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It’s 2020, remote working is no longer a shocking transition for businesses. Its benefits are in having flexibility with time and space, a larger talent pool, and an increase in cost savings. Google even decided to extend their remote work policies to July 2021. Since the future of the pandemic is unforeseen, many companies (Facebook, Twitter, Square) are fully embracing remote work by making it an indefinite option.
When a team does their work mostly online, they would have to rely heavily on technology. If you’re worried about the logistics of transitioning to remote work, or felt like remote work has not been successful for you, we have the essential tools listed here that can help. They're a major part of how we keep BOOQED running from anywhere in the world, too!
Every company needs a catchy website, but can't just rely on the “tech” guy this time. When everyone is working remotely, it’s difficult to visualize what the team wants just by talking. And we've all been in the position where fixes had to be made on the site but can't just wait a couple more hours until someone can do it from the other side of the world.
Well, more reasons to collaborate, right?
Webflow is a CMS tool for web design, where designers, editors, developers, and content strategists can easily collaborate on creating a website. It’s easy to use, so non-tech people can manage to add portions in themselves. The many features of this tool accommodate to all tech skill levels, hence, great in helping the whole team work more efficiently.
This team collaborating software mimics brainstorming in real-time, with realistic-looking post-it notes you can stick on their virtual whiteboards! Team members can easily view who edited and added ideas, make sections to organize these rough ideas, as well as make flowcharts and timelines. BOOQED uses Miro for everything from quarterly planning, weekly team retros, and mapping out user flows for our products.
You can integrate other great apps with Miro, such as Whereby to video call whilst collaborating. Microsoft Teams, Wireframe Library, Notion, and Slack can be added too!
Not to mention, it's great for the environment, and no one has to chase after the person who took down the post-its from the whiteboard at the office.
Virtual “workspaces” can be made on Notion, where teams can collaborate on an abundance of documents, all in one place. You can make workspaces that contain files that are accessible company-wide (think big company goals, policies, directory) to team-specific (such as notes, metrics, meeting recordings, clips of articles).
It’s difficult to explain what Notion is. But suffice to say, for anything you want to create, Notion already has a template for it. Your marketing team's campaign page, for example, can have subpages that contain spreadsheet-style records (with formulas), kanban boards, checklists, a calendar, and so on, that you can make directly on Notion. You can even add backlinks, and as many subpages, as you want. Same with Miro, people can see the added and edited content.
It sounds complex, but Notion excels in its beautifully minimal style and UX design but allows for as much detail and OCD-levels of organization as you want. You'll get it immediately!
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Databox puts all your KPIs in one dashboard, where you can monitor your company’s performance altogether. No need to ask the marketing person how many people visited the site last month, and no need to ask the sales guy what's the pipeline like this month.
The site is user-friendly - no tinkering with the backend to create dashboards. Instead of manually logging data from various sources into numerous Excel files and doing the calculations and visualizations yourself, this tool brings everything online in an automated fashion. You just need to connect the data source (such as your CRM or Google Analytics) and choose which metrics you want on your dashboard.
You can set goals and project milestones as well, and get pinged whenever you're underperforming. And for team leaders who have to submit KPIs every week, you can connect Databox to your Slack account and have customized reports sent in automatically.
Now that you have all the tools to collaborate technically, what about just casual chats? How do you emulate informal group discussions and direct conversations? Slack helps your team easily communicate by dividing chat groups into “channels”, where certain topics can be discussed separately. (People will see if you join and leave though!)
You can reply to messages individually through “threads”, react to messages with emojis and gifs, and DM people through “@”s. Sharing files and information have never been easier when you can integrate thousands of other apps into Slack, so you don't have to leave Slack to go looking and copy-pasting in things are part of your team's workflow (like Zoom meeting links, calendar invites, and Trello updates).
You can also add external contractors, company alumni, clients, community members, and other partners you're working with to their own channels as well, so you can always stay in the loop!
Zoom needs no introduction. Due to its recent hype, Zoom has helped many with its video conferencing services. With just a click of a button, you can meet your colleagues and team face-to-face online. You can hold video webinars as well as call by phone.
Another similar software would be Whereby, the hipper, lighter version of Zoom. Regular video calls can be made, but with extra customization options and an emoji reaction feature. Whereby is more casual, for medium-sized teams, while Zoom is more serious and corporate, though both can still record meetings and send chat messages.
Trello helps you with organizing tasks through boards, listing out the "to-do", “doing” and “done”. Attachments and further information can be added for each specific task as well. This software lets you assign members to each task and set a deadline for it, so things can be completed well and clear. Trello also has a built-in automation bot for reminders and things, removing tedious tasks from your to-do list.
Airtable, another great task management tool, lets you categorize every task and idea your creative mind comes up with. Different “workspaces” can be made, such as project trackers, content calendars, sales CRM, and more, for all types of teamwork.
You can track anything and everything easily with Airtable with its snazzy visuals, and attach images as well so everything truly lives in one place. You start with a usual grid-style table (think Excel) for ease of input, but it can then be converted quickly into a kanban board, calendar, or even records with individual cards. You can embed your tables into external sites too.
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Working remotely is not necessarily working from home. You can work anywhere remotely while working from home is solely home-based. Though there are many benefits to remote working, it's difficult to meet up sometimes without an office or a meeting room. Restaurants, mainstream coffee shops, someone's home... they're not really for professional work. That's where BOOQED comes in with workspace solutions.
For booking temporary workspaces and/or meeting rooms, BOOQED’s app can help you find the perfect coworking space for maximum work productivity. Our spaces provide you with that office environment you’re craving while being able to collaborate with your team in real life. When Zoom meetings get boring, which it often does, meeting rooms can be booked through us to meet your regional team instantly.
Got any teams in Asia? We have spaces in Hong Kong and Singapore, so download our app (available in Android and iOS) and get working!
