Microsoft will soon dominate enterprise chat according to a new study by IT network Spiceworks. According to the results of the study, Microsoft Teams will surpass both Slack and Google Hangouts as a preferred enterprise chat solution. The service was announced by Microsoft at an event in New York at the start of November, 2016.
Spiceworks surveyed IT pros and found that Microsoft's Skype for Business is already comfortably the number one choice for business chat. It has a 36% deployment and is well ahead of rivals like Google Hangouts and Slack.
However, Google Hangouts is second in the market with 16% deployment, with Slack in third with 13%. Microsoft Teams is new on the market, but even so it has already been adopted by 3% of those surveyed. Indeed, the study finds that 17% of those asked plan to deploy Teams over the next two years.
That means Microsoft Teams will have 20% of the market, if the results of the survey hold true. Of course, Slack and Hangouts could also grow in that time, but it is clear Teams will be a potent competitor. Combined with Microsoft's existing position with Skype for Business, the company has a chance to take grip of the enterprise chat market.
The study concludes that Teams growth will see the service surpass Hangouts and Slack: “If these plans hold true, Microsoft Teams will be the second most commonly used messaging platform in the workplace by the end of 2018, surpassing Slack and Google Hangouts, and coming in behind only Skype for Business…This bodes well for Microsoft, who owns Skype, and could speak to the fact that Microsoft Teams is free to use for companies that subscribe to Office 365.”
Microsoft Teams
Growth of Teams has been exceptional so far, especially considering the service is only available in preview. Microsoft Teams is available for Office 365 commercial customers. Microsoft has said the service will be rolled out official during the first quarter of this year.
One reason why Teams is likely to find early success is the amount of customers Microsoft has through Office. The Teams service is integrated into Office, making it an obvious choice for workplace chat. Slack has already shown its concern about Teams, taking a full page newspaper ad in the New York Times to warn Microsoft. 
