Now that we’ve been social distancing for several weeks, we’ve started to find our groove when it comes to working remotely. Working from home is full of perks like avoiding your commute and having the freedom to work in sweatpants. You gain flexibility in your work schedule and the lack of side conversations allows you to focus better.
During this pandemic, businesses worldwide are finding that remote working has been equally effective as working in the office, and an estimated 74% of companies plan to move to a remote model permanently to:
- Save Money. Remote workers typically save about $4,000 a year by working from home, according to a study from FlexJobs.
- Boost Productivity. Remote workers are 35–40% more productive than people who work in corporate offices.
- Keep Employees Happy. Full-time remote workers said they’re happy in their job 22 percent more than people who never work remotely.
With huge cost savings, higher productivity, access to a larger talent pool, and an attractive perk for hiring purposes — the business benefits are clear.
While moving to remote working has advantages for both employees and the business as a whole, the shift can be a shock to the old routine. There’s no longer the ability to pop in for a quick answer, team meetings will look a little different, and company gatherings like happy hours will be few and far between.
Luckily, there are tons of tools built just for remote teams like yours. With today’s technology, you don’t have to lose the sense of community in your business. That’s why we compiled some of the top business tools to keep your team connected while working remotely.
Business Communication Tools
Covering every avenue of collaboration, these business communication tools are the next best thing to in-person interactions.
1. Tresta: A virtual phone system that allows your team to simply add an app to their phone so they can make and receive business calls and texts from their smartphones.
2. Microsoft Teams: Collaboration platform complete with chat, video, and calling.
3. Zoom: Enterprise-level video conferencing for up to 1,000 video participants and 10,000 viewers.
4. Join.me: Customizable meetings and screen sharing, complete with a free version.
5. GoToMeeting: Create quick one-click team meetings or host screen shares and webinars with clients
6. Slack: Instant communication software so that you can chat in real-time without having to wait for emails.
7. Google Hangouts: Calling and instant messaging tied directly to your Google account.
8. Krisp: A noise-canceling app that works with any communication app to remove background noise on both sides of the call.
9. MURAL: A visual workplace white a digital whiteboard for team brainstorming.
Project Management Tools
The must-have tool for a business leader while working remotely — project management software allows you to add checklists, followers, due dates, files, and comments to specific tasks.
10. Asana: With Asana, remote teams can organize projects, manage shifting priorities, and get work done.
11. Trello: Use boards, lists, and cards to organize and prioritize your projects.
12. Jira: Plan, track, and release software with Atlassian’s project tracking software for development teams.
13. Monday.com: Collaborate, manage, and track your work with a platform that adapts to your needs.
14. Basecamp: Project management and internal communication all in one place.
15. Teamwork: A work and project management tool that helps remote teams improve collaboration, visibility, and accountability.
Cloud Storage & Collaboration Tools
Simple storage for working files built for easy collaboration among team members. Access your business files from anywhere you work.
16. Google Drive: Free storage for easy and secure access to all of your content.
17. Dropbox: Create, store, and share cloud content and collaborate with your team.
18. Box: Secure and centralized storage with integrations to over 1,000 other business tools.
19. Swivle: An online collaboration hub where you can share files with everyone who needs to see them, view everyone’s comments and solicit approvals.
20. Nuclino: This collaborative wiki provides an online home base for documents, notes, and other sources of valuable information.
Relationship Building & Employee Recognition Tools
Recognize employees for accomplishments and build relationships to promote a positive culture of teamwork no matter where your team members are located.
21. WooBoard: A peer recognition platform for employee engagement.
22. Assembly: Create the thriving culture you want by giving employees one-touch tools they can use to recognize their peers.
23. Bonusly: Bonusly’s virtual platform helps companies build thriving remote cultures via recognition programs that are both fun and organic.
24. Culture Amp: You won’t be able to see your remote team every day, but you can use Culture Amp to get insights into engagement levels.
25. Kazoo: A virtual employee experience platform to manage recognition, rewards, surveys, insights, and more.
26. Humble Dot: Sends questions to teams to help launch conversations and bring teams closer together.
Time Management Tools
Manage your time and your team’s, create client timesheets, and even remind yourself to stop what you’re doing and drink some water with these flexible time management tools.
27. Time Doctor: A fully customizable time tracking tool that turns other features on and off so you can be more productive.
28. 10to8: Appointment booking and meeting scheduling software that manages your calendar from internal meetings to new client calls.
29. Toggl: Easily track your time directly from your browser and generate reports. Toggl even reminds you to start your tracker in case you forget.
30. TrackingTime: Businesses of all shapes and sizes use TrackingTime to manage hours worked and create timesheets for clients.
31. World Time Buddy: Schedule calls with your team scattered across the world with this time zone calculator.
32. StandUp!: A fun, flexible work break timer that is customizable to your schedule and reminds you to stand up and give your eyes a break from the screen.
It’s likely that remote working is the future for many businesses. It’s super important to adopt the tools you need to promote collaboration in your team, manage projects and customer relations, and close 2020 with a bang.
The good news is that technology is on your side with so many tools at your fingertips — and with most business tools offering free trials, you can test different options to see what works best for your business.
