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30-Second Summary
- Remote comes with its own unique set of challenges that can impact productivity levels
- With the right tools, teams can maximize productivity.
- When deciding on the tools to install, ensure you are choosing tools that will empower your teams to collaborate, communicate, transact and accomplish work from wherever they are based.
With the pandemic accelerating the work from home trend, more people are working remotely than ever before. While many favor remote work, it still comes with its own unique set of challenges, and that means your team will need to have a unique set of tools to tackle them.
When it comes to remote work tools it can be something as simple as the hardware tools you are using to the software tools you have installed within those hardware tools. When deciding on the tools to install, ensure you are choosing tools that will empower your teams to collaborate, communicate, transact and accomplish work alongside their managers and colleagues from wherever they are based.
It can be difficult to pick the right tools considering the excess amount of tools available on the market. Below are 8 useful tools for productive remote work.
Hardware Tools
Hardware tools are by far one of the most important things to be productive when working remotely. At minimum, you’ll need a computer or laptop to gain access to the internet and to begin work.
While this may seem like the only piece of equipment you’ll need, there are additional computer tools that will make you more productive at home.
You may want to consider buying a wireless keyboard, a wireless mouse, another monitor, and a docking station to connect all of these tools together. These tools will empower you to be more productive.
For example, a wireless keyboard and mouse provides portability and flexibility when working from home. An additional monitor provides more screen space for all the tabs you have open.
Lastly, a docking station will connect all of these tools and provide more outlets in case you want to plug in more hardware tools.
Mobile Hotspots
Working from home requires reliable internet access. If you are working from a home office, chances are you probably already have the fastest internet you can reasonably afford.
But just to be safe, everyone on your team should have a mobile hotspot in case of any internet outages or other emergencies. Additionally, if you’re ever traveling or need to work somewhere outside of your home, a mobile hotspot allows for the freedom and flexibility to work from anywhere.
Employees are taking advantage of remote work by traveling to new places and working from that location. During your travels, you won’t have to rely on public wifi to gain access to the internet.
You can easily connect using your mobile hotspot from anywhere in the world. Mobile hotspots aren’t just for internet access when traveling, they also act as a backup in case your power or internet goes out.
Collaboration Software
When working remotely, you’ll need a way to collaborate with your team from any location. Companies often have countless files that need to be reviewed by multiple stakeholders.
It’s important to ensure everyone is working on a single version of a document, as opposed to sending multiple versions of the same document and being at risk of version-control issues.
To ensure this doesn’t happen, file collaboration tools like Google Drive and Microsoft Office are essential to ensure your team is working on the same version of a document at all times.
Project Managements Software
Companies often have countless projects and assignments they need to complete. When working remotely, it’s important to have a tool that will keep all these tasks organized for you and your team.
The best way to stay on top of your projects and assignments is with project management tools. Project management tools are used for multiple reasons, such as project planning, resource allocation, time management, and performance monitoring.
Project management tools provide a high-level view into the progress of each project, and will keep you up to date with where your team is each step of the way and will keep you productive throughout the day.
Time Tracking Software
When working remotely, you must be taking into account the amount of time you are contributing to certain projects. Especially if you work on multiple different accounts, you want to ensure your time is being billed accurately.
Time tracking tools that track the amount of time you spend on each project are useful and will allow you to focus less time on tracking, and more time on doing. Tools like Clockify and Toggl streamlines the time tracking process and ensures you are capturing your time accordingly in a remote setting.
Communication Software
Communication is the foundation for productive remote work.
Ensuring you can communicate important messages to your team in a timely manner is essential. Having your team install communication software like Slack, and email tools like Microsoft Outlook will allow for effective communication tools and keep you and your teams productive.
Being able to provide multiple channels of communication to conduct business will make you and your teams more reachable and empowers everyone to communicate more effectively and productively.
Video Conferencing Software
While communication software is great for sending instant messages and emails, sometimes you’ll need to make a video call to talk verbally with your team.
In these instances, having a reliable video conferencing software is a great alternative to in-person meetings.
Having the option to make a call instead of sending a message can help answer questions fast and move projects forward.
Video conferencing such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams is a great addition to communication software to ensure you and your team are reachable through calls and messages.
Note Taking Software
When on video conferences or corporate calls, being able to take notes and capture action items is essential for a productive meeting.
Whether you have a dedicated note taker or if you’re taking the notes yourself, having a good note taking application will help keep everything organized after the meeting.
Note taking tools such as Microsoft OneNote and Evernote will help you prioritize tasks, track action items, and organize your brainstorming sessions.
To maximize productivity when working from home, there are a wide range of tools teams can use to keep their productivity levels high. The above tools will empower your teams to collaborate, communicate, transact and accomplish work from wherever they are based.
