Client Collaboration Tools

In an ideal world, our clients would love our work so much that they’d jump in and help us put the finishing touches on it. In a perfect world, they’d add stunning last-minute touches that would astound everyone who saw the final product. In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have to worry about client collaboration tools… but we don’t live in a perfect world.

Here are the most used tools for client collaboration. I bet you, you haven’t heard of some.

Trello

Trello looks like Pinterest, with drag and drop “cards” that are to-do lists for your projects. As explained in their website, “Open a card and you can add comments, upload file attachments, create checklists, add labels and due dates, and more.”

Website

What I Like

• It’s a very minimalistic, visual approach to project management, which has a certain appeal.
• You can add a calendar view or use the iCal feed in your own calendar app.
• You can create teams, which are groups of people and boards, to keep things more organized.
• You can create boards and comments via email, as well as reply to comments via email, without ever opening a browser window.
• With the free account you can create unlimited boards, cards and teams, and add as many people as you need, which is nice.
• The free account also includes integrations with Dropbox, Box and Google Drive.
• For $8.33/user/month, you gain additional integrations and larger file attachment sizes.

What I Dislike

• Perhaps a little too simplistic for our needs? For example, with no time tracking, our agency would need to layer on another time tracking solution. I’d prefer to keep our tech stack as simple as possible.

Final Decision

While I love the visual aspect of Trello, I really want a solution with more stuff.

Wrike

Wrike is pretty much the polar opposite of Trello. It comes packed to the gills with features that are specifically geared toward marketing and creative teams.

Website

What I Like

• Wrike has all the standard project/task management tools you expect to see from a robust project management solution, including Gantt charts, timelines, etc.
• Yes they have time tracking!
• You can also create templates for recurring projects.
• Instant messaging for fast communication.
• Wrike integrates with email, allowing you to translate an email into a task.
• Wrike also integrates with your calendar app, including Google Calendar, Outlook and iCalendar, so you can synchronize tasks and project milestones.
• Where Wrike really shines is with online document editing. Wrike integrates with Word, Excel and more, which means you can edit your files online – without needing to download them – and Wrike will auto version your file when you save the changes.

What I Dislike

• Wrike is expensive. There’s a free version with minimal functionality. To get to the basic Professional level, you’ll have to shell out $9.80/user/month – or more to get to the Enterprise level with full functionality.
• Wrike can be complicated to use. With so much going on, as one colleague said, “I often feel lost trying to navigate to where I want to go.”

Final Decision

Wrike was probably our next top choice after Basecamp. The online document editing is a strong draw for us and, in my mind, what really sets Wrike apart as a collaboration tool rather than just a project management tool.

However, ultimately, I’m cheap.  And I’m concerned about the user-friendly issues, which may prevent my team from using it the way we should, which would hurt my ROI.

Redbooth

I first learned about Redbooth in a conversation over at Inbound.org where I asked the inbound community for advice on online collaboration tools. Several people spoke up in support of Redbooth, prompting me to add it to my list here.

Website

Online Project Management & Collaboration Software

What I Like

• Redbooth is intuitive, easy to use, and never overwhelming.
• Because it’s so easy to use, it’s great for using with clients – which is a huge plus for an agency like ours.
• Redbooth even helps you hit the ground running with workspace and task list templates.
• Integrates HD video conferencing and workspace chat make communication a breeze for remote teams.
• You can organize projects anyway you want – by week, phase or category. That’s a nice bit of flexibility you don’t see in many other tools.

What I Dislike

• No time tracking.
• Weak on the document management. Integrates with Dropbox, but you have to attach files to a specific conversation or task.

Final Decision

There’s a lot to like here. But without time tracking and unexciting document management, we sadly have to pass.

ProofHub

ProofHub was designed specifically for marketing agencies that need to collaborate with both clients and internal team members on documents.

What I Like

• The killer component of ProofHub is its – wait for it – proofing tools. Team members can mark up any document (including Word, PDFs and more). Instant versioning allows everyone on the team to see all comments and share feedback. This has the potential to dramatically simplify the revision process for creative documents.
• Great chat and discussion tools to allow for online brainstorming.
• Intuitive document management.
• Project templates help you get started quickly.

What I Dislike

• You can record time but not track time.
• Some features are a bit cluttered, like their dashboard and Gantt chart view.

Final Decision

I love the proofing capabilities, but the rest of the project management tools didn’t stand out for me as exceptional.

Flow

Flow focuses on simple, intuitive project management capabilities.

What I Like

• Great calendar view lets you see everything you need, all at a glance.
• Kanban view turns tasks into Pinterest/Trello-like boards that are also easy to see at a glance.
• When brainstorming ideas in chat, team members can upvote their favorites for instant feedback.

What I Dislike

• File management is more like Slack and Redbooth, where you have to upload the file to a specific conversation or task.
• A little pricey – $59/month for up to 10 people.

Final Decision

Flow doesn’t offer all the same functionality as some of the bigger players in this field, but they’re pricing themselves as if they do. I’d prefer to get more for my money.

Quip

Like ProofHub, Quip is really more of a collaboration tool than a project management tool.

What I Like

• Quip creates what they call “living documents” out of files you import, including Word, Excel, and even email files. Chat is built into each document, allowing team members to collaborate on document revisions easily.

What I Dislike

• No real project management tools.

Final Decision

Although I love the collaboration aspect of Quip, there’s just not enough here to make it work for my company.

Glip

Glip is a bit like Slack with a whole lot more added in, with integrated chat, tasks, file management, calendar views, notes and even video calling.

