Best Collaboration Tools for Remote Teams: Top 16 Picks

Summary

Bordio is an innovative online software designed to streamline team collaboration and individual time management. It serves as a comprehensive digital board, where users can effectively plan their week, track tasks, and schedule events.

Gone are the days of long and daunting to-do lists; with Bordio, users can directly schedule tasks in its calendar planner, ensuring a concise list of activities for each day. It elevates the traditional scheduling approach by allowing users to set due dates, task estimates, and even compare projected versus actual completion times.

The software also comes with a unique waiting list function for tasks that aren’t immediate priorities, ensuring they aren’t forgotten. With reminders and custom notifications, missing an important event becomes a thing of the past. Bordio’s capabilities extend to private project management, providing a secure space to work on sensitive tasks and share them when ready.

Summary

Slack is an online platform designed to facilitate communication and collaboration among remote teams. The platform offers a structured environment where teams can create channels for specific topics or projects, ensuring organized conversations. In addition to text-based chat, Slack allows users to share files, integrate with other tools, and even conduct voice and video calls. This provides teams with a centralized space to communicate and access shared resources, making coordination smoother.

Furthermore, Slack’s design enables users to easily search through past conversations and files, so retrieving information is straightforward. The platform also supports direct messaging for one-on-one discussions and offers a range of customization options, such as setting notifications and integrating third-party apps. As a result, teams can tailor Slack to their specific needs, ensuring efficient communication irrespective of their size or the nature of their projects.

Summary

Flock provides remote teams with a structured platform for communication through channels, which aid in organizing conversations around specific topics or projects. Channels are versatile and can be created for various purposes, from team-focused discussions to broader company-wide initiatives. The goal is to help teams avoid the clutter often found in chats and emails, promoting clearer communication.

Flock also includes a built-in video and voice calling system, making it easier for team members to connect across different devices and locations. This video feature extends to screen sharing, allowing individuals to provide visual explanations or dive deeper into specific details.

Beyond communication, Flock comes equipped with productivity tools designed to support seamless collaboration across an organization. Real-time file sharing ensures that team members can safely exchange information, while the platform’s simple project management features, including shared notes, to-dos, and reminders, help keep projects on track and stakeholders informed.

Summary

Notion is an online platform designed to cater to the diverse needs of remote teams. It functions as an all-in-one workspace where teams can consolidate various types of content, from notes and databases to task lists and calendars. The tool allows users to customize their workspaces by combining different features and elements, resulting in a personalized collaborative environment.

Furthermore, Notion’s design encourages organized content management. Team members can create pages, which can be nested within other pages, forming a clear hierarchy of information. This structured approach ensures that even as content grows, users can easily navigate and find relevant information. Integrated templates and modular blocks make it straightforward for users to add, modify, or rearrange content, facilitating efficient teamwork regardless of the project’s nature.

Summary

Zoom is an online service that offers video conferencing capabilities to remote teams. Users can organize and join virtual meetings, webinars, and collaborative sessions. With Zoom, participants can share their screens, making it possible to present visual information, conduct demonstrations, or guide attendees through specific processes.

In addition to its video functionalities, Zoom supports other communication features. These include chat messaging during meetings, the ability to record sessions for later review, and integration with various scheduling tools. It caters to both one-on-one interactions and larger group meetings, ensuring that teams have the means to connect, discuss, and collaborate irrespective of their physical location.

Summary

Teamwork serves as a comprehensive platform tailored for overseeing client operations and project management. It functions as a centralized system of record, organizing various elements such as client assets, project timelines, communications, and financial reporting. The platform emphasizes helping teams balance capacity, aiming to prevent burnout by ensuring optimal utilization across projects. Through its features, teams can track time, rates, and expenses, aiding in balancing budgets, especially for recurring revenue from retainers.

