How much will it cost to set up a company-wide instant messaging application for your business? Well, it depends. Most enterprise chat software plans are customizable, so the possibilities are endless. It can be a little overwhelming at first glance, but the good news is…you get exactly what you want. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Start with the Basics

If you have fewer than 10 employees and you don’t need a lot of bells and whistles, you’re in luck. Enterprise chat is not only affordable and easy to install, but you can also find some plans that offer a 30-day trial at no charge. Try before you buy. Not a bad deal. You’ll pay a small fee per employee per month to get basic Instant Messaging (IM) with secure and encrypted channels. This is the stripped-down model, but it’s a good way to test the waters before taking the bigger plunge.

Step it Up a Notch

Need to add employees and more features? A few more dollars per employee per month will let you:

• • Transfer files during group chats
• • Share your screen with other chat members
• • Turn your chat into a video conference
• • Add a whiteboard to your screen
• • Browse websites that the whole group can view

Go for the Gold

Now for the heavy hitters. If you’re looking for everything Enterprise Chat has to offer, you’ll pay more per employee per month, but you’ll be in EC nirvana. Are you ready for this?

• • You can add chat to your customer service team’s communication channel.
• • Users can create their own chat groups from their contact lists.
• • Administrators can control user profiles and passwords.
• • Administrators can set high security levels on confidential data.
• • You can send a broadcast message to all users at once, or to a designated group.
• • You can communicate with users across other applications, like AIM and Yahoo Messenger.

The bottom line?  Your bottom line is safe with Enterprise Chat. So, go ahead, get on board with the next generation of business communication technology. It’s here to stay.