Over the last few years, working remotely has become extremely common. As a growing number of people are working from home or on-the-go, there’s been an increased need for the ability to collaborate outside of the traditional workplace.
Whether you’re working on a large team or one that’s made up of only a few people, collaboration is a must. Without the ability to communicate and share thoughts on projects, tasks, and deadlines, your team won’t go very far.
Keep reading to learn about four tools that were specifically designed to make online collaboration as easy and effortless as possible.
1. DropBox.
According to a Microsoft representative in 2013 around 500 billion documents were created using the Office Suite. With this statistic alone, it goes without saying that the business world is driven by documentation. If you’re working on a remote team, it’s impossible to print a document and sit around a conference room table and collaborate on it in real-time. The solution? Dropbox.
Dropbox is the perfect way to ensure your team practices efficient document collaboration. Using this cloud-based program, anyone on your team can be given access to all files, documents, articles, and anything else that is hosted. Dropbox allows you to drag and drop, read, and edit files from whatever device you may be using to access it, including both computer and mobile platforms.
The app uses shared folders that allow you to sort files by type, project, and so on. These folders can be given restricted permissions to ensure that only those who need to see the folder and its contents have access to do so. This makes it the ideal solution for even the most private files and information.
2. Conference Calling.
Collaboration is much easier when you can see exactly what another member on your team is looking at. While you could all open the same document and look at it that way, this collaboration method is time-consuming and can have an impact on overall productivity. For a more streamlined approach, consider using screen sharing technology. If you’re looking for one of the best screen sharing software, look no further than Conference Calling.
Conference Calling is a great tool to use for hosting remote meetings, brainstorming sessions, and overall collaboration. The program allows you to share with as many people as needed and is supported on a wide variety of operating systems including Windows, Linux, MacOS, Chrome OS, Android, and iOS.
Aside from screen sharing, Conference Calling offers a wide range of other features including:
- Remote device control
- File sharing
- Remote printing
- Time-saving shortcuts
By using this screen sharing program, your team will have fewer communication issues and spend less time on email while also greatly improving its overall collaboration skills.
3. Slack.
Communication is the backbone of any company and team. These days there’s no shortage of ways to talk with your teammates, but one of the most efficient options is instant messaging. While emails are always a possibility, it’s easy for conversations to get lost in the mix of the dozens of emails we receive each day.
Instead of hoping that your teammates see your email or pick up the phone when you call them, use Slack. This app is a chat client that allows you to have conversations with everyone on your team. But, not only is this is a chat client, the program allows you to integrate a wide range of other apps including:
- Kyber
- Dropbox
- Standuply
- Adobe Creative Cloud
- Interbot
By using Slack you can ensure that everyone is on the same page in regards to a project, deadline, or any other topic that may need to be discussed.
4. Skype.
Sometimes text-based communication isn’t the ideal way to share an idea or to communicate a team concern. While Slack and other text-based communication apps have their place in the online world, it’s best to also use other messaging apps. Skype not only allows you to chat with your teammates. You can also use it for audio and video chat.