The tool offers functionalities that aid in simplifying and streamlining client work operations. Features like pre-built templates, intake forms, process automation, and integrations aim to simplify operational tasks. Additionally, Teamwork.com provides resource management and integrated time tracking, ensuring that teams can monitor performance across projects, clients, and team members. As businesses evolve, the platform allows for customization of processes and workflows to align with changing team requirements.

Summary

Wrike provides a platform that enables teams to align their workflow with their specific business processes. Beyond just customization, Wrike facilitates breaking down extensive tasks into more manageable units, ensuring a better distribution of work. On the communication front, all project details, decisions, and updates converge in one unified space, streamlining team collaboration in real-time.

Designed to meet the diverse needs of teams, Wrike offers a variety of tools to structure work according to individual team preferences. This includes options to toggle between visualization modes such as Kanban boards and Gantt charts. The emphasis is on efficient communication, with every project detail housed within a central space, removing the frequent need for status check-ins. By offering tools to automate recurring tasks and providing clear project visibility.

Summary

NiftyPM offers an integrated workspace designed to consolidate various tasks and workflows. It allows users to plan, track, and oversee their workflows, ensuring that everything is in one unified space. The tool incorporates real-time progress reporting using milestones and enables custom development workflows with specific if/then rules. Additionally, for sales teams, it provides tools for tracking lead status and values, storing sales collateral, and automating certain processes like the creation of projects once leads are closed.

For marketing endeavors, NiftyPM emphasizes real-time collaboration where tasks, campaigns, and content can be managed in one place. Features such as proofing for expedited creative approvals, tracking marketing campaigns as milestones, and utilizing a calendar view for content scheduling are available.The platform also emphasizes real-time collaboration and communication with features like instant messaging, one-click video meetings, and centralized file storage with proofing capabilities.

Summary

Doodle is a tool designed for scheduling meetings and coordinating availability among team members. Users can create polls with potential dates and times for an event or meeting, and then share that poll with participants to vote on their availability. Once the participants have indicated their preferences, Doodle highlights the most suitable time slot where all or most participants are available. This functionality aims to simplify the process of finding a common time for a group, especially when dealing with multiple time zones or busy schedules.

In addition to basic scheduling features, Doodle integrates with calendar applications to automatically detect and show a user’s availability. This helps in preventing double bookings or over-scheduling. The tool also offers features for setting up one-on-one meetings, where individuals can select a slot from another person’s available times. It can be particularly useful for situations like setting up client calls, consultations, or interviews.

Summary

Miro is an online platform designed for users to collaborate and create together, regardless of where they are located. It offers a space where individuals can strategize, plan, and align with company goals and customer needs. The platform provides features that allow users to define objectives, visualize priorities, and track the success of their initiatives. Additionally, Miro offers tools tailored for designing customer-focused solutions. Teams can gather insights, structure their findings using diagrams and tables, and centralize all information in one location.

When it comes to product and service development, Miro comes equipped with various capabilities, including diagramming, real-time data visualization, and workshop facilitation. It also supports common product development processes, emphasizing agile practices such as estimation and retrospectives. On the security front, Miro emphasizes a strong approach, aiming to align with a Zero Trust Security philosophy. This includes advanced security integrations, data governance solutions, and an accessibility program.

Summary

Workast is a work management platform designed to facilitate teamwork. It offers features that allow users to delegate tasks, oversee projects, conduct meetings, and streamline various processes. One of its features, “Spaces”, enables users to organize work according to specific requirements. Within these spaces, individuals can utilize templates for recurring events, invite team members, adjust privacy settings, and enhance spaces with extensions. Users can also add lists, tasks, and comments to ensure all team members are aligned with the project objectives. The platform includes a “Notes” feature, allowing users to jot down ideas, reminders, and tasks. These notes can incorporate multimedia elements like images, videos, and links, making them accessible from any device. Workast integrates with Google Drive, allowing users to directly access and add files stored in Google Drive to tasks and comments within the platform.

