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Managing a team in a physical environment is a challenge in and of itself. When you manage a virtualized team, that can be even tougher. Maintaining strong communication, collaboration, and a sense of culture is something you have to actively focus your efforts on when your team isn’t sharing donuts at the weekly staff meeting or dropping by someone’s desk to ask a question.
Collaborative tools are a fantastic way to help maximize efficiency, organization, and manageability. Plus, many of them can be used as alternative sources for file storage. There are plenty of choices to make when it comes to setting your virtual team up for success online. We’ve put together some of the best apps for managing a team digitally.
What to Consider When Signing Up for Collaborative Apps
In the world of technology, you want to take advantage of everything that’s offered to you, and that includes team-based applications. Teamwork is crucial to your business’ development. Whether you’re in an office or working from home, these apps help bring your team closer together and create a more effective team environment.
A few things to look for in an app include:
Compatibility – does it work for all your current processes and fit into your business framework?
Ease of use – will your team members actually use it? Will they be excited to use it? How much training will you need to provide?
Security – does it fit into your cybersecurity framework? Are there safeguards already in place, or will you have to create them?
Accessibility – can your team access the tools easily? Are upgrades needed in terms of hardware or software?
The Top 7 Apps to Strengthen Team Environments
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a collaboration and chat software designed to make group work easier. It has plenty of useful features, including one-on-one chat and team chat functions. It also gives your team access to shared information, like files, calendars, and documents, as well as the ability for all team members to edit info.
Microsoft Teams is available and enabled by default for all Microsoft 365 users, making it easy to integrate into your business.
Evernote Business
Evernote Business takes its popular note-taking service to the world of team collaboration, allowing you to easily share files and notes with all of your coworkers. It also helps manage workflows for separate projects so you can stay on track.
One of the most beneficial features of Evernote Business is its integrations. Evernote can integrate with plenty of other business apps, including Microsoft Teams, Google Drive, and Slack, so you can access information across a number of different platforms.
Yammer
Yammer is a social networking service created by Microsoft, intended for business and organization teams. It allows for easy collaboration and communication between team members and offers project tracking to keep you on task. It’s also offered as a mobile app for both iOS and Android, so you can chat with your team wherever you are.
Asana
Asana is a project management tool designed to help you assign tasks and monitor the progress of all your projects. You can create timelines, view workloads of specific team members, view portfolios to see your key initiatives, and create forms for work requests. Set deadlines and let your team check priorities off their lists to keep everybody on track.
Microsoft OneDrive
OneDrive is a cloud-based service that connects you and your team with all of your files, allowing them to be accessed whenever they’re needed. It can be integrated with other Microsoft services like Microsoft Teams, Outlook, and more, so your information is accessible across multiple Microsoft platforms.
Slack
Slack is a team chat space with an extremely user-friendly interface. The platform is separated into ‘channels,’ with a general chat for the whole team, and team/project-specific channels. These channels are further broken down into threads for specific topics. These channels and threads keep unnecessary notifications out of your inbox so you can stay focused on your own projects.
Get Smoother Integration of New Technology
Collaboration apps are a fantastic way to strengthen your business, but there are plenty of other ways to help you and your team flourish. Whenever you build new technology into your processes, there are plenty of tasks, from integration and employee training and security monitoring and ongoing maintenance.
Hiring IT services in Edmonton allows you to draw on the expertise of highly-trained IT technicians who can not only help you set up your new system, but completely optimize it. If you’re looking for growth through technology, get in touch with our experts to learn more about our specific tools and options.
