Modern business environments are dynamic and agile. The key to success is for employees to be collaborative and communicative. Consequently, team members need technology that helps them communicate and function more effectively, regardless of whether they work remotely or from home. The Internet offers many software programs for improving the staff’s productivity while keeping the system simple, secure, and fast. As a result, companies can upgrade their infrastructure by installing these valuable tools in offices.
Here is the list of the twelve most useful tools that companies can rely on to make the remote work experience more productive and rewarding.
1. Zoom
Zoom is a popular software for high-quality audio and video calls, allowing hundreds of users to get on board at a single time. Several professionals have experience conducting virtual meetings and attending workshops or conferences on Zoom during a pandemic. It is a user-friendly tool giving access to users to record audio or video or screen share.
By using Zoom, multiple participants can share a screen simultaneously, making a visual experience more rewarding. It operates on very low bandwidth, consuming less internet volume than other audio or video calling software.
2. Trello
Trello is an easy-to-use project management tool. Managers can easily create cards with visual list creation tools. It allows the users to customize and create the cards with tasks, rearrange them, assign them, track progress, collect and store information and organize work processes.
Trello makes remote working simple and easier by enhancing the user-based functionality during project management. Collaborating on several complex tasks, Trello provides the best solution because of its effective design and straightforward functionality.
3. Skype
Skype is one of the oldest video conferencing tools that provides users with a high-quality video calling experience without using high volumes of data. It also allows users to message, share screens, and enable live subtitles. For years it has offered free-of-cost services and compatibility with other devices, building trust along the way.
4. Hangouts
Hangouts by Google is the best choice for secure chatting and video calling experience within a team. With Hangouts, users don’t need to install any software like in the case of Zoom. By having a Google account, they can experience Hangouts. It allows them to integrate Google Calendar and Google Drive while enjoying Hangouts, making collaboration with team members easier and simpler.
5. Google Drive
Everyone who wants to secure data on cloud storage free of cost is already familiar with Google Drive. It is an excellent choice for storing and accessing large amounts of data and providing security and transparency within organizations. Users can edit their documents or files in real-time compared to other similar software. For better remote work experience, team members use Google Drive to create and edit documents simultaneously.
6. Dropbox
Dropbox is the first software that enabled users to store documents, photos, videos, music in the cloud storage making it the top competitor of Google Drive. They can access files anywhere by signing a Dropbox account on a computer, laptop, or mobile phone. Dropbox is free to use, providing you with a data storage limit of 2 GB. In case of having more space, you can go for paid packages available at different prices depending on the storage limit. It is effortless and reliable software that syncs files faster than most competitors.
7. Asana
Asana is a powerful and comprehensive software that allows users to create project boards with timelines, automation, and integration. It is the best tool for remote work handling as its interface is task-based. By using Asana, users can track their workload and progress during a project due to its feature of integrating assignments into bigger projects. Its simple design allows a supervisor or team manager to see who is responsible for specific project parts, making it less likely to make any misunderstanding about roles and responsibilities.
8. Jibble
Jibble is one of the most useful tools for dealing with remote workers’ difficult aspects of attendance. It is a time and attendance recording software that operates a digital attendance sheet or timesheet. Using Jibble, workers can mark their attendance anytime, anywhere, and with any smart device. In addition, it can automatically track the overtime of employees and act as a tracker for project progress. All these features make Jibble an excellent tool to consider for a small company.
9. Milanote
Milanote is a useful tool for designers working remotely by allowing them to organize and convert creative projects into visual boards. It has built-in templates designed for various projects, such as mood boards and creative writing briefs. Milanote boards are private by default, but users can create a shared working space by using the option of collaboration with a team. Its key features include writing notes, creating to-do lists, uploading images and files, and saving the information available on the web. In addition, users can organize boards visually by using a drag and drop interface.
10. Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a product of Microsoft Office, thus integrating the various features of Microsoft products within it. The team’s software offers chatting, videoconferencing, file storage and sharing, and application integration facilities to users working remotely. Microsoft Teams competes with similar services like Slack.
11. Slack
Slack is the most effective collaboration tool that offers direct messaging, file storage and sharing, and many integrations. It has a simple setup that allows easy installation and onboarding. These features make it an excellent choice for workers in the corporate world.
12. Scoro
Scoro is a business management toolkit that facilitates users to track and share a team’s progress in real-time. It covers almost all the essential project management aspects like budgeting, resource allocation, finance, customer relationship management. Scoro also integrates 1000+ tools through Zapier, making it an effective software for seamless functioning with existing systems.
Final Thoughts
Deploying tools for remote work is an effective method for providing employees with a shared workspace where they can efficiently resolve problems within a short timeframe. Moreover, these tools are cost-effective and secure, allowing users to generate high-quality data without worrying about privacy or high costs.
Using software can benefit any organization, depending on its size, number of workers, project demands, etc. Generally, small organizations are more inclined to use Google or Microsoft suites since their employees are already familiar with these tech ecosystems.
