If you are managing remote employees, you no doubt understand that technology is part of your success. The right tools can help you save time, stay organized and provide your employees with rewards without disrupting your business. With that said, below are some of the important tools and strategies for effective remote work.
1. HR and Employee Reward / Recognition Tools
Employee reward and recognition software Employee reward and recognition software is becoming increasingly popular on remote teams because it helps to boost morale, build engagement and increase productivity, according to business experts.
When team members have a way to provide social capital and recognition to each other, they don’t feel as though they’re just “pinging” each other on project management platforms or that their contributions are irrelevant.
Allowing team members to offer praise and recognition boosts morale, and this is particularly true in a culture where employees work remotely and cannot simply walk down the hall to compliment their peers face-to-face.
2. File Sharing and Storage
You need file sharing and storage tools when you manage a remote team for a variety of reasons. You can’t meet face to face on a regular basis. You don’t want to manage any more USB drives, thumb drives or external hard drives. Your remote team members are spread out all over the world.
Tools like Dropbox and Google Drive allow you simply share files with anyone in an easy way. Dropbox is great for sharing files with individual team members. Google Drive allows you to edit the same document at the same time, so it’s great for file collaboration and review of documents where multiple people will be working on them.
3. Project Management Tools
Project management tools are a necessary part of remote work life because they make it simple to see who is working on what and when, where team members are currently located, and the progress of any important tasks. They also help reduce mistakes by allowing all team members to coordinate their efforts so that everyone stays on the same page at all times.
Here are a few other benefits:
- Collaborate more easily with each other
- Communicate more efficiently, and share important information in real-time
- Assign tasks to the right people
- Update team members on project progress
Project management tools also help with keeping projects organized by allowing all collaborators to work on different aspects of a large assignment without getting in each other’s way.
4. Communication Tools
Communication tools are the foundation of remote work because they allow organizations to compensate for geographical distance (and time zone differences) with the advanced technology of the information age. Technology has made it possible for individuals to work virtually across great distances; computers, the internet, telecommunication and mobile devices are all revolutionary technological advances that have allowed businesses to grow exponentially by attracting talent from around the world.
But without the right tools to help remote teams communicate, manage, and collaborate on projects remotely, businesses run the risk of alienating employees or team members who work far away. For many organizations, communication is the biggest challenge in building a successful virtual team.
5. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
CRM software is another tool required for remote work because it makes communication and sharing information with clients, team members, and stakeholders much easier.
When a business is working remotely or has a distributed workforce, it is very important that there are multiple ways for all of the people involved to stay in touch and know what they’re doing day-to-day. For example, if a client wants a project completed by a certain date, the contract manager needs to let the team members know so they can start working on it. A great way to automate all of these communications and keep track of client work is with customer relationship management software.
Conclusion
The above tools are all important parts of successful remote work and remote team management. If you want your remote employees to stay productive and engaged with what they’re doing, you are going to need these tools.
If you don’t have them yet, sign up for each one of these services and begin thinking about how they would best fit into your remote team’s work structure.
