With technology upgrading every day, most businesses have decided to switch to a remote work environment. The recent pandemic certainly helped that cause. Companies have decided to implement remote working as a permanent solution for their organizations. Around 70% of the workforce in the world spend some of their time working remotely.
However, some companies are still hesitant about the remote work technology and the array of advantages. We have prepared an insider’s guide for you to know everything about the remote working atmosphere, the technology behind it, and why you should implement it right away.
What is Remote Work Technology?
In simple terms, remote work technology means using an IT toolset to create a flexible working arrangement. This arrangement allows your employees to work remotely from anywhere in the world.
Remote Work Technology allows your employees to maintain a healthy work-life balance and access to better career opportunities. For a company, implementing this technology will enable them to hire field experts from anywhere in the world. And not to mention the cost they will save on office space.
Benefits of Using a Remote Work Technology
Remote Work Technology, also known as teleworking, is a concept that has been around for a few years. Most companies planned on implementing it sometime in the future, but the pandemic accelerated their timelines. Here are a few reasons why you should integrate remote work tools –
1. Increase in Work Productivity
When you allow your employees the comfort they crave, they will work for your company with all their heart and soul. With the elimination of daily commutes and lengthy in-person meetings, the employees could now focus on their work and boost their productivity. A report published in 2021 showed a 10% rise in productivity of the employees while working remotely.
2. Cost Savings on Expanding Office Space
With the implementation of remote work technology, you can save money on rent, utilities, and office supplies. With people working remotely, you can move to an entirely cloud-based operation.
3. Flexible Working Hours and Location
Since your employees do not have to commute to their offices every day, they can shift to their hometown or even to an entirely different country. The technology also allows you to change your working hours based upon your client requirements. A typical 9 to 5 working day is no longer a necessity.
5 Tools Revolutionizing Remote Work Technology
A new generation of tech tools will help you connect your remote workers and manage them more efficiently. Here are a few tools that are revolutionizing the world of remote work technology.
1. Zoom – A Video Conference Call Platform
A video conferencing call platform is the best way to join all your remote employees at the same place and have a cloud meeting once in a while.
With Zoom, you can create virtual experiences for your employees. You can seamlessly bring together your remote and in-person team to share their ideas and feedback on projects. The cloud software simplifies your video conferencing or messaging across all devices. Zoom also offers robust security settings to ensure disruption-free meetings.
2. Trello – A Real-Time Bulletin Board
It is always beneficial to design and plan your workflow on a cloud-based bulletin board when you have a team working remotely. It allows all your remote employees to view the progress of the project and the deadlines for their tasks.
Trello is a real-time bulletin board that allows you to plan your project workflow quite efficiently. You can customize the dashboard according to your team’s project, assign tasks, and create checklists for every task you assign. It allows you to drag and drop items from one category to another, thus eliminating long and confusing email threads.
3. Hive – A Powerful Collaboration Tool
Collaboration tools are a must-have for an efficient remote work technology environment. Nobody prefers to talk and share files on an email thread and wait for feedback or approval. It just makes the task at hand more time-consuming and difficult.
Hive is a powerful collaboration tool with enhanced features to keep your entire team on the same page. With Hive chats, you can message your teammates in real-time, comment on their tasks, and tag members. It also allows project managers to prioritize and approve multiple tasks quickly.
4. Clockify – A Time Tracking Software
When your employees are working remotely, you need to keep a tab on the number of hours they put into your project. It helps in billing the clients for hourly work and helps boost your team’s productivity.
Clockify is a free and efficient time tracking platform that allows your team members to track their hours in real-time. The platform offers different templates for your employees to log in to their billable working hours. Besides, you also get access to a shared team calendar, where you can visually track your employees’ working hours and determine their availability. It enables you to distribute work more efficiently.
5. GanttPro – A Workflow Planning Software
Once you shift to a remote working team for your project, it is important to effectively get your point across to your team members. Gantt charts are helpful for planning and scheduling your tasks visually. They are much easier to understand when compared to a data spreadsheet.
GanttPro is an online Gantt chart maker for efficient project planning. The software allows you to keep your team engaged in their work while keeping your client in the loop about the progress. It allows you to automatically schedule your projects by dragging and dropping tasks across the board. GanttPro enables you to plan and distribute your resources efficiently to boost your team’s productivity.
Takeaway
Remote Work Technology might sound overwhelming initially, but it is one of the best courses of action to manage people. In a global enterprise, employees can’t fly in for a business meeting now and then. You need to provide them with the luxury of working from the place of their choice.
Remote working has now become pretty standard, even in small workplaces. Around 7% of organizations decided to switch to a fully cloud-based operation during the pandemic and then continue it forever. Remote work technology is the future of organizations, giving you a plethora of advantages. It keeps your employees happy and your company profitable.
