What internal messaging system do you use for your business?

Buddy · 14 Mar 2019 at 14:27

Thought I would get more replies here.

As per title. Needs to be secure. Allow for general and personal inboxes with audit trails.

Our GP practice has used Encompass for years. Fast and easy. Unfortunately, they are ending the product as GP practises are opting to make do with the messaging services in built to emis or system one (the clinical systems for appointments).

These systems just do not match what encompass does. So I thought I'd explore what else is out there.

TIA

Diddums · 14 Mar 2019 at 14:45

Teams or Whatsapp.

grudas · 14 Mar 2019 at 14:51

Zlack

Rroff · 14 Mar 2019 at 14:53

These days everything is done through Sharepoint and Office 365 at work.

Mason- · 14 Mar 2019 at 15:02

SfB until very recently we now use Slack.

Buddy · 14 Mar 2019 at 15:03

Rroff said:
These days everything is done through Sharepoint and Office 365 at work.

Assume this is cloud based? Something I'd like to avoid for various reasons.

Buddy · 14 Mar 2019 at 15:03

grudas said:
Zlack

Mason- said:
SfB until very recently we now use Slack.

Thank you. I did come across this whilst googling.

krooton · 14 Mar 2019 at 15:06

Skype for business

pepp77 · 14 Mar 2019 at 15:12

We used to use Skype for Business, but when Microsoft announced they were stopping work on SfB and concentrating on Teams we moved to teams. It is really rather good.

BattFink · 14 Mar 2019 at 15:16

Currently migrating everyone from Skype for Business to Teams .. A few of our developers are using Slack but won't be able to much longer

If you've using the Office 365 suite, Teams would appear to be a no brainer

Buddy · 14 Mar 2019 at 15:19

Just demo'd slack. Seems you can only create rooms like discord. Rather than messages that have their own threads with titles.

I'll have a look at teams.

heeeed · 14 Mar 2019 at 15:24

personally we use the stuff built into EMIS, but it is utter junk, and only really fit to send messages along lines of "I've just made a pot of coffee". I don't think enough of my team would use other stuff really so I haven't suggested slack which I have used for other projects. what's wrong with cloud based? As long as its a UK based server it is likely to meet the IG requirements. What things do your team actually use it for?

Mason- · 14 Mar 2019 at 15:33

Buddy said:
Just demo'd slack. Seems you can only create rooms like discord. Rather than messages that have their own threads with titles.

I'll have a look at teams.

You can create threads. Right click on someones message and start a thread.

Buddy · 14 Mar 2019 at 15:53

heeeed said:
personally we use the stuff built into EMIS, but it is utter junk, and only really fit to send messages along lines of "I've just made a pot of coffee". I don't think enough of my team would use other stuff really so I haven't suggested slack which I have used for other projects. what's wrong with cloud based? As long as its a UK based server it is likely to meet the IG requirements. What things do your team actually use it for?

We have duty doctor pool. Few other specific pools for visits. Allocated to the appropriate doctor on the day. Full audit trails even if message viewed. Fully integrated with emis. Can copy messages to emis with a click. All have personal pools as well. Shame it's going.

hellarda · 14 Mar 2019 at 15:55

My business used slack to start with, used it for about 2 years until it started getting annoying (notifications not always showing etc.) and as the rest of the business is pretty much run from O365 the integration with teams (and the big update that made it so much better) made that the better option which we have no switched to. Loving it.

ED209 · 14 Mar 2019 at 15:56

For e mail we use outlook and for messaging we use Skype. The phone system we use also has a chat function so people use either really.

Hyburnate · 14 Mar 2019 at 15:59

We use Slack. It works well for us as all our field engineers can contact anyone, have private channels for on-going projects and also public ones full of info.

We've been with Slack since before Teams even came about as far as I'm aware. We're starting to really utilise SharePoint so may be a move in that direction, not sure I'm keen on migrating all of our technophobes though.

I like that contractors can use Slack, is this possible with Teams?

heeeed · 14 Mar 2019 at 16:01

Not sure if any of the off the shelf GP intranet options have something, as I know a good few CCGs fund some of them like GPteamnet etc. I vaguely looked into making an intranet with share point a while back, but had other things become more pressing.

Pawnless Endgame · 14 Mar 2019 at 16:02

krooton said:
Skype for business

This.

NHS here (like the OP) and Skype's great now that it is part of the MS Office suite. Not just for WhatsApp-style instant messaging, but it can also replace your phone if you have a headset/mike. A geographic phone number can be macro'd onto Skype which allows us to hot-desk. Snowed in? Got a cold but you don't want to spread germs and not ill enough to call in sick? No problem. We're allowed to work from home every now and then with our laptops and we can Skype each other and carry on using our telephone numbers except it's on Skype.

For secure email, we use NHS.net.

ttaskmaster · 14 Mar 2019 at 16:12