Cloud company Citrix has announced its Podio Chat solution, which provides SMBs with instant messaging, video, and audio chat, will be made generally available this summer as part of the company’s Podio social business platform.
As Citrix puts it, Podio Chat enables ad hoc conversations within SMB teams using Podio. “Podio Chat bridges the gap between ‘real time’ and ‘my time,'” says Bernardo de Albergaria, Citrix’s vice president and general manager of SaaS products and market, “increasing the velocity of communications within Podio and making purposeful collaboration happen faster and more effectively – no more waiting for answers.”
Specifically, Podio provides SMB teams the ability to see which contacts are online across the entire company ecosystem, whether it be internal employees or external contractors, suppliers, or partners working with a team in a Podio workspace.
“Teams can now ask questions, share updates, or discuss a project in real time,” states a Citrix press release submitted to ChannelPro-SMB. †
“The real value of IM and video chat is when it’s used in the context of the work in progress – the tasks, projects and deliverables in action that require discussion to get done,” says Tommy Ahlers, Citrix vice president, social collaboration. “With Podio Chat, teams can experience seamless, fluid workflow, where questions get answered quickly because the right people are online, available, and focused on the same work at the same time.”
