5 Free Applications that can Increase the Productivity of Remote Teams

How do you imagine remote-work today? At a conference? In a room? Gathering your team around a round table is just a common myth of remote-working, because working together goes far beyond planning occasional meetings, and chances are it won't happen again. Of course, face-to-face communication pulls the strings no matter how you approach the subject, but round tables and rooms have long since ceased to exist.

So how do you stay competitive in such a variable environment? Keeping up with remote-work trends may not be the magic bullet for increasing productivity, but it is certainly a useful practice for doing so. A well-connected team is the best way for a company to grow and win business, and this is more than possible when you offer services from multiple locations, as The Guardian explains in its in-depth discussion of remote-working.

But what does it really mean to "keep up with remote-working trends", and how can you be absolutely sure that you are on the right track? While there is no single solution in the hunt for productivity, a good way to do it is to sneak into the market and see what there is to gain :

Wrike's exchange of project data

For those who are not familiar with it: Wrike has become one of the best software service providers for project management, but what made it top in this category were his collaboration features rather than his agile task management. Nevertheless, Wrike is still primarily referred to as project management software, which is why you may not consider it in the hunt for a useful collaboration update.

Why is Wrike a smart idea for remote and decentralized teams? Simply because it offers a whole new level of project data sharing, categorizes communication in times of crisis, and reduces the burden of skipping communication errors. More specifically, Wrike identifies and organizes project data and allows agents to share it on an interactive timeline where they can all contribute. Task by task, they'll be able to discuss the process in the field, manage the workload, and even collaboratively customize reports. To make things even better, small teams of up to 5 users can use Wrike for free, while a painless transition to a paid plan (with a free trial!) is also possible.

IceHrm

IceHrm is a Human resource management system for small and medium-sized organizations. This HRM software centralizes employee data and allows only one authorized person to access it, providing a high level of security. The presence module monitors employee time based on information about insertion and perforation. It covers all the basic HRM needs of a company such as leave management, time management, Recruitment management and handling employee information.

Unlike the other popular HRM software, you can use one system for all HRM functions. As the other HRM functions are designed for different HRM functions separately, using IceHrm will benefit you to utilize all HRM functions in one software. There are three different editions in IceHrm. Each edition has different features. You have a choice to select which edition will suit your organization according to your HR requirements in the organization. Also, you can purchase the IceHrm software based on the number of employees in your organization.

In case you want to learn more about how you can use the IceHrm software for your HR responsibilities, you can easily sign up for a free trial here.

Slack's Snippets for the acquisition of log files and raw text blocks

The reason for any decision to move corporate communications to a centralized system is to benefit from cross-team transparency, and this is an art that Slack mastered long ago. There will hardly be a more competitive application on the market that will take the raw codes into its hands, especially considering that the current one allows for both internal and external exchange.

Slack is above all a communication platform, but one that can solve many of the expected challenges in a sales or marketing team. In fact, Slack has been developed in collaboration with teams in desperate need of an acceleration in growth, and knows very well what organized collaboration should look like. The reason why we bring this to your attention is because of a number of advanced features that can help you capture log files and store communications, such as technical insight, a centralized database, searchable communications history, powerful archiving, and read state synchronization. Like Wrike, Slack offers a free lifetime package for small teams and a few business packages at modest prices for larger teams.

You can try Slack here. Use this link to get a $100 credit with Slack when you purchase the paid version.

Trello's Progress Meter

Current teams cannot afford the luxury of skipping Trello, and there are a number of reasons for this. Of particular interest to teams that track progress from a distance is that Trello offers a unique way to measure progress, both at map and board level. After the statistical data for each individual card/board has been inserted, Trello's Progress Meter calculates its individual weight based on the number of points and tasks to be completed, which count as story points. The ability to measure the individual contribution of each task will make the company's statistics much more accurate and transparent, helping to eliminate inefficient practices and focus on those that are really useful for the company's progress. Managers can focus not only on scoring, but also on opportunities, and consider performance and potential in the context of their development strategy, and this is exactly what Red Hat's CEO Jim Whitehurst highlights in the article "Managing performance when it's hard to measure".

In addition, Trello offers kanban diagrams for color coding, deadline notifications for desktop and mobile versions, storage and SSL encryption, and information revitalization. The basic plan remains free, but you can easily upgrade to the Trello Gold Plan ($5 per month) or to the Trello Business Class One for companies and organizations (also $5 per month).

TeamViewer's Remote Support

TeamViewer is one of the most popular remote support programs on the market, enabling IT teams from around the world to resolve requests with pinpoint accuracy and allowing thousands of users to hold online meetings without necessarily moving location. Thanks to TeamViewer, IT agents no longer need to have physical access to their clients' systems to troubleshoot - all they need is a stable Internet connection and user access authorization.

The productivity benefits that TeamViewer offers are quite self-explanatory: you can install TeamViewer for free and save even more thanks to the possibility of interacting and exchanging information from any location with different technologies. However complex or arduous the problems may be, satisfied users around the world confirm that TeamViewer has the ability to solve them. What's more, the tool is secure and keeps data and conversations private, so companies don't have to worry about their corporate data falling into the wrong hands. In fact, many prominent brands such as Microsoft, Philips and iRobot entrusted their information to this free remote support platform and recommended it to both home and business users who want to take remote working to a more sophisticated level.