It is becoming increasingly popular for businesses to offer their employees an opportunity to work from home at least one day per week. Given the current climate and the increasing spread of the Coronavirus, most businesses are having to adapt fast.

But why?

Besides the Coronavirus risks, working from home or another remote location outside the office is in high demand because of the flexibility it brings. Not only is it more practical, but it can improve your personal life which will reflect positively on the work you complete.

Being a parent, having the freedom to pick up your kids from school and spend more time with your family, instead of suffering a long commute home is going to make you happier and more productive.

And don’t forget that extra hour in bed!

As a Digital Marketing Agency, we already operate on a work from home basis so here are 4 essential tools that will keep you and your team connected.

1) Access All Your Files From One Place

(Source: Educators Technology)

Arguably the biggest challenge businesses face when working from home is accessing all the necessary files they need to complete their work.

Cloud storage is the solution. Google Drive, which is free with any Gmail account, allows you to upload up to 15GB of files, which you can then choose to share with anyone, all you need is their email or to send them a sharable link.

All files made in Google Drive can be edited by the whole team, which is perfect when designing presentations or storing important client information that needs to be updated on a regular basis.

It also saves a ton of time for your team and your clients. There is no need to email several documents back and forth until they are finalized, all you need to do is give access to the appropriate people – it’s that easy.

2) Task/Productivity Manager

(Source: Asana)

Like most business owners, giving your employees the opportunity to work from home is a huge concern, are they actually going to do any work?

Well, yes!

Adopting a task/productivity manager into your workflow, like Asana, is going to allow you to assign tasks to every individual employee, with a time frame, description, and all the necessary attachments from anywhere in the world.

It also allows you to list all of your active clients in one place, and add them to a task so your team knows who they are working for.

Asana is one of the leading tools on the market that is extremely user friendly and quick to understand.

3) Video Conferencing

(Source: TheTransition)

When launching a new project or taking on a new client, face to face communication is key. 

Although it’s desirable to book a physical meeting, geography and life, in general, can often get in the way, so video chat is a great meeting ground.

Google Hangouts not only lets you video chat but also send messages or voice call. This free tool can allow you to chat with up to 150 people and let you hold a video call with up to 25 participants.

The share screen function is great when explaining a project to your team or when taking a client through the progress you have made.

4) Optimum Team Communication

(Source: Slack)

Slack is known as a ‘virtual office’ that replaces email, text messaging and instant messaging for remote teams. Both accessible as a mobile and desktop app, Slack stores all your communication sources in one place.

The reason Slack works so well is down to its organization. It changes emails into messages and assigns messages to channels that correspond with the project or team they relate to.

A team-driven approach, as opposed to an individual approach, is what Slack archives, and utilizing this tool will allow you to communicate and collaborate more effectively.

Summary

Whether you’re trying to improve your remote working environment or struggling to make the decision whether to operate remotely, don’t overthink it.

With the tools listed above, you no longer need to worry about communicating with your team or clients – collaborating on projects couldn’t be any easier.

Working remotely for the first time can tell you a lot about how your business functions and what needs to be done to improve it. Therefore, optimising the tools discussed in this article creates low risk, high reward opportunities for your business.

Just go for it!

The top 4 tools for remote work collaboration are:

1. Google Drive
2. Asana
3. Google Hangouts
4. Slack

Bio – The Good Marketer is a Marketing Agency in London which drives more traffic, generates conversions and increases sales for Small-To-Medium Sized Businesses.