Best 17 remote collaboration tools
What once was the dream of many workers has become a reality. Covid-19 has made rapid changes in modern working conditions. The realities of 2021 gave us the opportunity to establish effective online work with the help of various types of remote collaboration tools for remote working.
Since our company also switched to the remote organization of labor, we can already give you some advice from our own experience. If you are the head of the company, then you should know how to organize and control workers remotely. That’s why WishDesk web development company has prepared the list of the best remote work tools and software platforms that help you to do this.
As we know that many types of businesses are in a difficult situation, we decided to make our services accessible to everyone by switching to a highly-efficient service. We promise to do your tasks twice as fast as before, which will help you save money. Contact the WishDesk website support agency if you have questions.
Advantages and Disadvantages of remote work
Previously, we imagined work as an office full of people, meetings in the glass-in room, and a lot of coffee. Now, this has changed to working from home with a cup of coffee on the table and a cat in your room. Is it worse?
Below we look at the advantages and disadvantages of working from home.
5 Main advantages of remote work:
1. You can work wherever you want
You can organize an office at home, or in a cafe, or in a house by the sea — it just depends on your imagination.
2. It’s possible to see your family more often
For example, now you can eat lunch not at a cafe, but with your family.
3. You can work in silence
Many people find it difficult to concentrate in a noisy office. Therefore, working from home is a great alternative.
4. It doesn’t matter what clothes you wear
At home, you can dress in clothes that are comfortable for you.
5. You do not need to drive back and forth and wait in traffic
Every day we spend a lot of time driving back and forth to the workplace, especially those who do not have their own car.
Top 4 disadvantages of working from home:
1. You must have strong self-discipline
A home is a place where everything can easily distract you. Working as efficiently as possible from home takes an effort of will.
2. A minimal amount of contact makes a person asocial
After all, a human is a social person. To be a happy person they need people and lively communication.
3. Your work depends on the Internet and laptop
What if the Internet or electricity disappears? You must admit that you are completely dependent on these.
4. A clear distinction between work and leisure is lost
If you work from home, the balance between rest and work can break. You will be constantly alarmed by work and follow messages even after the workday — or vice versa.
Top 17 online remote collaboration tools for teams
We have no doubt that remote work and the hiring of remote web developers are at peak popularity. Therefore, in order to learn how to overcome the disadvantages of remote work, WishDesk offers you a list of the 17 best remote collaboration tools for workers.
To make it easier for you to navigate, we divided all the tools into categories such as
- work management tools
- collaboration tools
- cloud storage service
- communication tools
- notes apps
Best work management tools for teams
The work management tools help to better organize your entire team when they are working remotely. These tools give your employees a better understanding of what they need to do and help increase their productivity.
1. ClickUp
ClickUp is one of the most popular projects management tools. What makes it special?
Its main features:
- easy to manage
- suitable for companies of various sizes
- can be customized for different departments of the same company
- integrated with various programs
- can track the time spent on each task
- has 100 MB of storage
- can set priority tasks and highlight them with color
- there is a well-organized reminder system
- multiple views are available
- each task can be divided into smaller ones
- there is a built-in Gantt chart
Price: Free/ $5 user per month
2. ProofHub
ProofHub is a remote collaboration tool that works online and helps you plan and manage your projects.
More about ProofHub:
- suitable for medium-sized teams
- you can have a discussion between team members
- you can set tasks for specific people or teams
- clearly tuned deadlines
- the result is displayed on the Gantt chart
- automatic reminders
- work with a calendar is available
- the ability to store all necessary files in one place
- the program is available in 6 languages
- there is a built-in notebook
- special space available for corporate greetings, announcements
Price: Free/ at $45
3. Instagantt
If you need a powerful tool for project management and team collaboration, then you have found Instagantt.
What can you do with Instagantt?
- allows you to work intuitively
- creation of tasks and subtasks
- available templates for various projects
- monitoring project status and risks as well as costs
- set up with Gantt charts
- each task is equipped with progress, highlighted in color, etc.
Price: Free/ at $5
4. Scoro
Scoro remote work tool is for those who are looking for project management, communication, team collaboration, and reporting in one place.
Features of Scoro:
- manage tasks, comments, and files from one page
- the ability to see work in real time
- budget planning to compare with the real picture
- create calendar appointments
- invoice reminder
- visual overview of your sales funnel
Price: at $28
5. Teamwork
Teamwork is another important and easy-to-use tool for project management.
Its main advantages:
- related to Gantt chart
- the ability to install deadlines
- tracking the time spent on each project
- reporting
- task creation for specific workers
- a color scheme for highlighting task terms
- built-in notepad
- chat communication
- tasks and subtasks
- history of completed tasks
Price: Free/ at $9
Top remote collaboration tools for effective teamwork
To ensure that your cooperation is established and your employees are aware of the latest changes and developments, use collaboration tools.
They will help you ensure cooperation between all members of a team or department.
6. Troop Messenger
Troop Messenger is a modern application designed for communication between team members.
Top features:
- communication with individual team members
- you can cancel sending a message if you sent it by mistake
- you can copy conversations to various chats
- displays whether a message is read
- ability to forward one message to many users
- can make video or voice calls
- unlimited number of people in a group
- can change the wallpapers and fonts
- a wide range of emojis
- has the ability to share files
Price: Free/ at $1
7. Asana
Asana tool is multifunctional, as it combines the ability to manage a project, provide collaboration in a team, and even store files.
