The year 2020 has brought many challenges for businesses traditionally relied on physical office spaces for work. Current events have prompted companies of all sizes to seek ways to work remotely from home without sacrificing productivity, effectiveness, and satisfaction among workers.
When social distancing is a crucial term in dozens of countries around the world, it seems that the best option is to work remotely, taking advantage of the different types of technologies that can be used for that purpose.
Remote working is nothing new; it is just that today it has become much more common. We’ll take a look at some of the technologies you can start using for remote work and how they can help you. Many of them have existed for years.
- Video Conferencing Software
- Cloud Storage
- Online Fax Services
- Project Management Tools
- Performance Tracking Tools
Video Conferencing Software
Can’t have a physical meeting with your team? Say hello to video-conferencing. Despite being a technology with decades of existence, it hasn’t been until recent years, with the development of mobile and 4G technology, that we could harness its real power.
Teleconferencing apps like Zoom, GoToMeeting, and even Google Hangouts, are helping millions of work teams to stay in touch and exchange information in real-time. Most of these apps offer a free version for most calls, but if you need more privacy and additional features, you can always access the paid alternative.
Cloud Storage
Cloud-based storage has revolutionized a significant number of businesses in the past few years, streamlining communications and work on projects even when working remotely. Cloud-based document editing apps such as Google Docs let you share and edit documents in real-time with the people you choose.
The top cloud storage alternatives on the market are Drop, Dropbox, and Google Drive. Each of them provides a different set of features. You should look for the one that integrates better with the rest of your current applications. By storing your documents online, you can keep a safe backup of them, and you can easily share them with people in your team.
Online Fax Services
Fax is still heavily used to send and receive sensitive information. It’s especially important in industries such as healthcare and law, where offices need to follow strict guidelines to share patient/client information.
Modern-day faxing lets you use only your computer and your email to send and receive documents while maintaining compatibility with legacy fax machines. According to Gmail Fax Pro’s Google fax guide, you can fax from Gmail and other free email platforms such as Hotmail, Outlook, and Yahoo! Mail.
Another way you can harness the power of online faxing is through your smartphone. Nowadays, there are plenty of reliable fax apps that work along with services. Some of them even let you fax for free for a limited time or a certain amount of faxes. The majority of third-party apps only allow you to use them to send faxes; to receive them as well, be sure to pick a service that provides a free online fax number.
Project Management Tools
Getting a team to work on a project from different locations can prove a nightmare without the right tools. On the other hand, the best tools in competent hands can make all the difference, so it’s better to use the current technology at our disposal. This can help businesses save time not only now but also in the long term.
A good project management app should be easily integrated into your current workflow, set up tasks and track your goals according to a given calendar. It should also let you keep in touch with your team to get updates and avoid missing deadlines. Among the top project management tools, you can find Trello, Basecamp, Asana, and Microsoft Teams.
Performance Tracking Tools
Performance tracking can be used to great advantage by businesses of all sizes. Traditionally this was a gray area to deal with and involved a lot of time-consuming processes and charts. Now software like Trackstar, SAP SuccessFactors, or Glint can help you measure daily employee performance and engagement.
Once you gather the data from these apps, you can identify the areas of your company that need improvement and can think of different ways you can get things back to working efficiently again. Look for apps with on-demand employee feedback and real-time data to help managers and supervisors receive new info to adjust strategies.