- Your remote workforce can have virtual meetings, connect via real-time chat, collaborate on projects, and exchange documents with the correct technology in place.
- Many remote working technologies provide a free tier, making it possible for small company teams to remain productive, accountable, and engaged when away from the office. Paid versions may better meet your requirements and objectives.
- Remote working solutions, in addition to allowing team members to work from home or anywhere they have an internet connection, may improve communication, management, and cooperation.
There are several remote working solutions available for your staff to use in order to work productively from home. According to Miranda Nicholson, vice president of human resources at Formstack, the four important types of remote working software to look for are communication, scheduling, project management, and file sharing.
The purpose of employing remote work solutions is to offer your colleagues who aren't in the office (and may even live across the nation) the impression that they are right next to you in the cubicle. Remote collaboration technologies help keep your team linked, no matter how far they are. You can't afford misunderstanding, slowed growth, missed chances, or disappointing your clients in these unpredictable times.
As firms reassess their team environment and culture approach, now is a wonderful opportunity to use the benefits of remote working solutions, according to Elevate Experiences founder and president Billy Boughey.
"There are numerous technologies that employees may use from home for their own work and to engage with other employees to sustain efficiency," Boughey explained to Business News Daily. "Remote working solutions may help employees remain on schedule, improve performance, and increase productivity." "Having the correct attitude is the key to unlocking fantastic remote work situations, and we must also realise that we don't have to be in person to accomplish anything personal."
Remote working technologies, in addition to allowing team members to work from anywhere with an internet connection, improve communication, management, and cooperation. When your remote workforce has seamless connections and connectivity, you can instantly conduct video conferences and message each other in real time, offering your staff simple access to one another.
These tools enable teams to communicate with one another via instant messaging, video conferencing, and phone conversations. [Business phone systems such as Nextiva provide VoIP interoperability for both]. Email is useful, but overflowing inboxes may make it difficult to manage and continue discussions. Teams can simply follow threads and add others to the conversation thanks to new communication platforms. They break through boundaries, ensuring that talks are relevant and on topic.
1. Slack
Slack is a platform for instant messaging that organises discussions into shared channels, allowing organisations to interact with team members from all over the world.
Slack provides a free tier that small organisations can utilise indefinitely. It gives you access to 10,000 of your team's most recent communications, as well as one-on-one phone and video chats between peers and up to ten connections with other programmes like Google Drive and Office 365.
Small firms who have online meetings on a regular basis may consider the premium Slack option. Identity protection features have been included, as well as complete interaction with Slack tools. There is also a message history stored. Slack's premium package secures team meetings and conversations without time constraints.
2. Zoom
Zoom is a remote video conferencing service that can link your team via video chat, conference rooms, and phone conversations. No matter where you are, the service delivers online meetings, video webinars, cross-platform chat, and file sharing.
The basic Zoom subscription is free and covers up to 100 participants as well as limitless one-on-one sessions. This plan allows groups of three or more to meet for up to 40 minutes at a time. In addition to HD video and audio, full-screen and gallery view, simultaneous screen share, and Chrome and Outlook plugins, the free basic plan offers. It is compatible with Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android operating systems.
To facilitate virtual conversations, many distant professionals choose Zoom's premium version. The time restriction is one of the most significant disadvantages of Zoom's free version. Many businesses find it difficult to keep meetings to less than 40 minutes. Meeting times are limitless with the premium plan. Paid options also include cloud storage for meetings and social media streaming.
3. Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is an Office 365 communication centre that integrates workplace chat, video conferencing, cloud storage, and app integration. Microsoft Teams is available for free download until January 20, 2021.
Remote teams enjoy unlimited chat, built-in group and one-on-one audio or video conferencing, 10GB of team file storage, and 2GB of personal file storage per user with Microsoft Teams' free edition. If your company has an Office 365 subscription, you already have access to Microsoft Teams.
4. Convene
Convene provides additional assistance for virtual meetings, such as interactive Q&As and polling tools. Meetings of up to two to four hours in duration can be held every day, with breakout rooms available. The top tier offers granular data to assist you in assessing guest participation.
These tools may be used by groups to organise meetings and exchange calendars. This allows staff to view everyone's availability and ensures regular check-ins. Many of these programmes sync directly with your calendar and automatically send out meeting reminders and invites, decreasing the number of emails you get.
