Working from home is the new normal, and many companies are already resorting to remote working arrangements. What’s more, enterprises now are useing tools, such as time-tracking apps for productivity. According to a CoSo Cloud survey , 77% of remote employees claim they are more productive when they work from home. However, without the right tools at their disposal, working remotely might be too tedious.
An article on Owl Labs featured a quote by Michael Dell, owner of Dell: “Technology has changed the way we work, enabling people with different time zones across the world to collaborate seamlessly”. Thanks to technology, many useful apps are now accessible to work-from-home employees to boost their productivity without having to compromise on their personal lives. That’s what this article will show you: the best productivity apps for remote working.
What are the best productivity apps for working from home?
Tools that remote workers utilise cover essential business areas such as communication, collaboration, project management, work scheduling, remote employee monitoring, and more. If you need support in any of the areas listed, here are six app that can permanently change your work-from-home story:
1. Time Management
One of the biggest challenges most remote workers face is how to maximise the little time they have, especially to balance work and personal life. Everything around you may be calling for your urgent attention, but the good news is people are learning to master time management, and you can too. Using a time tracking app for productivity, such as Traqq, can help you do more in less time. The software has features including real-time logging of events, keyboard and mouse tracking, app and website monitoring, automatic generation of invoices and reports, and lots more.
With such useful features, you can carry out a thorough analysis and remove the activities that don’t add any value to your work. The software also allows you to share your screen, and take screenshots for more effective monitoring of events.
2. Project Management
The first roadblock to productivity is not being clear about what you want to do or not having a well-organized plan to execute it. Fortunately, there are several project management softwares to organise your project so that it becomes simpler and easier to manage. Trello is one of the best tools for managing your projects effectively. It features an easy-to-understand interface with boards and cards for links, files, due dates, images, and lots more. Moreover, there’s no limit to the number of users that can be added to a project group on the platform.
3. Communication
According to The 2020 State of Remote Work, 20% of interviewed remote employees claim that their biggest challenge while working from home is communication and collaboration. Another 20% claimed that loneliness is their biggest problem.
With the technological advancements today, and with the surge in communication tools, remote workers should have fewer challenges with communication and collaboration. Using Slack, for example, beats whatever emails can help you accomplish. The software allows users to create as many channels and conversations as possible with support for sharing files, images, and videos. The program also integrates with other apps, such as Twitter and Dropbox, to simplify how people communicate.
4. Video Conferencing
It’s likely that your company already has a tool it uses for hosting online meetings. We only hope it’s Zoom or Skype. Zoom, for example, provides HD video conferencing that supports up to 100 users at once, including the host. The app also has incredible features that allow online sessions to be recorded live for future reference. On top of that, users can share files across the platform while meetings are ongoing. There are so many more benefits this software offers remote workers.
5. File-Sharing
Although some of the recent project management and collaboration tools integrate the best file-sharing tools on their platforms, you can use them independently. Google Drive is one of the best file-sharing, productivity apps for working from home. With Google Drive, you can save files securely in the cloud and access them whenever (data are accessible offline in some cases). The platform also allows for quick organisation of files. Users can even automatically generate links to files, and make them available to a select few.
6. Work-Scheduling
When it comes to work scheduling, team organisation, events sharing, and availability management, Teamup Calendar is always among the top options. The app has a simple user interface that makes it easy-to-understand even for a first-timer. Also, it gives users complete control over their privacy despite needing to share details about their events and availabilities across the platform. For remote employees and managers of remote teams working from home, this might be the perfect tool to ramp up team organisation.
Conclusion
It is possible to create a healthy balance between your personal life and your work. Moreover, you will get better at it the more you strive for it. If you’re armed with these work-from-home apps, you can be sure to get more done and generate better results in less time.
Author bio: April Reyes from Traqq – a free time-tracking and reporting app that helps improve productivity and work performance.
Photo credit: Mika Baumeister on Unsplash
