5 Essential Tools and Software to Help You Manage Your Remote Team

Remote work is not only becoming more popular with each passing year but nowadays it has kind of become a necessity for companies that want to maintain operational efficiency amidst the COVID-19 crisis. Now that companies are forced to close down their physical offices, their only chance of survival is to build digital teams and manage their workflow and employees remotely. 

Of course, this is not something you can do without the right tech at your side. At least not efficiently. If you try to manage a remote team via email or chat only, you are bound to let something slip through the cracks, and your productivity and output are going to suffer as a result.

What’s more, this is not exactly the best way to elevate employee happiness and satisfaction. This is why you need to integrate some key tech solutions that will allow you to manage your remote team with ease, maintain efficiency, and improve performance over time. Let’s take a look at the five essential tools and software that will help you achieve these goals.

Manage projects with ease

First and foremost, it’s important to remember that you no longer have the luxury of managing a project that involves numerous employees and teams in a physical office space, which means that you have to find a way to do it digitally. Now, keeping track of complex projects and making sure every task is on track can be a nightmare if you don’t have the right project management software in place. 

Many business leaders will make the common mistake of thinking that email can serve as an impromptu project management platform. Email is not a project management tool and you can’t turn it into one. Try to, and you will quickly realize that you need a professional tool instead.

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The software you choose needs to have numerous key features to ensure project success. Their features should include workflow and task visualization, deadlines and scheduling, advanced analytics, and more. Sign up for the free trial before settling on a tool to find the perfect fit for your team.

Emphasize network security and data safety

No matter where your employees are, they have to connect to your company’s network on a daily basis. This can elevate cybersecurity risk and create many network vulnerabilities that hackers and scammers can exploit. As you might have guessed, you can’t afford a single breach in security if you want to preserve your brand’s reputation and image. 

What’s more, you can’t expect your employees to be productive knowing that a cyber-attack might happen at any time. For these and many other reasons, you have to prioritize cybersecurity in order to run an efficient and effective team. 

Be sure to integrate the following solutions into your cybersecurity system:

• Software firewalls.
• Hardware firewalls.
• Advanced password management tool.
• Two-factor authentication for all devices and accounts.
• Network monitoring software to control and inspect all traffic.
• Data backup and recovery software.

Ensure stellar and cost-effective communication

One of the crucial elements of long-term success in this field, remote work, is communication. This is also one of the biggest hurdles that business leaders are struggling to overcome when managing remote teams. Too often will you see digital teams trying to communicate via email only when what they really need is a comprehensive phone system?

Now, traditional phone systems are not geared towards digital teams, because they have no digital features and they can rack up the phone bill very quickly. This is especially problematic for international remote teams.

That’s one of the reasons why the Nextiva VoIP phone system has become so popular nowadays, as cloud-based phone providers have perfectly aligned their phone plans with the needs of the remote workforce. VoIP enables seamless communication with features like mobile optimization, video and audio conferencing, transcription, analytics, and many more. 

That said, the main reason why VoIP is perfect for remote teams is that it doesn’t incur the high fees that traditional phone systems are known for. This allows your employees to communicate seamlessly from anywhere in the world, and run a cost-effective remote customer support department.

Monitor employee performance and happiness

A successful remote team is one that has happy and satisfied employees. You can’t hope to maintain productivity if your employees aren’t engaged and motivated, which is why you need to monitor their performance and wellness on the job. You can try to do this manually over email, but that’s not the best way to gather valuable employee data.

Instead, you should invest in employee management software that will allow you to monitor their performance, analyze their productivity, and identify their unique pain points on the job. This will help you take a personalized approach to employee development and success. 

Leverage intuitive CRM software

Last but not least, customer relationship management is vital for the long-term survival of any modern business. Nowadays, though, it’s difficult to nurture customer relationships and generate leads without an intuitive tool that will help you collect and collate vast amounts of customer data. 

Now try to do it without CRM software in a remote team, and you’ll realize that it’s next to impossible. For a team to drive customer acquisition and retention forward, you need engaging lead generation templates and a comprehensive CRM tool with plenty of features. 

The tool you choose should provide workflow automation, customization and personalization options, customer service features, employee tracking, lead management, analytics and reporting, and more. Make sure that your CRM tool is scalable and intuitive enough for new team members to use, and don’t forget to use the free trial to see if it’s the right fit for your remote team.

Wrapping up

Remote work is quickly becoming the norm in the modern business world, partly because of the benefits it brings and partly because it is necessary for your survival during the pandemic. Be sure to implement these tools and solutions to build a successful remote team that will take your company forward as a whole.