4 Top Tools To Stay Connected With Remote Teams

“Remote work is the future of work.” – Alexis Ohanian

The migration to remote working has been successful because of the many tools that remote teams use to interact, share files, and motivate each other as they work together, apart. Here are 4 tools to keep you connected with your remote teams:

Communication tools

To operate seamlessly despite the distance between each member of a remote team, effective communication is key. There are plenty of tools that can help with this, including common ones like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts, andSlack.

Zoom is a great substitute for face-to-face meetings, with web video conferencing facilities, screen sharing, and call recording. Microsoft Teams has similar features, with the added advantage of seamless integration with other Microsoft products like Outlook. Google Hangouts can be used for video calls as well, but it’s even better as an instant messaging tool, similar to Slack.

Employee rewards tool

It’s harder for employees to stay motivated when working remotely due to the many distractions they face while working from home. Giving them an incentive to push through the distractions can remedy that and Gifted.co is one great tool that will help with that.

Through Gifted.co, you can set up an automated gifting platform to let your employees choose a gift, on you, in celebration of milestones, birthdays, work anniversaries, or as incentives and spot bonuses to motivate them to work harder. Through Gifted.co, your team will have the gift of choice from top retailers like Amazon, Sephora, Macy’s, Athleta and many more.

Project organization and management tools

It’s easy to lose track of progress made on a project when different people are working on it remotely. Project management tools give your team the ability to organize, track progress, stay on top of any hiccups or deadlines, and collaborate almost as easily as if they were working in the same space.

Some examples of tools you can use for this purpose include Asana and Trello, which both have web and mobile platforms so you can keep up with your project seven when you’re on the go. Choosing a project management tool will often depend on what you need and can afford.

Cloud storage and file sharing tools

While working remotely has some benefits like not having to suffer through a tiresome commute to get to work, it has some disadvantages too. One of which is the inability to pop over to a teammate's cubicle to pick up a file you need for a project you're working on together.

Although email is one way to transfer files among teammates, it's rather cumbersome and messy, especially when there's a lot of back and forth, which results in long email threads that may be difficult to follow. A simpler, secure solution is cloud storage, where you can upload files and allow teammates to have access to them whenever they need to. Some common, relatively secure cloud storage tools include Google Drive, Dropbox, and Microsoft OneDrive

“In a world that is constantly changing, it is to our advantage to learn how toadapt and enjoy something better.” – Kenneth H. Blanchard