Business Solutions: Compass Corporate Messenger

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• Instant Messengers (IM)
• Types and capabilities of modern VKS systems

Compass is a corporate messenger for team communication. The service helps employees focus on tasks in a separate workspace and structure the information necessary for work. The application is available for PCs on Windows, Mac, Linux, as well as smartphones on iOS and Android (for 2023).

2024

Availability of videoconference for 500 + participants

A large-scale update has been released in the corporate messenger Compass - now videoconferences for 500 + participants are available in the application on all platforms. Additional features include all the functions necessary for the work: recording a call, showing the screen, connecting guests by link, scheduling conferences and much more. Advanced mobile video conferencing in Compass will help businesses replace Microsoft Teams, among other things. the developer announced this on June 26, 2024.

Videoconferencing in corporate messengers has become one of the main criteria for choosing a working communication service. Businesses tend to focus on the opportunities employees are used to in Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Russian developers understand the needs of companies and successfully reach the level of quality set by foreign services.

Conference planning, waiting room, and virtual rooms are available in Compass. In addition, you can connect to a video conference in a browser, even if the application is not on a smartphone or computer, and the user is not registered in the messenger. If necessary, you can protect your connection to the conference with a password.

The added features of the Compass messenger help set up the interaction of the call participants - there is a screen demonstration, polls, a show of hands function, reactions and chat conferences. There's also blurring or replacing the background.

Additional features are available to companies both in the cloud and in Compass installed on their own server. Video conferencing with more than 500 participants will help businesses replace Microsoft Teams without buying additional services. Chats and advanced video conferencing are now a single ecosystem for communication for both small teams and large companies with a distributed structure. Next, the plans are to expand the maximum number of participants to 1000 or more, "said Evgeny Perov, Product Director at Compass Corporate Messenger.

Add Mail Registration and Single Sign-On

Registration by mail and Single Sign-On were added to the corporate messenger Compass. This was reported by Business Solutions (Compass) on April 17, 2024.

These functions are already available in the version for installation on the local client server. Registration and authorization of users in the application will become faster and more convenient, and large companies will receive an additional framework for protecting corporate information.

Users can now use corporate mail or a phone number to register. The function helps employees of companies not to link a personal number to a work account. This allows you to make registration faster and more convenient for users, and companies - not to waste time connecting the service to send SMS with an authorization code.

In addition, Compass supports user authorization using Single Sign-On. Now, when logging into the application, users can click on the sign-in button via SSO, enter accounts data and start working in the corporate workspace. Data such as first and last name are automatically transferred from the corporate catalog and fill out the employee card in Compass. This method is faster than classic authorization by phone number or mail, and also allows you to build an additional secure loop.

Compass's new features are aimed entirely at making working communication more secure and comfortable for large companies. and at the same time, do not build an impassable labyrinth in the interface, - said Evgeny Perov, product director at corporate messenger Compass, - users can log in to the application with one button and register without a personal phone number, and administrators can control the security of corporate information.

Inclusion in the register of Russian software

The corporate messenger Compass has entered the register of Russian software. This was reported by Business Solutions (Compass) on April 14, 2024.

Now, instead of public messengers and Western corporate products, Russian companies will be able to use a service that officially meets the requirements for software in Russia.

For large companies and corporations, the inclusion of Compass in the register of domestic software is an additional factor of confidence in the product: it is produced in Russia, checked by the regulator and will not leave the market. Earlier, the developers have already taken a step towards the transparency of the service - for the first time, the source code of the server part of the product was published among Russian corporate messengers.

We understand how important the transparency and reliability of the service is for customers. In conditions when companies are still switching from Western products to Russian ones, the business wants confidence that the service is of high quality and will not leave Russia, "said Evgeny Perov, Product Director at Compass Corporate Messenger." Opening the source code and including Russian software in the register will help to ensure the quality and reliability of the product for both large companies and small teams.

Opens the source code. Release of the on-premium version

Source code server Russian parts of the corporate messenger Compass became available on. GitHub As a result, the business and the professional community of developers will now be able to independently test the product for transparency and. safety Such information TAdviser was shared on February 1, 2024 with representatives of the company. "Business Solutions"

source = "Business Solutions"

According to them, previously such an open-source solution was available only from Mattermost and Rocket.Chat, but their applications for iOS and Android lose in speed and convenience to other messengers on the market.

"We took another step towards full product transparency and published the source code of the server part on GitHub. This will help the professional community to make sure that Compass is reliable and develop the product together, "said Fedor Chernov, head of the development department of the Compass corporate messenger.

At the same time, in the latest update of the corporate messenger Compass, it became possible to deploy the service for free on the local client server. As the developers explained, unlike the cloud version of the messenger, all information in the on-premium version is stored and processed under business control. Only customer employees have physical access to the servers.

"Compass on-premium will help businesses control where information is stored and processed. This is especially important when dealing with intellectual property or confidential customer data. For example, for companies in the field of IT, finance, medicine, industry and others, "added Fedor Chernov.

All functions of the cloud messenger are available in the on-premium version of the product. The developers' immediate plans are to add a dark theme, mail registration, Active Directory, LDAP and improved video calls. In addition, with the next release, Compass on-premium will become paid, and the free version will stop working.

