Remote working is fast becoming a part of the office culture. Every office has one or more departments working fully or partially from home. The Pandemic has made remote working a preferred way to work. But it can only be successful if the office work done from home is of the same quality as when done from the office. But, your office has many facilities that make your work easy, which you don’t have at home.
This is where the remote work software comes into the picture. These are tools that offices use to make working from home easier for employees. They keep the employees connected similar to an office environment.
There are different remote work software specific to different industries like practice management software for accounting firms which is suitable for the accounting industry, etc. But there are some standard office tools that can be used by every sector. They help in accessible communication and collaboration between the employees and managers. These tools increase efficiency and productivity. They save time and give employees a flexible environment to perform better.
There are many popular and commonly used remote work software that let employees share data, conference calls, collaborate work, and work on a project in real-time. There is software for the managers as well that helps them to manage the team properly and ensure attendance.
Examples of commonly used remote work software:
When working remotely the biggest challenge is fast and reliable communication and information sharing. To meet deadlines, you must ensure loopholes in the process. Nobody is slacking and nothing is neglected. These commonly used tools are generic and can be used by every industry. They help in making remote work seamless and smooth..
Trello:
Startups love Trello for the simple reason; it is a generic project management tool that caters to every kind of project. It helps managers to keep check and balance in work. It allows you to manage projects visually, you can create cards for each team member where they can submit their work. The visual list creation makes it pretty simple to use. Different cards help you to monitor individual performance as well.
Slack:
It is another easy-to-use and generic software. It is ideal for chatting and communication. It can be integrated with other platforms like Google Suite, Dropbox, and Adobe creative cloud. It gives your reports about team performance and personal reminders like birthday reminders.
Zoom:
Only a few in this world don’t know what Zoom is. It has become a synonym for high-quality video calling. It is a very easy-to-use ad that can be integrated with Google Calendar directly. This helps you in remembering your meetings and schedule. The Free package gives you 40 mins of call time but a paid package gets you more. Zoom also has features to support webinar hosting.
What are the features you should look for in remote work software?
Remote working can be a challenge but good tools can make it an easy task. Finding good and suitable tools is equally challenging. It is like kissing frogs, you have to kiss a few to find your prince charming. But let us help you avoid wasting time and money trying and testing different tools. There are some features that all remote work software must have to be valid.
As a general rule, the software tools that you pick should make working from home as seamless as working from the office. Your work process and the results should not be lacking in any way from work done in the office.
The first thing to do is consider the kind of work you want to do. Secondly, consider the requirements of your employees, and what they expect to get out of the tools. Look out for the following features in your remote work software:
It should be cloud-based:
Cloud-based tools are ideal for remote working. They support distributed workforce and their communication. Cloud computing makes secure data sharing and communication easier. The employees can stay connected to each other and the management. All they have to do is to get connected to the internet to access it. These tools are very reliable and secure.
Cloud computing also makes real-time document sharing and editing possible for multiple users. This is a very powerful feature that facilitates remote working like nothing else.
Robust project management features:
Management becomes difficult when working remotely. The remote working tools should make management strong and transparent. This software can help teams to align their project and streamline their workforce.
Easy communication and collaboration:
Communication and collaboration are the basis of team success. You can only collaborate properly if they communicate effectively. Although a remote tool should have both synchronous and Asynchronous communication, synchronous communication is most effective. It keeps team members always connected. Collaboration is what makes employees into one team. It is working together and becoming partners in their work. For collaboration, they need to share data, and their progress and co-operate with each other bringing out the best in each other.
A good remote tool offers good communication and collaboration between the team members. Face-to-face interaction is difficult in remote working, but video conferencing tools support group communication.
Time management:
Another huge challenge that remote workers face is time management. Keeping a boundary between your time and work time is very important for not just the well-being of the employees, but their productivity as well. Keeping track of how much time you spend working is very important. Remote work software should include time tracking and management as well.
From the managerial point of view, your organization might require your team members to spend a certain number of hours every day. As a manager, it is part of your job to monitor the attendance of your team members. Good time management tools help you keep an eye on them. You can find out the ones that are slacking and ensure the attendance of your team.
