18 must-have solutions for switching to remote working

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Exceptional circumstances call for exceptional measures. Millions of employees – perhaps yours – have been working from home since the health measures announced by President Macron (and his foreign counterparts). With the difficulties that this implies for those who are not accustomed to it, how can we switching ro remote working?

As managers, HR directors, or leaders of SMEs, you need assistance in deciding which software to choose and on which platform to make your teams work. 

That is why we have concocted a selection of 18 high-performance, efficient collaboration tools that are easy for your co-workers to use. 

Contents:

• Complete collaborative platforms
• Instant team messenger services
• Project management software
• Video conferencing tools
• Cloud storage solutions
• Co-editable documents
• Other services that have been recommended to us:

Read also: Remote Working : How do you maintain motivation on a daily basis?

Complete collaborative platforms

For switching to remote working, it is essential to maintain communication with your colleagues. Many tools exist, and it is not easy to identify the one that best meets YOUR needs. For that, here are three examples of collaborative platforms: all-in-one solutions that allow you to gather all your collective exchanges in the same place.

1) Talkspirit

Talkspirit is a corporate social network made in France that is revolutionizing internal communication in companies. Talkspirit is an all-in-one collaborative platform, ideal for sharing information and documents, conducting conversations (via chat or video conferencing), sharing a screen with your correspondent, and simplifying joint work. Its many features make it an essential tool to make working together, especially remotely, more pleasant and productive.

2) Jamespot

Jamespot is a 100% SaaS collaborative solution that will transform the productivity within your teams.

3) LumApps

Among the many existing intranet solutions, LumApps is the one recommended by Google, and the one that best integrates all of Google’s programs.

Download our fact sheet: 8 key steps to choose the right collaborative platform

Instant team messenger services

Don’t let COVID-19 cut you off from your colleagues! Consider yourself lucky: many tools have recently been launched that allow you to exchange in real time and to share documents in a few clicks with other members of your team.

Here are the three instant messaging tools which we recommend to switch to remote working with your teams.

4) Teams

Teams is Microsoft’s collaborative platform. It is primarily intended to serve as an internal messaging system for businesses and includes Skype Enterprise.

5) Slack

Slack will allow you to communicate in real time on dedicated channels for each project, for each team, or directly with one of your colleagues. Make sure you configure the notifications properly, which are very numerous throughout the day!

6) WhatsApp

This application (WhatsApp), bought by Facebook and already adopted by millions of users, likely needs no introduction. We could just say it’s more for personal use, than professional.

Read also: How to Find the Best Social Software for Your Organisation

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Project management software

While remote working, it can be tempting to work in pajamas, sprawl out on the couch, take liberties on the usual working hours, and take care of one’s childrenrather than moving forward on projects. Switching to remote working and being efficient is not that simple! Here is our selection of collaborative tools that are perfectly timed to help your teams organize their projects and tasks.

7) Trello

Trello offers an original interface inspired by the Kanban methodology. Organize your activities by classifying your tasks on different boards.

8) Asana

Asana is the ideal application for sharing tasks between colleagues. Its interface allows you both to have a global vision to gain a better perspective on a project, and to go into the details of the remaining tasks.

9) Todoist

For list adepts: Todoist allows you to organize your days with lists of tasks to be done.

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Video conferencing tools

Remote work means it’s necessary to have remote meetings. Getting together to discuss and make progress on your projects remains just as essential as in ordinary times. When it comes to video conferencing, there are many collaborative tools. Here are those preferred by the Talkspirit team:

10) Zoom

The Zoom solution has revolutionized video communication and offers all the necessary services for your video conferences.

11) Whereby

Primarily aimed at digital nomads, Whereby simplifies remote meetings and will be very useful during those weeks of remote working.

12) Skype

There is no need to introduce Microsoft’s video conferencing tool. It is timeless and always very effective, especially for sharing your screen with your interlocutor.

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Cloud storage solutions

Working with colleagues from home and sharing large documents can quickly become a real challengeCloud-based file sharing offers an ideal solution to this sensitive situation. As soon as your documents are posted to the shared space, they are accessible to all your colleagues from anywhere and on any device (PC, tablet, smartphone, etc.).

13) OVHcloud

The cloud solution offered by the French hosting provider has nothing to envy of the two solutions presented below. The OVH cloud hosting solution is a benchmark in terms of speed, reliability and customer service. In addition, the Roubaix-based cloud host is committed to energy efficiency and to the market of green data centers.

14) Dropbox

Dropbox is definitely the reference for cloud storage for enterprises. Dropbox is undoubtedly the best intelligent workspace on the market. More than just a storage space, Dropbox integrates the tools you use every day and avoids having to switch from one to the other. It is ideal to increase productivity during these weeks of remote working. 

15) Google Drive

Google’s cloud solution, designed for Google users, especially Gmail users. One of the best cloud solutions on the market, it offers 15GB of free space.

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Co-editable documents

A report to write together? A document on which external contributions are needed? What if you just want to avoid multiple rounds of e-mailsand save precious time?! Different online solutions now allow you to work together, in real time, on the same document: charts/spreadsheets, text, presentations/slides, etc.

16) Google Docs

Directly accessible on your web browser, the Google suite is the undisputed leader in word processing, spreadsheets and shared presentations.

17) OnlyOffice

OnlyOffice is an all-in-one suite for collaboration on shared documents, fully compatible with MS Office formats. But the OnlyOffice solution goes even further and integrates features that neither Google Docs nor Office 365 have, such as the use of equations and matrices, or the processing of non-printable characters.

18) Office 365

The Office 365 suite offers most of the features offered by the Google suite, for those who prefer using a desktop application.

Other services that have been recommended to us:

• Mailjet is a French emailing solution that allows you to create, send and track marketing and transactional emails. Mailjet offers a set of unique collaborative features on the market.
• Smash: the French equivalent of Wetransfer to send all your files to your colleagues, free of charge and with no size limit.
• Kantree: the tool to organize, plan and manage your team’s projects and processes; an alternative to Trello or Asana.
• IPaidThat: THE solution to help you settle all your expense claims remotely and monitor your cash flow in real time!

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For switching to remote working, the choice of collaboration tools is essential. In a variety of circumstances (a broken leg, a child confined to bed, a medical appointment in the middle of the day, a transport strike, etc.), your employees may have to stay at home to work remotely.

It is to ensure that you provide them with tools that meet their expectations that we have made these recommendations. 

To learn more about the best collaborative platforms, find our comparative that explains their advantages and disadvantages, their prices, their functionalities, their integrations, and more. Also download our method sheet: 8 key steps to choose your collaborative platform.  

Any questions? Simply write us an e-mail at hello@talkspirit.com and we will be happy to help you.

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Authors : Paul Maubareyt, Hugo Bessaguet