Skype or Slack? SWOT analysis of online communication tools

Document from the year 2016 in the subject Computer Science - Internet, New Technologies, , language: English, abstract: In the present paper, various ways of virtual communication will be illustrated. In this connection, first, common possibilities of communicating virtually such as e-mail, instant messaging and VoIP will be presented before two major and popular instant messaging tools available on the Internet, Slack and Skype, are going to be examined in greater detail by pointing out their strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats with the help of a SWOT-analysis. This is supposed to figure out the most effective, efficient, useful and safe communication instant messaging tool. Further, it aims at figuring out which tool(s) will prevail in the future and therefore stand(s) the test of time. In today's world, the possibilities for communication via Internet have become very common both in private and business matters. Messages can be sent from one corner of the world to the other in the blink of an eye, be it via e-mail, as the technological advanced version of letters, instant messaging with the frequent extra opportunity of a video talk and Internet telephony (VoIP) as a much more inexpensive way of phoning via Internet. In a rapidly increasing globalized world now more than ever, time is money when it comes to entrepreneurial actions and at the same time of essence for private purposes as we have got used to rapid communication. As an inevitable consequence, people's attention span as well as patience related to communication or demanding access to information has been reducing drastically. Expectations regarding a safe and extremely fast way of communicating are very high and continue to rise.