Nextcloud Talk: Our Open-Source answer to Microsoft Teams

When cables are cut, sanctions are put in place or privacy legislation prohibits the use of the service your entire organization depends on, what can you do?

Amidst geo-political changes, organizations face dependencies on large, centralized communication platforms. A major example of this is the SaaS-only communication platform Microsoft Teams. It is the only solution on the market which deeply integrates video calls, team chat and large group call features with real-time document collaboration and file sharing, and has become critical to the functioning of many organizations. Which, in turn, has allowed Microsoft to hike prices by 20 to 40% and not face an excodus of customers – as they and their data are fully locked in.

Organisations, small and large, need a way to ensure the resiliency and digital sovereignty of their operations – an open source, privacy respecting alternative to Teams. And today, we present that solution.

In this short webinar, Jos walks you through how Nextcloud Talk takes on Microsoft Teams!

Welcome to Nextcloud Talk

Today, live from our Enterprise day in Paris, we launch Nextcloud Talk „Paris“. It is the only open-source solution that integrates all key features – from chats and video conferencing to webinars, complete with file sharing and office document editing – into a single platform while avoiding vendor lock-in.

Our platform meets the highest standards of compliance with privacy legislations like GDPR or HIPAA and offers strict data security, ensuring full data control. Thanks to its open architecture, Talk can be seamlessly integrated into existing systems and tailored to individual needs.

Nextcloud Talk is designed to address three key use cases. Let’s go quickly over them!

Efficient team chat

The integrated chat in Nextcloud Talk is designed to help teams stay connected throughout the workday. With multiple chat rooms and the ability to edit files directly within the chat, Talk streamlines hybrid team collaboration and boosts efficiency. End-to-end encryption ensures that calls remain private and secure, while integrated real-time notifications keep everyone in the loop. All data stays under your control, meeting the highest privacy and security standards.

It features deep integration with a wide variety of content. Users can add documents – and edit them right there, inline, without having to open tabs or download the file. Locations, tasks, calendars and notes can all be inserted, viewed and edited without leaving Talk.

Video calls for seamless collaboration

Nextcloud Talk makes virtual meetings easy and accessible across devices. Whether it’s a quick check-in or a larger team meeting, our platform ensures powerful collaboration for hybrid working teams. Features like integrated whiteboards, screen sharing, and joint document editing make real-time collaboration easier than ever. Scheduling and joining calls is effortless, directly from the Nextcloud interface, integrated with the calendar app for easy scheduling of meetings.

Interactive webinars, education and training sessions

Talk enables you to host engaging webinars – bringing audiences like teams, students, or customers together. The platform supports live streaming, Q&A sessions and screensharing and comes with moderation features and a virtual lobby with waiting music. Functions like the integrated chat, animated reactions, polls and breakout rooms make the learning experience more interactive and fun. All this, and more, is available wherever you are. Not only in the browser, but also with apps on iOS and Android! When your colleague calls you while you’re out, your phone will ring and you’ll be able to share your screen to show them a quick presentation you’re working on.

You can give participants a phone number to dial in to, and even pull them in by dialing out right from Talk. Need to add hundreds, even thousands of participants? Simply import a spreadsheet. After the call, you export the participant list and see who did and did not show up!

Break up big groups in breakout rooms, enabling everyone to be productive in a smaller team before coming back together to the big group. In your breakout room you can do a call, chat, work on a whiteboard, share documents and more!

Numerous new features for better collaboration

New desktop app

No more searching through browser tabs! The new app offers desktop integration and notifications, allowing users to communicate and join calls effortlessly.

New AI features

Tired of taking notes in long meetings? Enjoy our automatically generated summaries of video meetings! Dreading those 173 unread messages in the morning? The Nextcloud Assistant summarizes them for you. Less work, less stress!

Visual collaboration

The interactive whiteboard enables teams to brainstorm and develop ideas in real-time – ideal for workshops and project planning.

Plan your polls

You can now save a poll as a draft, for quick publishing when the class has started. Need to use the same poll in a different class? Simply export it as a file and import it in the new room. At the end, export the poll as image or spreadsheet. Easy as pie!

Simplified teamwork

Documents can be collaboratively edited directly within chats or video calls. No need to switch to another window or tab! You can easily find chat messages with the search, leave and join open chat rooms or archive the ones you no longer follow, so you stay as connected as you need to be.

Let colleagues know what you think with reactions to chat messages, or animated reactions during calls. And if you need to make a point, you can use bold, italics, headers and even tables in your messages.

Mindfulness features

To promote a healthy meeting culture, Nextcloud Talk has a series of small features that help you be mindful of yourself and others. You can send silent chat messages and even start silent calls which don’t send notifications to everyone. User status communicates to colleagues if you’re available or not – the status will automatically change when you are in a call or have an appointment in your calendar, and your time zone is visible for others.

Need to deal with something – but not right now? You can mark a chat as unread, but also set a reminder on an individual message. You’ll get a notification at the time you set! You can also send a message to a special ‘Note to self’ chat, or put notes there by hand. Keep things organized for yourself. Perhaps favorite your Note to self chat so it’s always on top with other important chats?

You can also set your work hours and enable do-not-disturb outside those hours. Calls give a warning at the 1h mark and can now automatically end after a set time. And, during calls, you can see how much each participant talked so you can make sure even the quiet team members get to have their say.

High-security communication

Nextcloud Talk meets the highest security standards and can even be deployed in airgap environments, keeping all communication strictly away from the internet.

A glimpse into the future of collaboration

With Nextcloud Talk, we empower companies and public institutions to work securely and productively – regardless of their location or infrastructure. The platform is ideal for on-premises installations or hosting by local cloud providers, giving companies and organizations full control over their data.

Finally, the open source community has a real answer to Microsoft Teams.

Learn more at the Talk webpage, or join our upcoming webinar to find out how Talk can replace Teams for your organization!