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+[Semsee](https://semsee.com/) is a technology startup in the commercial
+insurance space, building intelligent software that digitizes slow manual
+processes. Originally based out of an office in New York, Semsee moved to a
+remote-work model during the pandemic, and now has several satellite teams
+across the US.
+
+Semsee adopted Zulip early on in its journey. “We didn’t plan to be remote,”
+says James van Lommel, [Director of
+Engineering](https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-v-91a65219/) at Semsee. “But now
+that we are remote, it’s good to have a communication tool that really backs
+that up.”
+
+
+> Now that we are remote, it’s good to have a communication tool that really
+> backs that up.
+>
+> — James van Lommel, Director of Engineering at [Semsee](https://semsee.com/)
+
+
+## Looking for something better than Slack
+
+James van Lommel joined Semsee in 2018 to lead the engineering team. At the
+time, the company was using Slack. James knew his choice of communication
+platform would have broad implications: “Communication helps feed the type of
+culture you have at a company,” James says.
+
+James had used Slack extensively in his prior work experience. “Seeing how Slack
+gets used, especially as a company grows larger, I knew I wanted something
+better,” he recalls. “If you are not using Slack *all the time*, you can’t keep
+up with what’s happening.” James wanted a chat tool that would create breathing
+room for focused work, in-person conversations, and different work schedules.
+
+> Seeing how Slack gets used, especially as a company grows larger, I knew I
+> wanted something better.
+>
+> — James van Lommel, Director of Engineering at [Semsee](https://semsee.com/)
+
+In addition, as a security expert, James was interested in a self-hosted
+solution. “There is so much sensitive data that goes into a chat tool,” he says.
+“When we self-host, the messages don’t live on anyone else’s cloud.”
+
+When James discovered Zulip, the topic-based threading model piqued his
+interest. “I didn’t want Mattermost or another self-hosted Slack clone,” he
+says. James quickly set up a Zulip server — he found that the instructions for
+self-hosting were easy to follow, and worked without a hitch. After trying Zulip
+for a few days with some coworkers, James was convinced that Zulip was the right
+choice for Semsee. “We need our employees to be able to come to the right place,
+and have a conversation about one thing,” he says. “Zulip solves that pain
+point.”
+
+
+## An efficient way to organize communication
+
+These days, Zulip is at the core of company communication at Semsee. Email is
+rarely used for internal communications. For jumping on a call, Zulip’s native
+call integration is an easy starting point. System monitoring and software
+development processes are integrated with Zulip via the API. For example, a
+custom integration sends logging data from Semsee’s product into Zulip, with a
+channel and topic configured based on the deployed environment.
+
+New employees adapt easily to Zulip’s organized conversations. By reading
+ongoing discussions, they quickly get an intuition for when to start a new
+topic, and what kinds of topic names work well. “Once they get used to Zulip,
+they are just rolling with it, and I don’t hear any complaints,” says James.
+With conversations organized by topic, “people don’t have to scroll through and
+cherry-pick out the messages they need to read,” James says.
+
+Semsee invites customers to join the company Zulip chat as guests. “Our
+customers just see one channel with one or two topics, so it’s very easy for
+them,” James explains. On the flip side, when Semsee employees are invited to
+join customers’ Slack chats, they miss Zulip. “I don’t like going back to Slack
+now. It’s just not as efficient a way to organize communication,” says James. “A
+few users from an extensive Slack background have told me: ‘Zulip is just
+better.’"
+
+
+> I don’t like going back to Slack now. It’s just not as efficient a way to
+> organize communication.
+>
+> — James van Lommel, Director of Engineering at [Semsee](https://semsee.com/)
+
+---
+
+Check out our guide on [using Zulip for business](/for/business/). You can also
+learn how Zulip is being used at the [Atolio](/case-studies/atolio/) startup,
+the [iDrift AS](/case-studies/idrift/) company, the [End Point
+Dev](/case-studies/end-point/) software consultancy, and the [GUT
+contact](/case-studies/gut-contact/) support agency.