5. HubSpot Meetings
You can sync your Google Calendar or Office 365 calendar with HubSpot Meetings, establish your availability, and have clients or staff book meetings with you. To store contact information, the tool includes form fields for your meeting page. You can also email the meeting page as a link or embed it on your website. You may use HubSpot Meetings for free and host an unlimited number of meetings.
6. Setmore
Setmore is an appointment scheduling solution that helps you organise your calendar, client lists, booking page, and employee profiles. This service allows you to access all of your appointments from anywhere in the world, allowing your staff and customers to reschedule straight from their inboxes, saving you time on time-consuming phone calls.
The free basic plan from Setmore provides up to four staff logins and calendars, as well as automated alerts and notifications. You can use the service to book customer appointments online. Third-party apps and platforms like as Facebook, Mailchimp, Zendesk, and Zapier are also integrated into the free basic plan.
7. 10 to 8
Because more people are working from home, the appointment and scheduling programme 10 to 8 has grown in popularity. There is a free version, however you are restricted to two staff logins and 100 appointments each month. Paid options allow for two or more staff logins per month as well as 100, 300, 600 (or a custom number) appointments every month. Paid versions can also be branded with your company's logo.
These enable teams to generate and share a variety of projects and assignments from a central location. This facilitates project collaboration among team members and allows managers to track progress and project completion.
Project management solutions are often cloud-based, multi-user systems with a plethora of capabilities, such as mobile applications for status updates on the go and real-time task views for monitoring many projects at once.
8. Basecamp
Basecamp is a management solution that centralises everything your team needs to get work done. Your team will have access to message boards, to-do lists, file storage, real-time group chat, and automatic check-in questions inside each project. Basecamp may also connect to third-party mobile and desktop programmes like TaskClone, Zapier, Project Buddy, and Zoho Flow.
Basecamp Personal is a free plan designed for individuals and small teams. The plan allows for three independent projects and up to 20 participants, as well as 16GB of cloud storage.
The majority of users chose Basecamp Business for their business requirements. This subscription plan allows for an infinite number of features and users. A large quantity of storage space is also included in the subscription plan, which is required to keep the workflow running. This also ensures that you may access stored projects for as long as you need to.
9. Asana
Asana is a project and task management platform that may help your team organise, track, and manage their work from anywhere. Its automation capabilities eliminate bottlenecks, speed approvals, turn standard projects into bespoke templates, and save you time changing project schedules manually when deadlines change.
Asana has a free basic plan for up to 15 team members that features calendar and list views and allows you to set tasks and due dates. Third-party programmes such as Jira Cloud, Adobe Creative Cloud, Gmail, and Slack are integrated into the free plan.
Teams may use these solutions to securely communicate and store information in the cloud, which can improve collaboration efforts. Sharing interactive files is relatively simple thanks to file-sharing services. Edits, comments, and collaboration on material may be done from anywhere in the globe.
10. Dropbox
Dropbox is a file-sharing service that offers cloud storage as well as file synchronisation in a single centralised workspace. It enables you to create, save, and share cloud material from Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, as well as Microsoft Office files and Dropbox Paper.
Dropbox Basic is a free account that includes 2GB of storage space. You may use it to view and share photographs and documents from any device, as well as conveniently backup and restore shared information. Dropbox Basic is compatible with the following operating systems: Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android.
11. Drive by Google
Google Drive is a cloud storage service that lets you save, sync, share, and retrieve files across all of your devices. Google Drive, as a G Suite service, interfaces with other Google products such as Google Forms, Drawings, Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
The personal plan of Google Drive includes 15GB of free cloud storage. Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photographs all use your storage account, allowing you to save files, save email attachments, and back up photos and videos all in one workspace. Google Drive is available for download for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. The free version of Google Drive soon fills up.
Timesheet programmes and software solutions are essential for ensuring responsibility among your company's employees. Time-tracking software is vital for project budget planning. The following are both free and paid tools for virtual time monitoring.
12. Clockify (Free)
Consider Clockify if you're searching for a simple, free tool. The programme is notable for its ability to accommodate an infinite number of users and projects. Tracked hours via virtual timers, prefilled timesheets, and project categorizations are among the features. Time sheets can also be marked as billable or paid by users. Reporting elements may be customised, and a visual breakdown is offered.