Coronavirus Pandemic: Remote Management Tools That Can Help You Work Seamlessly
Work from home is the current necessity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and collaboration is the major challenge of this model. Few prominent software vendors are offering free collaboration and video conferencing products to aid remote working during this lockdown period, helping employees stay home. The remote management tools fall into several categories. You need to choose correctly according to your requirements.
After thorough research and through personal experience, we have suggested some tools to make your work-life smoother while you maintain social-distance.
Project management tools:
What is the purpose of these tools: Plan and synchronize remote teamwork in an organized manner. Thus, everyone in the team is on the same page, and work doesn't get hampered.
1. Basecamp
The sophisticated yet easy to use project management tool, Basecamp, has every feature you can ask for. Group chats, to-do lists, file storage, docs, calendar on the same platform makes things very easy to manage. Its attractive pricing option of $99 flat for unlimited users, along with many other advantages, would prove absolutely useful for large collaboration groups both in terms of collaboration and pricing.
2. Asana
Sleek and clean interface with handy features like assigning tasks in a tailored manner using automation and easy tracking of project progress makes Asana the top task management software among its rivals. It has been a favorite tool of freelancers, and now it has also marked a place for all the office goers, who are stuck at home due to coronavirus pandemic.
3. Freedcamp
Refreshing user interface with easy to use dashboard and simple tools adding to productivity is the unique feature of Freedcamp. It has to-do lists, discussion, calendar, timer, etc. A decent version of a completely free organizing tool and a minimal charge for paid versions with a per-user fee makes it an excellent tool for small enterprises. Amidst all the uncertainty and global-crisis, you can try and see if the paid version works for you or not - who knows, working remotely might turn out to be more beneficial to you and your organization!
4. Monday.com
Tracking a project's progress through organizing team members' workflow by sorting them on the dashboard is precisely what Monday.com helps you to do. Alerts of pre-requisite tasks are a distinctive feature this management tool has.
5. Atlassian
Atlassian has made its cloud-based version of applications available for free on a broader range recently. A team consisting of up to 10 members can freely access Jira Software, Confluence, Jira Service Desk, and Jira Core.
Collaboration and Document exchange tools
What is the purpose of these tools: Documentation of work is an inevitable part of an office job. Using these tools, you can make the documents available on the cloud for the complete team.
1. G Suite
Google already provides valuable tools like Gmail, Drive, Google Docs for free, enterprise-level has other features like admin-control with unlimited storage and other useful features like shared calendar, useful for remote teams.
2. Microsoft Office 365 (online version)
OneDrive is the cloud storage tool that has almost all useful tools of Microsoft office and is very useful for those who (like me) can't think of life without Microsoft office. Your employees can use the software as either an online version or a desktop version - it depends on his or her need and preference. Its flexibility, ease of use, and cloud-storage makes it a decent tool for remote working.
Video conferencing tools for meetings
What is the purpose of these tools: Many a time message gets misconstrued when communicated over calls or through emails. These tools facilitate face-to-face interaction from the comfort of your home. Moreover, the juncture at which the world is standing, companies might be forced to take various drastic steps, face-to-face communications with top-level management can help to instill faith and confidence in the employees.
1. Skype
One of the best and most widely used videos conferencing tools with the best VoIP quality is Skype. It can be used as both a desktop version and on mobile. Once you install, you can be calling your team for free, allowing seamless conferencing with your team members.
2. Zoom
A large crowd video conference can be managed using Zoom. Renowned organizations like Uber and GoDaddy use Zoom for their meetings. Four plans offer flexibility to choose prices according to the features. And it also has a free plan allowing up to hosting 100 members, as a basic plan.
3. Google Hangouts
Contact all your team members or one by one using the Google hangouts. You can make voice calls and video calls; all you need is a Gmail account.
Remote desktop tools for help
What is the purpose of these tools: Employees who are used to working together may end up facing challenges when working remotely. Additionally, you cannot expect every employee to be capable enough to resolve every problem he comes across. Need for IT support also cannot be ignored. These tools help the employees to get assistance from experts remotely.
1. TeamViewer
Nothing can beat this pioneering software. Both the parties should have TeamViewer to use it, it is as simple as that. But the assistance it offers is incredible from fixing bad installations to file transfer between PCs. It also allows taking complete control of your PC, meaning you can access your office PC sitting at your home.
Let’s all join our hands together and safe our planet from the deadly novel virus.
