The unpredictability of COVID-19 has plunged many organizations into the choppy waters of remote working.
As businesses continue to adapt to a new normal, many are turning to collaboration platform tools to keep their workforce productive, engaged, and connected.
In fact, enterprises have exceeded growth expectations for software spending in 2020 by 57%, with more than 80% of employees relying on technology to fulfill their collaboration needs. If you’ve haven’t hopped on that train, the time to do it is now. Here’s what you need to know.
Improved Communication
Communication is the cornerstone of any successful business and any lack of it can be a sign that your organization isn’t reaching its full potential.
Team collaboration tools empower employees to freely share ideas, discuss problems, and devise solutions faster than ever.
Unlike emails, which can easily be skimmed, filtered, and forgotten, communication apps keep everyone in the loop. Your employees can utilize digital channels like voice, video and desktop sharing to forge and maintain relationships with partners, customers, contractors, and each other.
Higher Efficiency Levels
Employees generally spend roughly three hours per day searching for information and drafting emails. Once the necessary documents have been retrieved, they will often arrange a meeting or phone call to review with key personnel.
However, when implemented properly, online collaboration software can free up your time and automate certain tasks.
Most of these apps let you upload your documents directly into the tool and will automatically notify your fellow team members via email of a new task that needs to be reviewed.
Reviewers can add notes and make any necessary adjustments without the added hassle of re-uploading the documents.
This simplifies the process of creating an organized workflow. Not to mention team members will feel more compelled to contribute to projects knowing they don’t have to alert everyone each time a change or edit is made.
Instant Feedback
One of the greatest advantages of online workspaces is that managers can provide instant feedback with their teams.
Feedback is a prime indicator of how well supervisors and employees work together. It can reveal any pitfalls or cracks in how the feedback is distributed and received.
Effectively communicating feedback means that you have the best interests of your staff at heart. This involves delivering specific examples of areas of improvement, which can not only make them feel valued, but motivate them to sharpen their skill set.
Using a team collaboration app, you can provide feedback in writing or on a video call, which means a record of the discussion can be stored and accessed at a later date.
Anytime Access
One of the best parts of investing in collaboration platform software is being able to access your data from any place and at any time.
Whether you’re using a laptop or a mobile device, you can always count on having the most current, up-to-date information at your fingertips.
Workers no longer need to worry about saving files to their hard drives. Just log in to your collaboration tool of choice and you’re all set!
And in the event that you (or your clients) have opted to use more than one system to get the job done, NextPlane offers a variety of interoperability capabilities so you don’t have to choose.
Reduced Operational Costs
Productivity tools have plenty of advantages that extend beyond their features and functionality.
With remote or geographically-dispersed teams, off-site meetings can be incredibly time-consuming and costly.
Communication tools allow you to work from anywhere, communicate in real-time, and seamlessly shift from a simple chat conversion to a video conference with a single click.
Instead of having to deal with multiple vendors, licensing fees, and IT resources, your team only has to learn to use one platform that consolidates all aspects of communication and project management.
Data Protection
The most trusted online collaboration platforms have numerous safeguards in place to ensure that security never has to be an issue for you or your team members.
By having encryptions, password protection, and two-step authentication and firewalls, users will have peace of mind knowing that their proprietary or sensitive company data in transit and in rest is safe from unauthorized access.
There are also plenty of administrator controls where you can govern certain features and make them accessible to select users.
Final Thoughts
Your team deserves the very best that technology has to offer as far as collaboration platforms go.
And while your journey to drive efficiencies in your workplace may still be in its early stages, there’s no question that in today’s digital workplace, the driving force that keeps the wheels of teamwork moving forward can be found in collaboration software like Slack, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams.
From smaller startups to larger enterprises, companies of all stripes can reap the benefits of investing in an all-encompassing suite of tools to streamline business operations.
Happy collaborating!
The original version of this article was first published on Future of Work.
