A quick overview of some of the most popular tools that helps to manage remote workers, from Dropbox to TurboMeeting.
It seems that virtual teams are more productive and efficient than traditional teams. Is that the reason why going virtual has become so popular in any digital and non-digital industry today? In any case, almost every manager will certainly have to deal with virtual teams and remote workers in next future. Therefore, be wise and ride the changes by starting to learn the ropes of virtual team management right by now. A fundamental step is to get an idea of which tools are available on the market for the purpose.
R-HUB TurboMeeting
Let’s start this quick overview with TurboMeeting (http://www.rhubcom.com), a suite of servers for virtual conferencing developed by R-HUB, a company based in San Diego. A TurboMeeting server is an all-in-one solution that enables clients to perform a huge set of tasks, likehosting video and audio conferences and having access/giving support to remote computers. It is also a good solution for collaboration.
TurboMeeting strong points are:
– Its intuitive GUI that is easy to learn and use and that provides you with all the necessary functionalities to interact with your team in real time quickly and efficiently.
– Its lightweight and compact size that allows user to get rid of server rooms and server cabinets.
– Its being self-installing and self-updating machines. TurboMeeting servers do not require any devoted IT team and they scale up to 3000 participants per conference without additional costs, as R-HUB adopted a flat license policy.
– It is safe. The on-premise server based technology that R-HUB use is deemed as the most reliable and secure. This makes TurboMeeting a great solution in industries that needs extra care for data protection.
Google Apps
Google does not mean only the most popular search engine of the world. Among the several activities of this famous brand, we find also office and communication tools that are daily used by thousands of clients throughout the world, like Google Doc, Google Calendar, Gmail Chat). They are all applications, which mean that it is not necessary to bring home any piece of hardware.
Google Apps strong points are, in my opinion:
- There is a free version of each tool that enables users to utilize almost every feature of the paid versions. This makes Google Apps really cheap and in everyone’s reach. Small organizations and start-up with budget constraints will love it.
- Their design and layout looks very similar to Microsoft office. Google Doc mimes perfectly Microsoft Office, at the point that I had nothing new to learn when I was asked to use it for professional purposes. So, no retraining is necessary for your remote workers.
- You can use Gmail with your .com domain name, which gives a professional appearance to your email communication.
Yammer
Described as a social network for companies, Yammer is featured by a social media-like atmosphere similar to Facebook. Among its users, we found giants like 7-Eleven, eBay and Groupon.
Yammer strong points:
- Social media-like atmosphere: Micro blogging, profiles, groups, private messaging, file uploads are some of the functionalities of this tool that applies the principles of Facebook design to virtual work environments.
- Tested directly from Yammer. Their team is completely virtual and global, being composed of thousands of distant workers spread throughout the planet. Therefore, the team that test Yammer is the same that use it.
Dropbox
Dropbox is not exactly a collaboration tool, being purposely and specifically designed to share files of any sort thought the internet. It’s free, which makes it a popular solution despite its evident limitations, like the impossibility to implement read-only permissions for certain users.
Basecamp
This on-line collaboration tool is expressly designed for virtual team managers. Basecamp is not only about sharing information; it offers all the necessary functionalities to carry on with your team projects.
Basecamp strong points:
- Purposely designed to manage teams. Basecamp allows you to perform almost all daily tasks that are necessary to manage your team. This allows you to stop using dozens of different applications to fulfill each individual managerial task.
- Very rich in features. It is possible to share documents and files, to arrange virtual and real meetings, to set deadlines, to create to-do lists for your team members, and more.
- Ease of use. You can see at glance what needs to be done and who is responsible for that.
If you are interested in tools for working from remote, you are going to find more resources on R-HUB`s blog at http://www.rhubcom.com