Top features:
- displaying the stage your task is at
- integrated with over 100 tools
- setting tasks and those responsible for them
- message about changes in tasks, projects
- has beautiful user interfaces
- setting priorities
Price: Free/ at $10.99
8. Slack
Slack is the most comfortable space for your employees — we will explain why.
Advantages of Slack:
- the ability to communicate remotely
- the best for team collaboration
- works on all devices
- video and audio calls
- the ability to share your screen during a conversation
- drag-and-drop PDFs, images, videos
- integrated with over 2000 applications
- high level of data protection
- the ability to distribute documents, video, audio between employees
- configured a push notification
- to-do lists on google calendar
Price: Free/ at $6.67
Cloud Storage and File-Sharing Services
The ability to store company files in the cloud storage service is one of the most exciting possibilities. What opportunities does this provide?
All members of your company will be able to access all the necessary documents from anywhere in the world. This is especially convenient if you outsource web development company.
9. Google’s G Suite
Google’s G Suite is a set of tools for a convenient organization of working from home. Here you will find mail and calendar and chats and google drive and much more.
With it, you can:
- communicate through Gmail, which is considered one of the best
- has IMAP / POP support
- the ability to work with google calendar
- time zones change automatically
- attach files to calendar events
- communicate via chats and video calls
- store your documents in online storage
- work with various slides and forms
- and much more
Price: Free/ at $6
10. Box
Box is a commercial service that combines many useful features. Which ones?
Well, among others you can:
- store files
- send files to other people
- set tasks
- comment
- receive notifications of changes in documents
- create simple documents right in the service
- sync your hard drive and Box
- set permissions to view files
- set passwords on separate folders
- suitable for companies of various sizes
- free 10 GB of storage
Price: Free/ at $4.27
11. OneDrive
If you have Windows 10, then OneDrive remote collaboration tool is already built-in on your computer.
Key features:
- many users can edit documents online
- create folders and distribute them to other colleagues
- post to Facebook
- synchronization
- online access to Microsoft Offices
- file storage
- permission settings
- search for necessary information in files
- high security level
- integration with Excel
- automatic change storage
Price: Free/ at £1.99
Communication tools for any type of business
Without communication tools, you cannot see or hear your team and its successes. Indeed, communication is something without which successful cooperation is impossible.
And in the modern world, any boundaries rapidly disappear. This gives you the opportunity to hire the best staff from around the world. To be an effective business, you no longer need to have all your employees in one place. By the way, outsourcing your project to Ukrainian developers is also a nice idea, as Ukrainian IT specialists are well-educated and highly qualified. You can simply use the latest tools for communication between employees from different parts of the world.
12. Zoom
Zoom is a tool that is really worth your attention. This is one of the most convenient and understandable remote collaboration tools for video calls and conferences.
Its main advantages are:
- creation of private and group video rooms
- easy setup of video meetings
- meetings of 1 on-1 or more than 500 participants
- iPad and iPhone screen sharing available
- can chat
- sending of call invitations
- can record a video call
- integrated with many apps
Price: Free/ at $14.99
13. Skype
Skype is perhaps one of the most famous features for both business communication and friendly communication. Look for the main advantages and features of this remote work tool below.
Key features of Skype:
- the status of the participant is displayed (online or not)
- the ability to simultaneously video call and chat
- accessible sharing of various files between participants
- audio and video calls
- schedule meeting
- available on phones
- can make a meeting for 250 people
- sending an invitation to a meeting
- distribution of presentations will be available even on the phone
- virtual whiteboard and annotations available
- can create polls
- meeting recording available
Price: Free/ at €3.49
14. GoToMeeting
GoToMeeting is a tool for those who are looking for ways to ensure communication between their employees.The name itself says what this tool is for.
It combines many features and capabilities, such as:
- is simple and easy to use
- integrated with many apps
- works on different devices
- convenient meeting planning
- desktop sharing
- call recording
- built-in drawing applications
- high-quality video call
- a PIN to join a meeting
- training videos available
Price: Free/ at €10.75
Best note-taking apps
Notes apps are a great alternative to a paper notepad. Using them, you can do more than just write text.
They make it possible to attach audio or photos and give you access to your recordings from anywhere in the world. Isn’t that great?
15. Evernote
Evernote is one of the first notebooks. It is excellent for supporting many additional note options.
Key features:
- creating notes in various formats
- search for necessary information among notes
- search for text information contained in images
- available on various devices
- automatic saving of notes
- offline access
- can change the font, font size, and font styles
- keep everything you need for your team
Price: Free/ at $7.99
16. Google Keep
Google Keep is a great notepad from Google, which will remind you of a scheduled meeting or will become your portable notebook.
Key features:
- you can jot down your ideas very quickly
- each note can be highlighted in a different color
- adding the pictures or creating them
- syncs with all your platforms
- notes transfer to the calendar
- creation of audio notes
Price: Free
17. Notion
Notion combines the creation of notes, plans, tasks, and their management.
It gives you such opportunities as:
- creating layouts to implement the plan
- project planning
- notification of new ideas
- plans are displayed as a kanban method or list
- works on all platforms
- different company members can comment on the notes
- adding different types of content
- integrated with over 50 apps
- ability to filter notes data
- SSL security
Price: Free/ at $4
Final thoughts
In this list of the best remote collaboration tools for working, WishDesk tried to put those that really help you organize remote work, regardless of whether you are a CEO or an employee.
We ourselves use these tools and have already felt the increase of effectiveness from them.
The current situation with Covid-19 expands our capabilities. And to expand the capabilities of your site, just write to WishDesk web development experts! Do not forget that WishDesk offers highly efficient services at a reasonable price.