What I Like

• Glip’s project management tools cover all the basics that you’d expect to see.
• Integrates with a wide number of popular apps so that you can quickly get access to any functionality Glip might be missing.
• Interesting document collaboration; users can leave comments directly on a file similar to the commenting function on PDFs. All versions are instantly versioned.
• Uses “@ mentions” to bring users or files into a conversation.
• Pricing is reasonable at $5/person/month.

What I Dislike

• Interface has a really similar look and feel to Slack, which I just don’t love.

Final Decision

Glip feels just a little too similar to Slack for my tastes.

Azendoo

I first learned of Azendoo also on Inbound.org. If you’re looking for a streamlined task management solution, this is for you.

Website

Accueil

What I Like

• Extensive task management tools.
• Turn emails into tasks.
• Create dependencies with tasks and assign multiple people to tasks.
• Great calendar view.

What I Dislike

• Not a robust file management solution.
• Not great on other features besides task management.

Google Drive: The best Client management app

Digital file management is essential for the smooth operation of any business.  For remote-first companies, it’s often more important because geographically dispersed employees access files during times when their colleagues can’t be reached.

With a 4.6 out of 5 rating on G2 Crowd, 4.5 out of 5 rating on Capterra, and 8.6 out of 10 rating on TrustRadius, Google Drive takes the cake, which isn’t surprising considering that Drive integrates seamlessly with other apps within G Suite.

“Google Drive helps us communicate and collaborate with our Member Advisory Board of 78 members, who are currently getting more involved in our product roadmap and creation of internal web pages. It also helps us keep up with their feedback regardless of the time-zone difference. This is how we co-created Content Boost.”

DeskTime

DeskTime is fully automated time tracking software with a desktop and mobile app for companies and solopreneurs. It makes it easy to measure productivity, boost performance, track attendance, and effectively manage workflow.

Features include automatic online and idle time tracking, project and task time tracking in combination with easy-to-use Budgeting and Invoicing, and smart reporting.

DeskTime has integrations with project management apps that allow users to connect the time tracker with widely used tools like Asana, Basecamp, Jira, Trello, and GitLab, as well as Google and Outlook Calendars. It also has a Zapier integration for added functionality.

If you want a comparison of both Time Doctor and DeskTime, check out our review here.

Timely

Timely is an automatic time tracking software empowered by AI that supports freelancers and SMBs. It makes it super easy to track time to help its users focus on work that matters.

Features include automatic tracking and idle time tracking, project and task time tracking in combination with many integrations with calendars, email, video conference call, and invoicing tools.

Timely has integrations with Asana, Trello, Todoist, Google, and Microsoft tools. It also has a Zapier integration for added functionality.

Yammer

Yammer is a private social network that helps employees collaborate across departments, locations and business apps.

Yammer is a social network that’s entirely focused on your business. In order to join your business’s Yammer network, your team member must have a working email address from your company’s domain.

In order to segregate relevant information to specific team members, you can create groups that will help reduce the noise in the Newsfeed.

Users can share posts with specific groups simply by utilizing the drop down menus below the Update box (which is similar to Facebook’s Status Box).

Slack

One of the fastest growing startups today, Slack is the powerhouse messaging app used by remote teams.  Its powerful integrations, numerous bots, and the ecosystem being built on top of the platform have quickly transformed it into one of the most flexible communication tools on the market.

At its core, Slack operates in channels.  A company can create channels to track and archive conversations around teams and projects in order to get things done. Slack’s search feature ensures that you will never “lose” a conversation about a project.  Next up is a slack alternative.

Zapier: Workflow automation for business

Every modern company should have workflow automation software. Remote teams simply have a stronger need for the functionality. They rely heavily on technology and must over-communicate to work effectively. Plus, they’re often geographically dispersed, which increases the importance of having up-to-date documentation about ongoing projects that keeps everyone on the same page.

By connecting your favorite apps together and moving data between them automatically, Zapier helps facilitate a strong remote work culture.

Without this technology, managing a remote team would require a ton of manual effort. Just ask Alex Minchin, Managing Partner at Zest Digital: “Zapier is the extra team member at our agency, linking our systems together and managing the push and pull of data.”

With 1,000 apps to choose from and a user-friendly interface, you can eliminate hours of tedious labor in just a few clicks. Zapier has a 4.5 rating on both G2 Crowd and Capterra, which suggests that the company stays true to its promise: Zapier makes you happier.

Fleep

Fleep is best recognized as a Slack Alternative. While it has too much in common with Slack, Fleep hits the mark with a handful more superior features to galvanize teamwork.

Fleep is most enamored for its penchant to clear the hotchpotch of long disjointed emails that are both confusing and time-consuming.

Fleep can streamline your communication in the following ways:

• Allows teams to chat and communicate with non-Fleep users via simple email address requirement
• Integrates with Google Hangouts to facilitate audio and video call. This includes screen sharing for a closer insight.
• Exclusive File Drawer option enables users to locate an image or file shared in a conversation at any given time in the past.
• Pinboard feature allows users to create digital sticky notes that can be pinned to the side of a conversation. Team members can collectively make changes to these pins that can most often be used as reminders, meeting updates or etc.
• Chat-experience enhancing features such as Writing indicator (that tell you when someone on the other end is typing), Seen indicators (that display read receipts), and Last Active (that reveal the time user was last available at).
• Native Task management feature that allows users to create, assign, and manage tasks.

Pricing

• Basic FREE plan – unlimited conversations, 10GB File storage. Full message history
• Business Plan – 5 Euros per user/month. 100 GB File storage. My tasks. Upload your company name & logo. Premium conversations.

Conclusion

Collaborative tools between clients and other stakeholders in a project can help to truly operationalize what we mean by “collaboration” while also increasing client satisfaction. The best collaborative tools allow the client and stakeholders to take part in and receive benefits from social networking and collaboration sites while delivering a number of benefits: