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Despite the COVID-19 pandemic closing many businesses for good, Adobe Acrobat reports a significant increase in digital entrepreneurship and new online companies. This shift towards a digital workplace and online marketplace has led to more remote workers than ever before.
Working from home has been shown to increase the productivity of many employees, and working remotely encourages a healthier work-life balance for your employees. If you manage a team of remote workers or plan to build a remote team, here are some essential collaborative tools your business will need to be successful.
What are Collaboration Tools?
Collaboration tools are any software and other tools your team uses to stay in touch and work together every day. These tools are essential for the digital office environment to run efficiently. Collaborative tools can be anything from documents where team members brainstorm together to the messaging apps they use to communicate each day.
The demand for these tools increased dramatically during the pandemic as the demand for virtual workplace alternatives increased. As more and more companies turn to digital business solutions to make their remote teams more efficient, it’s essential to invest in these particular tools for your team’s success.
Communication Tools
Daily communication tools are a necessary form of collaboration tool. Every remote business needs reliable communication tools such as an instant messaging platform, email domain, and video conferencing software. Efficient communication with your employees, clients, and customers is essential for running a successful remote business.
A company email domain is a basic form of communication tool that all businesses should utilize. Today, digital workplaces typically use various forms of communication software besides simple email correspondence. Find the communication tools that work best for your team and start incorporating them into your day-to-day activities.
Automation Tools
Adobe Acrobat’s tips for starting a business online include focusing on investing in the right technology for your success; “having the right technology in your toolbelt can set your business apart from your competitors.”
Certain collaborative tools can automate specific work functions to save your company time and money on repetitive tasks such as data entry. Execute manual tasks automatically in real-time to streamline workflows and keep your projects moving forward.
Automation tools offer scalability, are cost-friendly, and can reduce human error and improve overall efficiency. By investing in these tools, you create more time for your employees to focus on those tasks that require creativity and personal skillsets.
Organizational and Logistical Tools
Keeping your entire team on task and projects moving smoothly can seem daunting without the right tools. With organizational tools, such as a document management system, you can easily create, share, store, access, and edit digital files for your entire company.
Tools like these make project management effortless by automating steps and templates for new tasks. If your company is having trouble tracking tasks and holding people accountable for mistakes, you can benefit from an automation tool that offers complete transparency in a workflow. Workflow automation tools can also help you track your team’s performance metrics to understand where to provide support.
Each type of collaboration tool has many options in the SaaS market, so you can compare to find the right tools for your company. Be sure to consistently train your workforce to utilize these tools to their full extent so your workflows can be as efficient and streamlined as possible.
