Some say that the future of work is about working remotely. This trend is now accelerating at a rapid pace due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While not every industry can make the switch to remote work, those that can are seeing an increase in the number of companies making the switch.
Many of these companies are inexperienced with remote working and aren’t sure how to be most productive or how to keep collaborating with team members.
We’ve gathered a bunch of remote work tools to help you stay on top of your work.
Many of the tools that are used for remote collaboration are also practical for in-office collaboration.
Some remote work tools are offering free or discounted months to help people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. They can help you streamline communication and task management during these trying times.
Top 16 Remote Work Tools Every Distributed Team Needs
Slack
Slack can be accessed from a desktop app, internet browser or mobile app and is perfect for remote teams.
You can also direct message someone privately. Sending messages on Slack is easy. You can create channels for specific teams, departments, or projects where a group of members can have virtual meetings. You can also direct message someone privately.
Additionally, you can start private or group chats in order to talk about work tasks or even have a casual conversation.
There are a lot of apps that you can integrate with Slack to make communication easier.
You can make your messages more interesting by using emoji or adding GIFs through Slack’s Giphy app integration.
Slack’s free-for-life plan has limited storage space for messages, but you can upgrade to a paid plan for more storage and other features.
CloudTalk
CloudTalk is one of the most popular cloud-based call center softwares. It offers more than 50 features to simplify the job for customer support and sales teams, such as advanced IVR (Interactive Voice Response), predictive dialer, call forwarding, skills-based routing, or international numbers. These advantages help your team to provide the best service for your clients whilst improving employees performance at the same time.
CloudTalk provides integration with many popular tools and CRMs, making it easier for companies to deliver first-class customer experiences and to achieve growth in overall business profitably. Additionally, CloudTalk offers a free 14-day trial on any plan.
Kipwise
Kipwise is a tool that helps manage knowledge so that it can be efficiently shared by teammates in different parts of the world. By having this tool, it reduces communication lag so that everyone has access to the needed information.
Using Kipwise, you can create structured and visually appealing internal documentation easily. Some key features that help teams enable a better internal knowledge flow:
- Powerful Slack integration – Handy slash command and Slack Actions to create and search for team knowledge. You simply don’t have to leave Slack to build up your knowledge base.
- Real-time collaborative editor – With rich embedding options, your team can edit the same doc at the same time and create visually appealing documentation easily.
- Content review process – Set designated reviewers for your collections to ensure content is always up-to-date and accurate.
- Analytics – Get insights on how your team interacts with your knowledge base content to identify areas that they need more training on.
Brosix
Brosix is a secure, all-in-one instant messenger that works great as a collaborative tool for teamwork. With features like text chats, audio and video calls, broadcast messages, and chat rooms, teams can communicate and work together effectively.
-Secure file transfer, screensharing and device access guarantees productivity -Screenshots, whiteboards for brainstorming sessions, offline text messages, and live chat for businesses eases usage and Welcome module makes it even easier to get started
The app grants administrators a full range of control, including the web control panel, user activity log, and chat apps control. This enables administrators to private team networking, features control, and team users management.
Brosix provides a high level of security by automatically deleting user activity history after a set period of time, incorporating antivirus software to protect data, security levels for users, and multiple administrators.
Brosix regularly backs-up data and stores them in at least two different locations. If a server fails, users are automatically redirected to another location.
Brosix is available for use on multiple devices, and its affordability (at $4 per user) makes it a good fit for startups that are looking to save money while still enjoying a quality service. Additionally, the app has free options available for up to three users. Brosix also comes with responsive customer service that can help you get started, provide guidance, and offer technical support as needed.
Notion
Notion is a project management platform with lots of features that can be practical for different ways to set up a project, including calendars, to-do lists, and Kanban boards.
Since Notion is so versatile, it can be used for all your content creation tasks. You can create detailed publishing calendars and editorial strategies that are linked to unique tasks with clear to do lists for all people involved in them.
Notion is a great project management tool that has a clean interface and minimal distractions. You can also create notes that look like multimedia documents.
There is a free starter plan offered by Notion which is limiting, but the paid plans are also reasonably priced.
Get your team organized on Notion.
Zoom
A group calling app with amazing quality video, easy to use, and most affordable and straightforward pricing. Zoom also includes features for remote Meetings & Video Chat, allowing you to record any call with a full-length video. You can also share your screen with teams for combined discussions.
Hub staff
The Hub will help you become more productive by keeping track of where employees are spending their time and what tasks they are working on at a given time. With online timesheets, employee scheduling, screen recording, employee monitoring, payroll software, GPS tracking, online invoicing, and project budgeting, you can make sure your time is being used effectively.