2023

Integration with 50 enterprise services

Compass users can work with other corporate services in the messenger interface. The most popular tools available for integration are CRM systems, task schedulers, social networks, collaboration services and many others.

Communication of hundreds of Russian companies takes place within corporate messengers. Since employees use dozens of special tools in the workflow, there is a growing demand for the integration of instant messengers with other corporate systems - from mail to specialized services.

Integrations with more than 50 third-party tools are now also available in the Compass corporate messenger. These are services with open APIs: mail clients, CRM systems, task schedulers, collaboration platforms, social networks and corporate web portals. You can work with them in the format of chatbots, for example, with Bitrix24, amoCRM, Google.Mail, Asana, VK and dozens of other products.

Specialists from Compass support will help you set up the necessary integrations. They will tell you what tools are available for integration and share step-by-step instructions on how to create a chat bot and connect a particular service to it. If necessary, Compass engineers will take over the task so that the client receives the result without losing focus on workflows.

Integrations turn the corporate messenger into a single window for solving dozens of different problems, "says Stanislav Bondarchuk, head of the integration department of the corporate messenger Compass," and now Compass customers can connect dozens of services necessary for work using chat bots. The next step is to integrate with one button so that the configuration process is as simple and user-friendly as possible,

Add free guest access

The corporate messenger Compass has added free guest access for all users. This was announced by Business Solutions (Compass) on September 14, 2023.

Guest access to Compass will help teams set up workflows with external users, such as customers, contractors, or outsiders. Guests, like other users, can communicate in chats to which administrators have added them. At the same time, information about other participants in the workspace is not available to external users - this allows companies not to worry about privacy. You do not need to pay for guests - their number is not limited at all tariffs, including free.

This function allows you to create an effective project team with contractors or set up interaction with freelance employees. Guest access will also be useful for companies that constantly communicate with representatives of regular customers of goods or services. The opportunity will help to organize structured communication in a separate workspace, while maintaining customer privacy.

Guests of the command space have access to the basic functions of the messenger. They can set up a profile, communicate without restrictions in the chats to which the workspace administrator added them, as well as receive calls from other users.

Guest access also provides for restrictions that preserve the confidentiality of the company's internal processes. Guests cannot create chats and groups, call users if there is no created dialogue between them, and also do not see other team members. In addition, external users cannot change the settings for space and chats inside it.

Other members of the space are not subject to restrictions. They can write and call guests, as well as find them in search and invite them to groups.

The peculiarity of the role model in Compass is that guests are not taken into account in the tariff, and they do not need to be paid separately. If necessary, the administrator or team owner can make the guest a full-fledged member of the team - in this case, he takes up a place in the team and is taken into account in the calculation of the cost.

Companies whose business is based on project work or the provision of b2b services interact with dozens of people outside the organization every day, said Fedor Chernov, head of the corporate messenger development department at Compass. - Guest access makes business communication with external users simple and transparent, and companies will not have to think about tariffs - the default function is available to everyone regardless of tariffs.

Adding gamification and user activity statistics

application Compass also added gamification statistics on user activity. This was announced on August 30, 2023 by the company. Business Solutions (Compass)

Gamification elements will help create a team motivation program, and user activity statistics will help increase the speed of the team. There was also a "Thank you" button - it will allow you to thank employees more often.

The employee card has been updated in the application. Now it displays statistics of user activity: the average time to respond to messages, the daily time to work in the application, as well as the total number of messages and comments sent, downloaded files, completed calls, etc. Open statistics in the profile will help make processes more transparent.

Information from the card is used to form a table of the rating of participants in the workspace. Results from this table are automatically sent to the main chat space every week - each user can look at the dynamics of the team.

With its help, companies can create a motivation program, reward active employees, distribute and optimize workload correctly. Gamification mechanisms also allow you to more involve the team in business processes and increase their efficiency.

Teams use corporate messengers every day, and they need more than just a service for communication, said Fedor Chernov, head of the corporate messenger development department at Compass. - In the latest update, we focused on those features that will help unite the team and inspire it to new achievements.

Enhanced Free Customer Support

The Compass corporate messenger has expanded the possibilities of free customer support. This was announced on August 16, 2023 at the product development company.

The added options, in addition to standard technical support, include full customer support from the moment the service is implemented. Compass specialists help you configure the company's workspaces and give recommendations on how to most effectively organize business processes in the messenger. Customer support is available 24/7 to all users.

The developers of the Compass messenger also opened free access to full support for all customers of the service. In a chat with support right in the application, a personal manager helps each team set up corporate spaces and answers emerging technical questions.

Support also collects feedback and information about the features the customer needs. This affects the development of the product - based on the data received from users, developers add new features to Compass.

In addition, customers in the video conference format can consult with a personal manager how to transfer processes to the messenger so that the use of the service brings as much benefit to the company as possible. Support will take care of time management, help speed up the hiring process and tell you how to organize work in the application in order to improve the performance of the company's departments.

"It is not enough just to give the client a messenger and wait for the potential of the service to open up," said Fedor Chernov, head of the development department of the corporate messenger Compass. - For the service to bring maximum benefit to the business, it is necessary to take care of the client - to suggest, help, share experience and knowledge. Taking care of users is a priority for us and it should be free for everyone.'