10 Remote Work Tools for Productivity and Success

Remote work has become the norm today. Gone are the days when it was compulsory for all employees to visit their office for their job. Today, many employers are offering the flexibility of remote work to their employees, enabling them to work from any part of the globe.

While remote work offers great flexibility and convenience to employees, it also makes it challenging for the employer to manage employee productivity and companies don’t always provide the remote worker with every resource they need to thrive. And this is where the role of remote work tools comes into the picture.

If you manage a team of remote employees, having some high-quality remote work tools is a must! From helping you manage projects to having virtual conversations, these tools help you stay connected to your remote team, increase their efficiency, and ensure the continued success of your organization.

This blog post will walk you through ten excellent remote work tools designed to maximize productivity and enable more efficient work, no matter where you are. From communication tools, to project management software, to file-sharing solutions, our list of remote work tools includes everything you will need. So, let’s get started.

1. Microsoft Teams

One of the most crucial aspects of remote work is maintaining effective communication with your team members. Staying in touch with your colleagues can be difficult when they are sitting and working from miles away.

Fortunately, the right communication tools can make it much easier for you to converse with each other and ensure that nothing gets missed. Microsoft Teams is a popular communication tool that allows you to host audio and video calls with your remote team, share important files and documents, send texts, share the screen for presentations, and do a lot more.

Apart from Microsoft teams, you can also use Slack or Zoom to stay in touch with everyone. One of the best things about these tools is that they have their own mobile applications. So you can stay in touch with your entire team on the go.

2. Google Drive

While working remotely, you and your team members will need to share and access multiple files, documents, spreadsheets, images, and more. Now, you can definitely share these files via email, but that isn’t ideal, especially when you’re working with many remote employees. File-sharing tools like Google Drive, on the other hand, offer you a fantastic way of sending files to numerous people.

Instead of attaching multiple files and sending them to fifty people via email, you can use tools like Google Drive to upload the files and offer access to these files to your colleagues. This makes collaboration much easier and quicker. Another benefit of using Google Drive tools is that they offer cloud storage options that help you keep your files and documents safely on the cloud.

3. Trello

When each member of your remote team is working from different parts of the world, managing projects can become challenging if you do not have the right project management tool. You won’t be able to know who is handling which task, what the deadlines are, and a hundred other things.

Enter Trello – a fantastic and simple project management tool that makes handling projects a breeze. One of the biggest benefits of Trello is that it offers a super clean interface that is easy to understand, even for beginners. And it is free to use as well.

Trello helps you visually map out all the tasks you and your colleagues are working on in the form of boards. These boards are then divided into lists that display different stages of a project. You can allocate tasks to your team members’ cards, assign, and track deadlines to these cards, while collaborating with your team members through comments.

4. Every Time Zone

This tool is a lifesaver for employers with employees working from different parts of the world! For example, if you work in New York and your employee is in Portugal, understanding when they are available for a call or video chat can be difficult.

Every Time Zone is a fantastic, remote tool that helps you avoid having to calculate the time zone of each home office worker. This tool helps you check the time zones of your colleagues and see who is available to chat at a particular moment. It’s a practical tool for remote team management.

5. Zapier

Zapier is another super popular tool that offers several benefits to remote employees and employers. Zapier helps you create a streamlined workflow by allowing your remote tools to integrate. After all, there is no use in having top-notch remote tools unless they can integrate seamlessly.

Zapier is an intuitive application that you and your employees can easily download on your phones. With the help of Zapier, you can integrate over 1,500 work tools with no hassle.

6. Time Doctor

If your goal is to increase the productivity of your remote employees, the Time Doctor is one of the best productivity tools you should take advantage of. It is an incredible software that helps you measure the working time of your employees.

Not only this, but this remote work software also enables users to keep track of time they have spent on distracting sites, thereby reducing their wasted time.

With Time Doctor, you can also keep track of the number of days your employees have worked in a month, maintain attendance records, track their break time, and more. It is a complete productivity solution that ensures your team members are on top of their game and can work efficiently. It’s a superb time and task management tool.

