Workplace Messaging Report Covering Slack, Microsoft, & Cisco

In the first half of 2019, Mio analyzed usage and plans for over 200 SMBs and enterprises' workplace messaging apps. In this post, we'll walk through our findings.

Contents

Methodology

Part 1: The facts as presented in the data

• Current usage of messaging apps
• Reducing workplace messaging apps
• Increasing workplace messaging apps
• End user experience
• Slack pricing

Part 2: Cross-examining the data

Methodology

Included below are the questions we asked respondents.

From these results, we were able to cross-reference data received and report back many cross-platform findings. These are all included in our  Workplace Messaging Report.

Which of the following apps do you estimate are used by employees in your organization, even if its use is unofficial/unsanctioned?

• Skype for Business
• Microsoft Teams
• Slack
• Webex Teams
• Cisco Jabber
• Workplace by Facebook
• Google Hangouts Chat
• Amazon Chime
• Other

Looking forward 24 months from now, which of the following apps do you estimate will have FEWER users in your organization than today?

• Skype for Business
• Microsoft Teams
• Slack
• Webex Teams
• Cisco Jabber
• Workplace by Facebook
• Google Hangouts Chat
• Amazon Chime
• Other

Looking forward 24 months from now, which of the following apps do you estimate will have MORE users in your organization than today?

• Skype for Business
• Microsoft Teams
• Slack
• Webex Teams
• Cisco Jabber
• Workplace by Facebook
• Google Hangouts Chat
• Amazon Chime
• Other  

Which one of the following apps do you feel delivers the best end-user experience?

• Skype for Business
• Microsoft Teams
• Slack
• Webex Teams
• Cisco Jabber
• Workplace by Facebook
• Google Hangouts Chat
• Amazon Chime
• Other  

If your organization has some employees using Slack, which level of Slack is most used in your organization today?

• Free
• Standard
• Plus
• Enterprise Grid
• We don't use Slack

Does your organization have any Cisco hardware endpoints? I.e. Cisco TelePresence, Spark/Webex Board, Room Kits, handsets, headsets, etc.

• Yes
• No

Does your organization provide any employees with Microsoft Office 365 licenses?

• Yes
• No

Part 1: The facts as presented in the data

This section includes the raw data, as provided straight from each respondent's answers.

Current usage of workplace messaging apps

Q.  Which of the following apps do you estimate are used by employees in your organization, even if its use is unofficial/unsanctioned?

Our findings show that Slack is the most used workplace messaging app. 65% of overall respondents said they use Slack. 91% of surveyed respondents reported using two or more collaboration apps at their workplace.

Microsoft is heavily used today. The second most popular app is Skype for Business. Despite many organizations starting to plan their migration from Skype to Microsoft Teams, 61.5% of overall respondents said they are still using Skype for Business today.

Microsoft Teams is close behind. 59% of overall respondents said they use Microsoft Teams in their workplace.

50% of overall respondents said they are using Webex Teams, with Cisco Jabber in next place. 32.5% of overall respondents suggested they are using Cisco Jabber. In fact, Amy Chang, SVP of Collaboration Technology at Cisco, revealed that Cisco Jabber now has 45 million users, during her keynote at Cisco Live in June 2019.

Reducing workplace messaging apps

Q. Looking forward 24 months from now, which of the following apps do you estimate will have FEWER users in your organization than today?

21% indicated that Google Hangouts Chat user will decrease over the next two years.

20.5% indicated that Cisco Jabber will be reduced over the next two years. This percentage may change since Amy Chang announced a unified collaboration app for users of both Cisco Jabber and Webex Teams.

Increasing workplace messaging apps

Q.  Looking forward 24 months from now, which of the following apps do you estimate will have MORE users in your organization than today?

The future is Microsoft Teams, Webex Teams, and Slack.

This much was made obvious by the results of this question.

56.5% of overall respondents said they expect to have more Microsoft Teams users in the next two years.  

Understanding the differences between Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams will play a big part in the decision IT managers are facing. The results show regardless of the change from instant messaging to team collaboration, Microsoft Teams is favorable for future workplace messaging plans.

41% of overall respondents said they expect to have more Webex Teams users in the next two years. As above, this may change since Amy Chang announced a unified collaboration app for users of both Cisco Jabber and Webex Teams.

38.5% of overall respondents said they expect to have more Slack users in the next two years.

Best workplace messaging app for user experience

Q.  Which one of the following apps do you feel delivers the best end-user experience?

Webex Teams and Slack tied for the first spot in this category.

31% of overall respondents said that Webex Teams provides the best user experience.

31% of overall respondents said that Slack provides the best user experience.

22% of overall respondents said that Microsoft Teams provides the best user experience.

What was clear from this category is that IT managers and admins clearly prefer the user experience provided by team collaboration apps. A definitive nod to moving away from legacy interfaces seen in Cisco Jabber and Skype for Business.

Slack pricing

Q.  If your organization has some employees using Slack, which level of Slack is most used in your organization today?

27% of overall respondents said they use Slack Free.

24.5% of overall respondents said they don't use Slack.

21.5% of overall respondents said they use Slack Standard.

15.5% of overall respondents said they use Slack Plus.

11.5% of overall respondents said they use Slack Enterprise Grid.

Cisco endpoints

Q. Does your organization have any Cisco hardware endpoints? I.e. Cisco TelePresence, Spark/Webex Board, Room Kits, handsets, headsets, etc.

65.5% of overall respondents said they did have Cisco endpoints. These are made up of Cisco VoIP phones, telepresence hardware, or even the Cisco Room Kit. This figure only reinforces Cisco as a leader in the endpoints business.

34.5% of overall respondents said they were unaware of any Cisco endpoints in their organization.

This result gives us an interesting insight into co-existence between vendors. You can read more on that in the full Workplace Messaging Report here.

Microsoft Office 365

Q. Does your organization provide any employees with Microsoft Office 365 licenses?

89% of overall respondents said they provide users with Office 365 licenses.

Only 11% over overall respondents said they do not providers users with Office 365 licenses.

This result gives us even more insight into co-existence between vendors. You can read more on that in the full Workplace Messaging Report here.

Reaction

At the time of writing, the Mio Workplace Messaging Report has been out a week. It has already attracted significant media attention.

Marketplace cited the report's findings in an article and radio show exploring how Slack has changed the workplace.

TMCnet covered the report in full. Rich Tehrani picked apart the report and highlighted key findings ahead of the Slack IPO.

Matthew Finnegan also covered the report for Computer World. Here he discusses where Slack, Microsoft, and Cisco are all excelling in their own areas.

As Swit entered the workplace messaging market, CEO Josh Lee referenced the report in Tech Crunch, citing that "most businesses use at least two messaging apps" as a key reason he sees success in the already crowded marketplace.

Part 2: Cross-examining the data

Once we had cross-examined all the data available, we were able to provide many potential conclusions for the state of the workplace messaging industry.

For the full results (the juicy stuff), and a more graphical representation of the full data, visit the Mio Workplace Messaging Report available here.