There are several ways to collaborate with remote teams
If your team isn’t in the same building anymore, you can’t just walk down the hall or pop your head over a cubicle to ask questions or get feedback. The modern business environment consists of teams of people often working from multiple locations. Your co-workers may have been sent home during the COVID-19 pandemic, your business may have launched with a remote workforce featuring talent from diverse areas, or you may be collaborating with professionals from around the world.
This type of business environment seemed nearly impossible a generation ago but now, it’s the norm. You need the ability to collaborate with people in different locations if you want your business to be successful and that requires you to have the right communication tools. We look at seven of the best digital collaboration tools to manage and work with offshore contractors and provide critical success tips for business owners and managers with remote teams.
Key takeaways:
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Businesses are shifting to remote teams for several good reasons.
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Offshore workers can help improve the functionality of your business.
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You need the right tools to be successful.
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Trello helps you organize projects and to-do lists.
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Slack facilitates chats with people in diverse locations.
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Screencast-O-Matic lets you share videos and images from your computer.
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Kaptivo Rooms give you a digital, shareable whiteboard.
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Google Workspace features a suite of collaboration tools for remote teams.
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LastPass helps you keep everything secure.
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Microsoft 365 and its offerings such as Planner, Teams, and OneNote, is an easy, versatile organization tool.
1. Trello
Trello features project boards, to-do lists, and cards that facilitate collaboration between both internal teams and offshore teams. The user-friendly interface flattens the learning curve for this app and allows new team members to easily dive in. You can create a single board for your business or use multiple boards for different projects.
Create to-do lists and then break down tasks into cards that provide more details for the person assigned the task. Each card lets you post instructions, mark task status, and communicate with other team members about the task. Then, you can easily organize the cards based on what needs to be done, what has been completed, what should be redone, or your custom categories.
2. Slack
Just because your team is remote doesn’t mean that you can’t get to know each other. Slack is essentially a digital watercooler and it gives you a place to chat about projects and fun stuff. You can create different conversation streams for various projects or distinct groups of people.
Slack lets you have group conversations, send direct messages, and even make calls, and it also lets users share files, images, documents, and more.
3. Screencast-O-Matic
You can show something to someone easily when they are in the same room and Screencast-O-Matic ensures you have that ability, regardless of whether your teammate is across town or on the other side of the planet. This screen capture tool allows you to easily create and edit videos and images to communicate with other teammates.
Say you have a process that you want to be replicated by an offshore worker. You can go through the steps involved, use Screencast-O-Matic to record the process, and then send the video to your offshore virtual assistant. This app transcends the abilities of most screen-sharing apps because it allows you to record, making it easier to collaborate with people in different time zones. The editing feature allows you to add animations, transitions, subtitles, green screens, and more.
4. Lifesize Kaptivo Rooms
The information you want to share doesn’t always start with digital resources and Lifesize Kaptivo Rooms let you share information from your whiteboard. This application requires a digital whiteboard but you engage with that tool just as you would a traditional whiteboard. The app shares the images and content with users in real-time and it can coordinate with the features of Zoom Rooms, Cisco Touch 10, and more.
5. Google Workspace
Google Workspace, formerly known as G Suite, offers a suite of tools that can be used individually or to facilitate collaboration. They include email, calendars, word processing, spreadsheets, video conferencing, and more. These tools allow you to collaborate in real-time and they offer built-in communication options.
Someone sitting in Cleveland, for example, can be working on the same spreadsheet as someone in New Delhi. They can both see the other person’s changes instantly and at the same time, they can chat in the very same app about what they are doing.
Hangouts lets you have meetings with remote teams and it supports text, voice, and video for up to 25 participants who engage using their desktop or mobile devices. All of these Google Workspace apps coordinate with each other. You can make a note in Keep and have it shared to a Google Doc, mention a date in a conversation on Google+ and have it instantly synced with the calendar, or utilize other synchronized functionalities.
6. LastPass
Selecting the right user access permissions is a critical part of maintaining a secure business environment and LastPass makes this process easy, regardless of where your team is based. LastPass lets you determine who has access to various applications and lets you easily remove access if needed.
It features secure password sharing so that your remote team can share passwords without the risk of interference or compromise. It also has tools that strengthen network security such as multi-factor authentication and never auto-fills credentials on suspicious sites to minimize the risk of phishing attacks.
7. Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 is part of Microsoft’s Office line and has been around for many years. It offers a suite of tools that allow teams to create, collaborate, and share work virtually.
Microsoft Planner is one tool in the suite that organizes teamwork into intuitive, visual task management. It allows for easy, efficient task management for employees to work on projects no matter where they are.
Microsoft Teams is another tool in the suite that allows employees on a team to meet, chat, collaborate, and call in one place. It is similar to Slack and allows people to share documents, photos, videos, chat history, and meeting notes, which are stored to be accessed anytime.
Microsoft OneNote is like a digital notebook that workers can divide into sections and pages. Notes can be revised and accessed across all devices and allow for collaboration among team members.
Collaborate with DOXA
The right collaboration tools are just the beginning – you also need the right team and Doxa7 can help you. We provide small to medium-sized businesses with scalable, high-quality, offshore teams to ensure you have the resources you need to compete with the giants of your industry.
A home-based team is simply not enough anymore and we can help you flesh out your efforts with our talented professionals and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services. To learn more, contact us today for a free consultation and see what our proprietary talent matching and process optimization can do for your organization.
