5 essential tech tools for effective workplace collaboration

Workplace collaboration is key to the success of any organization, big or small, tech or non tech. The need of the hour is to constantly innovate, come up with better ideas and be more productive and efficient.

To achieve this teams need to work collaboratively; working in silos is no longer an option given the kind of work we do these days.

Considering that our teams work on multiple projects and also since we work with remote workers we have turned to technology to manage our workflow better and for efficient project management. More importantly, for better accountability and seamless communication. The way teams communicate with each other, both within the team and with other teams, play a major role in the effective collaboration.

At DL we use a number of online collaboration tools to ensure that team members work together to make decisions and there is open communication across teams. These tools have not only helped us streamline processes and boost productivity but also unlock creativity and improve employee engagement.

Let’s take a look at the online collaboration tools we use at DL

• Slack

You can’t collaborate if you won’t communicate! Slack is a great tool for intra-team communication. The cloud-based workplace collaboration app offers instant messaging, file transfers and has additional features like message search, provisions for specific messaging threads and channels which helps team members collaborate in real-time on projects. It comes with several interesting and eminently usable features and integrations.

With Slack, you can do away with email for good!

• Asana

One of the most well-known projects management tool, Asana helps you streamline your workflow. It allows users to assign tasks to other team members, add followers to projects, monitor deadlines and stay organised. It’s very useful as a to-do list or calendar for strategic workflow planning.

Asana breaks down bigger tasks into individual tasks. It displays the connections between the individual tasks and its relation to the overall project.

Working with a tool like Asana helps employees understand that their work relates to a larger goal than their specific project. Even employees working out of remote locations will not feel siloed.

• Zoom

The utility of video-conferencing cannot be emphasised enough. Why wait for everyone to get to a place when you can effectively connect from you are. There are several video conferencing tools available, but Zoom clearly stands out due to its user-friendly platform and its amazing lineup of features.

Zoom is a reliable cloud platform and provides video, audio, and screen-sharing experiences, chat and webinars.

Some great features which Zoom offers are :

• Excellent video quality
• Can be synchronised with calendar app directly
• All meeting are listed in one place.
• Sessions can be recorded for future recall.
• Simple and easy to set up a call or conference.
• Available for desktop and smartphone.

• Google Drive

The must-have open collaboration tool for any professional! It makes working so much easier. It is the safest place for all your files, keep photos, stories, designs, drawings, recordings, videos, and more. And the best part, you can access all this information from any computer, any browser, and from virtually any location.

With Google Docs/Sheets, you can write, edit, and collaborate wherever you are located. Team members can routinely update and stay in touch with the latest project progress, from anywhere.

Sharing documents has never been so easy. Google Drive’s highly collaborative nature ensures faster work cycles. No back and forth of emails required. Stakeholders can access the documents and work on it simultaneously. Also, organising information on Drive is quite good.

It has good security features. Only relevant team members can be given access to documents.

• Calendar

The Calendar is still the easiest way to manage your day. With Calendar, you can quickly schedule meetings and events and get reminders about upcoming activities, so you always know what’s next. The Calendar is designed for teams, so it’s easy to share your schedule with others, create your own schedules, agendas and create multiple calendars that you and your team can use together.

With options for setting specific dates and times for events, reminders, meetings notifications sent to your email, and the ability to keep others in the loop about what you’re doing, it’s a versatile tool with amazing features.

Integrate these tools into your workplace and reap the benefits. That said, Not every employee will be comfortable adopting these tools, and not every team will be able to make optimum use of them or even incorporate them in the same way. But the results will be there for everyone to see, over time.