An Office Collaboration Tool (OCT) is software that connects people through computers with communications technologies. The old processes for collaborating were inefficient and even costly because each person involved had to develop their own strategies for dealing with complex problems. While companies have been trying to implement enterprise solutions, they have been difficult to maintain because the needs of the individual departments have varied greatly. Office Collaboration Tools have made enterprises more efficient and effective by helping create a common format among all of the projects, no matter how large or small, that can be used across a company or a corporation.
Office collaboration tools, or UC tools if you will, are made for the intention of working on documents remotely. Making the whole process cheaper, more efficient and accessible to everyone, which is precisely why companies are beginning to integrate it into their business models. What makes the whole Office Collaboration Tools suite so exciting, is that it’s being integrated into everything from Microsoft Office 365 into Microsoft’s new cloud based service called Private Cloud .
Whereby
Whereby is the best way to meet over video. You don’t need to download an app or any software. Just choose your own personalized URL and meet using your browser – on mobile or desktop – in one click.
Whereby has a range of features to help you collaborate and communicate. Like Breakout Groups, virtual whiteboards with Miro, screen sharing and recording, and integrations with Google Docs, Trello and YouTube.
Pros
- Voted ‘easiest to use’ video tool – start meetings in one click
- Host meetings with up to 50 participants
- No apps, downloads or installs required
- Simple, beautiful design
- Encrypted and secure video calls
- Personalized meeting room with custom backgrounds and your company logo
- Breakout Groups to run classes, virtual events, and workshops more easily
Cons
- 45-minute time limit for meetings with more than 2 participants on the Free plans
- Not as widely known as other video conferencing tools
GoToMeeting
GoToMeeting is a robust online meeting and video conferencing tool designed to enable businesses to collaborate with their teams, clients, customers, and other businesses in real time via the Internet.
It is particularly great for international teams and can greatly reduce the learning curve as it also supports screen sharing.
The other handy features of the platform include messaging, group chat, recording, integration with other tools, and a one-click meeting feature that instantly schedules meetings in Google Calendar or Outlook.
Pros
- Intuitive user interface
- Can host large meetings
- Allows users to record meetings so you don’t have to attend in real time
Cons
- Subscription is fairly expensive
- Requires a stable internet connection
Facebook Workplace
The world’s biggest social media network, Facebook, has a team collaboration service – Facebook Workplace – that can serve as a corporate intranet portal.
The platform has a very user-friendly interface where teams can collaborate through their own portals, as well as through the Facebook Pages, Notes and Docs. On Facebook Workplace, team members can collaborate on tasks via voice/video call and instant messaging. The platform also has machine learning bots built-in to automate certain tasks.
Pros
- Supports polls to measure employee opinions
- Integrates with other systems
- Unlimited photo and video uploads
Cons
- All data is stored on Facebook servers in the cloud, which may be prone to privacy issues.
Google Docs
This is likely nothing new to you. It is perhaps the most famous documentation tool out there. Google Docs allows multiple people to edit the same file at same time, leave comments, and see changes made by every participant (revision history).
All you have to do is invite team members to work on a file in Google docs. With that, all participants have a central place to store and share information, take notes, and just seamlessly collaborate and have access to the information they need to get work done.
Pros
- Cloud based, no installations required
- All changes made on documents are automatically saved to Google Drive so you won’t lose them
- Multiple collaborators on a document can see changes in real time
Cons
- Limited features compared to Microsoft Word
GitHub
Consider GitHub if you are into programming. This development platform owned by Microsoft Corporation allows programmers to seamlessly collaborate and work on the same projects simultaneously.
On the platform, each collaborator gets a working copy of the code displayed on their computer through the GitHub web-based graphical interface. Any changes made on a project can be reviewed and easily rolled back if need be.
Pros
- Unlimited private repositories on the tool’s free tier
- Easy to use and track changes with the Gists feature
Cons
- Can easily be affected by a security breach
- Some great features are locked away behind a SaaS paywall
Flock
Flock is a seamless and easy way of communication with teams that increases team productivity by reducing emails. No longer will you have to waste your time on meetings as you can discuss ideas on Flock chat. Being one of the best online collaboration tools for business, you can connect with your team on messages, video calls, manage projects with to-dos, group discussions, polls and reminders and integrate your most favourite apps.
