I don’t know if some of you can relate, but I remember waiting in line with a quarter in my hand so I could call my mom from a public payphone. I also remember flipping through the pages of the phone book attached to a cable in the phone booth trying to find the nearest auto mechanic shop to get my car towed. Those were the good ol days…NOT. 

We’ve come a long way, haven’t we? I mean, come on, I used to walk over to the TV to change the channel for my older sister who loved bossing me around. She still bosses me around but now I can just hand her the remote. 

Communication is an essential part of our business, our society, and our lives as a whole. And technology really has advanced to help make it easier. If I had to highlight the one tool we use most here at BOS Media for communication, it’s definitely Slack. 

What is Slack? Well, it’s like a messaging app specifically for business. Wait, doesn’t email do that? Yes, but not like Slack. 

Slack truly brings people together to work as one unified team…it has revolutionized the way organizations, teams and even individuals communicate. 

Why do we love it? First of all, for the same reason so many of us prefer texting: it’s immediate. Conversations can go back and forth without missing a beat. But if it’s just like texting, why not just text? Why download a fancy app? Because of all these key functionalities they bring to the table:

• SLACK stands for “Searchable Log of All Communication and Knowledge” – they built this app to make it super easy to search conversations. Have you ever scrolled up and down for days on your iMessage trying to find that one line someone said that was so funny? Not so fun right? Slack’s search capabilities are very powerful and easy.
• Slack has channels. God bless the channels. It’s a brilliant way to organize your conversations. You can create all kinds of different channels and bring specific people into that channel to start a conversation. For instance, we have a channel called “BOS-Operations” – this is where we submit ideas and complaints about how we currently do things and suggest ways we can improve upon them. 
• Slack is non-intrusive. Seems like texting your boss during cocktail hours can seem intrusive, and believe me, it is. But, slacking during any hour just seems legit. This is what Slack calls “supporting asynchronous work” – it’s a fancy term that means no matter your location, time zone, or function, you can access the information you need on your own time. You can ask questions, get caught up and share updates without having to coordinate schedules. What? Cut down meetings to schedule more meetings? I’m in!
• Slack has a great user interface. It’s pretty and easy to use. It’s simple to set up and you can use it on your phone, your desktop, your tablet…you just can’t use it on a rotary phone with a quarter..sorry. 
• It’s free. There are paid versions but we’ve been using it the free one for years. Thanks Slack. 

Well, this finalizes our kickoff to 2023 on the Apps and Software we believe will help improve your processes in the year ahead!

Here’s a quick recap of the tools we recommend:

• Typeform – Online Form Builder 
• Monday.com – Project Management
• Freshbooks – Accounting 
• Slack – Communication

I hope this series has helped get your January started right. That’s part of the mission here at BOS Media – doing our part to make you more efficient, more productive and ultimately setting your business up to shine! If there’s anything I can do to support you in that, find the nearest payphone and give me a call!

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