Cloud-based collaboration tools offer convenience and have become a staple in our daily lives, but they also raise concerns about data security and privacy, especially if you’re a business or organization that deals with sensitive information 😟.
Here’s the answer for you, the person who prioritizes security and data sovereignty: Mattermost. Today, we’re going to take a closer look at this powerful open source collaboration platform.
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What is Mattermost? 🖥️
Mattermost is an open-source, self-hosted team communication platform. In short, it offers similar functionality to Slack or Microsoft Teams, but the main difference is that you own and control your data. By installing and running it directly on your own server, in your own cloud environment, you have complete control over your data.
Why choose Mattermost? 🤔
Mattermost is more than just a tool for sending and receiving messages, it helps organizations protect their critical assets and ensure business continuity.
1. Data sovereignty and security 🛡️
- Complete control: All data (messages, files, user information, etc.) is stored on your servers. This relieves you of the worry of entrusting your data to an external cloud service.
- Rugged security: Enterprise-level security features, including end-to-end encryption, role-based access control, audit logs, and more. This is especially beneficial in industries where regulatory compliance (GDPR, HIPAA, etc.) is critical.
- Operate inside the firewall: Operate securely on your organization’s internal network without the risk of exposure to external networks.
2. Flexibility and scalability ⚙️
- Power of Open Source: The source code is open, so you can add or modify features as needed. It can be customized to meet your specific business needs.
- APIs and plugins: Extensive RESTful APIs and webhooks make it easy to integrate with existing in-house systems or third-party services.
- Diverse deployment environments: Flexibly deploy and scale to a variety of environments, including Docker containers, Kubernetes, virtual machines, cloud instances, and more.
3. Cost-effective 💸.
- Open source edition free: Mattermost Team Edition provides core functionality for free. There are no additional per-user subscription fees beyond the initial setup costs, saving you money in the long run.
- Infrastructure Control: You can manage your server resource usage yourself, reducing unnecessary costs.
4. Freedom to Customize 🎨
- Branding: You can change the UI to match your company’s logo and branding.
- Themes and languages: Users can choose a theme that suits their personal preferences, or add new language packs if needed.
- Workflow customization: Feel free to adjust channel configurations, permission settings, and more to fit your organization’s unique communication workflow.
For more information, please visit: #### 5. Powerful integrations 🔗 Mattermost supports integrations with a wide range of external tools to maximize your work efficiency.
- Development tools: Integrate directly with development workflows such as Jira, GitHub, GitLab, Jenkins, Bitbucket, and more to get real-time updates on code changes, issue status, and more.
- Productivity tools: Integrate with Google Drive, Microsoft 365, Zoom, Webex, and more for document sharing, video conferencing, and more.
- Custom webhooks: We offer Slack-compatible webhooks to easily integrate with many of your existing tools. For example, you can set up automatic sending of alerts from your monitoring system to a specific channel.
Explore Key Features 💡
Mattermost has all the core features you need in a modern collaboration tool.
- Channel-based communication 💬: Create public and private channels to organize conversations around specific teams, projects, and topics. Invite only the members you need for focused discussions.
- Direct messaging ✉️: Provides one-on-one messaging as well as group messaging features that allow you to talk to multiple people at the same time.
- File sharing and search 🔍: Easily share files in a variety of formats, including images, documents, and more, and quickly find the information you need with powerful search features (e.g., search for “last week’s meeting minutes”)
- Integrations 🔌:** As mentioned above, integrations with a variety of third-party services help you work more efficiently. (Example: get GitHub PR notifications in your Mattermost channel)
- Audio/Video Calls 📞: With the plugin integration, you can initiate audio and video calls directly from within Mattermost.
- Custom Emojis 😂: Create and use custom emojis to showcase your team’s personality.
- Slash Commands 🚀: Use commands that start with
/, like/remind me to call John tomorrow, to quickly execute specific tasks or look up information. - Notification Management 🔔: Receive notifications in a variety of ways, including desktop, mobile, and email, and have granular control over notification settings by time of day.
Which organizations is Mattermost right for 🏢 🏢?
Mattermost is especially valuable for the following types of organizations.
- Security and compliance-critical enterprises/agencies: Organizations that handle sensitive data and require strict regulatory compliance, such as financial, healthcare, and government agencies.
- Developer-centric technology companies:** Software developers working in DevOps, CI/CD environments where real-time communication and integration with a variety of development tools is essential.
- Any organization that values data sovereignty:** Companies that want to reduce their reliance on cloud services and prefer to manage their own data.
- Large organizations: Requiring reliable performance and scalability in large environments with thousands or tens of thousands of users accessing simultaneously (Enterprise Edition).
Mattermost Editions: Team vs. Enterprise 📊
Mattermost offers two main editions, which you can choose based on the size and needs of your organization.
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Mattermost Team Edition (ME).
- Features: This is the core edition that is open source and free.
- Features: All the basic collaboration features are included, including channels, direct messaging, file sharing, integrations, and more.
- Good for: Small teams, personal projects, and organizations that only need basic security and data controls.
- Support: Community support.
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Mattermost Enterprise Edition (EE)
- Features: Paid edition for larger organizations and advanced security requirements.
- Features: All the features of the Team Edition plus Active Directory/LDAP integration, advanced audit logs, advanced management via the system console, High Availability, enterprise-grade backup/recovery, customizable roles, compliance tools, and more.
- Good for: Large enterprises, government agencies, organizations requiring high levels of security and compliance, and organizations requiring large user support.
- Support: Expert technical support available.
Get started with Mattermost 🚀
Mattermost can be installed and operated in a variety of ways. The most common way is to use a Docker container, or install it directly on a Linux environment such as Ubuntu Server. The official documentation provides a detailed installation guide.
- Preparing for installation: Server (cloud or on-premises), database (PostgreSQL or MySQL), web server (Nginx or Apache)
- Installation method:** Docker Compose, Kubernetes, or manual installation guide
- Initial setup: Create user accounts, configure channels, integrations, etc.
Conclusion ✨
More than just a collaboration tool, Mattermost is a powerful solution that helps organizations protect and regain control of their valuable data. With its open source flexibility, robust security features, and rich integrations, it helps organizations of any size communicate efficiently and securely.
If your organization wants the convenience of a cloud service with the robust security and control of self-hosting, consider Mattermost today! It will take your business to a new level of collaboration. 🌟