Whether employees are in the office, working from home, or working from a remote office, collaboration is key to getting any projects done. Today, there are tons of virtual tools available to help employees collaborate effectively, no matter if they’re across the world from each other. Below are some of the ways businesses can use these virtual tools, as well as the top tools available right now. With the right tools on hand, your employees can easily connect and work on projects from just about anywhere.
Communication and Conferencing
Communication is key. When there are messages to get to another employee or the team needs to have a conference to determine the next step of a project, virtual tools can help. Chanty, Microsoft Teams, and Slack are perfect for communication and store the messages in case an employee needs to go back to see something that was said a week or more in the past. Skype, Hangouts, and Zoom are all video conferencing apps that can be used by any team to communicate easily when a conference is necessary.
File Collaboration and Sharing
It’s often necessary for teams to share files so everyone has a copy of the information or can review parts of the project to see what needs to be changed or done next. The perfect apps for file sharing include Dropbox, OneDrive, and Box. When documents need to be available to edit by any member of the team, file collaboration apps are the perfect way to do this. Apps like Google Suite, Microsoft Office 365, and Confluence allow teams to open and edit any type of document, including text documents and spreadsheets.
Project Management and Time Tracking
How is the project going to be tracked if members of the team live in different locations or may be working from home? There are a number of project management apps that can be used by the employees. Some of the top ones to test out include Workzone, Asana, and Basecamp. Look for an app that has all of the features the team might need to fully track the project and share what is currently happening with each other. If time tracking is needed to see how much time is spent on a project or a part of a project, check out HiveDesk, Toggl, and Clockify. Each of these provides unique time tracking features to help make keeping track of the time spent on projects a lot easier.
Working away from the office doesn’t have to mean it’s harder for a project to get done. In fact, many employers saw an increase in productivity when workers spent some time working from home. The key is to have the right tools set up and ready to be used and to have the employees trained in how to use those tools. Try out some of the tools here to boost productivity even when it’s not possible for everyone to be in the office or to help track and monitor projects.