project management or to stay connected to each other and your clients when working from home.
What should you be using to keep your office productive when they’re working remotely for an unknown period of time?
We’ll cover the top tools you need and give you brand examples to check out.
The Right Cloud Tools Can Make All the Difference
Employees can either be supported or held back by the software they use for work. When you’re working with a remote workforce, those tools need to accommodate more collaboration and take remote security into consideration.
When people are working from home, they can quickly feel isolated, lose touch with expectations on any given day, and become less productive as a result. That’s why it’s critical to have cloud solutions in place to support them and facilitate a healthy and connected telecommuting environment.
Here are the types of solutions you need to power your remote workforce.
Team Chat/Communication The most important type of software you can have for a remote team is a team chat and communication tool. This type of software gives employees a way to communicate with each other that’s organized and in real time. How does this differ from texting? A team chat platform connects your entire team together in one place, rather than being a one-to-one message like a text. 97% of employees and managers say that lack of collaboration negatively impacts task and project outcomes. Communication can be organized into channels that you can create to match your departments or projects. Team members can be invited to the channels they need to see, plus you can have an “everyone” channel for companywide communications. This type of platform:
Is more efficient than sending emails back and forth
Captures all company communication in a single place
Has helpful features like user status (available, on phone, etc.)
Facilitates easy file sharing
Can be used for video and voice calls too Brands of team chat tools to check out:
Microsoft Teams
Slack
Basecamp
Virtual Private Network It’s hard to be productive when you’re worrying about the security of your home network. Residential routers are less secure than business routers, but that doesn’t mean you can’t secure all those remote connections at once. A business virtual private network (VPN) is an app that employees can use when connecting to the internet and all their traffic will be secure and encrypted, even if their network isn’t secure. This type of platform:
Encrypts data transmissions
Prevents a hacker from using a “man in the middle” attack
Is easy to use
Can be used for computers and mobile devices Brands of VPNs to check out:
NordVPN
PureVPN
ExpressVPN
Cloud CRM with VoIP Add On In order for your employees to properly serve customers while working remotely, you need to have a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) program. The best ones to use with a remote workforce are those that incorporate VoIP as an add on. This makes it easy for your team to answer questions, provide support, and call back customers. It’s also more professional than having to use their personal cell phones, which makes VoIP a must for remote teams. This type of platform:
Captures all customer communications (web, chat, phone) in a single place
Can easily integrate with a sales platform
Removes the need to search through emails to find a customer message
Allows employees to easily collaborate on customer support Brands of CRMs with VoIP to check out:
Zendesk
Agile CRM
Zoho CRM
Video Conferencing Software Video conferencing has become a “must have” when it comes to connecting your team working from home with each other and your customers who may also be under social distancing restrictions. Because of how important video conferencing has become, it’s important to find one that works well for your team without any problems with video quality. One-click options are great because they promote those quick brainstorming sessions being done face-to-face organically and keep your team feeling connected. This type of platform:
Reduces feelings of isolation
Is an excellent substitute for being there in person when you can’t be
Makes for more engaging meetings than voice only
Gives your team a chance to connect “face-to-face” throughout the day Brands of video conference tools to check out:
Microsoft Teams
Zoom
Cisco Webex