In these uncertain times, more people than ever have found themselves trying to collaborate from home. This is a major transition for many businesses, and it can be challenging to figure out what tools you should be using to maximize your collaboration time.

Worry no further! We’ve collated these collaboration tools to help you recognize what exactly it is you need in your online collaboration as well as what you don’t. Scroll through this guide to find out what we recommend for remote collaborative working in 2020.

  1. Remember: Online Collaboration Tools Can Get Specific

Before we begin, note that there are two kinds of collaboration tools for businesses. The first of these are standard tools that can be utilized across many different business sectors. For the sake of helping as many businesses as possible, these are the tools we are aiming to focus on in this article.

However, there are also more specific tools that can assist businesses in specific sectors. For example, if you’re a filmmaker editing their film with your team, or a streaming group trying to collaborate on their latest upload, you’ll need tools where you can discuss music together efficiently.

These collaboration tools by Comma Music are perfect for these specific situations. You’d need tools that are easy to communicate with thanks to advanced features and offer the essential function of a music library.

As you read through these recommendations, keep thinking about how your specific sector could be impacted by these tools. That way, you can recognize areas where you need further improvement and can research accordingly.

  1. Video Conferencing

The most important online collaboration tool right now is video conferencing software. This is essential to host large team-wide meetings within your business to discuss strategies.

There are now many video conferencing tools on the market. In April 2020, Zoom rose to become the most downloaded mobile app on the Apple store. It has become the most popular option thanks to its free basic plan and the customizability offered by its subscription plan.

But there are other options available. One option to note is Microsoft Teams. It may be better for your business if you operate using Office 360 for your other tools as it provides additional synchronization.

Whichever video conferencing tool you decide to use, you’ll need additional communication tools to make the most of online collaboration.

  1. Collaboration Hubs

There is some software on the market today that functions as a full collaboration hub. The aim of this is to serve as a businesswide chat room for continued collaboration with employees.

The most common collaboration hub used by businesses is Slack. Slack brings together all collaborative tools into one easy to navigate and free to download platform.

By using Slack, you can communicate with all employees. You can see who is online as well as create chatrooms for certain subsections or specific topics.

As well as Slack, a similar application includes Hangouts, which is just one of many Slack alternatives. Hangouts allow for a chatroom of up to 8,000 individuals and also synchronized with G-Suite applications.

  1. Suites and File Sharing/Storage

As you can tell from the final sentence in our previous two sections, it can be advisable to go with a full suite in your remote collaborative work. This way, all the platforms you use synchronize seamlessly together. This means that your staff can keep connected without even thinking about it.

Office 360 is the Microsoft suite option on the market. It includes Teams as well as Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, and other Microsoft applications. Meanwhile, G-Suite is Google’s offering and includes G-Mail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and more.

G-Suite also includes Dropbox, a file-sharing and storage tool. Regardless of which suite you adopt, you must have a tool like Dropbox to be able to cloud-share and collaborate on files within your company.

It is recommended to adopt one of these full suite options to make your collaborative online working easily connected. However, the preferred choice for your business will depend on which of these applications you’re already using.

If you go with the provider you already use frequently, it’ll be much easier to transition to a fully remote collaborative environment.

  1. Project Management

Another essential part of remote collaborative working is a platform where you can manage projects. Asana is a popular choice for these purposes.

With Asana, you’re able to set specific tasks contained in designated projects for certain employees. You’re able to set responsibilities to these tasks as well as due dates and a description of what the task is.

This can be extremely helpful when it comes to collaborative working. Anyone can set tasks for other employees, so employees can keep track of what they need to be doing in any given day.

When combined with a communication tool like Slack or Hangouts, Asana can communicate daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly task goals to everyone in your collaborative working environment.

Another option catered toward those in the design sector is Podio. Both Podio and Asana can be accessed through a web application, making them easy for your employees to log onto provided they have an internet connection.

And Many More

The above five tips will help you make the most of your online collaboration in 2020. But it is important to remember, as we mentioned earlier, that you may need less or more than what has been mentioned here.

Every online collaborative environment has different needs and requirements. Our article should give you some essential information on the applications any sectors can be improved by.

If you’re interested in collaborative work, consider scrolling through more posts on our website. We recommend taking a look through the Tech and Biz sections to find what you’re looking for.

With the ongoing pandemic creating uncertain work conditions for us all, it is vital now to set up collaborative online workspaces that all your employees can thrive in.