Top 10 Internal Communication Tools For 2024

In any organization, large or small, clear and consistent communication is vital. It’s the foundation that supports teamwork, decision-making, and overall productivity. However, with the vast array of tools available today, selecting the right ones can be a daunting task.

That’s where we come in. We’ve carefully researched and compiled a list of the top 10 internal communication tools that are known for their user-friendliness, and ability to facilitate seamless collaboration. 

These tools are not just about sending messages; they’re about creating an environment where information flows smoothly, ideas are shared openly, and every team member stays connected and informed.

Table of Contents

• What are Internal Communication Tools?
• Benefits of Internal Communication Tools 
• 10 Tools to Simplify Your Team’s Internal Communication
• Wrapping Up 

What are Internal Communication Tools?

Internal communication tools are software or platforms designed to facilitate communication and collaboration within an organization. These tools enable team members to share information, discuss projects, and stay connected. They often include features such as instant messaging, file sharing, video conferencing, and task management.

An example of an internal communication tool is a company-wide intranet. This is a private network accessible only to the employees of the organization. It serves as a central hub where employees can find company news, access important documents, collaborate on projects, and communicate via forums or chat functions. The intranet helps in keeping everyone informed and aligned with the company’s goals and updates.

Benefits of Internal Communication Tools

Internal communication software offer several benefits that can significantly enhance the functioning and productivity of an organization. Here are some key advantages:

• Improved Collaboration: These tools make it easier for team members to work together on projects, share ideas, and provide feedback, regardless of everyone’s physical location. This is particularly beneficial for teams that are geographically dispersed or have remote workers.
  
• Enhanced Productivity: By streamlining communication, these tools reduce the time spent on emails and meetings. Quick messaging, file sharing, and task management features allow for more efficient workflows.
  
• Better Information Flow: Good internal communication ensures that important information reaches the right people at the right time. This can include everything from company-wide announcements to project-specific updates.
  
• Increased Employee Engagement: When employees feel connected and informed, they are more likely to be engaged with their work and the organization. These tools often include features that encourage interaction, such as discussion forums or social networking-like capabilities.
  
• Easier Knowledge Sharing: Internal collaboration tools facilitate the sharing of knowledge and best practices within the organization. This can lead to more innovative solutions and a more skilled workforce.
  
• Centralized Information: Many of these tools serve as a central repository for documents, policies, and other key resources, making it easier for employees to find the information they need.

Did You Know: Utilizing tools like Hiver and Slack for internal communication can significantly reduce the reliance on emails, leading to more efficient team collaboration.

10 Tools to Simplify Your Team’s Internal Communication

Here’s a list of the 10 best tools to streamline internal communication for your teams. 

1. Hiver

While Hiver is a multi-channel customer support platform that runs inside Gmail, it can also function as an internal communication tool. 

Hiver transforms Gmail into a dynamic and collaborative platform. It enables teams to assign, track, and collaborate on any piece of communication – without having to switch apps or tabs. 

With Hiver, you get complete visibility into everyone’s tasks and you also get to track the status of all these tasks. All from Gmail.

Key Features:

• Notes: Hiver’s Notes feature allows team members to add contextual notes to email conversations within Gmail. This is particularly useful for internal discussions about an email without having to send additional emails or use external communication tools. Notes can streamline communication and keep all relevant information and discussions tied to the specific email thread.
• Shared Drafts: This feature enables team members to collaboratively work on responses to emails directly within Gmail. Multiple team members can view, edit, and contribute to a single email draft, ensuring a cohesive and well-coordinated response. This feature eliminates the back-and-forth typically associated with drafting group responses and ensures everyone is on the same page.
• Automation and Workflow Management: Hiver includes automation capabilities that allow teams to create rule-based workflows. This feature automates repetitive tasks such as categorizing and assigning emails, which saves time and reduces manual effort.
• Views: Hiver provides different views that enhance the visibility of emails and tasks. These views can be customized to fit the specific needs of a team or individual, ensuring that important emails don’t get lost in the inbox and that everyone has a clear understanding of their tasks and priorities.
• Analytics and Reporting: With its analytics and reporting features, Hiver provides valuable insights into response time, resolution time, and workload distribution. This data helps in making informed decisions to improve team efficiency.

Pricing:

Hiver offers three pricing options. 

• Lite: $15 per user per month 
• Pro: $49 per user per month 
• Elite: $79 per user per month 

2. Slack

Slack is a highly regarded internal communication tool that offers a robust platform for real-time employee communication and collaboration. It is particularly known for its channel-based messaging system, which allows teams to organize conversations by topic, project, or department. 

Key Features:

• Direct Messaging: Apart from group channels, Slack offers direct messaging for private one-on-one conversations. This feature allows for more personalized communication and can be used for quick check-ins or confidential discussions.
• File Sharing: Slack supports the sharing of various file types, including documents, images, and videos. This facilitates easy access and distribution of essential files among team members, right within the conversation stream.
• Search Functionality: Slack’s search feature is comprehensive, allowing users to find specific messages, files, and even people. This makes retrieving information quick and efficient, essential for fast-paced work environments.
• Customizable Notifications: Teams can customize notifications based on channels, keywords, or direct messages, helping them to focus on what’s most important and avoiding unnecessary distractions.
• Voice and Video Calls: Slack includes built-in voice and video calling features, allowing for real-time discussions without needing to switch to another platform. This feature is particularly useful for remote teams or when quick decision-making is needed.

