Online collaboration has been growing in many different ways. From hiring remote workers to growing your in-house team. Collaboration tools are essential for proper management and workflow and overall keeping a team in-check and organized.
The big problem with online collaboration tools though is there are tonnes to choose from and each one provides solutions to problems. It can be difficult for any business to keep up with which one is the best to go for.
To help with that, here are some platforms that are worth considering if you’re looking to expand your team and want to have better management tools outside of sending them the occasional email. I’d also recommend these generally helpful apps too to make your business go smoother too.
Filestage
First on the list is Filestage. This is a project management tool that allows immediate feedback on various image, video projects. They also accept PDFs amongst many other things which means your team can readily give feedback to these projects.
Filestage also generates to-do lists based on those comments to ensure that people in the team never misses them. You can review and approve in real-time allowing people to monitor on the progress of projects and there is no delay when feedback is given.
Basecamp
Another alternative to Filestage is Basecamp. This was created by Google for project management as well but it’s simpler in nature. There is no real-time editing, but you can:
Easily communicate to people;
Make to-do lists and tag people to those assignments;
And create buckets if you need to create multiple to-do lists for various teams or objectives.
Best of all, Basecamp Personal is free to use so long as you have a Google account.
Google Hangouts
Another Google product but it’s a solid choice for audio communication. You have other alternatives like Skype, Zoom, or Whereby, but this is another solid choice. It’s free to use and allows a meeting to upwards of 10 people.
There is also a direct messaging feature there too so people can respond quickly.
Canva
I’ve talked about this platform before as a great option for editing and creating your own posts on social media. It’s such a powerful tool. And it’s also compatible with teams.
This collaboration tool is great on it’s base form alone. Together as a team, it’s possible to create designs within minutes and to share them immediately with your team. Similar to Filestage, team members can also leave comments about the work as well so the designer can make adjustments.
Canva has layouts for thousands of designs and you can also generate your own custom templates too.
Google Docs
For documents, Google is a good option. Google Docs has been around for a long time and it’s one of the most reliable tools to consider when thinking of documentation tools. Whether your team is large or small, Google docs is great.
All that you need to do is whenever you’re sharing documents to people you can allow them to make comments or edit the document directly. It’s that simple. It’s also free to use. All that’s required is a stable internet connection.
Dropbox
If you ever need to do file sharing, this is a great pick. When using Dropbox for team efforts, I’d suggest upgrading it to the business version as you’ll have more space, features and higher sharing limits.
What’s also worth noting is Dropbox has expanded in collaboration tools too in the form of Dropbox Paper. It’s a documentation tool that’s rolled in with various collaboration tools allowing you to work on videos, images, code and sound amongst other things.
Considering both of these tools are from the same company, it makes sense that you can easily move your projects to Dropbox with little effort. Best of all Dropbox Paper is free if you have a Dropbox account.
Evernote
The final tool I want to cover is Evernote as it’s a way to keep your team organized with overarching ideas. Say you’re in a team meeting and a member comes up with a solution or an idea that would be good for the future. Evernote gives us the opportunity to write it out but also share it with the team later down the road.
This works wonders for even larger teams as well. Evernote is great for jotting down meeting notes, key points and more. It’s a handy tool and it’s free to use.
Collaborate Today
Of course, the collaboration tools mentioned are only the beginning. There are dozens of other alternatives to these platforms and they satisfy many other needs. The key is to find the right set of tools that works for you and your team.
I would recommend going for these tools, but if you are hunting for more options, signs of a quality collaboration tool is that they provide multiple features, are easy to navigate, have some cloud-based component, and can potentially provide integration.