing.

Cons: The price is a bit high for a company with few employees. I think they could have different prices by volume, for small businesses and accompany them in their growth.