If your business is having to quickly adapt to remote working in the wake of the Coronavirus, finding the right tech for the job may feel overwhelming. At Relevance we have always worked closely between teams spread over several countries, meaning we have had plenty of time to test out collaborative working tools and find the most effective. Below, we share five of our favourite remote collaboration tools – the secrets to our success!
The best collaborative working tools
Slack
This instant messaging system has it all. Direct message one person to quickly ask a question, start a group chat for a one-off request, or create a channel for an ongoing project. Plus, you can create shared channels to collaborate with teams in other companies. You can even search within your conversations, making it easy to find something that might otherwise be lost in an e-mail chain.
Slack also offers the ability to video call and phone individuals and groups, for those times when a message just won’t cut it. It also integrates with a very comprehensive array of workplace apps, handily arranged into categories – from Analytics to Voice & Video – so whatever you want it to do, it likely already can. Relevance has been using Slack for years, and it is definitely one of our favourite remote collaborative tools.
Monday (formerly DaPulse)
This brilliant collaborative working tool makes organising workflows a whole lot easier. Designed for any process, any department, and any industry, this drag and drop software allows you to create project boards and task blocks easily, with the option of different colours to differentiate between different tasks and statuses.
Once created, you can assign them to anyone in your company in just a couple of clicks. They will get a notification and can take it from there. You can add extra information to your tasks, including uploading important documents. You can even add code-free automations to your boards, meaning you only have to set up your workflow once. Again, it integrates with a number of different apps, bringing all your data into one central hub.
Google Hangouts
Use Google Hangouts for voice calls, video calls, or text-based chat with multiple people at the same time. At Relevance, we use it for the majority of our meetings, and it is very easy to set up. Once you have created a group for your relevant colleagues in Hangouts, you can reconnect later with the same people by just clicking on this group. It also stores your past chats so you can pick up the text chat any time and can easily refer back to past messages. A stress-free way of meeting with your colleagues when you can’t be in the same room.
Google Docs & Sheets
If you’re not already using Google Docs, this is another remote collaboration tool to add to your arsenal. Google Docs and Sheets give you the ability to share documents with your team and work on them together in real-time – all you need is an internet connection. Both Google Docs and Sheets are laid out pretty similar to their offline counterparts, Microsoft Word and Excel, so if your team is used to using those it will not feel much different, plus they offer most of the same functionality. They also automatically save any change made, as well as the full history of the document, meaning you can revert back to different versions as needed. Never worry about losing edits again!
Zoom
This collaborative working tool is said to be one of the best video conferencing options on the market in terms of ease of use, stability, and video/audio quality. We like it because of its Video Webinar feature, which allows you to host webinars for up for 100 interactive participants – in fact, the company even offers packages that allow for up to 100,000 attendees. The Meetings function is great for training, with whiteboarding, remote screen controlling and more, while its Zoom Rooms are ideal for everything from huddles to conferences and offer integration with tools including Cisco, Lifesize, and Polycom.
So that’s our pick of the best remote collaboration tools out there today. We hope that these will help your business succeed in this difficult time.