Remote work became the normal. Teams are facing difficulties in communication, project management, and having a team spirit. We need to use technology to help them solve these problems and work better together.
There are plenty of tools available. Finding the right ones is extremely important. The right tools can bridge the distance between team members and help them accomplish more.
Remote Work Revolution and Tool Selection Strategy
The way teams interact with each other has been revolutionized by remote work. The right choice of tools on is the way to their success. One should understand the challenges of remote work and the power of the right tools to tackle them.
Issues Remote Teams are Currently Facing
Remote teams have a hard time with communication, project management, and team culture.
“The major obstacle is not technology, but the human element. Keeping team members connected and motivated is essential.”
They are constantly running into problems such as misunderstanding of expectations, lack of project visibility, and feeling of isolation.
How Better Team Success Comes as a Result of Strategic Tool Selection
Remote Teams Must Have Communication Tools
Effective and high-quality communication is the feature of each and every successful remote team. Employing the right communication tools is what ensures that teams remain connected and coordinate easily.
Instant Messaging Services
Instant messaging is a great communication method that also helps teams facilitate collaboration and get work done simultaneously. The following are two of the best applications:
Slack
Slack is packed with features. It supports conversation through channels, direct messages and has tons of integration with external apps.
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams offers seamless integration with Office suite. It is a powerful communication and collaboration platform for teams.
Solutions for Email Management
Although email is the staple of formal communication, it needs management to ensure team well-functioning.
Gmail
Gmail is user-friendly. Besides excellent spam filters, it supports Google Workspace.
Outlook
Outlook provides a complete email solution. It is well integrated with Microsoft Office and comes with a number of features.
| Tool | Type | Key Features |
| Slack | Instant Messaging | Channels, Direct Messaging, Integrations |
| Microsoft Teams | Instant Messaging | Integration with Microsoft Office, Collaboration Features |
| Gmail | Email Management | User-friendly Interface, Spam Filtering, Google Workspace Integration |
| Outlook | Email Management | Advanced Organizational Features, Microsoft Office Integration |
Establishing Efficient Communication Rules
Teams need to agree on proper ways for espousing communication. There are a variety of issues such as the responsetime guideline, the type of the communication channels for different purposes, or fixed periodic meetings that might be raised.
Project Management Tools for Remote Teams to stay Focused
Keeping remote teams focused is always a key to their great achievements. The appropriate tools can facilitate task management, progress tracking, and meeting deadlines.
Task Management Tools
Task management tools are essential for remote teams.
Thanks to them, it is really simple to see who is the team member responsible for a specific task. As a result, each of the team members knows their roles very well.
Asana
Asana is a top-notch tool for task management. It provides an easy way to create, assign and monitor tasks.
Trello
The project and task organizing unit of Trello is called a card. It is a great feature that supports the idea of visual work management.
Advanced Project Management Tools
Those solutions aim at more than task management only.
Monday.com
Monday.com offers such a degree of personalization that the work flow of any team can be accommodated with it.
ClickUp
ClickUp is a tool suitable for those looking for a holistic solution. Everything – tasks, docs, goals, and chat is here in one place.
| Tool | Key Features | Best For |
| Asana | Task assignment, project tracking | Teams needing simple task management |
| Trello | Visual project management, Kanban boards | Teams preferring a visual approach |
| Monday.com | Customizable workflows, automations | Teams requiring adaptable project management |
| ClickUp | All-in-one project management, tasks, docs, goals | Teams looking for a complete solution |
Arranging Workflows of a Project to Make Them More Effective
It is the obligation of the team to organize good workflows if they want to get the most out of project management tools.
They have to be the most productive and targets of the project must be accomplished by clearly defining the processes, delegating the tasks and frequently verifying the progress of the project.
These actions enable remote teams to increase work effectiveness and achieve success.
Remote Teams’ Best Tools: File Sharing and Collaboration
In order to be successful remote teams must have file sharing and collaborating tools. A good set of tools can not only help team members to work together smoothly but also make the distance unnoticeable.
Cloud Storage Offers
Storage in the cloud is a must for remote people who want to have their files anytime and anywhere. Among the favored ones are two of them:
Google Drive
Google Drive is great for productivity suites from Google and offers plenty of space for storage.
Dropbox Business
Dropbox Business is known for robust security and ease of sharing documents.
Working on Documents Together in Real-time
One of the proven ways of getting collaborate is to edit documents together in real time. The best tools that are referred to this topic are:
Google Workspace
Google Workspace is a great tool for simultaneous work on documents by many users. It continuously saves changes and stores version history.
Microsoft 365
One of the features of Microsoft 365 is that it allows one to collaborate in real-time and it is also compatible with Microsoft Office programs.
Time Tracking and Productivity Enhancement Tools
As time tracking and productivity tools are very important pieces of the puzzle in the world of remote work, they are undoubtedly the ones that lead to success. Their main use is to help teams better manage their time, avoid losing concentration, and get more done.
Time Tracking Applications
Time-tracking software should be a piece of equipment that any remote team can’t do without. It is through the use of time-tracking software that they can watch how they are spending their time on tasks and projects and thus discover their time-wasters.
Harvest
Harvest is known as a time-tracking tool that is very simple to use and it is appreciated for its reporting and invoicing features.
Focus and Productivity Applications
Focus and productivity applications are powerful tools to help remote workers maintain their focus on their work. They are able to achieve this by keeping away distractions.
RescueTime
RescueTime monitors the time you allocate to different apps and websites and, based on its figures, determines the level of your productivity.
Video Conferencing and Virtual Meeting Solutions
Video conferencing today is very crucial to the successful remote work.. It makes it possible to have online face-to-face meetings thus making remote teams to feel connected. The demand for high-quality video communication tools has gone through the roof as remote teams are becoming more and more common.
All-in-one Meeting Platforms
A meeting platform comes with various features aimed at making virtual meetings be held smoothly. They allow the hosting of big meetings, webinars, and small team daily talks.
Zoom : Zoom is one of the best video call tools. It’s simple to use and possesses many remarkable features such as screen sharing and virtual whiteboards.
Google Meet: Google Meet is a good solution that is deeply integrated with other Google products. It will certainly work great for people who are already using Google.
Advanced Presentation and Recording Tools
Besides video calls, there are tools that can facilitate presentation and recording and make the meetings more fun.
Loom
Loom is the tool for recording video messages. It is perfect when you want to convey a message to different team members but cannot meet them live.
Prezi Video
Prezi Video is a tool that can help you make your presentations more lively. It is great for attracting attention during a virtual meeting.
How to Hold Effective Virtual Meetings
Facilitating interactive virtual meetings is basically the issue here. We should do everything possible to make sure the virtual meetings are entertaining by involving all participants, using interesting features, and making everyone both seen and heard.
Recommendations By Softer Insight
First and foremost, to put together a successful remote team, companies need to concentrate on what kind of tool pieces they put into the toolbox. Apps to communicate, such as Slack and Microsoft Teams, help keep everyone in the team on the same page and reduce waiting times. Asana and Trello aid in breaking down the work and monitoring the progress if the deadline is the main concern.
Google Drive and Dropbox Business make sharing files a breeze, and also, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 facilitate the team working on the same documents in real-time. Zoom, Google Meet do the job well in terms of meetings, and at the same time, Bonusly, Donut are contributing to the creation of a remote team culture.
The use of integrated tools results in increased productivity, better collaboration, and higher team engagement.
