Virtual team working tools now and in the future
Virtual teams in workplaces are not future anymore, they are already here. Sir Richard Branson, famous businessman, investor, author and philantrophist once said “One day, offices wil be a thing of the past”. According to BBC 1.3 million U.K people work virtually full time. Virtual teams can be described as a "group of people who work independently with shared purpose across space, time, and organization boundaries, using technology to communicate and collaborate”.
For virtual teams tools and preferably functional and efficient tools are vital. To successfully implement virtual teams that works like a well oiled machine the tools must also be top class. It requires careful evaluation of the capabilities and potential of the available virtual tools that are introduced to the virtual team. Next I will list some the most potential virtual working tools.
1. Slack
Slack is a team communication app that is one of the most widely used tools by remote teams. Remote-first companies like Zapier, Buffer, and Help Scout consider Slack their “virtual office”—a place where employees can get instant feedback and connect with their colleagues, both one-on-one and in groups. It is probably the best service to use for virtual messaging in the workplace – however, it is expensive.
2. Zoom
Zoom is a video conferencing app that has grown rapidly in the last few years from 30,000 users in 2014 to 700,000 users in 2017—an increase of 2233% over just 3 years. Zoom is perfect for teams that are all virtual and meetings can also be recorded for people’s further reference.Â
3. Trello
Trello is a project management software that allows virtual teams to work more productivily. Trello is said to be very simple to use and easy to start with, so you don’t need spend on learning how to use it.Â
4. GreenRope
GreenRope is a shared CRM tool that offers complete CRM for virtual teams. With GreenRope you can easily store data on the software so multiple people can work in different locations. Cloud-based documents are also used commonly by remote teams. This kind of project means people can work on the same task from different locations and use cloud-based documents.
5. Dropbox
Dropbox is one of the most popular document storage and file sharing softwares. It is mainly used to share high quality pictures and different documents. Documents can be downloaded and then opened in other applications, like Microsoft Word. Dropbox enables your team to share files, documents, pictures etc. easily so that everything is in storage and every team member can access them
It’s no secret that the workplace is constantly evolving and many people believe that most offices will become remote in the future. With video conferencing, live video feeds and document creation applications, it’s a fantastic way to change the way that people work together. Due to the rise of places with Wi-Fi, the remote workplace is more possible and will continue to be so throughout the next few years. Some companies have even completely stopped using traditional offices.
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Sources:
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/working-virtual-team.htm
https://hbr.org/2013/06/making-virtual-teams-work-ten
https://www.invisionapp.com/inside-design/online-collaboration-tools-remote/














