Working remotely comes with its own slue of benefits and detriments, and your business requires the right tools to ensure your success. Moving to a home office must allow employees to adequately do their jobs from wherever they are. Whether that be finding software to print checks online for your accounting department or setting up methods of communication for your team, there are a wide variety of options available that can help your company improve and grow.
We’ll help you discover some essential tools a remote company should have and explain why they can make such a difference.
1. Chat Software
One of the most important aspects of any relationship is communication. Organizations are, in essence, a group of people in hierarchical relationships. As such, your business must have a solid communication system that allows different departments, employees, and managers to communicate effectively, particularly in remote enterprises.
A strong communication network can help employees understand what you expect of them and help them stay in the loop regarding changing business practices, training sessions, or even work activities. It also allows supervisors to collaborate to make the work environment healthier and more productive. It also allows employees to communicate their suggestions, concerns, and ideas in the workspace. Suggestion box software is a valuable tool for collecting and managing feedback, ideas, and suggestions from employees, customers, or any other stakeholders.
2. Video Conferencing Software
In a similar vein, remote-working companies will generally need video conferencing software that is secure and stable so that supervisors and employees can communicate with each other face-to-face where necessary.
3. File Management Software
It’s fair to say that remote businesses generate a lot of paperwork, even if it isn’t actual paper. Another essential tool remote companies need to invest in is file management software. Organized data is strongly correlated with work efficiency, making a company more productive.
Physical file management can benefit some companies, but digital storage is essential for organizations that operate exclusively remotely; moreover, having organized space through file management software provides easier access to data stored in relevant folders in a centralized location.
4. Employee Monitoring Tools
While it might not be the most exciting thing to talk about, employee monitoring tools are essential for remote businesses to help tackle distractions in the workplace and reward employees who are continually productive.
Remote working provides employees with the unique opportunity to work from home. Still, as a business owner, you probably recognize that not every freelancer or contractor you hire is worth keeping. The best way to identify high-quality talent is through employee monitoring, which allows you to track which employees are frequently submitting high-quality work at an efficient pace.
There’s some level of stigma associated with employee monitoring software, which, to be fair, may be deserved; however, utilizing this software in your company can not only identify which employees gel with your organization’s work ethic and vision but can also help provide resources to employees who are struggling.
For example, suppose a particular employee needs help understanding a specific aspect of their job. In that case, supervisors can recognize that difficulty through employee monitoring software and work with them to help correct errors and improve their performance.
5. Project Management Software
Project management tools are essential for remote-working businesses for several reasons. Depending on the type of tool you invest in, project management software can provide team members with the framework to outline projects, track their progress, and delegate responsibility.
It should come as no surprise that project management software is particularly effective for supervisors managing multiple employees. This software can provide helpful guidelines for productivity, overall project goals, individual project goals, and scheduling. It allows team members to schedule meetings, plan future steps toward a goal, track objectives, and report progress.
6. File Sharing Tools
Sharing data is essential for remote work, and there are several different applications to consider. The bottom line is that you and your employees should be able to share files conveniently and efficiently when needed. It’s an essential part of a typical workflow, and you can scale this tool based on your needs, whether you’re constantly sharing completed project files or are working on design elements that require video file sharing.
7. Remote Security
Remote work is highly susceptible to malicious attacks by hackers. Whether your business is small or large, it’s essential to put some resources towards cybersecurity tools, especially since your personal data can be compromised if company files suffer a breach.
In many cases, that involves investing in IT services like file integrity monitoring, which can help you store data in a remote location, accessing it anywhere, anytime. The service takes on the mantle of protecting your data from hackers and alerting you to potential security issues. They can also help you install firewalls, set up antivirus protection, and help you backup and recover data in the event of an attack.
Consider investing in employee awareness tools to help prevent them from compromising data. In a remote work setting, it’s vital to keep your employees up to date on phishing tactics and other malicious attempts to breach company data.
The most common example of this is software that occasionally sends mock-spoof emails to company employees. Those that fall for the mock scam are encouraged to review the company’s guidelines for identifying spam emails.
IT services can also help improve your access to data in a secure setting, such as setting up a remote VPN so that employees can log into the company network securely without compromising themselves or their login credentials.
8. Design Prototype Software
Depending on your business type, you may need a design prototype software that enables you to render 3D models of project plans or artistic designs. These programs need to be robust in their capabilities and secure to protect company data.
9. Tool Management Software
Finally, and almost ironically, because remote businesses require such a vast network of tools, something to help you manage them all might be essential. For the growth of your business, keeping track of all the tools, their functionality, and their expense is crucial, which is why remote-working businesses may benefit greatly from this tool. Even if you are not working for a company and seek employment through the means of freelancing, freelance project management tools such as Hectic serve to manage your tools and documents.
The Bottom Line
Remote-working businesses face different challenges than in-person businesses, including communication, employee monitoring, security, and file sharing. While most businesses need similar tools, those provided in this list are essential for almost all remote-working companies to increase productivity and continue to grow.