Summary

Smartsheet is an enterprise work management platform designed for the management of projects, programs, and processes. It provides users with the ability to capture and monitor plans, resources, and schedules.

To accommodate diverse needs, Smartsheet presents a variety of views, workflows, reports, and dashboards, making it suitable for a range of tasks from individual projects to broader company-wide initiatives. Additionally, Smartsheet offers portfolio-level automation to align people and priorities and encourage transformational change within organizations.

The platform is also notable for its compatibility; it can likely integrate with other software tools businesses might already employ. This integration capability stems from Smartsheet’s belief in adapting to the user’s existing workflow.

Summary

Basecamp is a collaboration platform designed to streamline project management. Within Basecamp, each project is organized on a single page, ensuring all necessary information is accessible and systematically arranged. Features include unlimited projects, private conversation channels called “pings,” summary reports, protective notifications to reduce distractions, and a comprehensive timeline of activities.

The tool aims to centralize various functions such as chat, file sharing, task management, and basic scheduling, eliminating the need for multiple separate applications. As a result, users can benefit from a more cohesive experience, reducing instances of misplaced information and simplifying the onboarding process.
Additionally, Basecamp offers an extensive library of learning resources available to all customers and ensures support for both current and legacy products. The company’s customer service has been highlighted as a significant attribute, and they openly share their business philosophy, with published books on their direct approach and a publicly accessible employee handbook.

Summary

Hive is a collaboration tool designed to simplify multi-step projects. It offers workflows for intricate approvals and has proofing and annotation capabilities for both documents and videos. To reduce repetitive tasks, Hive provides project and action templates, streamlining the process for projects that involve repeated steps. In addition to these features, Hive aids in setting, tracking, and adjusting team goals. Users can assign primary goals as well as sub-goals and monitor their progress in real-time. This tool also integrates with other business tools to provide a more cohesive experience.

For team management, Hive offers functionalities to assign projects easily and monitor team performance. This includes features like timesheets, time tracking, and insights into team workload and resources. To provide a centralized communication platform, Hive ensures that team members, irrespective of their location or team setup, can stay connected. Users can keep tabs on project status, workspace activities, and team schedules. Additionally, Hive presents the option to visualize project progression. Users can access custom dashboards for at-a-glance updates or delve into detailed team reports and project analytics. The platform aims to reduce the need for frequent manual updates by providing continuous project status insights.

Summary

Trello is a platform designed to centralize tasks, teammates, and tools, making it easier for teams to collaborate, especially when they are not in the same location. The system is structured around boards, lists, and cards. Boards act as the main workspace for a project or goal, showing a broad overview of tasks. Users can also customize these lists to fit the unique workflow of their team. Cards, on the other hand, detail specific tasks or ideas, carrying all relevant information. As tasks progress, users can shift cards from one list to another, offering a visual representation of task status.

Another feature of Trello is its ability to integrate with other apps. This integration capability means teams can connect tools they already use, making their Trello experience more comprehensive. By incorporating these integrations, or “Power-Ups” as Trello terms them, users can tailor the platform to their specific requirements, ensuring that all their work tools are interconnected and easily accessible within the Trello environment.

Summary

Asana is a platform tailored for managing cross-functional work. It offers features that assist teams in coordinating on projects, automating approval processes, and adjusting to changing business needs. Organizations can utilize Asana to track work progress in real-time, streamline operations, and focus on tasks that drive revenue. The tool allows for the removal of work silos, enabling better collaboration, and provides a unified view of resources, goals, and progress. Additionally, Asana has a unique feature where goals are integrated within the platform, allowing users to see associated tasks, team members involved, and the overall progress to meet business objectives.

The platform emphasizes ease of adoption, providing support for teams to transfer existing data and get accustomed to using Asana. It has also received recognition as a leading work management tool, particularly in facilitating collaboration across different teams. The system’s design ensures that businesses can organize intricate tasks spanning multiple teams to achieve desired outcomes.