Effective tools for working remote

Tools For Working Remote

As more and more companies transition to working from home, we find ourselves looking for remote work tools and tips to balance this new work environment. Because working remotely is a new transition for most of us, we may find ourselves feeling a little lost. Work from home technology and tools are what make us able to work remotely both effectively and efficiently. Throughout this article, we’ll highlight some of our go-to work from home apps, tools, and software that can be used in any of these areas:

• Communication – internal and external
• Sales
• Productivity
• Internal
• Writing

Learning how to work remotely

In light of recent events, all of us have had to work from home for an extended period of time. This might pave the way for a new future with more remote workers and flexibility to work from home. Although the adjustment period has been different for all of us, some of the more common struggles and challenges of working remotely include time management and communication, but there are also benefits to working from home.

Some of these benefits include a better work-life balance and significantly less commuter stress. A lot of these benefits wouldn’t be possible without the remote working software and tech stacks that we use every day. This article will cover some of our common working remotely tips and tools, best practices, and more to having a successful work from home experience. We’ll also dive a little deeper and offer our list of the best remote working tools that we use for specific roles and purposes.

Work from home best practices

When you first start working remotely, there are some initial hesitations about this new environment. Some of these hesitations may include a lack of boundaries, numerous distractions, not having an ‘off button’, some isolation that comes with working from home, and a more difficult time collaborating with team members. To combat some of these worries, we’ve compiled a list of best practices for working remotely that can help you have a more effective and maintainable schedule. These remote work best practices include:

• Maintaining regular hours: When working from home, having a schedule is important to staying productive throughout the day. Therefore, if you usually work from 9 am to 5 pm and take a lunch break in the middle of the day, try to maintain those same work hours.
• Follow a morning routine: Having a morning routine will not only motivate you to get out of bed in the morning, but it’ll also help you start your day off on the right foot. Workout, make yourself a cup of coffee, and get dressed!
• Stay in touch with coworkers: Staying in touch with coworkers is more important than ever and can help with those feelings of isolation that you can get when working remotely.
• Take a break and move: Sitting at your desk all day can get draining, so make it a goal for yourself to get up here and there and walk around or stretch!
• Turn your camera on: Turning your camera on during meetings can help you hold yourself more accountable and helps avoid any possible distractions.

Communication tools for remote workers

Communication tools hold a high value in our remote work toolbox. They’re necessary to maintain relationships with customers, prospects, and team members. Communication tools are some of our most important remote working equipment. Many of these tools are essentially remote work platforms that help you communicate successfully and efficiently. Our two favorite tools that we find ourselves using on a daily basis include Dialpad, Zoom, and of course, Slack!

Dialpad
Dialpad is a cloud communication platform that is powered by AI that can help you facilitate conference calls, and acts as a ‘phone system’ for your company. Dialpad also comes with a number of different features and integrations.

Zoom
Zoom is our go-to tool for video conferencing and meetings, and webinar hosting.

Remote work software for Sales

Sales roles are roles that have been widely affected by the new workplace environment. Traditional sales methods and channels of communication can’t be replicated in the same way when working from home. Sales roles thrive off relationship building and connections and it’s definitely hard to continue selling while navigating a financial crisis with people experiencing heightened emotions. Sales representatives have had to alter their approach and focus on human selling, being more personable while using work from home platforms, and learning how to be more empathetic during this difficult time. We’ve listed two of the best software for remote workers who focus on selling below:

Covideo
Covideo is a video-email solution that can help you send personalized video emails through your favorite channels so you can stay connected anywhere. Using Covideo can increase your response rates and helps you keep prospects more engaged. With video email, you can delve into product overviews or address complex questions without sending lengthy, confusing emails or waiting to coordinate calendars. Keep your lines of communication open and the timeline on schedule with a video your prospect can watch at their convenience.

Calendly
Calendly is an online appointment scheduling software that makes scheduling meetings super easy, especially while working remotely. Calendly helps you avoid sending too many emails back and forth and creates a quick link to your schedule that you can send to sales prospects.

Productivity tools for remote teams

Work from home productivity tools are incredibly valuable for your day to day routine. Productivity can have different meanings for everyone depending on the type of work you do, but in general, we’re focusing on tools that make your day more time-efficient and easier. Finding the right work from software can be a game-changer. The right tools take out the pain of mundane tasks, help automate some of your routines, and help you focus on what’s most important. The tools listed below can help you stay more organized and help you keep track of your work to-do list.

Google Drive
Having all of your documents, files, and materials organized and easily accessible can save you so much time rifling through desktop files. Google drive not only helps you keep your workspace organized, but it also helps you easily share these files with team members, sales prospects, and more. With Google Drive, you can also create ‘shared folders’ where you can easily collaborate on projects with others and create easy databases for your most important documents.

Asana
Asana is a task management software that helps you create calendars and to-do lists for both yourself and shared projects. You can create ‘road maps’ and schedules with tasks attached to them using Asana. You can also use Asana to check in on tasks with team members by tagging them and leaving notes/questions on each task.

Remote work tools for Internal Communication

How you communicate internally with your team has been drastically affected by remote working. You can no longer just ask your coworker a question in the middle of the day, or get a second pair of eyes on something. It takes more effort, energy, and planning now to work with and collaborate with colleagues. Finding a way to communicate effectively and efficiently is key to productively work on projects and making sure your work is meeting your goals. These two work from home tools can help you accomplish that!

Droplr
Droplr is one of our favorite remote working technology tools. Droplr can help you create screenshots, screen recordings, and GIFs to share with anyone, anywhere. Once you create a screenshot with Droplr, you can a short link to copy and paste into emails, Slack, and some of your other favorite channels. All of the content you create with Droplr is shared in the cloud and can be access through your dashboard.

Slack
Slack can help you chat in a more efficient way than traditional methods of workplace communication like email. In Slack, your team can have a number of different ‘channels’, like marketing, engineering, customer support, and more! In these channels, you can communicate and collaborate with team members.

Remote working tools for writing

Since we’ve started working remotely, we are spending a significant amount of time typing, sending emails, and messages. It may feel like everyday, there are more and more slacks, emails, and messages to respond to, but this tool is one of the best apps for working from home, Not only, is this tool great for remote work, but it’s a must for anyone who does any sort of writing on the regular.

Grammarly
Grammarly provides some of the best technology for working remotely. Grammarly is an app that you can download on your browser and integrates with most writing applications like Google Docs, Gmail, and more. The software is essentially a digital writing assistant that highlights grammar and spelling errors and provides suggestions.

Tools for working remotely

The best remote working best practices include using tools like those listed above to help you structure a more productive work environment when working remotely. Some of the equipment needed to work from home can help you save time and make working from home less stressful.

To try out one of our favorite work from home software, Covideo, click here. With Start a free trial, you’ll get instant access to all of our standard features, and you’ll be able to upload, record, send, and track video emails within minutes. Start a free trialno credit card required! Covideo is the best way to send videos through email; let us show you how to personalize your communication.