Chinese Internet giant Tencent’s entry into India’s social messaging market with WeChat signals a vibrant market for enterprise messaging as well. By KTP Radhika
Instant messaging is no longer a matter of small talk, especially for enterprises. For companies, a robust environment for instant communication in the workplace—among employees and with clients—makes sound business sense. Given that a large chunk of the workforce has gone mobile and with a combination of BYOD and an anytime, anywhere work culture evolving, IM is gaining prominence as an enterprise communication tool. Chinese Internet giant, Tencent, recently launched its mobile voice-and-text messaging app WeChat in the Indian market.
Founded in 1998, Tencent is the world’s fourth largest Internet firm today with revenues of $4.5 billion in 2011. It claims to command over 95% of China’s Net user base. WeChat was released last year in China as a consumer product, primarily targeting at the youth, and it already has a 100 million registered users. The app has gained popularity in the enterprise as well, thanks to its group chat and push-voice features.
“This is the era of smartphones and tablets. Enterprise mobility has become the norm. In this scenario, WeChat will help you connect with your peers and with your customers,” said Dennis Hau, Head of International Product Center, Tencent International Business Group.
WeChat’s features include text messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, broadcast messaging, photo and video sharing, location sharing as well as contact information exchange. Along with location-based features, it enhances one-on-one and group chat sessions, something that many enterprises look for in a communication service.
With the rationalization of 3G pricing by the leading telcos, Tencent has chosen an appropriate time to launch its solution. While tablet sales in the country have been tepid, smartphone adoption in the enterprise is pervasive.
“Within our company, we are using this tool for business communication and to share content. Even if the application is launched as a consumer-oriented product, we see a lot of enterprises in China and elsewhere using this as an effective communication tool” added Hau.
Many of WeChat’s features would be useful for SMBs and for startups, felt Nilay Arora, Business Head, WeChat India. “For example, the group chat helps a company form an enterprise group and to communicate with each other. Also, using their smartphones, employees can communicate to the group even while they are on the move. This will also enhance enterprise mobility” said Arora. WeChat also allows users to leave voice messages and enables report sharing among peers.
“WeChat’s enterprise features have helped us streamline our work flow and fasten our inside communication,” said Rahul Razdan, President, Mobile & Games, Ibibo. “Using WeChat, we have formed work groups between various teams and we are now able to better track company data such as status of various products, movements of products, and understand bottlenecks.” Even though WeChat is not promoted exclusively as a business solution, Razdan said its advanced and multimedia features would surely expedite its adoption among enterprises, especially among SMBs.
It will not be a cakewalk for Tencent as it will have to compete with popular chat applications such as BlackBerry Messenger. WeChat is available as a free download for Android, iOS, Windows Phone and Symbian. Tencent said that a BlackBerry version was in the pipeline.
“We are conducting marketing campaigns in India along with our partners,” said Hau. Tencent also has enterprise products such as RealTime Exchange and a few video conferencing tools, which are not yet available in India.
