In December 2024, Roskomnadzor restricted access to the Viber messenger in Russia. This decision affected millions of users, including the corporate sector.
for November 2024, Viber is the third most popular messenger in Russia, second only to WhatsApp (owned by Meta, which is recognized as an extremist organization in Russia and is banned) and Telegram. The platform was used monthly by 26% of Russians, and the daily audience was 14%, including many corporate users.
It is important for businesses to quickly find a replacement so as not to lose the quality of communication and not to violate the requirements of the law. Further in the article we will analyze the reasons for blocking and the best alternatives on the Russian market.
Why Viber was blocked
The exact reason for the blocking is not reported. with reference to Roskomnadzor that the blocking is related to the violation of requirements for organizers of information dissemination.
Recall that on March 1, 2023, amendments to the Federal Law "On Information, Information Technology and Information Protection" came into force in Russia. These changes prohibit the use of foreign instant messengers in the provision of state and municipal services, as well as in the work of banks and other financial organizations. In June 2023, the State Duma passed a law establishing fines of up to 700 thousand rubles for officials for failure to comply with this ban. The blacklist includes messengers such as WhatsApp (owned by Meta, which is recognized as an extremist organization in Russia and banned), Telegram, Microsoft Teams and others. We published the full list earlier.
Viber has been around since 2010. Its developer and owner is Viber Media, whose head office is located in Luxembourg. In January 2022, as part of the implementation of the requirements of the law on "landing", the service opened an official representative office in Russia.
What can replace Viber?
Although the Roskomnadzor ban applies to banks and government agencies, the most pragmatic solution for Russian businesses would be to switch to one of the domestic communication services to ensure a high level of security.
eXpress
This is a Russian corporate communications platform developed by Unlimited Production. The product is positioned as a corporate super app, where in addition to a messenger with personal and group chats, channels and full functionality of a familiar messenger, it offers calls, video conferencing for 250+ participants, integration with mail, calendars, chat bots and SmartApps - mini-applications within the platform.
Interesting fact: eXpress has been recognized as the best corporate messenger three times
The platform can be used for free as a public messenger. There are also paid corporate plans with installation on the company's servers (on-premise) or in a secure “cloud”.
The corporate messenger was created on the basis of the popular social network VK. VK Teams is a platform that includes a corporate messenger with chats, voice messages and video calls. You can also use a task scheduler, calendar and mail. The interface is similar to VK and WhatsApp. According to the developers, the platform replaces several work applications due to its wide functionality.
The platform also supports chatbots and the creation of WebView applications for working with the company's corporate applications.
This is a Russian platform that specializes in high-quality audio and video calls, and also offers a messenger with group and personal chats, channels and file, multimedia, and document sharing. TrueConf is suitable for companies of any level, the platform is installed on the company's own server, but there is no option with cloud storage.
Russian service for video conferencing and messaging. It supports both personal and group chats, video calls, as well as file and media sharing. Using the platform will be convenient for users of Yandex services, as the platform integrates with Yandex.Mail and Yandex.Calendar and other ecosystem solutions.
One of the key advantages of Yandex.Messenger is support for high-definition video conferencing. Yandex.Messenger offers corporate tariffs with various functions, which makes it attractive for companies of any size.
The platform has existed since 2021 and was initially focused on supporting users within the MTS ecosystem. The platform offers a corporate messenger, the ability to exchange text messages, files, as well as sending notifications and mailings via SMS and voice messages using a corporate number. Among the advantages are zero tariffication of Internet traffic within the framework of MTS corporate tariffs and analytics tools.
However, the video conferencing capabilities here are less developed than those of other messengers. Nevertheless, the platform integrates with other MTS products, including virtual PBX and CRM systems, which ensures the convenience of managing communications within a single ecosystem.
P7-Team is a corporate messenger from the "R7-Office" ecosystem. It is suitable for companies looking for a solution for managing internal communications and collaboration. The product supports personal and group chats, file sharing, video calls and provides integration with other applications from the R7-Office suite.
The key advantage of P7-Team is its deep integration with the R7-Office ecosystem, which allows employees to jointly edit documents, exchange edits and synchronize tasks without having to switch between different platforms. The messenger also supports local server hosting. However, due to its dependence on the R7-Office ecosystem, the platform may be less attractive to companies that use other office solutions.
Why eXpress is the best alternative to Viber
The eXpress platform has gained recognition among companies operating in a variety of industries from IT to retail, and continues to win the trust of customers thanks to its functionality, security mechanisms and ease of use.
- High level of security. The security of the entire platform is confirmed by FSTEC certificate No. 4232, user authentication occurs through 3 completely independent channels, and an advanced role model allows you to customize information access policies depending on the individual requirements of each company.
- Integration with external systems. eXpress supports integration with various corporate systems, such as CRM, ERP, ECM, etc. Scalability. The platform is suitable for both small companies and large organizations with thousands of employees. eXpress easily copes with growing business requirements.
- Availability. The platform provides a free public messenger and corporate tariffs that can be adapted to the company's budget. This makes the product accessible to a wide range of users.
- Convenience. eXpress users note the intuitive interface and flexibility of the platform, which makes it convenient for both ordinary employees and administrators.
It is important to understand that in the context of Viber blocking, companies can no longer be sure of the stability and security of this messenger. Choosing the right communication tool is an important step for any business. Assess the needs of your company and choose a messenger that will become a reliable assistant in communication!
