Today, we’ve seen a lot of advances in digital technologies that make our work easier for us to accomplish. It has led to an expansion of some companies and small businesses to work anytime and anywhere. Working remotely doesn’t only save the business resources, it’s also cost-efficient and reduces the stress of commute of an employee. While remote work is ideal for some, it is not without challenges.
This kind of setup may also result in difficulty to keep track of projects, and as a result, you and your team will get lost in the shuffle. To keep your team at bay and in sync, use these tools featured below:
For Communication
As they say, communication is essential to keep your relationships intact. Otherwise, it will fall apart. That goes along with the companies that are working remotely. Keeping regularly in touch is a challenge that’s why you will need tools that will let you communicate with your team efficiently.
#1. Slack
Slack is a group messaging app that can be used both for mobile and desktop devices. It helps in reducing the time you spent composing and sending emails.
It’s searchable, meaning you can type in a keyword you used in a previous discussion with your team. Plus, your conversations can be separated into different chat rooms, so the random things you talked about won’t be included in professional conversations. Because of the seamless experience it provides, it’s been tagged to be the “email killer.”
Messages in Slack tend to be short and casual. Files and photos can easily be shared throughout the whole team so you can brainstorm ideas without hassle.
#2. Zoom
Zoom is a video conference tool where you can remotely meet your team face-to-face. Sometimes, chat and emails may not be enough for brainstorming, so some teams opt for a video conference instead. This tool can spontaneously connect you with one another even in a virtual setup. Zoom also allows screen sharing as well as video recording so you can always go and watch old meetings you’ve had with your team.
Its free plan is enough to let you invite people into the conference without sacrificing the video quality both for the host and the participants. But if you are a large corporation, you may upgrade to the Pro version which gives you reports on how many meetings are taking place in your organization and other cool features.
#3. World Time Buddy
If you’ve got a global team, you may be confused with different time zones because some may be ahead or a day behind you. World Time Buddy is a free, convenient world clock converter, but you can also upgrade to its full version.
Even though there are competitors, nothing beats World Time Buddy with its easy to use interface that lets you drag and drop different locations and acts as an online meeting scheduler as well.
For Productivity
#4. Dropbox
Dropbox is a powerful file syncing and sharing tool where you can easily access and share your files with your team from any device. Dropbox also acts as a backup tool where you can save important files without worrying about its security.
The basic plan of Dropbox gives you 2GB of space for free. If that’s not enough, there are a lot more alternatives for Dropbox that are also offered for free. Each one has different features of their own and it’s up to you which would you like to use within your organization.
#5. Trello
Trello is a simple project management tool that is highly visual and easy to use. It’s like a digital board where you can add cards to create plans, plus, you can assign color tags and labels for easier segregation of tasks and ideas. There are a dozen more ways to organize your own Trello board.
When you delegate a task to someone, Trello will automatically remind them of their deadlines. Its mission is to keep team members focused on jobs and provided visibility on what the other team members are up to as well.
Trello is highly recommended for a remote team that wants to organize and prioritize their business objectives easily. It is forever free to use and already has a lot of useful features that can help you throughout the day. But it also has a professional package where you can attach up to 250MB file and lets you integrate your board with Google Drive, MailChimp, Dropbox, and more.
#6. Groove
Groove is helpful for businesses who need a quick and easy-to use-customer support tool. It has ticketing, widgets, and reports that are essential for an amazing customer experience. It is a simpler help desk that helps you deliver personal messages to every customer to improve your reputation and your services.
As a team, you can assign customer emails to an agent within the team, see who’s replying to a certain ticket, and add private notes that help you collaborate with each other.
For Team Management
#7. When I Work
When I Work is a powerful tool that helps the organization view and organizes their time schedules for each employee. Managers who are in charge of their team’s schedule may be working hard at work to properly sync in their schedules with each one on the team.
With this tool, employees can also easily clock in even from their smartphones. Additionally, and managers can view the available employees for the day. For example, when you have a task you need to be done, you can quickly see who from your team can do the work for you.
It also has a two-way messaging service that notifies you via text and email when someone from the team wants to take a day off. This tool is specially created to manage you and your team’s schedule smoothly.
Final Thoughts
Every remote worker might find it difficult to stick to plans or manage their deadlines especially since they have more flexibility in doing their assigned tasks. While it’s under the impression that working remotely is always awesome having no one looking at their monitors behind their backs, in reality, it has a lot of struggles as well. Some remote workers tend to overwork because work and free time are under the same roof.
Hopefully, these tools can help you and your team in a remote setup to increase your productivity, efficiency, and accountability to help you grow your business.
