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February 16, 2023 6 Online Collaboration Tools Your Business Needs

With more teams working remotely, it is necessary for businesses to leverage the best online collaboration tools to keep all stakeholders on the same page at all times. These tools offer everything from cloud document storage for managing daily tasks to video recording software.

Nevertheless, finding a one-off tool to organize your team’s goals and promote rapid communication can be daunting, seeing that there are many options out there. This post will guide you in choosing the right collaborating tools for your business. Read on!

What Is a Collaboration tool?

Collaboration tools are software programs, apps, or platforms designed to maximize teamwork effectiveness by enabling them to work jointly on a single platform. These tools aim at smoothening out challenges that hinder workflow at every level by facilitating faster communication and creating clear guidelines for a project’s progress. 

The best collaboration tools allow your employees to openly share knowledge, data, files, and documents to resolve specific business issues or complete projects together. They also boost productivity, enhance creativity and ensure that every employee knows what they need to do and when. 

Best Online Collaboration Tools

1. CloudApp

CloudApp is one of the best online collaboration tools you can use for your business. It’s a tool that makes it easy to collaborate across multifunctional teams via visual communication. It acts as a central site for all your projects and team, making it easy to create plans, collaborate with your employees or clients and deliver projects on time. Basically, this tool simplifies how teams work together. 

The software’s main features range from screen captures and annotations to screen recordings. With CloudApp, your employees easily create screen recordings, make annotations, and share them with clients or co-workers using a simple link. 

They can also stream the recorded video directly from their browsers without having to download it. Plus, you can be assured that all the data and information shared is safely and securely stored in the cloud. 

This excellent collaboration tool help teams manage all kinds of tasks for small businesses and large enterprises. Incorporating CloudApp into your business can help create more effective ways to communicate project management tasks by helping you create more visually engaging presentations and product demos.

Pros

  • Easy to install and use
  • Allows you to share your captures instantly
  • Great support/customer success team
  • CloudApp provides great features to store data
  • Its video-sharing capabilities help improve communication and increase productivity. 
  • Visual search allows you to find data based on descriptive words
  • Integrates with Jira, Asana, Trello, Slack, and other tools you use every day

Cons

  • It lacks a support forum where users could help each other

 

2. Slack

The other online collaborative tool that works as efficiently is Slack. It’s an incredibly easy-to-use platform that works on desktop or mobile devices. It allows you to simultaneously send messages or files to a single person or all employees.

This online collaboration tool supports video calling. This means you can use the feature to communicate visually with your employees about ongoing or upcoming projects. 

Amazingly, the platform allows you to not only distribute tasks to your employees but also organize information in different channels. For instance, you can organize a specific project with its specific information or conversation on a channel.

Additionally, this online collaborative tool allows you to drag-drop and share files with your employees. It is compatible with Dropbox, Box, and Google drive.

Pros

  • It makes access to your colleagues easy
  • It’s flexible 
  • It helps teams stay aligned with their goals
  • Allows you to track your employees’ progress
  • Allows you to share updates without one on one meetings

Cons

  • Some might want more depth in security

 

3. Asana

For project management, only a few tools can beat Asana. It’s designed to allow teams to organize, track, manage and execute their projects effectively. It also includes video calls, project tracking, and handy integrations. 

Using this online collaboration tool, you can easily create an employee to-do list on current projects and set reminders for task deadlines. Your employees can also directly chat with their colleagues and post comments within the app. Updating in real-time helps project managers run their team of remote employees with much ease. 

Asana is the best collaboration tool to overcome chaos and meet deadlines at your workplace. It’s widely used by companies like Deloitte, Airbnb, Pinterest, and CloudApp.

Pros

  • Email integration
  • Easy-to-use interface
  • Quick real-time updates
  • Free version available
  • It has plugins to allow you to modify projects
  • The design of the tools is attractive

Cons

  • It does not allow you to assign the same task to multiple people

 

4. Monday.com

Monday.com is an online collaboration tool that allows you to plan, track and collaborate on projects virtually. It helps your employees to stay in sync regardless of their location. The drag-and-drop functionalities and ease of use make the platform perfect for general workflow management. 

The part you will like about Monday is the ability to customize the software to make it even better and easier for your team. It has automated repetitive tasks like data entry and workflows, allowing your employees to focus on the most important tasks first. 

Additionally, the tool integrates with Slack, Trello, Google Drive, Dropbox, and other software. That means you can use it as a central focal point for all your employees to work together.  

Pros

  • Easy to install and use
  • Highly customizable
  • Includes templates
  • Offers in-app automation

Cons

  • The mobile app can be cumbersome

 

5. Trello

Trello is an outstanding visual, intuitive, and straightforward tool for managing projects. Basically, this tool helps keep your employees on the same page. It is designed for keeping projects organized by letting you create boards, lists and tasks to assign easily to your employees.

This online collaboration tool allows you to set deadlines, reminders, and email notifications on urgent tasks. 

Trello can also integrate with other tools like Evernote, Github, Slack, and Googe Drive for a better team experience. Plus, you can download and use the app for free, but there are premium options that provide access to more features.

