As customer demands increase and internal collaboration slows with remote work, Broadvoice is excited to introduce a new chat experience for b-hive Communicator. The all-in-one app combines calling, texting, and video conferencing and new enhancements improve chat capabilities and support contextual conversations to enhance collaboration efforts.

These enhancements are part of the phased rollout of the apps’ new user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) designed to make navigation and collaboration easier than ever.

A New Chat Experience

Communicator’s chat experience now includes features that make collaborating in the app easier.

Enhanced Group Chat Capabilities

Group chats are an effective way to collaborate on projects and tasks. We’ve made them even more productive by adding features to give users greater control over ongoing conversations.

• Start a group chat. Users can turn a one-on-one chat into a group chat with the “Start a Group Chat” button.
• Leave the group. If a user’s role in a group is complete, they can remove themself with the new “Leave the Group” option. Once they’ve left, users will no longer be notified of discussions but will keep access to historical conversations.
• Remove a member. A group leader can remove a user from the group chat by hovering over the user’s name and selecting the “Remove” button. Once the user is removed from a group, the user can’t send or receive new messages but can access historical conversations.

More Support for Contextual Conversations

Keeping track of multiple simultaneous chats is easier with enhancements designed to provide context to your conversations in the app.

• Reply in context. Users can “long press” to reply to a specific message. The chat and the reply will be posted together, creating a thread that’s easy to follow.
• Identify SMS users. Messaging on the go is second nature to hybrid and remote employees, and these SMS users are now quickly identified in the chat with a globe icon and their number.
• View the time and date of sent messages. Chats now include separators to show the date and time a message was sent.
• Distinguish between sent and received messages. Messages now mimic the look of texts. For instance, sent messages appear on the right, and received messages on the left. The more familiar interface can ease usability and help pinpoint messages when scrolling.
• Pin important messages. Users can now pin important messages or those that are pending or awaiting a response. This lets users quickly prioritize conversations so they don’t waste time looking for them later.

Improvements to Communicator’s UI and UX

In addition to the new chat experience, we revamped Communicator’s UI and UX for readability and accessibility.

• UI upgrades. Communicator’s UI is more readable and accessible with a white background, bold icons, more readable text, and visible buttons for quick access to features like call, chat, and video.
• UX enhancements. Communicator’s new UX is more responsive and adjusts to a variety of screen sizes. Users are guaranteed the right-sized experience for their device, which is ideal for hybrid workplaces using a work-from-anywhere model.

Communicator Offers Improvements to UI, UX, and a New Chat Experience

The recently updated b-hive Communicator app has everything you need to streamline workflows, improve productivity, and collaborate effectively. If you already use Communicator, these features will be available immediately and automatically.

Want to learn more about how the all-in-one Communicator app can revamp your team’s collaboration efforts? Schedule a demo with one of our team members.

Stability Improvements Across the Board

In addition to our Communicator enhancements, our teams have been working hard to enhance our business communications across the board. These include updates to iOS and Android apps with improvements for notifications, calls, presence, and more. For a complete list of stability improvements, click here.