Collaboration is essential in any enterprise to enable the realization of company goals. Is your team lacking in collaboration? You can adopt collaboration tools to bring about cohesion in work execution. This article will discuss them herein; read on.
Some of the collaboration tools are:
1. Project Management Tools
Project management tools help you manage your work projects effectively, especially those needing combined efforts.
This tool will assign tasks among your team members equally. Thus, reducing any biases in job allocation per employee.
Besides job allocation, the platform will send alerts and notifications to your members of any approaching deadlines. This allows the timely delivery of projects. In this case, no one will pull the others behind due to incomplete and unfinished tasks. Especially when working with many team members, unfinished tasks are sources of conflict, with some members acting out of anger or frustration.
An example of a project management tool is Wrike. This tool lets you allocate and track any assignments given to your team. It also sets deadlines and helps you manage tasks in order of priority. With this, you’ll first assign the urgent work then move to the least urgent ones.
This software has both unpaid and paid plans. Its free version can benefit your business, but its features are limited, such as the number of users. On the other hand, the paid plans have more flexibility and access to tools that you can use. Do note that paid plans charge per user monthly.
2. Document Sharing tools
There is file transfer software that you can adopt to allow your staff to send documents to each other. With such tools, documents won’t get lost in a pool of millions of others, as is often experienced when you use emails as your default document sharing tool.
Moreover, the advantage of using file transfer software is that it provides you and your employees with a centralized, safe and convenient platform to share private and confidential information. Compared to free sites online, this reduces your risk for data security breaches and can easily be connected and streamlined to the external cloud and other web applications you use in your daily business operations.
In addition, some of the document-sharing tools allow your team to work on a single document simultaneously. This promotes teamwork and ensures faster delivery of projects. This could be quite helpful in the programming industry.
3. Messaging Tools
For the efficient execution of projects at work, your team needs to communicate with each other. People work better when there’s a smooth communication flow.
There are various communication tools that you can install for better workplace collaboration. Consider getting tools that allow for quick feedback to prevent frustrations with long waiting times for responses. Ones with live chat features are an added advantage.
Microsoft Teams is one of the messaging tools at your disposal. It enables you to create multiple groups on its channel that you communicate through. This is quite advantageous since you can form groups for both official and informal communication. Information sharing, especially on important messages and announcements is seamless, while also allowing cohesion through the informal groups. With this tool, there’s no limit to the amount of storage you can use, and it doesn’t do away with your chats at any given point. And one more thing, it’s free!
4. Cloud Storage
Gone are the days when you had to rely on your office file cabinet to store documents. Innovations have brought about the cloud, allowing you to store your data ‘in the air.’
With cloud storage, you can store data to which you can also give access to certain parties. Cloud storage also gives 24/7 access to documents.
With such a system, all stakeholders will access the data and update themselves on progress. No one will miss out on any information because one of your members forgot to include their name in the recipient list, as is often encountered with the email system. You can even set up your system to automatically update and back-up files in the cloud. This means that those who have access will have real-time information, reducing delays.
PCloud is a cloud storage platform that you can adopt. It allows for large data storage and is suitable for small businesses. PCloud has a free version that offers a 10GB storage space and several paid plans. The paid plans are dependent on the storage space given, although the maximum size is 2TB.
5. Visual Communication Tools
Visual communication tools are a must-have, especially if you have a remote team. These tools more or less allow for imagined face-to-face communication.
Visual tools let you hold virtual meetings with your team, partners, clients, and shareholders from wherever they are in the world. Some of these platforms record the whole virtual interaction and save it on its interface. This makes future referencing easier and ensures those not in attendance can get on track with any developments. No partner will feel side-lined because they haven’t attended a meeting or two, especially if crucial matters are part of the agenda.
One of the visual communication tools you can adopt is Zoom. With Zoom, you can make video calls with your team that are of very high quality, making the whole face-to-face ideology a reality. Its use isn’t limited to your desktop; you can also use it on your smartphone or any other device you have. Zoom has both a free and a paid plan version that you can utilize.
Conclusion
As seen, there are various collaboration tools that you can adopt for your business to allow your team to work together. However, it’s good to point out that you shouldn’t acquire software blindly. For any tool, ensure it fully meets your business needs and is within your budget to be a viable investment for your enterprise.