What’s unique about Flock?
- You can add a to-do right to your account. To-do lists can be personal or collaborative.
- Flock gives you read-only channels which allow for certain kinds of organizational information, such as HR rules or updates from a legal department to have a dedicated place in a team messaging app.
- You can migrate a Slack account to Flock without losing a history of conversations just because you want to use a different tool.
- Flock helps you connect to apps those are not supported by turn to IFTTT or Zapier.
Mockplus
Mockplus is the one-stop product design platform that allows product teams to create a website or mobile app projects online smoothly from wireframing to design handoff. It can also be used as a powerful project management tool to manage projects and design tasks in a breeze.
What’s unique about Mockplus
For product teams that need to make all projects under control can enjoy many great management features:
- Organize and manage projects in hierarchical folders
- Manage all projects and members with role-based permissions
- Create, track and manage all design tasks easily, even at a quick glance
As a powerful online design tool, you and your team can enjoy many design features like:
- Create high-fidelity wireframes or prototype online with drag-and-drop
- Import designs and assets by plugins from Adobe XD, Sketch, Figma and Ps
- Real-time commenting, specs, develop handoff
Sketch
Sketch app aims mainly professionals in web designs as it has become a complete tool for UX design deliverables. It takes the pain out of working with repeated design elements so that designers can design once and use it anywhere. You can find some nested symbols in Sketch to create flexible design elements with ease.
What is unique about Sketch:
- Intuitive interface and an expansive plugin ecosystem
- Link Artboards, add simple animations and turn static screens into clickable prototypes
- Create, update, and share designs at one place
- Offers world-class pixel precision, vector editing, export presets, prototyping
Zoom
When we talk about collaboration tools for teams, Zoom is at the top of the list. 2020 was the year Zoom officially became a household name in HD video conferencing. Zoom enables screen sharing from desktop or mobile, meeting, recording, and the ability to choose full screen or gallery views for video streams. It has some cool features, such as the collaborative whiteboard and the ability to send group texts, images, and audio files during meetings. And if you want a better conference system, it has a solution for upgrading your conference room hardware called Zoom Rooms.
Knowledge center tools
Confluence
This tool by Atlassian allows you to build a centralized knowledge center where all processes can be documented and shared outside of work silos. And because Atlassian owns JIRA, it is much easier to connect issues or bugs with your wiki entries in the knowledge center.
Bloomfire
Bloomfire is a great tool for creating a centralized repository of information for your company. Bloomfire makes it easy to upload and manage content from any device. Even better, the search function is fast and hassle-free, which is integral to finding the right info at the right time.
Guru
As a central knowledge base, Guru prides itself on instantaneous search results. But the key factor in this tool is its browser extension, which allows you to search from wherever you are on the web and get your result “cards” (containers for your data) at lightning speed.
Time tracking tools
Harvest
Harvest is a popular choice for time tracking on any browser and any device your team may use, from laptop to mobile device (and yes, even Apple Watch). Harvest gives you all of this including a manager approval function that makes this a versatile choice for logging time spent on work.
Toggl
Toggl is an indispensable tool for billing with features like real-time entries and instant overviews of billable time. It seamlessly integrates with several of the major project management tools and productivity software as well.
FreshBooks
If you need client billing and invoicing, expense organization, or even time tracking, this online cloud solution should help. FreshBooks was created to ease the stress of the small business owner and with its array of useful features.
Clockify
Want a simple and easy-to-use time tracking app? With Clockify your team can easily track the hours they work for projects, billable hours and their individual and team productivity for free! Since it works across multiple devices, you can track your time at work from anywhere making it a must-have tool for geographically distributed teams.
Conclusion
Office collaboration tools help people to easily share files together in real time. The tool is “collaboration” because multiple people can work together on one file at the same time; it’s “collaborative” because they do this collaboratively, i.e., each person can make changes to the file without overwriting or losing work done by another person. Today’s fast-paced business world means that companies rely more and more on collaboration. Are your employees equipped to collaborate effectively? Are you sure_?