9 Tools For Building A Collaborative Work Environment Remotely

Do you know that more than 40% of workers believe they are highly productive when working remotely?

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Although this is a bright spot for businesses, the primary challenge that arises in remote working is collaboration.

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Post covid, businesses continue with the trend of shifting to remote working primarily for cost-effectiveness. This significantly results in the need to build a collaborative work environment remotely.

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The need for tools to facilitate smooth remote working has grown by leaps and bounds. Effective tools facilitate smooth functioning, proper understanding, effective communication, and collaboration. 

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In this article, we will be discussing the important role of these tools in building a remote collaborative work environment and 9 prime tools that will help managers. 

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Role of tools in building a collaborative work environment

Before getting into the nitty gritty details of various tools necessary for building a collaborative workspace, let's first understand the need for such tools for seamless remote working. 

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1. Communication and Collaboration

The primary need for a tool in a remote environment is for initiating effective collaboration and quick communication for the flawless functioning of the teams. 

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With an effective tool team members are able to discuss new ideas with ease and convey information among the team with ease. 

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2. Eliminates delays 

Remote tools provide team members with abundant notifications and reminders which ensures efficient deadline management. 

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They are able to discuss and communicate in real time with their team members. Further, they are aware of approaching due dates and make the necessary arrangements to complete the task on time. 

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3. Advanced reporting 

Tracking progress and monitoring reports is essential in order to ensure that remote workers are working to their full potential. 

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Timely reports assist you in continuous feedback thereby ensuring timely completion of projects. 

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4. Planning and forecasting 

When it comes to remote working - planning and forecasting are key features necessary for a smooth progression of the project and timely completion of the project without delays.

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 Forecasting helps you in saving resources and even distribution of workload, while planning is necessary for seamless progression of tasks. 

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9 Tools for building a collaborative remote workspace 

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Now that we know the need and importance of remote tools, let us not shift our focus to some of the leading tools that will be of significant importance in building a collaborative remote workspace. 

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1. Zoom for video conferencing

Regular team meetings are necessary for remote workspaces as well. Additionally in the remote work setting, video conferencing becomes necessary for establishing a strong team bonding. 

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Zoom is by far the most widely used video conferencing tool. The primary reason for the maximum utilization of this tool is its simple applicability. 

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The user interface is simple and the tool additionally provides users with the ability to hide or customize this background. This helps in minimizing distractions and helps in conducting productive meetings. 

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2. Slack for chat and messaging 

Although video conferencing is necessary, chats and messages help in swiftly conveying important information and solving simple queries. 

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Slack is the most efficient tool for quick chats and messages among team members. Your team members can create separate channels for various different project discussions. This ensures that your entire team is on the same page and, thereby, has the ability to make quick data-driven decisions. 

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Further, you can share documents and project files with your team members using Slack. 

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3. MeetGeek to enhance meeting productivity 

Video conferencing plays an important role in remote workspace, but with the growing size of the team and complex project workflow, a need for a meeting management solution is necessary. Meeting productivity tools ensure that you are able to conduct video meetings that provide real value to the users. 

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MeetGeek is an Artificial intelligence meeting management and productivity tool that works in tandem with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. 

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The primary advantage of the tool is that you can record, transcribe, and share meeting notes automatically. This means your team members can focus on the meeting and not worry about the meeting notes, follow-ups, and uploading call summaries to other tools.

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Further, MeetGeek documents and stores past meetings. This means you can double-check facts and make decisions with confidence.

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4. ProofHub for all-in-one project management

Remote working calls in for the need for a centralized dashboard for planning, scheduling, and monitoring project progression. This is necessary to ensure complete and effective control over your team members. 

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ProofHub is an all-in-one project management and team collaboration tool for building effective workspaces for team members to work efficiently. 

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With ProofHub you can create custom workflows for different projects. This helps your team members to work with ease and accomplish project goals with ease. Built-in chat and powerful collaboration features such as discussion, notes, and comments with @mention ensure that team members are always on the same page. 

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Additionally, you can generate custom reports to analyze the performance and productivity of your team members. This helps you to identify areas of improvement and practically improve them in upcoming projects.

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5. Google Workspace for file sharing and storage

When building a collaborative environment, it is essential to have a centralized repository for storing files and ensuring equal access to all team members. 

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Google Docs serves this purpose by serving as the central library for your organization. Multiple team members can work on the same document simultaneously, thereby, ensuring effective collaboration. You can integrate your Google Workspace with ProofHub to create a truly seamless work experience. 

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6. AnyDesk for screen sharing and remote control

Although screen sharing comes in as a part of video conferencing, remote control plays a significant role in remote working. This is necessary for solving technical issues or for holding effective control over your team members. 

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AnyDesk is the most reputed and widely used tool for remote control and screen sharing. This tool runs on multiple platforms and provides users with the ability to access remote devices with just an Access ID. 

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The tool plays in handy for both brainstorming collaborative sessions and presenting innovative ideas for gathering real-time feedback. 

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7. Canva for online whiteboards

Online whiteboards serve the purpose of sharing ideas and innovations with easy-to-describe visual processes. Efficient collaboration and large screen space are the key functionalities that come with online whiteboards. 

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Canva provides you with a customizable whiteboard that can serve you the purpose of a blank canvas. You can use this platform for effectively discussing innovative ideas and planning activities with ease. 

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Additionally, you can get an entire library of templates and designs along with your Canva subscription. So, along with online whiteboards, Canva solves your need for a collaborative design space as well!

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8. QuestionPro for surveys and feedback

When working in a remote environment, it becomes necessary to have a thorough understanding of the intentions and behavioral patterns of your team members. Timely surveys and continuous feedback process helps in maintaining a consistent enthusiasm in your team. 

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QuestionPro provides you with online polls, trivia, and other surveys that help in creating a transparent work environment. With the ability to create live polls, you can interact with your team members and even clients in real-time. 

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This helps you in understanding the overall intent of your team members, thereby, helping you to take necessary corrective actions whenever necessary. 

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9. ManageEngine security and authentication tool

A prime concern that arises in remote working is the safety and privacy of project files and documents. For ensuring secure access to project files, remote workspaces make use of various security and authentication tools. 

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Certain workspaces even monitor employees transparently or in stealth mode depending on the nature of the project and the confidentiality of various files. 

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ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus comes from Zoho Corporation and provides users with simple and secure access to devices and cloud storage locations. This tool is primarily famous because of the ease of setting up and the single point of access in accessing the necessary project files and documents. 

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With quick setup and simple usability, this tool is widely suited for devices in non-technical locations such as healthcare, finance, and government sectors. 

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Bottom line 

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Building an efficient and collaborative remote workspace is necessary for the smooth functioning of various business activities. As the trend of shifting to remote work continues, the need for advanced remote collaboration and productivity tools is rising exponentially. 

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These basic tools listed in this article will help you in the process of creating a collaborative workspace for your remote workers. With technological advancements, it is wise to upgrade your work environment with the latest tools for enhanced efficiency and productivity of your team members.

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