7. Asana

Asana is another project management tool that is similar to Trello. However, Asana offers a variety of features, even more than Trello. And so, it makes managing tasks much easier.

Some of the major features of Asana that we love include the “Lists” view and the “Calendar” view that helps your employees manage deadlines for each project. Another superb feature of Asana is its streamlined project templates and workflows for all departments, including HR, IT, marketing, etc.

8. Focus Booster

Procrastination can be the biggest enemy of remote employees. When people work from home, staying productive during work hours can be challenging, especially with so many distractions. This is where software like Focus Booster comes into the picture.

Focus Booster is built to help your employees beat procrastination successfully. It helps them focus on important tasks, track their working hours, and include their break time, too.

9. EngageBay

It is a powerful CRM solution that is specifically designed for small businesses. The software lets you track projects assigned to different team members in real-time. If you have been facing issues in managing different projects or aligning your employees towards a common goal, EngageBay has you covered. 

The software also acts as a fantastic communication tool (remote communication platform). It allows you to add notes and comments to every task and ensures that all your employees are on the same page. EngageBay represents a practical and diverse productivity management platform enabling you to get your staff, projects, and communications in order. 

10. Hypercontext

Hypercontext is a unique application designed to enhance the productivity and performance of remote teams. It is a shared agenda tool that allows managers and remote teams to streamline their weekly objectives, quarterly targets, and monthly meetings into a single workflow.

With Hypercontext, team members can conduct productive meetings that generate meaningful results. The platform offers over 180 goal examples and 500 conversation starters. Moreover, managers can get real-time conversation reports and employee feedback.

Conclusion

As more and more people and companies adopt remote work culture, it will become essential for both employers and employees to invest in the right remote work tools. The right tools make your team members more productive, help you stay on top of tasks, and ensure that everything gets done on time.

So, go through these tools again, make a list of your requirements, and then select the ones that make the most sense to you.

Tech Masters helps business owners achieve greater success and productivity with individually tailored IT service and support plans. Contact us today to learn more and claim your free business IT assessment. 

To learn more about remote work tools, check out our frequently asked questions below. 

FAQ

What office equipment should you give remote workers?

As an employer, you must ensure that your remote employees have all the necessary equipment that helps in working comfortably. Here are some major office equipment choices that you should provide (or reimburse) for remote workers:

• High-quality computer or laptop
• Access to high-speed internet
• Headsets
• Webcam
• software and applications needed for productive, streamlined workflow

What tools are needed to work remotely?

There are many tools that remote workers need to complete their day-to-day tasks successfully. Some of the major ones include the following:

• A team conversation and collaboration tool for multi-channel communication
• File sharing software
• Screen sharing software
• Cloud storage
• Project management tools, and
• Time tracking software

What is the most effective way to collaborate remotely?

When it comes to remote work, clear, effective, and timely collaboration with your team members is the key to success. However, collaborating with a large number of remote employees can be challenging, especially if you are new to it.

Here are some tips you can implement to boost remote collaboration with your colleagues:

• Use simple and user-friendly communication tools
• Set clear goals for your employees and outline ways to achieve them
• Conduct virtual team-building activities
• Offer continuous support to your remote teams.

What are some attributes or features covered by having several remote work tools on hand?

• Employee recognition
• Real-time messaging
• Calendar tools
• Signing software
• Time-tracking
• Native integration
• Instant messaging platform
• Seamless employee scheduling
• Storage access
• Built-in chat features
• Seamless expense tracking
• Online appointment scheduling software
• and more

What are some types of remote work tools?

Cloud storage platforms

Calendar apps

Scheduling apps

All-in-one collaboration tool

Digital signature tool

Expense Management software

Team conferencing tool

Project management

Do I need to provide all the newest tools to my team?

No, it isn’t necessary to constantly add more tools. It can also be redundant and distracting. The important thing is to analyze your goals and the needs of your organization, and choose the tools that streamline your process and help you move toward those goals with greater ease.