Running a remote team can be pretty tough – while giving your employees the option to work from wherever they want can be a big perk that attracts talent to your company, it sure has its drawbacks. Employees that work together in an office setting tend to be around each other at all times, have ease in communication, and can collaborate efficiently. However, employees in remote teams often face trouble communicating due to connectivity issues, have to rely on emails and messages, and have to make appointments before scheduling a call.
However, don’t let the cons of running a remote team steer you away from its positives which include happier employees, a motivated and productive workforce, and employee retention. To deal with all of the above issues, remote teams should use and incorporate the following software into their work:
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Virtual Data Room: Firmex
A Virtual Data Room is essentially an online repository that allows employees and managers to store relevant company information and data, and distribute it among relevant team members. One of the main benefits associated with virtual data rooms such as Firmex is that they ensure the safety and security of your confidential documents. As opposed to using email and cloud services to store documents – which are prone to threats from hackers and security compromises, virtual data rooms are immensely safe. Virtual data rooms are also necessary for remote teams since they allow them to reach essential work data from any location and through any device to allow them flexibility in their daily work life.
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Project Management Tool: Trello
Project management tools are essential for remote teams especially when they have multiple members working on a project with multiple tasks broken down according to urgency and responsibility. Project management and productivity tools such as Trello are great for remote teams to create a project “board” that features details about the nuances of any said project in addition to a breakdown of all pertaining steps and tasks. These tasks can be placed in a sequential format all over the said dashboard and can be allocated to different members in the form of tickets. When one team member completes their assigned work, they can mark their ticket as complete, upload it on the board, and forward the ticket to the next member in line.
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Video Conferencing Software: Zoom
Remote teams need to stay connected during work hours with their colleagues and hence a reliable video conferencing software is an absolute necessity. Video conferencing platforms such as Zoom have gained immense popularity during the pandemic in the past years, and heavy loads have led them to figure out and solve all pertaining bugs in their tool. The video and voice quality on Zoom is remarkable and better than any other video conferencing tool on the market. The platform allows call recording, notifies members when a call is being recorded, allows hosts to mute and unmute participants as per convenience, and is great to hold both webinars and one-on-one team meetings alike.
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Workplace Communication Tool: Slack
In addition to staying connected on video, remote teams also need to stay connected through messages. While email doesn’t allow communication to be instantaneous and can be a bit too formal, messaging platforms such as WhatsApp can be informal. Hence, remote teams should use workplace communication tools such as Slack to ensure that they stay connected with their colleagues at all times to discuss important matters or just participate in good old-fashioned office banter. Users can create “rooms” in Slack that are essentially group conversations, and also create “channels” that can refer to different aspects of their work or different departments. Slack is also integrated with Google Docs and Trello and hence users can also share work-related documents with ease.
Conclusion
Managing a remote team is as difficult as it gets. However, with the use of the right software and tools, managers can efficiently manage remote teams and lead them to new heights of success.