It’s amazing how things can turn around drastically within a couple of months. It was only a few weeks ago that millions of people used to commute to their offices and back, as per their job timings. Doing work on our desk, team meetings, coffee breaks, water-cooler conversations, and office culture had become an inseparable (virtually) part of our lives.
And then the COVID-19 happened and the rest is history. All of a sudden, businesses of every size and type had to ask their workers to work from home. It was an unprecedented situation that left little room to plan for daily work from home routine.
Many team managers even didn’t have the right tools and equipment to set up a professional working environment at home that enhances efficiency and boosts productivity. Using the best tools for remote working is a prerequisite for getting the job done in time, without compromising on the quality, as per the usual high expectations of clients.
Why You Need to Have The Best Tools While Working From Home?
While remote working does offer you flexibility and saves precious time otherwise lost in commuting daily, it has its challenges too. Suddenly shifting to home-office from the regular one is not as simple as it sounds.
The regular office offers us a professional work environment, technical support, and physical interaction with coworkers. When working from home, we are all by ourselves. Using the right work collaboration and communication tools has many benefits including, but not limited to:
- Improved collaboration with clients and teams
- Better organization and management of projects
- Saves time
- Instant one-on-one or group chats
- Visually track the project’s progress
- Prioritize tasks with deadlines, time estimates, and labels
- Improves productivity
- Less stress, more contentment from work
In 2020, finding the best technology has suddenly become very important. In this article, we will be reading about ten of the best remote working tools for project managers and team members. All of these tools have their USP and can help you to achieve a high level of efficiency while working remotely.
1. Chanty (team communication tool)
Be it private, group, public, or one-on-one conversations, Chanty is a simple yet effective AI-powered team communication software that is designed to help teams of all sizes communicate and collaborate easily and quickly. Chanty has an interface so simple that even non-techy users will find it a breeze to use.
Useful Features Include:
- Real-time chat
- Task Management
- Video conferencing
- File sharing
- Activity/New feed
- Teambook
- Discussion thread
- Calendar Management
Pros:
- Unlimited messaging free forever
- Simple interface
- Data encryption and data export
- A single notification center for all the apps you use at work
- Direct transfer of message history from third-party messenger directly to Chanty
- Fast app loading speed
Cons:
Some of the custom integrations not yet present
Pricing:
- Free plan for teams up to 10 members
- A Business plan starts at $3 per user, per month
2.Time Doctor (time management tool)
Time Doctor is an effective team time tracking software with advanced time tracking and attendance features. It helps team managers and employers keep track of the time spent by every employee on the tasks assigned to them, which eliminates time wastage and adds accountability to the system.
Useful Features Include:
- Employee activity monitoring
- Overtime calculation
- Keystroke recording
- Productivity analysis
- Distraction alerts
- Time tracking
- Online timesheets & payroll
- Screenshots, Webcam shots, and Activity Levels
- GPS tracking
Pros:
- Ability to boost productivity
- Eliminates time wastage
- Makes employees more accountable
- Provides insights on workflow issues
- Easy to use
- Excellent tech support
- Accurate time tracking
Cons:
- Mobile app speed can be better
- User Interface and designs look dated
- Requires desktop app or Chrome extension to use the stopwatch feature
Pricing:
- A Free 14-day trial is available
- The Basic plan starts at $7 per month, per user
- The Standard plan starts at $10 per month, per user
- The Premium plan starts at $20 per month, per user
3. ProofHub (all-in-one project management software)
ProofHub is an online project management and collaboration software. It is packed with powerful built-in features that can be used easily from a centralized location. Users don’t need to juggle multiple apps, which saves a lot of time, money, and resources. It is a must-have tool for remote teams that are looking for an efficient and simpler way of managing projects.
Useful Features Include:
- Tasks Management
- Discussions
- Chat
- Kanban Boards
- Gantt Charts
- White Labeling
- Multilingual
- Custom Roles
Pros:
- Replaces multiple tools
- Ultimate control over teams and projects
- On-time project delivery and on-point team accountability
- Unlimited users, unlimited projects
- User-friendly interface
- Instant communication
- Little to no learning curve
- Reasonably priced
Cons:
- Not of much use for freelancers.
- New users may take some time learning to use different features in the right way.
Pricing:
- A free 14-day trial available
- The Essential plan starts from $45 per month
- The Ultimate Control plan starts from $89 per month
In the wake of lockdown imposed in many countries to contain the pandemic of COVID-19, ProofHub is offering free subscription for schools for the rest of the year 2020. Click here for more information.
