Telecommuting is now widespread in organizations as an essential aspect of work and employment as it provides flexibility during working, self- management and improved balance between work and personal duties. But for flexibility of where work is being conducted—whether at home or elsewhere outside an office, there is the need to be equipped adequately. If you’re thinking of running a project, or just participating in one, or simply making meetings more effective, check out these essential tools for remote work.
-
Communication Tools: Real Time Communication
Proper communication is very important in remote work scenario. These tools for remote work help teams stay in sync:
Slack: One of the widely used communication tools intended for sharing with members brief messages, ideas, and chitchat. This is well communicated especially with other tools making it the main communication platform of the team.
Microsoft Teams: Great for big companies, Teams is a tool that incorporates messaging, conferencing, and file sharing functionality.
Zoom: The best way to have a connection with your team and other people through web meetings, seminars, and other collaborative sessions. It also adds to the performance of the video conferencing with some of its features such as breakout rooms or virtual backgrounds.
-
Project Management Tools: Organizing Workflows
One of the challenges that face teams with their members working online from different locations is that the tracking of work may be a complicated affair. These tools for remote work simplify the process:
-Trello: A tool that allows visual grouping of tasks, boards, lists, and cards that describe the set of activities to be performed. I like it for goal tracking and to determine priorities.
-Asana: Great on the enterprise level, Asana provides adequate task management options such as timelines, links and notifications.
-Notion: A cross between a note taking app, project management tool and a database all in one. This time setting structure is favorable to the teams that appreciate customization of their receivables.
3. File Sharing and Cloud Storage: Centralizing Resources
Cloud-based solutions ensure that files are accessible, secure, and shareable at any time:
-Google Workspace (formerly G Suite): Some of the google items such as Google drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets allows collaboration of documents whereby persons involved can make changes or comment and those changes will be immediately reflected.
-Dropbox: A convenient way of ensuring that a file is safe to share as well as the safe keeping of many folders.
-OneDrive: Microsoft’s cloud offering suite that runs parallel to the Office 365 applications.
4. Time Management Tools: Boosting Productivity
Working from home requires people to be disciplined and always on time. These tools for remote work can help:
-Toggl Track: Being a productivity tracking app to measure the pace at which you spend your day to get a feel of the daily productivity patterns.
-Clockify: A free time-tracking program that also includes reporting and team time management functions.
-RescueTime: A productivity and time management tool that provides an insight into the kind of work patterns you present in your work environment.
5. Virtual Collaboration Tools: Enhancing Teamwork
It has to be noted that collaboration does not entirely need to suffer even in remote environments. These tools for remote work bridge the gap:
-Miro: A text, graphics, or picture-based virtual board for the development of concepts and ideas and for synchronous group work.
-Figma: Described as one of the best tools for designers, Figma allows teams to design and prototype together.
-Canva: To create simple visual content quickly where one can make presentations, social media graphics among others.
