Thrift Giant · communications hub · October 22, 2026

Comms Hub Options

Five places the company could talk, scored against the CEO's two requirements: see every conversation without joining it, and keep outsiders out. Every option feeds the same AI memory, reads email through Microsoft Graph, and reuses the meeting transcription already running.

Comparison

	GroupMe	Slack Pro	Teams	Zipline	In-house
3-yr all-in	$7–11k	$20–23.5k	$8–11k	$8–11k	$15–19k
Year 1 all-in	$4.9–6.8k	$9.2–10.3k	$5.7–6.8k	$5.7–6.8k	$9.6–11.5k
Licenses / yr	$0	$4,350	$0	$0, already bought	$0
Adoption effort	✅ none	❌ train 50	❌ train 50	⚠️ stores yes, execs no	❌ train 50
CEO sees groups he isn't in	❌	⚠️ public only	✅ after approval	⚠️ verify	✅
Reads DMs	⚠️ per exec	❌	✅ after approval	⚠️ verify API	✅
Keeps outsiders out	❌	✅	✅	✅	✅
Vendor approval needed	✅ none	✅ none	❌ 1–3 wk	⚠️ API access	✅ none
Microsoft SSO	❌	❌	✅	✅	✅
Admin, retention, support	❌	⚠️	✅	✅	✅
Data master copy	Microsoft	Salesforce	Microsoft	Zipline	✅ Donate2Impact
Mobile push	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Holdouts via SMS	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
Exec-to-exec chat fit	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅
AI memory, follow-ups, digest	✅ messages copied to Donate2Impact DB	✅ messages copied to Donate2Impact DB	✅ messages copied to Donate2Impact DB	⚠️ copied via API, verify	✅ built in
Vendor AI built in	❌	⚠️ Slack AI, Business+ only, +$750/mo, sees only what asker sees	⚠️ Copilot, +$900–1,500/mo, sees only what asker sees	❌	✅ Donate2Impact, sees everything
Full audit trail	❌	⚠️ exports	⚠️ exports	⚠️ verify	✅
Owned asset	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅ owned
Vendor kill / lock-in risk	❌	✅ low	✅ low	⚠️	✅ none
Meets CEO's 2 requirements	❌	❌	✅	⚠️ if API confirms	✅

Cost detail

	GroupMe	Slack Pro	Teams	Zipline	In-house
Build weeks	2.5–3	2.5	3	3	4.5–5
Build cost	$3,800–4,600	$3,800	$4,600	$4,600	$6,900–7,700
Licenses / yr	$0	$4,350	$0	$0	$0
AI tokens + infra / yr	$720–1,800	$720–1,800	$720–1,800	$720–1,800	$840–1,900
Maintenance / yr	$370	$370	$370	$370	$1,850
Year 1 all-in	$4,900–6,800	$9,200–10,300	$5,700–6,800	$5,700–6,800	$9,600–11,500
3 yrs all-in	$7,100–11,100	$20,200–23,400	$7,900–11,100	$7,900–11,100	$15,000–19,000

50 seats. Development time at $1,538 per week, one third of a full-time rate, since the same person supports IMS, Scorecard, and the other D2I products.
Maintenance assumed at 0.1 day per month for bought platforms and 0.5 day per month for the in-house app.
AI tokens at $60–150 per month. Email ingestion through Microsoft Graph costs $0 in every option. Meetings are already transcribed by the existing Meetings report.
Teams needs a Microsoft "protected API" approval to read chats company-wide, 1–3 weeks, no fee.