Pricing:

Slack offers three types of pricing options. 

• Pro: $7.25 per user per month 
• Business+: $12.50 per user per month
• Enterprise Grid: Price on request 

How to Connect Slack with Gmail?

3. Asana

Asana is a comprehensive internal communication and project management tool that facilitates team collaboration and organization. It’s designed to streamline the way teams communicate about tasks, projects, and goals, providing a central platform for managing workflows and improving productivity. 

Key Features:

• Task Management: Allows teams to create, assign, and prioritize tasks. Each task can include detailed descriptions, attachments, due dates, and custom fields for additional context.
• Project Visualization: Offers multiple views like lists, boards (Kanban style),calendars, and Gantt-style timelines, catering to different project management needs and preferences.
• Workload Management: Helps teams balance workloads efficiently with tools to visualize and adjust each team member’s capacity, preventing burnout and ensuring even distribution of tasks.
• Integrations: Asana integrates with a wide array of tools such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace, and more, allowing for seamless workflow management across different platforms.

Pricing:

Asana offers four types of pricing options. 

• Basic: Free Forever Plan 
• Premium: $10.99/user/month
• Business: $24.99/user/month
• Enterprise: Contact for pricing 

How to Integrate Asana with Gmail?

4. Zoom

Zoom is a comprehensive communication tool primarily known for its video conferencing capabilities. It’s widely used in various sectors, including professional services, education, and healthcare, for both internal and external communication. Zoom’s high-quality video and audio conferencing allow for effective team meetings, client discussions, and webinars.

Key Features:

• High-Quality Video Conferencing: Supports large meetings with high-definition video and audio, facilitating clear and effective communication.
• Screen Sharing: Allows participants to share their screens during meetings, ideal for presentations, tutorials, and collaborative working sessions.
• Chat Functionality: Provides in-meeting and standalone chat features for text-based communication, enhancing the interaction capabilities within and outside of meetings.
• Breakout Rooms: Enables the creation of breakout rooms in meetings, allowing participants to be divided into smaller groups for focused discussions.
• Mobile Accessibility: Offers a mobile application, allowing users to join or host meetings from smartphones and tablets, providing flexibility and convenience.

Pricing:

Zoom offers five types of pricing options. 

• Basic: Free Plan (Allows meetings up to 40 minutes per meeting and 100 attendees)
• Pro: $149.90/year/user
• Business: $199.90/year/user
• Business Plus: Contact for pricing 
• Enterprise: Contact for pricing

5. Document360

Document360 is an advanced knowledge base software designed to streamline the creation, management, and dissemination of documents within organizations. 

Any organization with a hybrid work environment can benefit from Document360’s internal knowledge base. It’s a holistic platform where internal documentation can be stored and accessed by all teams in your organization.

Key Features:

• Advanced Search: Offers a powerful search function with filters, ensuring users quickly find relevant documentation.
• AI-powered Suggestions: Integrates AI tools like ChatGPT and OpenAI for content generation, enhancing the efficiency of creating and updating documentation.
• Advanced WYSIWYG Editor: Features a user-friendly editor that supports various content formats, making document creation and editing more intuitive.
• Workflows: Enables the creation of custom workflows for document review and publishing, ensuring content accuracy and consistency.
• Integrations: Supports integration with over 120 other business tools, offering seamless connectivity and data synchronization.

Pricing:

Document360 offers the following pricing plans. 

• Standard: $124/project/month billed yearly 
• Professional: $248/project/month billed yearly 
• Business: $331/project/month billed yearly 
• Enterprise: $497/project/month billed yearly

6. Helpjuice

HelpJuice is a knowledge base software designed to streamline the creation and management of a company’s internal and external documentation. It is widely used by organizations to improve their customer support efficiency and enhance internal team collaboration. 

The platform is known for its user-friendly interface and extensive customization options, making it suitable for a wide range of organizations. HelpJuice allows companies to easily create, manage, and update a comprehensive knowledge base that can be accessed by both team members and customers.

Key Features:

• Analytics: The software provides detailed analytics, offering insights into how users interact with the knowledge base, helping identify popular content and areas needing improvement.
• SEO Optimization: Includes features for search engine optimization, enhancing the online visibility of knowledge base content.
• Version Control: Keeps track of changes made to documents, allowing users to revert to previous versions if needed.
• Access Controls: Offers robust access control features, enabling administrators to control who can view and edit different parts of the knowledge base.
• Customization: Offers extensive customization, enabling businesses to tailor the look and feel of their knowledge base to match their brand identity.

Pricing:

Helpjuice offers the following pricing options. 

