Secure business communication. Is it worth it to build a custom instant messaging platform?

From tools like IRC (since 1988) and ICQ (founded in 1996) to modern enterprise-grade solutions such as Slack or Microsoft Teams, the evolution of off-the-shelf business messaging tools reflects the growing importance of secure and fully personalized communication in professional environments.

Today, despite a wide choice of commercial tools, many executives and IT leaders face the question of whether to adopt a commercial messaging platform or develop a proprietary solution. This choice affects how efficiently teams operate, how securely information flows, and ultimately, how companies position themselves in markets where instant communication impacts business outcomes.

Secure business communication basics

First of all, modern messaging platforms significantly reduce email overload. Widely referenced McKinsey’s report states that employees typically spend 28% of their workday managing emails, but shifting routine conversations to business instant messaging streamlines workflows and enhances focus.

Building upon the digital transformation happening in workplaces, enterprise instant messaging refers to the real-time exchange of text, files, and multimedia between users via dedicated applications. In consequence, adoption of these platforms yields measurable benefits:

1. Accelerated decision-making. Enables immediate feedback loops and reduces approval bottlenecks by creating direct communication channels between decision-makers. For example, a marketing team can get instant approval on campaign materials instead of waiting days for email responses.‍
2. Enhanced team collaboration. Facilitates spontaneous idea sharing and problem-solving through persistent group channels that preserve context and history. For instance, product development teams can continuously iterate on concepts in dedicated channels where all relevant discussions remain accessible.‍
3. Reduced meeting load. Resolves simple questions and coordination issues without scheduling formal meetings, saving valuable time across the organization. For example, quick clarifications can be addressed in seconds through messaging in asynchronous communication channels.

These advantages of IM for business translate into tangible productivity gains among knowledge workers and management.

Common business communication challenges and requirements

Communication needs are getting increasingly complex as organizations embrace digital and AI transformation. They urgently need solutions that balance scalability, speed, compliance, and integration. Moreover, the instant messaging for business requirements varies significantly based on industry, size, and regulatory environment.

Integration with existing business systems

Effective messaging solutions must connect with CRM systems, project management tools, document repositories, and custom business applications. Integration requirements typically include:

• ‍workflow automation – connects messaging interactions with business processes, reducing manual handoffs and improving process consistency. For instance, approval requests can flow through predefined steps with automatic routing and status tracking,‍
• data synchronization – maintains consistency between messaging platform user profiles and centralized identity management systems, ensuring accurate access controls and user information. For example, when an employee changes departments, their messaging access permissions update automatically,‍
• customer relationship management – synchronizing communication history with customer records to provide complete interaction context.

Scalability for growing organizations

As businesses expand, their communication needs evolve dramatically – increasing not just in volume but in complexity. Instant messaging platforms must scale across multiple dimensions simultaneously, supporting more users, higher message volumes, additional channels, and expanded file sharing capabilities without performance degradation.

Scalability challenges of instant messaging for business communication manifest in several ways:

1. User growth accommodation. Supports expanding the workforce without degrading performance or requiring disruptive platform changes. For example, a company growing from 50 to 500 employees needs messaging infrastructure that remains responsive despite the 10x increase in potential communicators.
2. ‍Message volume handling. Maintains performance during usage spikes and as overall communication volume increases with organizational growth. For instance, a retail business needs reliable messaging during holiday sales periods when internal communication volumes might triple.
3. ‍Storage expansion. Provides efficient mechanisms for retaining growing message history and shared files while maintaining search performance and accessibility. For example, as internal knowledge bases accumulate over years, teams need to reference historical decisions without facing search limitations.

Administrative control and governance

Enterprise messaging requires sophisticated administrative capabilities. The most important features include user management, enforcing policies, and maintaining appropriate governance.

For instance, policy enforcement implements and monitors compliance with communication guidelines, retention requirements, and security standards across all conversations. Hence, financial advisors might have automatic disclaimers added to client communications and enforced retention of all investment recommendations.