Pros

  • Excellent mobile apps
  • Have many different integrations
  • Simple user interface
  • It has a free tier

Cons

  • No reporting features

 

6. Ryver

Ryver is another amazing tool that aims at giving your organization an effective means of communication. It provides a platform for you and your employees to discuss tasks, share information, and ensure that deadlines are met.

The amazing feature that makes Ryver a great option is the fact that you can create teams within the app. This way, you can categorize the teams based on the projects they are working on. Again you can use the platform to set up chats with individuals or groups.

Pros

  • Easy setup and use
  • Emphasizes productivity
  • The functionality of this tool is amazing
  • It offers unlimited storage and messaging

Cons 

  • Logging into the App can take a while. 

The Top Features Of Online Collaboration Tools

1. File sharing

The tools allow your team to share files, documents, and other forms of data quickly. This feature allows you and your employees to easily share, retrieve and access information stored in the document management system.

2. Search

Team collaboration tools have advanced search features to help your employees quickly find the content they need. The time-consuming duties of digging tons of files are made easier and efficient.

3. Document collaboration

Team collaboration tools have a document collaboration feature that allows you and your employees to view and edit other documents in real time.

4. Task management

Online collaboration tools have task management systems that allow you to monitor all the tasks from a single screen. This way, you can easily identify scheduled tasks, monitor time logs for every task, and get involved in a conversation.

5. Tracking tool

Collaboration tools also have a feature that helps keep track of all the meetings, events, and other tasks that need your attention. The personal and group calendars help keep everyone abreast of all the scheduled events.

How To Choose The Best Collaboration Tools For Your Business?

1. Assess your needs

You need to choose a collaboration tool that meets your needs. To do this, you need first to be aware of how your team works to know your organization’s needs. This way, you can identify any gap that needs to be addressed and can effectively choose a tool that works for your system.

2. Prioritize collaboration as a feature

For the system to work effectively, it needs features that focus more on team collaboration. Some tools will definitely offer more excellent services than others. 

First, you need to pick a user-friendly system; this way, each employee can use it easily. Then, pick a tool that is responsive and robust.

Give some thought to how efficient the tool you pick really is. The bottom line is to boost performance and improve efficiency. So pick a system that offers that.

3. Personalization

Different organizations have different work styles. As a result, this presents a challenge to online collaboration tools. In addition, different attitudes towards work can also create a rift between team members, affecting your team’s productivity and efficiency.  

With personalization, you can give your employees different options on how they want to do their assigned tasks. You can pick a tool with multi-platform capabilities, allowing your employees to collaborate with their teams using their smartphones or tablets.

4. Integration with other systems

It is recommended that you go for a collaboration tool that is flexible and open to integrations. Since you might already have other systems in place, your collaboration tool needs to integrate easily with the existing systems. After all, you don’t want to set up a system that is set to stand alone.

Pick a tool that makes it easy to share information or data across your entire organization. This way, you can save on time and resources.

5. Look for ease of use

You will definitely need to pick a tool that is easy to operate so that you don’t burden your employees with complicated procedures. If the system you pick works well but your employees take a lot of time to get used to, it won’t be of much help, especially for fast-growing teams. It will lead to wasted man-hours learning the software rather than actually using it.

6. Security

The collaboration tool you choose should have security features that guarantee the safety of your data. The tool should also provide flexible permissions at appropriate levels for controlled internal data access.

Having additional authentications and security protocols will help you to ensure locked-down data. Picking a tool with controls and user rights for different users will guarantee data integrity. 

Benefits Of Online Collaboration Tools

1. Easier to work remotely

Working remotely has become more and more accepted and popular. Online collaboration tools make it easy for your teams both in and out of the office to remain connected and productive.

2. Improved security

Most collaboration tools use highly secure storage. This way, the data and information shared and stored within the system are kept safe.

However, not all collaboration tools have the same security measures, so you should ensure that you go for a tool with ISO certification.

3. Boosts employee productivity and satisfaction

When your employees use the best collaboration tools, they will be more productive and happier. This is because the tools make communication internally and externally easy and more pleasurable.

Your employees will become more confident about their responsibilities and can keep up-to-date with different projects they are working on. This will help them manage their workload better and give them more time to grow and develop.

4. Data-Driven Decision Making

With a data analytics solution integrated into your collaboration tool, your employees won’t waste time trying to analyze spreadsheets to source their data. Instead, they will have more time to focus on the insights gathered and make decisions based on facts that will help them reach your company goals faster.

5. Reduced turnover

Collaboration tools allow employees more freedom to work from any location more efficiently. If your employees’ work is received and acknowledged, they’re likely to feel more appreciated, valued, and connected. 

Miscommunication is reduced, stress is minimized, and employees gain a sense of purpose. This way, your business starts to see improved results, as well as happy and engaged employees.

Conclusion

Whether it’s project management for a small business or you’re launching a marketing campaign for a larger company, you can never go wrong with online collaboration in the workplace. With the right tools, you can easily facilitate teamwork and strengthen collaboration.

CloudApp’s robust product features help it to stand out as an important tool to have in your arsenal. The app allows you to record videos, capture screenshots, annotate them and share them faster than ever before. Sign up for free today or get a demo to see how CloudApp can transform your team’s collaboration.

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