Working remotely has become somewhat of a new trend. It is no surprise considering that it removes any geographic constraints, allows you to hire the best talent, eliminates the expenses for renting an office, and provides everyone an opportunity to work from the comfort of their home. Modern technology has brought so many benefits and one of them is definitely the possibility to lead and organize a remote team.

 

Any business owner that manages business remotely will understand how helpful technology can be if you know how to pick the right tools. There are many essentials of remote business strategies but these modern technology solutions will make the whole experience much easier and more effective.

Effective communication

Regular and open communication is crucial for managing business remotely.

Deloitte, the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of professionals, emphasizes that companies should “put in place tools and measurement systems that encourage people to move between teams, and share information and collaborate with other teams.”

Since you won’t have the chance to monitor the workers, sharing how the work progresses and expressing different ideas is how you make your business run smoothly.

Slack is one of the best communication tools out there. It is highly praised in the community of remote workers.

The app allows you to easily communicate with your team, share files, create reminders, share screens, and synchronize across all devices. It is the place where you can quickly connect, get answers fast, and completely transform the overall employee experience.

Being able to access all those options in a single interface will make your work a lot easier.

Video meetings

For an impeccable video conferencing, try out Zoom. This tool provides you with amazing video and audio quality and it also includes Business IM for sharing messages and files.

It is sufficient to say that Gartner, the world’s leading information technology research and advisory firm, has positioned Zoom in the Leaders Quadrant of the 2018 Magic Quadrant for Meeting Solutions.

Considering that you and your remote team won’t have the opportunity to meet in person, you can hold your weekly meetings through this app.

Creating a relationship with people you work with is very important for long-lasting and successful cooperation. Being far away from each other doesn’t need to stop you to hold video conferences and get to know each other a little bit better.

Document sharing

Editing and collaborating on documents in real-time will help your team stay up-to-date with their tasks. Also, it will enable easier collaboration on shared tasks.

For that purpose, you can use cloud-based solutions like Google’s G Suite or  Microsoft’s Office 365.

Whenever you need some help with composing an important document, find a writing service such as Best Essay Education. Even your writers can work on the project through those document-sharing services so that you can follow up on their work and make suggestions.

As a leader, you need to be an example for others in your team and working with writing experts from well-known companies like Grab My Essay will help you achieve that.

You can even use proofreading apps like Grammarly that will instantly highlight any spelling or grammar mistake in your documents.

Project management

Help your team meet deadlines and accomplish every task with a project management tool.

Some of the benefits of using such apps or tools are:

  • Activity tracking
  • To-do lists
  • Build-in calendar
  • Chat room
  • Task management

One of the most popular tools that offer all that is Basecamp. Its simple interface will allow you to keep track of the progress and manage each project with ease.

Sarah Stone, a project manager at Studicus shares her experience with Basecamp:

“I fell in love with this app from day one. It makes my job so much easier with its activity tracking and task management features. Those who put emphasis on the good organization as much as I do will get so much use out of Basecamp.”

If you are looking for a project management tool with more features, check out Teamwork Projects. This service also includes Gantt charts and reporting option. Teamwork Projects is better for larger organizations.

Employee engagement

If you want to improve employee engagement, you need to measure it. Keeping track of engagement is much more efficient with Glint.

This app will help you with an on-going tracking of your employees’ progress. Its analysis identifies opportunities, supports employee satisfaction, predicts risks, and recommends a solution. Is there more you could ask for?

As this digital solution explains on their website:

“Glint is a people success platform built on a new approach that helps organizations increase employee engagement, develop their people, and improve business results.”

You’ll be able to provide and receive feedback that will showcase your project’s status and your employees’ engagement.

Widely known corporations like Glassdoor, LinkedIn, and Spectrum use Glint as well.

Note-taking

Keeping track of your plans, achievements, and employees’ tasks can become overwhelming. Pilling up a bunch of papers with to-do lists and notes will only create chaos.

That is why Evernote is a simple, yet effective solution for this problem.

This note-taking app is a perfect replacement for a notebook. It allows you to:

  • Create different notebooks for different projects
  • Make notes with templates
  • Do a pdf or doc search
  • Scan documents
  • Synchronize the data across all devices
  • Connect with other apps (Gmail, Google Drive, Slack, etc.)

Use this app to save every important thought and to keep your projects and tasks organized and planned ahead.

Some final thoughts

Proactive collaboration and regular communication are necessities when it comes to managing a remote team. The above-mentioned tools will help you lead a successful business even if you can’t keep an eye on your employees at all times.

Don’t forget to use these tools to bring your team together and surpass the superficial business relationship. Talk about your strength and weaknesses and emphasize that these modern technology tools are there to strengthen your cooperation.