Best Collaborative Software Suites for Remote Working

As remote working becomes the new normal, make sure you have the best tools to make it work.

Since the onset of the Covid-19 crisis, countless companies across the world have had to quickly move to remote working arrangements for their teams.

The companies and businesses that had already established remote working protocols and practices have been those that were best-positioned to weather the crisis.

For those that were not yet prepared, they’ve had to react quickly or suffer the consequences.

Luckily, there already exists a vibrant ecosystem of powerful software tools for making remote work easier, more efficient, and highly rewarding.

Team members can now share, collaborate, and coordinate work like never before. And chances are, you’ve probably already used some of them in your office.

As a company that is very well accustomed to remote working, we’ve evaluated a lot of the options out there, and come up with a list of our favorite.

Read on to find out which ones they are, and why.

Slack, the tool that replaces emails

Slack is definitely one of the most popular collaborative software suites out there, and for good reason. It allows users to create channels where they can chat and share files, and also allows for the integration of a range of other tools, such as G Suite.

Slack is also highly customizable, and also allows for multiple accounts – so you can have access to a Slack account for one division of your business, and another, separate account for another. Switching between the accounts is effortless, and for premium users, each account comes with a lot of storage.

Asana, for easy project and task management

Asana works slightly differently to Slack, in that it focuses a lot more on the concept of tasks, their delegation and completion.

Asana is a great project management tool, as it allows project managers to have a comprehensive view of all projects a team is working on and their status, as well as the power to easily set tasks for different team members.

Another strong point of Asana is its transparency, in that all team members can see what everyone else is working on. Chats tend to remain confined to each task section, which allows for conversations to remain more focused on work.

Trello, to work with the Kanban method, among others

Trello is another great project management tool that combines a cutting-edge interactive UX with moveable Kanban boards, with the flexibility to assign and monitor tasks.

Many businesses value Trello for its highly intuitive interface, and the way it instills a sense of progression and achievement in the completion of tasks.

Trello also allows for structuring tasks into a rational hierarchy (e.g. short term, long term, urgent, ongoing and ‘for later’), which make it a great option for startups that need flexibility and adaptability in-built into their work processes.

Bonus: Google Drive

While not exclusively considered a collaborative software, Google Drive offers a truly impressive range of possibilities for remote working and collaboration, and its power should not be underestimated.

First of all, it’s incredibly convenient – if you have a Google account, it means you already have a Google Drive account. Within Google Drive, the technology behemoth has made a stunning array of work tools available, including powerful Microsoft Office emulators such as Google Docs (Word) and Sheets (Excel) and Slides (PowerPoint).

These on their own are incredibly powerful. However, where Google Drive really shines is in the simplicity and stability of its sharing functions.

Google Docs can be worked on collaboratively in real time for anyone who is granted access, and the formatting capabilities are increasing at a rapid rate, bringing the software into serious competition with the levels offered by standalone software suites such as Microsoft Office.

Added to that, it comes free, and an upgrade to larger memory storage is not too expensive either.

All in all, there are plenty of software tools out there to make your remote working experience seamless, efficient, and even fun.

Do you have a software project you want to turn into reality? Get in touch to find out how you can make use of our remote teams in Vietnam, Mauritius and Madagascar.