Usage analytics provides visibility into platform adoption, communication patterns, and potential issues, enabling data-driven decisions about training needs or configuration changes. For example, identifying underutilized features that could improve team collaboration if properly implemented.

Security and compliance demands

An average data breach can cost an organization $4.88 million. The financial stakes for security and compliance demands are substantial, not to mention reputational damage. Crucial security factors include:

• access controls – restrict information visibility according to roles, departments, or specific project involvement, guarding against internal breaches. For instance, HR conversations about employee compensation remain limited to relevant personnel only.
• retention policies – offer customizable storage durations aligned with both regulatory mandates and internal policies.  Financial institutions, for instance, might preserve trading-related exchanges for seven years but allow other communications to expire sooner.

Since these security mandates differ sharply by industry, generalized messaging solutions frequently fall short in providing adequate protection or compliance measures.

Commercial messaging solutions assessment

The instant messaging platforms market offers numerous options with varying strengths and limitations. Evaluating the precise capabilities and constraints of popular instant messaging platforms for business enables organizations to determine whether existing offerings align adequately with their operational requirements.

Flock

Generally priced lower than its competitors, Flock appeals primarily to cost-sensitive SMEs aiming for comprehensive communication functionality without complicated setups. Starting with a free plan covering unlimited 1-1 and group messages, and 5 GB per team, Flock costs $4.5 per user per month for organizations up to 100 members.

Flock positions itself as a productivity-oriented alternative to pricier messaging solutions. Its important feature is embedding productivity tools, such as e.g. task management, polls, and reminders. Standard features like file sharing and video conferencing supplement its core messaging capabilities, creating an integrated team coordination suite.

Google Chat

Google Chat's development history tells an interesting story - it evolved from Google Hangouts, which itself started as Google Talk, representing over fifteen years of continuous refinement. What makes Google Chat particularly valuable is how well it connects with Google Workspace.

In consequence, offering substantial benefits for companies already invested in Google's productivity tools. Conversation threading capabilities, straightforward document sharing, and accessible bot connections, all presented through an interface that feels immediately familiar to those who regularly use Google products make it a popular solution.

From a financial perspective, Google Chat presents an attractive option particularly for small to medium businesses. The pricing structure begins with $6 per user per month for the Business Starter package (30GB storage) to $18 for the Business Plus tier (2TB storage), positioning Google Chat as a pretty affordable solution for SMEs. Its’ standout value is easy collaboration with Docs, Sheets, and allowing teams to edit documents directly within conversations. However, restricted customization possibilities, reliance on the Google environment, and concerns around data sovereignty for organizations bound by stringent privacy laws—merit careful consideration.

Slack

Slack provides organized communication through dedicated channels, robust file-sharing options, and advanced workflow automation tools. An often-overlooked yet captivating detail is that Slack’s name was initially an acronym: "Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge," reflecting its foundational focus on easy access and organization of team communications. Boasting thousands of ready-made integrations and a powerful API ecosystem that enhances its capabilities far beyond simple messaging, it distinguishes itself as the market's most extensible messaging solution.

Pricing begins at $4.38 per user monthly for the Pro version. And scales up to $15 and more for Business+ and Enterprise Grid, appealing broadly across businesses of varying scales. Slack definitely prioritizes deep integration capabilities, as its primary advantage is its extensive ecosystem of third-party applications, enabling bespoke workflow automation without extensive custom development.

However, potential drawbacks of this one of the most popular instant messaging apps for business include a tendency toward information overload in highly active channels, substantial costs for large organizations, and restricted options for data residency compliance.

Build vs. buy decision framework for messaging platforms

Determining whether to adopt one of the commercial instant messaging platforms or develop a custom solution requires systematic analysis of organizational requirements, resources, and expected returns. This decision framework helps companies evaluate their specific needs against available options.

