A growing number of companies around the world now accept remote working contracts and allow their employees to work remotely. Some of the reasons that facilitate this is:
The improved internet speeds all around the world
The appearance of Co-working spaces that can be leased for shorter time periods without having to have a physical office of their own
The abundance of project management, task management and time management apps that can be used to monitor and coordinate work amongst teams and individuals
The availability of hardware and software solutions to ensure smooth communication across the globe
Businesses are able to expand their talent pool and retain employees at a higher rate. Employees are happier and satisfied being able to work in an environment they prefer and choose their own timing.
The following will help you get your company ready: -
Collaboration
Working remotely, you’ll need to actively collaborate with your teams on projects and tasks assigned to you or them on a daily basis. This is very true especially when you work across time zones and you are not sitting face to face with your colleagues. Larger companies have their own in-built tools which they use to help employees to track work. If you’re a medium or small business, there are a number of tools today that can help you manage your time as well as that of your team effectively.
Project / Task Management Tools
Project or Task Management tools help you to manage projects and underlying tasks and monitor progress on each of them. These tools are an effective way to deliver projects on time and organize tasks.
Time Logging and Invoicing
Work time logging is important in your business when it comes to invoicing and billing your time to get paid for your work. If you work through an online freelancing platform like Upwork, they have their own time-tracking tool which you can install on your desktop.
Idea Sharing / Brainstorming Tools
Sharing your ideas with your group and brainstorming over it helps you to imagine new possibilities, think of the big picture, identify opportunities and spot gaps faster. If you’re a teacher, student, manager, artist or a business owner, idea sharing / brainstorming tools will help you to get a visual view of your ideas and share it with others, so that everyone is on the same page while discussing your studies, projects or tasks. There are a number of idea sharing tools available online that can help you while working remotely with a team:
Support Management Tools
You’ll need access to support management tools used in your organization to either get support from various teams for the resources that you use, or to provide support to customers for the products they bought from you. Email is a good communication tool, but a support ticket management system helps you to organize the requests and act accordingly.
Feedback / Survey Apps
If you’re a manager, it would help you a lot to get an idea of the general team wellness and employee satisfaction levels. Great managers use this data to improve the team’s morale and help them achieve goals faster.
Communication
While working remotely or with a team who works in different parts of the world, it’s imperative that you’re able to communicate with them effectively and in a timely manner.
Communicating with your team remotely is a totally different ball game than when you work in the same office space or even in the same building. You’ll need to work across various time zones, and also acceptable time delays for work and communication. So it's necessary that you establish agreed upon communication channels to contact colleagues and peers.
Email Communication
Email has been one of the oldest forms of communication in the digital world, and is apt for requesting information, sharing documents and electronic file attachments. Email is also effective when you want to share information to a large group of people, and also need to keep a written record of your communication. You can use email if the information you want to share is not time-sensitive, and to set a precedent to a communication that requires multiple forms of discussions later. Email clients such as Outlook and Thunderbird help you to manage multiple email accounts together.
Chat / Messaging Apps
Chat or Messaging apps have the advantage of facilitating instant communication between two or more people. Chat helps to communicate and collaborate with your colleagues across the globe in real time, and make sure that information is passed on accurately. An advantage of chat over a phone call is that you can communicate effectively without having to worry about the accents of others when your peers are from different nationalities.
VOIP / Phone
VOIP phones today enable multiple calls including conference and group calls, and also allow you place calls on hold when you have another important call coming through. It helps employees, management and business associates to collaborate with each other and communicate with clients. Clients looking for support usually also prefer to speak with someone.
Video Calls / Video Conferencing
Video conferencing or Video calling solutions are best if you want to have a live, visual connection between two or more of your peers. Some video calling solutions have additional features like desktop sharing and file sharing when you want to show a presentation on your system or share files within the group.
File Sharing / Storage Solutions
When you work remotely, you will need to decide between various file sharing / storage solutions to share important documents between your colleagues and clients. Some of the storage options that you can utilize are below:
Social Networks
Social networks can be a great asset in business communication, especially if you want to regularly engage your consumers or want to reach out to a new contact. When businesses connect to their customers using a social media platform, they can provide better visualization to customers, who can then make faster decisions on whether to buy a product or service from a specific brand.
Unlike in the past, where visualization was limited to sharing a company image or logo, today, there are more personalized and customized experiences for customers to go after.
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