Unlock the potential of remote work with these tools

Businesses are still grappling with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and one way they're dealing with the situation is by implementing remote work policies. The global health crisis is driving them to unlock the full potential of working remotely, allowing people to work through quarantines, as well as keep companies and even economies afloat. Here’s a rundown of exceptional tools many remote teams are using.

For both employers and employees, a remote working arrangement has attractive benefits. Organizations can tap into a potentially larger labor pool, hiring from just about anywhere and finding highly skilled talent at lower rates.

Fifty percent of remote workers reported increased job satisfaction and had 13.5 percent more calls completed. Being spared the stress of a daily commute and having a better work-life balance are factors to their happiness, and therefore, better productivity.

In the face of natural calamities, outages, and the ongoing pandemic, a distributed workforce becomes a necessary business continuity measure — a means to protect employees and keep productivity up, even as normal facilities remain unavailable.

But all of this was only possible because we have the technologies to support remote work. Barriers to remote working have been brought down by the advancement of remote working tools. With a plethora of software to choose from, we’ve selected the ones that help your remote teams thrive.

Remote desktop applications

Accessing your work computer while on the go or out of the office was once unheard of. Remote desktop apps have made it possible, allowing users to work remotely on a computer through another device and from any location.

Our picks: ConnectWise and TeamViewer

There are many Remote applications on the market today. Services like GoToMyPC, VNC and LogMeIn have been in the market for many years. Our picks are ConnectWise Control and Team Viewer. Both have capabilities such as screen sharing, file transfer, wake-on-LAN, and clipboard transfer, and both are available for multiple operating systems such as Windows and macOS. For Corporations, there are also advanced administration and management tools that can help keep your internal network secure.

Real-time communication and collaboration software

Every successful organization needs to communicate. When communication breaks down, productivity and engagement suffer. Given the lack of face-to-face contact, regular, real-time communication is arguably more critical for remote teams and their managers. The following apps make it possible, seamless, and simple.

Our picks: Microsoft Teams and Slack

Microsoft Teams is already a well-known video chat and conferencing app in the same space as Zoom, GoToMeeting and Webex. However, as a full collaboration and communication suite, Teams offers so much more for Business users. It allows VoIP, direct and group messages, and seamless integration with all the Office 365 apps (Outlook, Word, Excel, etc.). Given its integration capabilities with the tools you already use, and given it is already a part of your internal toolset, Microsoft Teams is the tool of choice.

For users that do not use the Microsoft suite of applications, Slack is an excellent alternative. Slack has a robust API that allows integration with countless applications. Its basic functionality enables remote workers to direct message (DM) or create "collaboration hubs" around departments, projects, or any topic. Open source tools such as Mattermost and Rocket Chat create many of Slack's capabilities.

Project management essentials

When you’re managing a team of dozens located in different parts of the globe, things can start to fall apart quickly. Time differences and distance can create significant complexity if you lack the right tools. These two apps can help you overcome the challenges and streamline project organization and collaboration.

Our picks: Microsoft Planner and Trello

Microsoft Planner is a web-based management tool for planning and collaboration on projects. Built for Office 365, Planner lets you attach files to tasks, work together on those files, and even have conversations around the tasks without switching between apps. With Planner, all your team's discussions and deliverables stay with the plan and don't get locked away across disparate applications.

Trello’s overall shining feature is its simplicity. The web-based tool’s approach to project management is built around one concept: the bulletin board. Users can create boards that represent projects and each board can be populated with cards assigned to specific members and customized with deadlines, comments, and attachments.

With the current global crisis, remote working tools have become even more crucial to sustaining productivity, accomplishing projects, and solidifying distributed teams. It’s important your organization chooses ones that are well-suited to budget, infrastructure, and goals. Our experts can help make a proper assessment and configure the perfect remote working setup. Talk to us today.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.