4. zipBoard (bug tracking & visual feedback tool)
zipBoard is feedback, collaboration, and annotation tool that offers a common platform for developers and clients to share collective visual feedback on web projects or eLearning projects, and turn it into task workflows. Users can communicate with images, instead of lengthy emails, which saves a lot of time.
Useful Features Include:
- Web Design and eLearning
- Simplified Issue Tracking
- Review and Feedback Tool
- Collaboration
- Backlog Management
- Workflow Management
- Audit Trail
- Ticket Management
- Real Conversations
- Notifications
Pros:
- Extremely intuitive dashboard
- Easy to manage users and projects
- Ability to take screenshots and assign tasks
- One platform to manage reviews, feedback, and issues
- Easy to test and track bugs
- Responsive design testing
- Effective tracking
- No misunderstandings or miscommunications
Cons:
- Navigation can be a bit complicated in the beginning
- Integration services not available
Pricing:
- A free basic plan is available
- The Starter plan starts at $39 per month
- The Team plan starts at $79 per month
- The Enterprise plan is available on quote
5. Krisp (productivity tool)
Krisp is an incredibly effective noise-canceling app. It eliminates background noise while receiving or making calls, so the users can have a disturbance-free, important conversation. It can be used with communication apps like Skype, Slack, Zoom, and many others.
Useful Features Include:
- Single-button removes background noises
- 3 devices per user
- Can be used with any headphones, speakers, and microphones
- AI-powered noise-canceling technology
- Better quality of voice from both sides
Pros:
- Easy to set up and use
- Removes background noises to a great extent
- Intuitive setup
- Ideal for open-space offices
- All audio processing is done locally
- Adapts to your voice and improves over time
- Supports over 800 apps
Cons:
- Uses a lot of memory
- Occasional muffled voices
Pricing:
- A Free basic plan.
- The Pro plan starts at $3.33 per month, per user
- The Team plan starts at $3.33 per month, per user
- The Enterprise plan is available on quote
6. Acquire (customer engagement tool)
Acquire is a highly advanced and intuitive multi-channel customer communication software that provides instant feedback from customers in the form of a voice call, text chat with screen sharing, and live video chat. It offers a range of digital tools to create the best customer experiences.
Useful Features Include:
- Co-browsing software
- Unified agent view
- Instant file sharing
- Live call recording
- Live text chat
- Live video assistance
- Live voice call
- Screen sharing
- Speech to text
- VoIP
- Chatbot
Pros:
- Easy to implement
- Integrate with websites
- Flexible and scalable software
- High-quality video conferencing
- Reduces resolution time
- Manage all your customer emails
Cons:
- No free trial is offered
- The live chat billing sometimes is pretty high
Pricing:
Pricing is available on a quote only
7. Bit.ai (document collaboration tool)
Bit.ai is a new-age document collaboration and management platform that is designed for individuals, teams, and organizations to centralize and organize all their work in one place from any location in the world. Bit helps users to create live interactive documents by adding visual web links, rich media, videos, and much more.
Useful Features Include:
- Workflow Solutions
- Content management
- New Age Document Editor
- Advanced Sharing
- Branding
- Engagement Analytics
- Security Controls
- Customizable Interface
Pros:
- Easy to navigate and configure
- Intuitive interface
- Improves communication and workflow
- Facilitates the exchange of information in real-time work teams
- Helps teams to stay coordinated with @mentions, real-time notifications, shared workspaces, and more.
- Rich integrations for intelligent communications
- Robust templates
- Real-time editing of documents jointly by team members
Cons:
- Can add more features
- Lack of a mobile app
Pricing:
- A Basic free plan
- The Pro plan starts at $8 per user, per month
- The Business plan starts at $15 per user, per month
- The Enterprise plan available on a quote
Choose The Best to be Better Than The Rest
With extremely intense competition in every industry, you just can’t afford to sit back and rely on outdated techniques to do the job for you. You have to keep up with the ever-changing technological advancements to stay in the game.
If your remote team is facing problems with proper collaboration, you need to use the best tools, depending on your needs, to keep everyone on the same page and work efficiently to achieve common goals in time, without compromising on the quality of work.
We have listed seven of the best remote working tools to help you achieve the desired results in less time.
Are you already using remote working tools for enhanced communication and collaboration? Is it included in our list? If not, then tell us all about it in the comments section below. We would love to hear about your favorite tool/s, and how these tools make your job easier.