• Starter: $120/month
• Run-Up: $200/month
• Premium Limited: $289/month
• Premium Unlimited: $499/month

7. ProofHub

ProofHub is a project management and team collaboration software. It provides a unified platform for teams to collaborate on projects, manage tasks, share files, and communicate effectively. It helps teams bring together everything they need to plan their tasks, collaborate in real-time, and keep work organized.

Key Features:

• Task Management: Allows creation of tasks, setting deadlines, and assigning responsibilities. Enables prioritization and organization of tasks in a list or Kanban board format.
• Discussions and Chat: Offers dedicated spaces for team discussions, ensuring everyone is aligned and informed.
• Time Tracking: Features a time tracking tool for monitoring the amount of time spent on tasks, aiding in productivity analysis and billing.
• File Management: Includes file storage and file sharing capabilities, along with version control, to manage project documents efficiently.
• Notes and Wikis: Provides a centralized space for storing all project-related information, notes, and documentation.
• Calendar and Scheduling: Integrates a calendar for tracking deadlines, and scheduling meetings.

Pricing:

ProofHub offers the following pricing options. 

• Essential: $45 per month for unlimited users 
• Ultimate Control: $89 per month for unlimited users 

8. Chanty

Chanty is a collaboration software that offers a variety of features for enhancing team productivity and streamlining work processes. For those teams that don’t want to limit their collaboration to just exchanging messages, Chanty offers audio calling and video conferencing functionality with screen sharing. 

Chanty is also good for managing projects, as it has a built-in task manager with a Kanban board that allows you to turn messages into tasks, assign a teammate to perform the task, set a due date and priority. Chanty voice messaging lets you instantly communicate with your team in voice. 

Key Features:

• Unlimited Message History: Offers unlimited access to all past messages, ensuring no loss of vital information.
• Teambook: A unique feature for organizing tasks, conversations, pinned messages, and files, enhancing team productivity.
• Voice Messages and Video Calls: Supports voice messages and high-quality video calls for effective team communication.
• Task Management: Integrates task management tools, including task assignments, deadlines, and status updates.
• Integrations: Seamlessly integrates with popular third-party tools, including Trello, Asana, Zapier, and Giphy.

Pricing:

Chanty offers the following pricing options. 

• Free Plan: For up to 5 team members 
• Business: Starts at $4 per user per month

9. Trello

Trello is a versatile project management and internal communication tool known for its unique visual approach to tasks and project organization. It utilizes an intuitive system of boards, lists, and cards, allowing teams to create, prioritize, and track tasks in a highly visual and interactive way. This structure makes it easy for team members to understand project progress, communicate about specific tasks, and collaborate effectively.

Key Features:

• ​​Boards, Lists, and Cards: Trello’s core structure comprises boards, which are essentially projects or categories. Within each board, there are lists that represent different stages or types of tasks, and each list contains cards, which are individual tasks or items. This visual setup makes it easy to track progress and manage workflows.
• Due Dates and Calendars: Trello supports setting due dates for tasks and integrating with calendar views, helping teams to manage deadlines and schedules effectively.
• Notifications and Updates: It keeps team members informed with notifications for task updates, comments, or changes, ensuring that everyone is up to date on the latest project developments.
• Labels and Tagging: Cards can be categorized using labels, and team members can be tagged in comments and tasks, aiding in the organization and prioritization of work.

Pricing:

Trello offers four pricing plans.  

• Forever Free Plan (for basic use)  
• Standard: $5/user per month
• Premium: $10/user per month
• Enterprise: $17.50/user per month

10. Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a collaboration platform developed by Microsoft. It’s part of the Microsoft 365 suite and is designed to facilitate communication and collaboration within organizations. Teams provides a hub for teamwork, allowing users to chat, video conference, share files, and integrate various applications into a unified workspace.

Key Features:

• Chat and Communication: Offers chat, voice, and video calling capabilities for team communication.
• File Sharing and Collaboration: Integrates with Microsoft Office applications for real-time document collaboration and file sharing.
• Meeting and Webinar Tools: Provides functionalities for hosting online meetings, conferences, and webinars.
• Customizable Workspaces: Allows teams to customize their workspace with tabs, connectors, and extensions.
• Task Management: Includes features for managing tasks and projects within teams.
• Security: Offers advanced security and compliance capabilities, including data encryption.

Pricing:

Microsft Teams offers the following pricing options: 

• Microsoft Teams Essentials: $4 per user per month
• Microsoft 365 Business Basic: $6 per user per month
• Microsoft 365 Business Standard: $12.50 per user per month

Wrapping Up

Enhancing internal communication is crucial for any organization. Neglecting it can lead to information silos and collaboration challenges, ultimately impacting productivity. The 10 tools discussed provide a comprehensive solution to address various internal communication needs. 

Particularly, Hiver stands out as it seamlessly integrates with Gmail, making it a user-friendly choice for teams familiar with Google Workspace. It simplifies team communication and collaboration right within the email platform, easing the transition for teams to more structured and effective internal communication.

Get started with Hiver today. Free for 7 days.