Companies' interest in corporate messengers has sharply increased – in March alone, demand for domestic solutions grew fivefold. These data are provided by the Association of Professional Social Media Users. However, the "Max" platform is almost never among the popular options.
Currently, about a third of Russian companies use a hybrid communication format. Of these, only 15% are already implementing corporate messengers, while more than half continue to work via VPN and proxies, hoping to maintain the usual format. The blocking of Telegram has put businesses before a choice: where to transfer correspondence and how to build communication with partners, including foreign ones.
While ordinary users are experimenting with foreign services like BiP, KakaoTalk, WeChat, or IMO, businesses are gradually moving towards domestic solutions. The reason is simple – minimal blocking risks and more control over data.
According to experts, companies are increasingly choosing messengers without unnecessary content – without channels and bots, only for work communications. Among the options mentioned are "Yandex Messenger" and eXpress. "Max" is treated cautiously: there are concerns about the confidentiality of correspondence.
There is no single solution on the market yet. But it is already clear that the transition will be expensive for businesses. Free services do not always meet the key demand – data protection. The cost of corporate solutions can range from zero to 50-60 thousand rubles per month when hosted on secure servers.
Experts note that interest in Russian messengers began to grow even before Telegram was blocked, but for now, companies are only looking. In the B2B segment, decisions are made slowly – deals can take up to eight months to close. At the same time, users remain inert, and businesses are not in a hurry to fully switch to national platforms, despite pressure from the state.
Despite all the difficulties, the transition also has its advantages. Corporate messengers allow for better control over work processes: only official chats remain inside, and the risk of data leakage is reduced.
However, for employees, this means one thing – there will be more messengers. And they will have to figure out again where work chats are now and where personal ones are.
