The pandemic situation forced the organizations to shift to remote working overnight. The change was particularly challenging for the small and mid-level businesses. Many of whom couldn’t arrange the necessary tech tools to support their employees within such short notice. It seemed the world had come to a halt. But thanks to modern technology and advanced communication tools, it didn’t take us long to cope with these new challenges.
In fact, several studies conducted over the last few months suggest working from home increases the productivity of the non-essential workers. A paper published by Stanford University shows remote working resulted in a 13% performance increase among workers. Another recent survey conducted by McKinsey & Company says, more than 50% of government and corporate employees in the US want to have the opportunity to work from their homes at least three days a week. Nearly one-third of the respondents reportedly said they want to work remotely full-time.
Although the corporate leaders are still not in consensus about the advantages of work from home, we can safely assume, the culture of remote work is here to stay. Here’s a list of some tech tools that optimize the productivity of remote workers and help in running the operations smoothly.
1. Organization and project management
One of the biggest challenges businesses face in a remote work environment is managing a large team of people placed in different geographical locations. Video conferencing and other communication tools prove to be inadequate to run the daily operations efficiently. Especially when it is a complex project involving many people. Here comes the role of advanced task management software and tools. Project management tools like Trello, Asana, or Nozbe let you delegate tasks to your employees. In addition, it allows you to track their progress. These tools help the employees to plan their work schedules efficiently. That’s because they get a clear picture of their responsibilities and the deadlines of the projects. While some project management tools have a built-in time tracker, for others, you need to get a separate time-tracking tool such as Toggle Track and Clockify.
2. Cloud storage
While your employees are collaborating remotely, they must have access to a file storage space accessible from anywhere at any time. Cloud storage comes in all shapes and sizes to satisfy the need of businesses. The big companies often get their exclusive cloud storage, whereas the smaller organizations depend on third-party cloud storage solutions.
As you will store all your business data on the storage, many of which may be confidential or sensitive, make sure the cloud storage is completely secure.
Several free and reasonably priced cloud storage solutions are there in the market, including Google Drive, Microsoft One Drive, Blomp, JustCloud, and others. They offer you a certain amount of free space. After you exhaust the free space, you will need to pay a monthly/yearly fee to get more space.
3. Distraction blocker tools
The online world is full of distractions. It is much more likely for the employees to get distracted while they are working from their homes. Distraction blocking apps and tools are here to help them stay focused on their work and increase the quality of their overall output.
Apps and tools like Freedom, Cold Turkey, or KeepMeOut let you block distracting apps and websites for a certain period. You can preschedule the blocking so that you do not need to activate it every day. Forest is another app that keeps you away from your phone in an innovative way by paying virtual incentives.
While working from home can be a convenient option for both employers and employees, it also brings a set of challenges with it. Choosing the right tech tools can be your key to success in this era of new normal.
Blomp offers you up to 10 TB of cloud storage space where you can store all your files securely. Claim your cloud space today and work with your remote team seamlessly.