Organizational needs assessment

Before selecting any messaging approach, organizations must thoroughly evaluate their specific requirements, considering both current needs and anticipated future growth. This assessment should examine communication patterns, security mandates, and integration requirements.

Key assessment areas include security requirements mapping, among others. This particular area identifies industry-specific mandates and internal policies that impact how data must be stored, transmitted, and retained.

Resource availability evaluation

Critical resource considerations for implementing any messaging solution include:

1. Technical expertise access. Determines whether the organization has the necessary skills to develop and maintain a custom platform or effectively configure a commercial solution. For example, a company with experienced Node.js developers might have the foundation for custom messaging platform development.
2. Development timeline feasibility. Evaluates whether the organization can wait for custom development or needs immediate deployment of a messaging solution. For instance, a company undergoing a rapid remote work transition might need an immediate solution despite long-term customization preferences.
3. Budget allocation options. Compares upfront and ongoing costs between commercial licensing and custom development, considering both direct expenses and opportunity costs. For example, a growing company might find that high per-user licensing fees for commercial platforms eventually exceed custom development costs.

Organizations must balance immediate needs against long-term considerations, recognizing that resource requirements evolve over time for both commercial and custom messaging platforms.

Control requirements specification

Different organizations have varying needs for control over their messaging platforms, ranging from basic configuration options to complete architectural control. Understanding these requirements helps determine whether commercial platforms can provide sufficient flexibility.

Essential control considerations include:

• data governance needs – defines requirements for data location, retention, and processing that may exceed commercial platform capabilities. For example, a European financial institution might require all message data to remain within specific jurisdictions under their direct control.
• customization priorities – identifies user experience and functionality adaptations needed to support specific workflows or branding requirements. For instance, a healthcare provider might need custom message templates for common patient communication scenarios with specific compliance language.
• compliance mandates – specifies regulatory requirements that impact messaging platform implementation, potentially requiring specific security measures or audit capabilities.

Custom messaging platform development approach

Organizations choosing custom development must carefully plan across technical dimensions, balancing immediate needs with long-term scalability and flexibility.

Technical foundation requirements

Robust technical foundations ensure reliability, security, and performance at scale, determining the platform's long-term capabilities. These foundations comprise several essential elements that work together to create a cohesive system. Database architecture must optimize message storage and retrieval for both real-time access and historical searching.

A hybrid approach might use Redis for recent messages and MongoDB for archival storage to effectively balance performance and cost-effectiveness. Additionally, a well-designed API framework enables integration with other systems through secure interfaces that support both standard and custom connections. A RESTful API with comprehensive documentation allows developers to create custom integrations with proprietary business systems.

These initial architecture decisions have lasting implications for the platform's capabilities, making thorough planning critical.

Scalability engineering principles

Messaging platforms must scale seamlessly across multiple dimensions including users, messages, channels, and integrations. Building scalability into the initial architecture prevents disruptive changes later as the organization grows. Load balancing distributes processing across multiple servers to prevent bottlenecks and ensure consistent performance during usage spikes.

Implementing horizontal scaling with automatic provisioning of additional resources during high-demand periods maintains system responsiveness even under stress. Message handling capacity must be designed to accommodate both normal and peak volumes without degradation or delays. Message queuing systems ensure that temporary spikes don't overwhelm processing capabilities while maintaining proper message order and delivery guarantees.

User growth accommodation requires creating database and authentication systems that maintain performance as user numbers increase dramatically. Implementing sharded databases allows the system to distribute user data across multiple servers as the organization expands. Throughout all these considerations, scalability engineering requires anticipating future needs rather than merely addressing current requirements, creating headroom for growth before it becomes critical

Build your instant messenger for business with us

At RST, we specialize in developing tailored messaging solutions that align perfectly with your organizational requirements. Contact us to ensure long-term value through enhanced security, improved workflow integration, and precise alignment with your business objectives.