8 Tools You Need to Manage a Remote Team

When it comes to managing a remote team, you need to have a blend of technology, communication, and practices. These factors enable both your employees and business to operate efficiently. The reality of the current situation when considering the pandemic is that employees will slack while working from home. It has become very easy for workers to hide behind remote working as a reason to slack. That is why managing a team requires a lot of trust in each member.

Remote working can lead to a lot of distractions or dishonesty about working hours. This is where productivity and time tracking software come into play. It’s good to have the right Business IT Support Partner who understands these kinds of things. These software tools provide insight on your remote workers efficiency levels. By using the right software, you can go as deep as recognising their habits and how long it takes them to finish a task. You as a manager need to narrow down the amount of remote management tools that are used to prevent employees from not doing their jobs correctly.

Working in virtual teams is not easy, which is why there has to be fixed availability hours to ensure that all employees can be visible and respond. The right tool makes this an easy step and keeps the employees in sync. This is particularly apparent in tech-dependent companies, IT Support Financial Services Solutions need to include support that covers high-tech apps and tools. This all being said, it is also important to try and avoid an employee burnout. You’ll need to have a good idea of team capacity and availability. Remote working is quickly becoming very saturated and as time goes on it is becoming a more permanent solution. Hence why if you haven’t yet you should make use of the tools listed below.

1. CurrentWare

CurrentWare provide a software that monitors remote employees. This is great because it allows you to monitor your WFH employees through their activity and time spent being active. It gives you a better sense of just how engaged they really are and on what applications. CurrentWare also have a device management tool that lets you see when employees start and stop working.

2. Saviom

Saviom is a resource management software that shows how much personalisation can go into dashboards, analytics, and portals. The software provides managers with the ability to keep track of project resource schedules and any activities that need to be completed within a certain time frame. It takes this process a step further by providing reports on capacity, demand, utilisation, and availability. Ultimately it captures the effort being put in by employees and what needs improving among the workforces. Managing a workforce can become as easy as pie when employee’s timesheet is recorded. Saviom shows you exactly what needs improving on and let’s you do so across business hours.

3. Trello

Trello has become a household name for those doing hybrid working. This app has gained its reputation for helping employees stay organised.  Its biggest attraction is how easy it makes it to arrange tasks by its level of importance. It may be a great tool for teamwork collaboration but that is just a bonus. Trello’s features are more focused on helping their users recognise how far they have progressed on tasks and what needs to still be done.

4. Harvest

Harvest is a time tracking software that does not allow for any slacking. It lets both managers and teams track their work and tasks. But the tasks arranged according to their priority so that users do not waste time on unnecessary distractions. All extra tasks are scheduled to be done during their extra time. Harvest is a time and expense tracker that lets you start and stop timers while working. It has awesome features like a built-in camera that captures receipts and uploads and saves them. It is easy to include Harvest as a part of your workflow.

5. Zoom

Zoom is one of the most popular group collaboration tools in the world right now. This is done through meeting rooms, chats, webinars, and conference options. With the fear of face-to-face meetings because of the current pandemic, many businesses have chosen to make use of Zoom. You never have to worry about unauthorised personnel joining these meetings as well. The meetups are via invitation, and they consist of shared screens. Those in meetings are able to mute and unmute so there aren’t any interruptions when someone is talking. If by some chance, there are employees who have missed a meeting they can just watch it at a later point as there is an option to record the sessions.

6. Google Drive

Google Drive is an awesome solution for remote sharing. This platform lets you create documents, status trackers on spreadsheets and make presentations with a variety of templates. This is great for both employees and managers as they can proofread documents and add other suggestions they might have. All these files can be retrieved via categorised folders to ensure that you as the user know where to find them. It’s a good idea to have experts who understand Microsoft and Google apps, almost any team can benefit from having the help of an Azure Consultant or Google Expert to better support them and their teams.

7. Zapier

We have discussed all these platforms and apps thus far which can be a lot to consume. But in steps Zapier, this app allows you to have as many apps as you like in one system. It keeps information moving across web apps and frees up more time for employees t focus on their work.

8. Blink

Blink is a great app for mobile teams who need to constantly keep in touch with other staff members. It promotes communication amongst employees and harmony when in the process of completing projects, progress, and workplace dynamics. Those that are on the go can access personalized work feeds through their mobile devices. This app has an array of features that include third party integrations, discussion boards, employee guides, employee data base, instant messaging, and file transfers. These are all aspects that make connecting remote workers a simpler process and effortless.

Hybrid working can be frustrating especially when it means you have to collaborate with many workers at once. Management needs to realize that technology has become extremely broad and provides an unlimited number of tools to make working remotely easier. The current circumstances wont be changing anytime soon therefore it is better to be prepared and have your business continue to thrive.