Teams function well when they collaborate and work together. Camaraderie is more important today than ever before. But what if your team members are remote. The internet has changed everything and companies are hiring people from all over the world, and the virtual office seems to be the norm rather than the exception. Even small companies can hire anyone anywhere in the world, however, it makes work easier when businesses invest in the right tools to manage their remote workers.
Hiring and managing people seems to have changed in the last decade. The internet revolution has given jobs to so many people, irrespective of regional barriers. Workers from all over the world are employed at companies that are located thousands of miles away.
Good talent is now truly recognized, hired and compensated irrespective of physical boundaries. It’s not uncommon to see someone in Australia working from home for a company in the UK, and vice versa. The internet has made ‘work from home’ a reality.
Afzal Khan who resides in Bhopal, India is an Area Manager for the Asia Pacific region for a French company called StarOfService. He manages people from several countries that include Australia, India, Indonesia, Philippines, China, Hong Kong, and many others. He says, “Some of the biggest challenges are time zones, finding the right tools to collaborate, and cultural differences. Even within Asia, cultural differences vary, and it’s important for managers to be sensitive and informed about other cultures.”
Even if you are a small business, hiring and managing people from remote locations might be a suitable solution. There are several applications that you can use to collaborate. In this article, we check out some of the basic tools you might need to manage your remote warriors.
#1 Skype
By far, one of the most popular programs on the internet. You can chat, create groups, and make phone calls to anybody in the world for FREE if they have Skype installed on their computer or mobile device. You can also get a virtual number that doesn’t belong to your home country. For example, if you are residing in Indonesia, you can get an American number. It would be a local call for your clients in the US.
#2 Slack
Another program similar to Skype but a bit more robust. You can create groups, specific channels, and a lot more. The advantage with this tool is that the company pretty much owns most of the information unlike in Skype. The user interface too is much more cleaner when compared to Skype.
#3 Google Apps
Most companies today use Google Apps. They provide all the features that a free email service provides but with your customized company domain. All the features of Google docs (which helps in centralizing all your company documents in one location), email, calendar, meeting updates, webmaster tools, analytics, adwords, and adsense are all in one place. It’s a paid service, but not very expensive. At the moment, it’s about $5 per user per month.
#4 Basecamp
A robust enterprise management system can be very expensive and unnecessary for a small business. However, a good project management application might work well for a small business. Basecamp lets you collaborate with your team on projects by allowing you to create a task list, assign tasks to each member, manage discussions, access your files from any location, and create new projects. With a budget friendly price of $20 per month, it’s a great tool for most small and home based businesses.
If you’re just starting off in business, or if you’ve been a solopreneur for a while and are now looking to hire employees, these 4 tools which cost you less than $50 a month might be all you need to manage your remote team.
Companies with less than 5 employees could consider moving their entire office to the cloud and become more productive.
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