Collaboration is a constant need in today’s businesses. With the growing number of competitors and the ever increasing complexity many businesses have to deal with, it is essential to have a team of professionals working together in order to succeed .
Here is a list of the collaboration tools that will help you work together with others. No matter where you come from, these online collaboration tools can be utilized to help your organization.
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
Creatopy
Creatopy is the efficient and intuitive visual production platform delivering a well-crafted experience for communicators. The brand-new platform allows individuals and teams to easily create engaging advertising visuals for multi-channel creative mediums.
Featuring advanced automation capabilities, along with an ever-growing library of templates and visual elements, Creatopy gives communicators the needed tools to spark their creative journey and keep visual content organized and always on-brand.
Plus, with Creatopy, you get an online workspace in which you can create and store unlimited designs and animations. You can also share notes and projects, give feedback, and pass around links, not files.
Pros
- Cloud-based collaboration for all stakeholders
- Accessible, intuitive interface with a drag and drop editor
- Design presets, templates, and original illustrations, available at no resale
- No coding or design skills required
- Designs can be exported as HTML5, GIF, AMP HTML files
Cons
- Requires a stable internet connection
- They don’t have a mobile app yet
Nextiva
Nextiva’s small business VoIP solution is perfect for businesses looking to collaborate with customers, prospects, and colleagues effortlessly. The platform offers full business phone service capabilities with advanced features such as local phone numbers, call pop, automated greetings, voicemail-to-email, SMS text messaging, mobile App, HD hold music, and more. Best of all, companies can make unlimited calls using the Nextiva platform and port their existing phone number over to Nextiva if they so choose. Nextiva comes at a great value and has been ranked the #1 business communications platform by experts such as Gartner, GetVoIP, and more.
What is unique about Nextiva?
- Quick collaboration – Nextiva allows you to communicate with team members via audio and video calls, giving you the option to carry out quick and meaningful conversations as per your requirements.
- Unlimited texting – you also get the option to send unlimited text messages to and from your business phone number using this VoIP system.
- Call forwarding and auto attendant – to streamline call routing, Nextiva offers an auto attendant feature. You can also forward your calls to the office phone and better handle the call traffic.
- Voicemail to email – you can even listen to voicemails and call recordings from your email account using this powerful app (desktop as well as mobile)
- Put calls in queue – with Nextiva you also get the feature of call queuing that allows you to turn call waiting, call forwarding and voicemail on for all the incoming calls to your business.
Slack
Slack is the foundation of teamwork and shared understanding across your team. It helps you communicate and collaborate without emails by setting a standard for online team communication. Millions of people are using Slack to bring their teams together and drive their business forward.
What’s unique about slack?
- Find answers you need: Slack builds a platform to have team conversation, make decisions and putting knowledge in everyone’s hands.
- Streamlines your workflow: Slack has an open API to keep your team coordinated and working faster within the context of your conversations. Slack apps go where you like to work: in a web browser, synced to your desktop, and portable on a smartphone or tablet.
- Search: You can search for all Slack content from one search box including conversations, files, links, and even content that’s integrated with Google Drive or tweets.
- Integrate Slack with other services: Connection with other services like Google Drive, Google Hangouts, Twitter, Asana, Trello, and others can be pulled into conversations.
Canva
Canva is a simple graphic design tool to make visual content look decent. You can make unique designs in just a few minutes and share it with your team. Collaborating with teams is much easier with canva. Designers can share their designs with anyone and other team members can leave their comments. Pick from thousands of layouts for your designs and also create your custom template.
What is unique about Canva:
- Crop your photos for great framing and masterful composition
- Access to over 8000 templates
- Team administrative controls
- Create stunning designs with best graphics, photos, and fonts
Freshconnect
Freshconnect is a team collaboration tool, built to simplify inter and intra team communication. Team members can communicate with each other, in a 1:1 conversation or a group chat.
If the context of a discussion is a ticket or a deal, instead of sending each other the link or copying in the messages from said ticket/deal, Freshconnect users can simply start a discussion right in their CRM/helpdesk so that everyone is on the same page and work gets done faster.
Conversations can involve not just people in the org but also anyone who can help like partners and third-party vendors, outside the organization.
With Freshconnect, your team can access all important team conversations – even the ones linked to tickets and deals and casual 1:1 conversations – in the same place.
Freshconnect is available on both iOS and Android platforms so you can stay updated on conversations, even when you’re on the go.
Conclusion
The collaboration tools service contains user-friendly project management software that can be used with other online collaboration tools tools for working together in the Cloud. The collaboration tools allow businesses to share important documents, ideas, and video conferencing with each other online.