The following 36 remote work tools are segmented by use case to help you determine the type of resource you and your team would benefit most from.
Remote Work Tools For General Collaboration
1. Google Workspace
Google Workspace (G Suite) is a budget-friendly Google platform that allows your teams to collaborate on Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slide, among other easy-to-use Google Drive tools. You can also share a team calendar and create work emails through G Suite.
2. Microsoft Office Teams
While G Suite can be used entirely online within one platform, Microsoft Office Teams allows you to download apps like Excel, Outlook, Word, and PowerPoint to your computer or mobile device. Like G Suite, you also can use this general suite of tools to manage, share, store, and edit documents in team folders. Aside from the more specific apps, Microsoft Teams also allows you to communicate with your teammates via video calls, email, and through an internal discussion platform where your colleagues can create posts or ask questions.
Remote Work Tools For Task and Project Management
3. Trello
Trello allows you to create a dashboard that highlights large projects or categories and tasks related to them. Each small task, called a "card" can be labeled with a colored tag and text.
For example, if you want to say something is "Urgent" you could create a red card tag that says "Urgent" on it and add it to the appropriate Trello cards. You can also assign cards and deadlines to members of your team and track each card's progress through its Activity area.
4. Asana
Asana lets you create and delegate tasks, organize, and check off tasks into shared projects, chat within each task so conversations stay organized, and add attachments from your computer, Dropbox, Box, and Google Drive. It also has calendar features, dashboards for projects, and your very own to-do list.
5. Jira
Jira is another project management tool primarily for developers, customer support, and IT reps that allows you to assign and track work as well as issues that need to be solved. It also has a handy mobile and desktop interface for project management on the go.
6. Assembla
Project management for web developers seems to be Assembla's niche, though it could handle project management for just about any type of freelancing.
It tracks tickets and time, produces reports, and simplifies product releases and bug-fixing — plus many say it's easier to set up than Jira.
7. Basecamp
Basecamp is a simple and easy-to-use project management software that helps you arrange your calendars, set meeting schedules, track assignments, and store documents. All of your project management occurs on one organized dashboard to give you a digestible birds-eye-view of everything that's happening.
8. RingCentral's Glip
There's another great tool by RingCentral and Glip. While RingCentral enables company calls to your business line to be forwarded to a mobile phone when you're working remotely, Glip helps you manage basic project management and text-based team communication. For task management, shared calendars, file sharing, annotating images, and real-time group chat, Glip is a strong tool. It also helps ensure all those chats are fully searchable. Along with group chats and standard project management features, you can activate video chats on the Glip app which allows you to talk to your teammates about ongoing tasks.
9. Github
Web developers will love GitHub because it's designed to build software with remote teams. The platform allows teams to virtual participate in code review and the management of both open source and private projects. The GitHub Marketplace offers coders a variety of tools that can help them do their jobs more efficiently, regardless of where they log in.
10. Podio
Part project manager, part Facebook for companies, you can use Podio to keep track of what you need to do, and chat while doing it. With the mobile app and website, you can create "workspaces" for different aspects of your work or projects. These workspaces look similar to a Facebook page as colleagues can comment or share information on them similarly to how they would share a Facebook post. You can also use the platform to communicate with teammates or manage client contacts privately since it has a wide range of privacy settings.
11. Taskworld
The sweet spot for Taskworld is managing projects and keeping track of tasks and subtasks. Its evaluation feature lets you measure and give feedback on job performance, setting it apart from other similar project management programs.
12. Monday.com
Monday.com is a web task management platform specifically for businesses and agencies. It offers similar features to Asana and Trello in that you can watch the progress of tasks on a dashboard and assign projects to team members. But, additionally, it also allows marketing teams to plan tasks with their budget in mind.
Remote Work Tools For Scheduling and Hosting Virtual Meetings
13. Zoom
Zoom is an easy-to-use desktop platform and app that allows you to schedule, launch, and record virtual meetings with your team. These meetings can be entered remotely from a computer, smartphone, or voice via a dial in phone. During Zoom meetings, you can also share your screen with teammates so they can see your work or presentations.
14. GoToMeeting
GoToMeeting allows you to schedule and launch virtual meetings or webinars where users can log in or call to hear only hosts speak. These meetings can be recorded and sent to participants after they're completed.
15. Google Hangouts
Google Hangouts is a popular option because Google is usually convenient for those who use Google Calendar to manage your schedule and GMail for emails.
16. Join.me
Join.me is great for fast and easy screen-share meetings. In addition to being able to schedule and launch quick virtual meetings with screen-share, you can also create a shareable URL to your own personal meeting room that people can log on to when they'd like to meet with you.
17. Skype
At this point, many of us have already used Skype. Along with allowing you to host free small virtual meetings, Skype also enables you to create group chats. If you want to use the paid version of Skype, you can also have meetings with groups or make international voice calls.
