Remote working continues to be popular and accepted nowadays. In the past, remote working was considered unorthodox, but with today’s technology, it slowly became a favorable situation among small and big businesses and their employees.
Now, that same technology is still responsible for further improving the situation of remote working. There are online tools now that can help remote teams function better and more effectively. With these tools, remote workers have a chance to flourish.
Remote workers still need a way to be able to meet and talk directly, so a large conference call provider is a must-have. Large conference call providers can give you a proper platform and excellent conferencing features. These things will help you enhance your conference meeting and help you gather as a team. Virtual meetings also help increase employee productivity as they help remote teams communicate freely, assign tasks, report, and more.
Having a cloud storage is also important when it comes to remote working. Various documents and media need to be organized and shared among team members. Fortunately, Google Drive is one of the best cloud storage out there. It’s manageable and accessible for all. Users can simply share documents, presentations, spreadsheets, collaborate with other team members, and have the files sync across multiple devices.
Remote working can present a barrier to managing projects and tasks, which can be a big problem for managers, bosses, and even clients. This is where Basecamp comes in. Basecamp is a project management and collaboration tool that can help remote teams coordinate and function properly. Managers can create small tasks and big projects, assign them to team members, notify clients or bosses, and send follow-ups from time to time.
It also pays to have an excellent instant messaging software. In this case, Slack is a great choice. It’s a cloud-based instant message platform that allows you to create different group conversations instead of having one overstuffed inbox. It also has an easily searchable archive so finding old messages is an easy feat. This tool is available on both android and IOS devices as well.
A problem for most remote teams is not being able to assess and track progress, whether that be with individual members or as a whole company. That can change with I Done This, a unique team progress tracking software. Members can use I Done This to write daily check-ins and reports, listing all their activities for the day. A tool like this can improve both the productivity and accountability of the team.
It’s also important to take care of the workers’ well-being and mental health even if remote teams don’t see each other eye to eye. Chimp or Champ is an employee happiness meter than can help managers take note of the well-being of their subordinates. Remote workers can use this tool to anonymously express how they felt during the week and write feedback. Managers will then receive a pulse report to know how are their employees and get actionable feedback.
Remote workers within a single country is good, but remote workers around the globe requires a bit more effort and understanding. World Time Buddy can help remote teams keep track of timezones. It also helps organize meetings and create events as you compare the time differences of various remote workers.