For most of us, remote working is a challenge. Unless proper infrastructure is set up and employees are well-versed with technology, hurdles are likely to occur. Hence, a need for easy to use, freely available tools has sprung up during this time. So, here are the 5 best online tools to use remotely during quarantine.
Quarantine measures have been taken all around the world to stop the spread of COVID-19. Businesses have had to either shut down their operations or give employees the tools to work from home. However, this is easier said than done.
Best Online Tools for Remote Work
The 5 online tools to use in a remote setting won’t just help you manage remote work; they’ll help you excel at it. Not only will this help improve communication amongst teams, but it will help improve work efficiency.
Slack-Team Communication
You must have heard of this app if you work in software, graphic design, or SEO department. Slack has been a leader in team communication tools for a long time. It allows for real-time scheduling, tracking, and planning during a project. It also features an easy to use, color-coded system that makes working on a project a breeze.
One of its most significant features is that it allows you to install apps, which automatically reports business activity. This includes new email subscribers, new product reviews, and bots that can keep employees engaged.
Slack allows for one on one and collaborative communication. Hence, it will enable employees to make their opinions and grievances known during a project. They can be aware of their own progress as well as the project’s total progress at once.
The best part is, Slack is free to a point.
Zoom-Video Conferencing
You’ve probably heard of this app everywhere since the lockdown. It’s being used around the world for e-teaching and video conferencing. You can let go of any inhibitions in case you’ve seen any of those prank videos online that feature someone hijacking a call. There are ways to forbid any outside interference within Zoom completely.
That being said, the app is handy to get as many people in one chat as possible. The app has also gone through a significant refresh since last year and has improved in quality. It has grown from tens of thousands of users in 2014 to hundreds of millions of users in 2020.
You can use it to have meetings with dozens of people at the same time and share various files. The sheer number of people that can conference at one time is the reason Zoom is so popular. Gallery View allows you to have all the people in one call appear at once.
The app has become so popular that other businesses are now using it too. Hence, with its easy to use interface and great options, it’s excellent to use remotely.
InVision-Design Collaboration
Many work from home employees are using design software today. This can include apps and games to desktop level software and even entire operating systems. For that kind of serious work, you need programs that can help you collaborate seamlessly. InVision is a great app to collaborate on software design with. It has an excellent rating on G2 Crowd, Capterra, and even TrustRadius. Even teams from the productivity app Trello and Treehouse like using it.
InVision can be used to keep teams in sync throughout an entire project. It can also be used to demonstrate interactions efficiently so that organizations can learn to work in tandem. The program includes options to facilitate design discussions, track feedback, and a great prototyping tool.
One of the best things about InVision is that it has a real-time collaboration tool. That way, teams can catch errors in each others work and correct them immediately. This prevents hiccups in the later stages of software design. The tool that helps in this specific endeavor is called InVision freehand. This is great for both developers and stakeholders that need specific hints when working on projects.
InVision can help teams focus on the prime directive so that the project’s primary goal isn’t sacrificed.
GitHub-Software Development Tool
GitHub is not just a software development tool. It’s also a community of software developers. These developers have created different softwares that are fantastic. This is the reason why GitHub was bought by Microsoft last year. The community aspect of the platform helps programmers and software designers work together on projects. These can range from patches for an existing piece of software to designing massive projects. The community platform also allows you to review code together so that you can learn from different people. GitHub has gotten favorable reviews from developers as well as garnered commercial appeal on platforms like Reddit.
Dashlane- Password Management
It’s necessary to protect sensitive and critical information during the quarantine. During the lockdown, there has been a considerable rise in hacking attacks on home workers. Hence, all data needs to be password protected as well as coupled with two-factor authentication.
Dashlane allows remote team collaboration with password protection. While LastPass may be the most popular of the online password managers, Dashlane has it beat when it comes to reviews. Team members will find it extremely useful when logging into different essential tools.
To learn more about the 5 online tools to use in a remote setting and how an Online Business Manager can help you manage your business, contact us today.
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