There has been an increase in the number of companies looking for ways to accommodate remote working due to the amount of employees now working from home. Whilst this might be challenging for some businesses, it has provided opportunities for start-ups such as Slack and Zoom who offer free tools and make working from home easier during the crisis.
If you're an employee working in a typical office function, you can adjust to working from home with the help of some cloud-based tools.
Here are some of our top suggestions:
Team Communication - Slack
Slack is a communication management app well-suited to remote working and one used across the Creditsafe offices. You can create team channels for every department and send direct messages. This app cuts down on internal emails since it’s quicker, more efficient and user-friendly. The tool is easy to set-up and offers a free tier for businesses to get started.
It will bring all your team communication in one place, making managing remote employees easier. Slack offers fully native apps for iOS and Android to give you complete functionality.
Website: www.slack.com
Cost: Free plan available
Video Conferencing - Zoom
Another tool used internally at Creditsafe is Zoom, to help with the process of video conferencing for both our team members and customers. Combining HD video with increasingly important features like screen sharing, content sharing and local recording, makes it an obvious choice for organisations in need of an end-to-end conferencing solution.
You can share your screen with teams for combined discussions. Other Zoom solutions include video webinar, meetings, Zoom room, business IM, and voice sharing.
Website: https://zoom.us/
Cost: Free plan available
Cloud-Based Collaboration - Office 365
One that is easily forgotten and might not be the first platform you think of when it comes to collaboration is Office 365, an excellent tool for cloud-based working. From joint working on a Word document to organising different shifts on an Excel spreadsheet, these tools give employees the opportunity to collaborate on a project whilst working remotely.
With Office 365 you can access everything virtually and remotely, just like the real world. It includes applications such as Outlook, Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
Website: https://products.office.com/
Cost: Free trial available
Online Storage - Google Drive
Whilst working from home you might need to access certain files and ensure all your important files are automatically backed up. There are a number of cloud resources that do this and every company has a preference, but our advice is to use the same tool amongst your employees. Google Drive allows for up to 15GB of free space on their servers.
It can be used for reporting on weekly metrics. Additionally, Google Drive files can be synced across devices, so the individuals can view and update them from anywhere.
Website: https://www.google.com/drive/
Cost: 15GB available for free
Project Management - Trello
Trello is a project management software that lets teams arrange and assign tasks, track wider project progress and build workflows for repeated jobs. Available on the web and with mobile apps, it lets you easily organise projects and work on them with colleagues.
You can organise meetings by adding a dedicated board that creates a structured agenda for your team’s daily or weekly meetings. As items are discussed, move them to a “Done” list, and when there are no more cards, the meeting’s done
Website: https://trello.com/
Cost: Free plan available