ASUS Business Hub

Working remotely presents many benefits for teams, but it also presents quite a number of challenges as well. Many teams have worked their way around these challenges using a host of tools and applications developed by companies who understand that remote teams need to be connected and working just as cohesively as they would in an office together. Whether you’re just starting a remote team, or you’re looking to readdress your tools and whether there’s a better alternative or two, you’ll find a wealth of tools below that companies of all sizes use to keep their teams working well.

Team Communication

Slack (Free/Paid Options) Slack is the platform that started the craze of multi-channel communication, with Microsoft’s Teams and consumer applications like Discord following suit. Slack and similar apps offer a place for businesses to centralise their communication, involving multiple chat channels, private and group calls, and more. You can also integrate other apps like Dropbox, Office, and more into Slack, streamlining workflows and how your team operates. You can set up a Slack channel for free, but it has limitations such as messaging history, so if you’re set on bringing your team onto Slack, you’ll likely want to opt for a paid membership that opens up all of Slack’s features. Microsoft Teams (Free/Paid Options) Microsoft Teams is Microsoft’s answer to Slack’s meteoric rise in popularity, offering multi-channel communication, calls and meetings for up to 10,000 people, app integration and so on. It’s the ideal choice if you’re already part of Microsoft’s ecosystem (as you’ll quickly see as you go through this list), and ties in nicely with other Office programs. There is a free option for chatting and collaboration, but you’ll need to opt for an Office 365 Business plan to get other features like productivity apps and meetings and calls. Skype (Free) Skype is somewhat superseded by Microsoft Teams, and Teams is in fact slowly replacing Skype for Business, as Microsoft pushes users towards their new platform. Normal Skype however is still a viable communication tool for teams looking to stay in touch, share screens, and message each other regarding work. Its limitations are apparent when compared to apps like Teams and Slack. There’s no easy way to set up channels for different projects and topics, and notification options are more limited. Despite such limitations, Skype is still a viable and dependable tool, even when used alongside Teams and Slack. Zoom (Free/Paid Options) Zoom is one of the de-facto conferencing tools, and often the most-used when it comes to setting up video webinars, online meetings and conference calls. Almost as versatile as apps like Teams and Slack, Zoom’s primary role is in multi-user calls, which is where it shines brightest. Zoom offers a free basic plan, where users can host unlimited 1 on 1 meetings, and up to 100 participants in web conferences. In order to receive features like conference recording and company branding, you’ll need to upgrade to one of their paid plans.

Task/Project Management

Monday (Paid/Free Trial) Monday is a versatile task management software, allowing teams to organise their workflow by projects, and visualising them as Kanban boards, calendars, timelines, maps, and more. With over 20 column types, embedded forms, files storage and more, Monday is a powerful app, though to get the most out of Monday, you’ll need to move beyond the Basic plan. For example, you’ll find the calendar and timeline views limited to the Standard plan and above. It’s a very flexible piece of software that enables teams to adopt different views for different project types (with calendars and timelines ideal for keeping an eye on how projects are coming along, while Kanban boards are preferential for ideation). Overall, a worthy investment for teams that need a high level of versatility in their project management software. Asana (Free/Paid Options) If you’re just getting started managing projects, Asana is an ideal place to start, and their free plan offers plenty of freedom to get work done. The Basic plan is their free option, and offers Tasks, List, Board, and Calendar views. You can also invite up to 15 colleagues, and integrate your other apps, much like you can with Slack, ideal for those teams spread across various tools. Upgrading to a paid plan will see you gain access to features like Timeline, advanced searches and reports, forms, rules, the admin console, and more. If you make the leap to the Business plan, you can make use of their advanced integrations with applications like Salesforce, Adobe CC, Tableau and more. Asana is widely-known for its potent project management, and for good reason; it’s extremely flexible, and plugs in to a lot of other tools, making it a very strong candidate for businesses of any size. Trello (Free/Paid Options) Trello is often not considered for team project management, but that’s mostly due to teams not understanding how much potential Trello offers for hard-working teams. It’s known for it’s pin-board-style layout, where teams can drag and drop tasks and project elements from one column to another, keeping track of which pieces of work are done or not. Teams can have unlimited personal boards, with unlimited cards and lists, along with 10 team boards. The moment a team upgrades to the paid plans however, they gain access to unlimited team boards, Power-Ups, the Calendar and Maps views, and various app integrations, to name a few benefits. They even offer an automation feature on all their plans, though paid plans give more freedom to implement this automation. Trello is certainly worth checking out if your team is looking for something agile and easy to use right away.  

Look out for Part 2, where we’ll cover cloud storage, time-tracking, and note-taking/ideation tools.