Kickidler
Kickidler is employee monitoring software that helps increase productivity by providing a set of tools to track employee activity.
The Kickidler program includes a variety of features that allow users to track employee productivity, analyze efficiency, and record the history of actions on computers. There is also the option to view screens in real-time and add an unlimited number of employees.
In 2020, the software developers released an update called Autokick that helps make staff monitoring more democratic by including automatic notifications and a self-monitoring interface.
Time Doctor
Time Doctor is a team time tracking application that keeps track of how each individual person is keeping track of their time and hence makes them accountable for their working hours. It includes a desktop software, mobile version, and even a chrome app. It even offers a free 14-day trial without the need for a credit card.
Zapier
Zapier can be extremely helpful for remote teams who need to get work done in many different ways. Each team member can create their own zaps, which are essentially actions that help to connect two tools that wouldn’t otherwise be connected. This can be extremely helpful in increasing efficiency and productivity.
Zapier allows you to do things such as create Asana tasks from Google calendar events or save Gmail attachments to Google Drive.
You can create a free account on Zapier to automate up to 5 processes, or check out their paid plans for more automation options.
You can start using Zapier to automate tasks for your remote team.
TimeCampÂ
TimeCamp is a time tracking app that is loved by both teams and freelancers. It is a timer app that is available for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Linux.
TimeCamp provides two methods for tracking time: automatic tracking (e.g. using the desktop app) or manually adding entries to a timesheet.
The timesheets can be filled with time entries from previous days to save time. The project tree structure allows users to add as many tasks and subtasks as needed for better project visibility.
The app also provides users with a variety of reports that show them important information about the team’s productivity, time, and money budget consumption per each project. By combining billing rates with time entries, users can generate invoices and send or export them to their clients.
TimeCamp’s attendance module automates absence management, streamlining payroll issues. It integrates with most popular project management, accounting, sales, task management and collaboration, CRM, and marketing tools.
LiveAgent
LiveAgent is a powerful multichannel help desk software that provides personalized customer support to help businesses exceed customer expectations. The software includes features such as a ticketing system with a universal inbox, live chat, a built-in call center, integrations with social media, customer portals, and knowledge bases. Additionally, LiveAgent provides gamification features, spam & fraud protection, detailed analytics, various filters, SLAs, and the option to use the software in 39 different languages.
This software is perfect for automating workflows by distributing incoming tickets to departments and agents. The live chat feature allows you to chat with customers in real-time and see what they are typing before they hit send, so you can prepare your answers and exceed customer expectations. LiveAgent also allows you to talk to customers over the phone or via PC to PC calls through the call center. If your business has social media profiles, you can monitor keywords, answer Tweets, and respond to comments and messages on Facebook and other networks from your LiveAgent dashboard. Using this help desk software will improve agent productivity and efficiency while increasing customer satisfaction.
10to8
This is 10to8 scheduling software. It helps remote teams communicate and arrange appointments with clients. The software also has a Zoom integration that allows you to join video calls from your calendar. 10to8 can handle teams spread across multiple time zones and the 2-way calendar sync with most calendar apps ensures that double-bookings don’t happen. The automated reminders will help your team keep track of meetings and show up on time and so eliminate wasted time and confusion.
Google Drive
Google Drive is a cloud storage platform that allows users to store and share documents, spreadsheets, and slide presentations in one secure and centralized location. Google Drive files can be synced across devices, so users can view and update them from anywhere.
Dropbox
Dropbox is a cloud storage system that offers various features for managing remote employees, such as the ability to sync, share, and collaborate on documents. The Dropbox API makes it useful for remote collaborators, as it allows for the sharing of large files such as powerpoint presentations, photoshop files, and sketches.
Basecamp
Basecamp is a popular project management software solution for its simple functionality, clean design, and elegant usability. It helps managers communicate with teams and clients in a meaningful way.
This software provides users with a variety of features and tools that allow them to share ideas, organize conversations, and ensure that everyone is on the same page throughout the project.
Even though Basecamp has some great features, there are also some limitations, like no time tracking, no ability to archive topics, no subtasks, no professional team hierarchy, only outside integrations, etc. These limitations might be why organizations and teams are looking for alternatives to Basecamp.
No single tool is perfect for every business, so it’s important to choose one that meets your specific needs. If Basecamp seems like it would be a good fit for your business, give it a try.
There are many remote work tools available that can help workers be productive and happy.
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