Remote work has seen an uptick since the pandemic came around. When everyone needed to shelter at home, companies shifted to remote work to ensure people could still function. And now that the pandemic is over, many of those people want to stick with the same arrangements.
That’s why it’s no surprise that 35% of people now work remotely full-time. The question is, do you have the tools to empower your remote team to do its best?
Building an efficient remote team means finding online software solutions that help them stay productive. Below are the best business software options available for employee management in remote companies.
Google Docs
Being able to collaborate on documents is vital for remote workers. You aren’t next to other people in the office to look at what others are doing. And even if you are, doing things this way isn’t the most efficient.
Google Docs is a solution that streamlines this process. You can store all your company’s documents in the cloud to allow remote employees access to everything they need.
Your team can also collaborate in real time inside the same document. This collaboration ability will help people get more done and find all the information required to work.
Asana
You’ll need to find a way to manage projects when people aren’t in the office. Yes, it’s possible to do this over email. But without a way to centrally manage everything, it’s too challenging to organize and keep everyone on the right track.
Asana is a project management tool that makes this easier. It allows you to create as many project spaces as you want. Once you create those, break projects into tasks and assign employees the work they need to do.
This software also acts as a communication system for projects. Project managers can post comments and tag people on project boards to communicate vital information and request feedback for any problems.
Zoom
You can accomplish a lot with text communication in business. But there comes a time when seeing your fellow employees and talking to them is more beneficial.
Zoom is a video conferencing program that gives you this ability. Zoom allows you to set up virtual meetings for 1-1 communication or group chats.
Once set up, you can hold weekly meetings or set up times to talk more in-depth about topics. Your employees can also set up quick calls with each other to stay social and avoid feeling isolated from their team.
Loom
It’s not always easy to give instructions to remote employees. In the office, you can sit down together and walk an employee how to do something. But when someone decides to work from home, that isn’t possible.
Loom is a screen recording tool that makes that easier. Loom will record a video of your desktop while you handle a task. You can upload your Loom video online for other employees to do.
You can create recordings of whatever task you desire to ensure everyone has instructions on handling work.
Time Doctor
If you pay your employees hourly, you may want to know what people do during the workday. It’s not as easy to manage people remotely, so you must build trust over time if you want to let people work without oversight.
But you can make things easier on yourself when you use time-tracking software. Time Doctor is an application that gives you that ability and helps when monitoring employees.
Time Doctor will track what people do by tracking application usage, taking screenshots, and more. It will help you ensure you get your money’s worth and don’t have employees slacking off during the day.
Slack
In many cases, you can handle a lot of communication through email. It’s great if you aren’t actively talking to people. But email isn’t usually the best choice if you want to have a conversation.
But there are chat applications that make things easier. Slack is a chat application that allows businesses to set up chat channels for employees to communicate.
These channels are useful for bouncing ideas off each other, engaging socially, and other activities. Try a chat program today to see if it’s a good choice for your company.
LastPass
With all the software you’re offering employees, there may come a time when you have too many passwords. In some cases, employees use insecure passwords by repeating them and keeping passwords simple. If you want to solve this problem, you need a password manager.
LastPass is a password manager that creates and stores user credentials. Instead of entering login information manually, LastPass automatically fills in forms for you.
There are also team accounts that help business owners manage an organization’s passwords. Use it to manage your team’s credentials and avoid using weak passwords.
TeamViewer
It isn’t always easy to troubleshoot computer problems when you have a remote team. If you have people inexperienced with tech, they may struggle to work with your IT team to fix home issues. That leads to lost productivity.
TeamViewer is an application that solves that problem. It creates a secure connection between two computers and allows one party to view and interact with the desktop of the other.
This feature allows IT teams to look directly at a remote employee’s workspace to figure out what’s going on.
Purchase the Best Online Software Solutions
Working remotely has countless benefits for employees. They get to avoid waiting in long commutes on the road and don’t need to deal with constant distractions in the office. But your business won’t see many benefits if you don’t provide your team with online software solutions that help them work.
The good news is that many remote work tools are available that will keep your team connected and productive. Try the solutions mentioned above to maximize your team’s performance.
Of course, you’ll need more than great software to run an efficient remote business. Check out the rest of the website articles to learn more about managing your team.
