Collaboration and communication is the backbone of any successful team and simply relying on a mismatch of outdated and disorganized software is not going to make your task any easier. That’s why we’ve put together this list to highlight some of the top recommended tools that have helped others effectively lead their virtual teams.
There are a lot of tools out there on the market that can do a lot of different things, so we have rounded down our list into three distinct categories:
Depending on your needs, selecting a single tool or choosing a collection of them will give your team the best shot of seamlessly collaborating and communicating and ultimately achieving the results you desire.
Top communication tools for virtual teams
Communication is the foundation of any successful team, virtual or not. Long gone are the days of endless email chains and incessant updates. Effective communication tools need to handle more than just updates.
They need to facilitate spaces for seamless collaboration in all forms in a virtual space. Be it through text or message or images and anything else in between, the top communication tools can accommodate any style of the team and make sure they are always on the same page.
Here are our top choices:
● Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is one of the most widely used communication and collaboration tools on the market. The tool allows teams to easy facilitate group meetings, video and audio calls and other web conferencing activities. As many organizations also use Office 365, the seamless integration of Microsoft Teams with other applications and services within the Microsoft ecosystem make it a particularly powerful tool for virtual teams. You can search for files, get backups and collaborate in all forms with little to no barriers.
Microsoft Teams is also offered in both free and paid versions, with packages starting from $4.00/month per user. Have a look at their different pricing packages here.
● Slack
Slack is a widely popular web-based communication platform that makes collaboration within and across teams a complete joy. Through their ‘channel’ format, organizations can divide their different teams and projects to allow them to communicate and collaborate in real-time. These channels can be configured in several formats (private, public, shared or multi-workspace) to accommodate the specific type of collaboration that is required. To top it all off, Slack can integrate with 2,400 apps and allows to easily keep the communication flowing with prominent software and tools such as Microsoft Outlook, JIRA, Salesforce and more.
Slack is offered in both free and paid versions, starting from $6.67 USD/month per user. Have a look at their different pricing packages here.
● Google Meets
Previously known as Google Hangouts, Google Meets is Google's chrome-based and desktop communication and conferencing service. As a part of Google’s powerful G-Suite, Meets is an easy to use and safe platform to host your important meetings. What makes Meets great is its cross-platform synchronization which means accessing it on different devices and operating systems bears no issue. This also means your conversations are synced with all your devices in real-time so you never drop out of a conversation.
Google Meets is also offered in free and paid versions, with packages starting at $7.99/month. Make sure to check out the details about their packages here.
Top project management tools for virtual teams
While communicating and collaborating is critical, so is keeping up to date with tasks and being aware of your teams progress. Without the ability to simply turn to your coworker's table and find out their progress, really understanding where your team and your overall project is at any given time can be a challenge.
That is exactly where project management tools step in. They gather your activities and data across your project and allow you to easily analyses and manage tasks to make sure your project and team are on the right track. Here are our top three project management tools:
● Pmo365
Pmo365 is a holistic project management solution that adapts and addresses your need teams specific needs. Built of Microsoft’s powerful Azure data centers and trusted Power Apps, pmo365 builds custom solutions that consolidate all your project activities onto a single platform.
Whether it is communicating, figuring out project progress or sharing files or linking up data with your ERP systems, your team no longer has to jump between multiple apps to get the work done.
With its transparent and stress-free pricing strategy, your team will have the utmost flexibility and control over the solution with no lock-in fees involved. Alongside the software solution itself, pmo365 also provides in-house DevOps services that are always ready to satisfy your current and future business needs by building customized apps and tools for your team.
● Monday.com
Monday.com is a widely prominent web-based project management platform known for its sleek interface and extensive collaborative features. Taking the format of ‘columns’ and ‘boards’, the tool gives teams a full snapshot of their project progress through their smart dashboards. It helps teams easily notify leaders of their progress, manage tasks and workload appropriately and facilitate active collaboration within teams.
It takes just minutes to set up your monday.com account and you can start managing your virtual teams in no time with the simple and intuitive user interface. It also comes with dozens of handy templates to help you get started on optimizing your team's activities.
Monday.com is available in free and paid versions, with paid packages starting from $8/month per user. Have a look at their full pricing list here.
● JIRA
Jira is a prominent cloud-based project management tool in the software development space as it is geared specifically towards Agile-based iterative projects. Agile projects are unique and thus require certain structures to help facilitate effective team collaboration and task completion. The app allows users to plan sprints and distribute tasks in order or priority. All the relevant data is also represented in real-time, often through visual data. Jira also comes with additional Agile-specific tools such as Scrum boards, Kanban boards and more.
Jira is available in both free and paid versions, with paid packages starting from $7.50/month per user. Have a look at their full price list here.
● Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project is one of the most widely used project management software in the world and it gets that title for its holistic features that facilitate start-to-end project management activities. From resource management to road mapping and time tracking and more, Microsoft Project is your one-stop-shop that gathers all things to do with your project in one virtual space. To top it off, it seamlessly integrates with other Microsoft tools that come within the Office365 subscription. The tool also comes in various web and desktop based formats to make sure you can always manage your projects on the go.
Microsoft Project does not offer a free version but they do have cloud-based and on-premise packages. Their cloud-based package starts from $10.00/month per user. Have a look at their full price list here.
Top file sharing and document management tools for virtual teams
Working virtually means your team will be sending countless files and documents, sometimes very important or confidential ones. Without the proper file-sharing tools, your data can quickly become disorganized and can come at greater risk of being lost or stolen.
Here are some of the top file sharing and document management tools on the market.
● OneDrive
OneDrive is Microsoft’s cloud-based file hosting service and is particularly powerful for its ability to host, transfer and manage files all across the Microsoft ecosystem. OneDrive is a core service within the Office365 subscription that makes sure all your data is shared safely and seamlessly. OneDrive also has the ability to multiple accessibility controls that ensure confidential files are only accessible by a select few within your organization. This means you know exactly who has access to the file and where any potential leakages or errors may be present.
OneDrive is available in both free and paid versions, with paid packages starting from $5/month per user. Check out their full price list here.
● Google Drive
Google Drive is one of the most popular file hosting and sharing services in the world. With its easy interface and universality, Google Drive allows users to easily collaborate with others and share files - all you need is an email address and you are good to go. For security and data control purposes, Google Drive offers three-tiered permissions that allow you to control who can see your files and how they can interact with them.
Google Drive is available in both free and paid versions, with its paid subscription through Google One starting at $24.99/year. Have a look at their full price list here.
● WeTransfer
WeTransfer is another file sharing platform with the unique benefit of allowing users to share files without any registration. This makes it particularly useful when interacting with many different clients that may use different services or only require specific files. You can share up to 2GB worth of files for free through the service and allow files to be active for seven days before they are removed. With its really simple user interface, no one will have any problem accessing the files you send them.
WeTransfer is available in both free and paid versions, with paid packages starting from $12/month per user. Check out their full price list here.
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Bill Allars
Bill is a PMO consultant with 20+ of experience in Project and Portfolio Management, Project Administration, Risk Management and Process Redevelopment. He is currently working as PMO consultant with pmo365 and providing his expertise to the leading business.
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