If you have been closely observing the changing business and work landscape tides, you might have noticed the transition from the traditional nine-to-five work setting to working from home. Many people who work from home consider the model quite effective in guaranteeing enhanced productivity while helping them maintain an adequate work-life balance.
When working from home, you need access to the best software tools, which will increase productivity and help you acclimate to the transition comfortably. Here are five of the best ones you should have for remote work.
Remote Access Software
Have you ever been in a situation when working from home and required assistance from a colleague or Technical Support from your IT team? It is often challenging to get support when working from home or offer assistance to your colleagues when they need it via phone or email.
Luckily, remote access software allows you to easily take control of your colleague’s computer or grant access to Technical Support staff to help you fix an issue you might have encountered. TeamViewer has gained popularity as a remote access software due to its effectiveness.
If you feel that TeamViewer does not meet your needs in one way or another, you can get an alternative to TeamViewer to help you achieve your organization’s goals.
Scheduling Software
People that work from home often have the freedom to set their hours provided they meet their required expectations and timelines.
While doing so can be advantageous for employees looking for the freedom to work based on their comfort, it can disadvantage employers who need constant communication with their team members, especially for meetings. Therefore, having scheduling software can be an advantageous solution to such a problem.
Scheduling software allows team members to select when they could be available for a meeting. Doing so will help employers or managers effectively set meetings.
Virtual Meeting Software
Once managers have set the times for meetings, they also need to find a way of assembling the team members for the meeting, even though it is to be done virtually. Different kinds of software tools can facilitate virtual meetings effectively.
When looking for one to use in your organization, you should consider factors such as the time limitations for a meeting and the number of participants allowed to attend the meeting. Additionally, the quality of video transmission is also a significant factor of consideration.
Of the different kinds of video conferencing and virtual meeting software available in the market, the ones that stand out are Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. Go through the different software in this category to find one that works for your organization adequately.
Project Management Software
The work-from-home model adopted by numerous organizations has allowed companies to get staff from all over the world to work on a single project. While this allows companies to access vast talent and expertise in different fields, it poses a challenge concerning how to manage the resources provided by the staff.
That is where project management software comes in. Project management software allows managers to assign tasks to different individuals working on a single project and monitor their performance over time.
For instance, Asana allows a manager to assign tasks, share updates and comments on a project, upload documents to the same project, and even set deadlines for different deliverables.
Collaboration Software
The beauty of working virtually has the chance to work without constant supervision from managers or colleagues. This autonomy can allow employees to have agency over their work and only reach out for support or collaboration when necessary.
One of the best software tools a company can use to facilitate efficient collaboration in such instances is Slack. As a collaboration tool, Slack allows people to communicate whenever they need to by sending short messages based on the projects they are working on.
Using Slack channels, the team members can share insights and updates on the different projects they are working on without having to have a meeting to share such information. Provided the members of the team have agreed on a schedule for when to send updates, it can be easy to follow up on projects with minimal back and forth.
Since Slack can be integrated with numerous other platforms, such as Google Drive for file sharing and Zoom for meetings, companies can easily integrate the software into running their organization.
Wrapping Up
The modern work-from-home model has allowed various companies to efficiently perform their duties without burdening their employees. While working from home can be challenging for a team, especially if they are accustomed to meeting physically daily, using the software tools discussed above can simplify the transition process.
The advantage of some of these software tools is cost implications, where some are free or offer subscriptions at a very low cost. Consider exploring these options and see how effective your organization will be.