18. UberConference
With UberConference, there's no wondering who joined the call, who said what, or what the heck your meeting PIN number is. It also allows screen sharing and has a mobile app. You can create video calls in your own name and when someone signs in, you can easily see them on the video calls dashboard. Then, when someone is talking, their video feed will be highlighted so you can easily see what's happening and stay focused.
19. Google Calendar
Rather than having a full conversation over an instant messaging platform about when to have a meeting, you can use G Suite's Google Calendar feature. With the feature, you can share your Google Calendar with your colleagues. Then, when you want to schedule a meeting with them, simply search their names and book a suggested time that works.
Remote Work Tools For Quick Chats With Colleagues
20. Slack
Slack is great for real-time communication for one-on-one conversations or with everyone on your team. You can also organize chats by subject, and integrate activity from platforms like Github, Trello, and Pingdom.
21. WhatsApp
If you have a remote or globally dispersed team, or communicate regularly with international clients or prospects, WhatsApp is a great communication platform that allows you to create group chats with them, send text messages, host multiple-person video calls, or make voice calls for free on a Wi-Fi network.
22. Flowdock
Flowdock is simple and easy-to-use instant messaging app and website similar to Slack. It also integrates with Jira, GitHub, Basecamp, Asana, Assembla, Trello and many other apps.
Remote Work Tools For Asset Management
23. Google Drive
I love Google Drive, but it does tend to update rather frequently — meaning, just when you’ve figured it out and have all your things organized, things change. With that said, it’s free, stores and organizes all of your content and information, and you can work on the same document with multiple people at the same time.
24. Dropbox
Sharing large files doesn’t work so well over email, which is where Dropbox and Dropbox Business come in. This is a great tool for organizing freelancer work. Just have the freelancer upload their documents into monthly folders and message you when their work is in.
25. Adobe Creative Cloud
Adobe Creative Cloud programs like Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator allow you to create design files or visual assets that can then be edited or updated by your team.
26. Canva
Similar to Adobe, but easier to use for design novices, Canva allows you to create team accounts where you can share design templates and assets with your colleagues remotely. This ensures you're able to access and edit any design files or brand imagery you might need while working from home.
27. Figma
Figma is a design platform for teams who build products together. Born on the Web, Figma helps teams create, share, test, and ship better designs from start to finish. Whether it’s consolidating tools, simplifying workflows, or collaborating across teams and time zones, Figma makes the design process faster, more efficient, and fun while keeping everyone on the same page.
28. Debrief
Debrief is a secure and collaborative video platform that converts recordings into transcribable, searchable, and easy to browse content, allowing users to store and easily find all their videos (Zoom, Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams and more). Distributed teams rely on Debrief to communicate and keep everybody aligned on what matters.
Remote Work Tools For Announcements and Internal Documentation
28. Confluence
Confluence allows you to create an internal blog or wiki for your team. It’s more of a team manager, keeping documents, notes, best practices, product requirements, and plans all in one easily searchable place.
29. GitHub Wiki
Savvy inbound marketing companies use GitHub Wiki for employee onboarding by organizing helpful resources for new employees.
30. Loom
With Loom, you can record a presentation or just your voice to give an announcement or play-by-play to your team. Then, you can get a link to share the recording and easily circulate it across channels like instant messengers or email.
31. Notion
Notion is your all-in-one workspace for notes, docs, wikis, projects, and collaboration. It provides components such as notes, databases, kanban boards, wikis, calendars and reminders. Users can connect these components to create their own systems for knowledge management, note taking, data management, project management, among others.
Remote Work Tools For Tracking Team Progress
32. Time Doctor
Time Doctor helps you, your team and/or remote freelancers can create projects and start a clock when starting a new task. Then Time Doctor's dashboard shows a report of how many hours your colleague has worked throughout the day and which projects they've spent the most time on.
33. Harvest
For keeping track of time and expenses, this is a simple few-frills tool. With Harvest, you simply create projects or to-do list items and start the clock when you start working on each tasks. Then you can see how much time you've spent on different list items, such as writing blog posts, strategizing, or producing marketing emails.
34. iDoneThis
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I can’t remember what I did yesterday. iDoneThis solves that problem for individuals and teams by sending a "digest" of what everyone did.
Remote Work Tools For Team Decision-Making
35. Polly.ai
When your team needs to make a decision that doesn't require a full meeting, Polly.ai enables you to create a survey that you can then send through platforms like Slack. From there, your colleagues can simply vote on an option.
36. Doodle
Doodle is a poling platform that allows you to ask quick questions to your team and see how they vote. You can also create a meeting-time poll which enables your team to vote on a meeting time that works best for them so you're able to accommodate schedules.
Today, your employees must have the ability to effectively do their jobs remotely — they need access to the right resources to help them be as productive at home as they are in an office space.It's no secret that everyone works a little differently and has a unique set of challenges. But when our problems have to do with organization and productivity, try implementing one of the tools mentioned above.
