I've spent close to a decade profiling the hackers and dreamers who are bringing the most cutting-edge technology into our lives, for better or worse. I cover developments in AI, robotics, chatbots, digital assistants and emerging tech in Europe. Yet WhatsApp’s new dedicated desktop client could certainly start to make it more appealing to enterprise users, particularly if it adds features over time such as an administrator portal or mobile management solutions, though that would be some ways down the line. Slack retains a big advantage over WhatsApp when it comes to enterprise use, in that there’s little risk of enterprise users mixing up their use of Slack at the office with personal communications, as they might do with WhatsApp. Politicians in India have used WhatsApp to launch carry out their election campaigns.

Some offices for instance will use it as a means to chat between work mates about where to go for lunch, whereas more formal implementations abound, such as the diamond ring retailer in London that uses WhatsApp (and till now its desktop web client) to communicate with customers. Though Slack is primarily used as a workplace communication tool and WhatsApp is associated with chatting between friends and family, WhatsApp’s group texting is still used by many businesses and organizations by virtue of its enormous popularity.