Team collaboration – the process by which people can share information and work together virtually – is a vital aspect of the everyday work that takes place in today’s business world. Online team collaboration allows organizations to achieve cost savings both from a reduction in operating costs and an increase in productivity, as well as to create new opportunities for their customers.
Team collaboration is the process of working together especially to accomplish a task that requires more than one person or group. Online team collaboration is an extension of that. Combining remote workers with project management software allows the company’s teams to work together more efficiently.
Teamwork
Teamwork was built so you can manage ALL your client work in one platform. From invoicing, to time tracking, to unlimited client access, everything you need to run your client services is in Teamwork.
Teamwork gives you the tools and reports you need to maximize resources and never miss a billable minute again. Get a bird’s eye view of every project, from milestones to capacity planning, budgeting and time tracking and more.
Break work and projects into tasks and layers of subtasks – so nothing slips through the cracks and everyone knows what to do and when it’s done.
Pros
- Signup for a free 30-day trial of Teamwork with no commitments
- Teamwork has the growth-focused features like time tracking, custom client permissions, assigning tasks to multiple people and more
- A user-friendly learning curve and the essential features (like reports and resource management)
- Teamwork has the collaboration, client features and robust flexibility necessary for managing multiple complex projects
- Solid functionality so your team can manage large, complex projects without the learning curve and limitations
- Collaborate in real-time with your team and clients to get your questions answered and projects delivered on time & on budget.
Cons
- UX can be a bit cumbersome, but they are currently working on an overhaul
Chanty
Chanty is a simple team chat solution, with easy-to-use collaboration features, unlimited message history, and workplace apps to enable teams to foster healthy relationships through transparent and accessible communication.
It is a messaging tool that enables your team members to complete projects, activities, or tasks easier and faster. It also helps you consolidate all the information you need in one easy-to-use application.
Pros
- Unlimited searchable message history
- Inbuilt task manager
- Simple and clean interface
- Easy-to-start and easy-to-use
Explore pricing and features to find the Chanty plan that best fits your team.
Cons
- Limited in custom integrations
Slack
Slack is a smart collaboration tool that is available in both desktop and mobile versions. It allows teams to send direct messages to each other as individuals as well as groups.
You can also organize conversations into various channels for specific initiatives or projects, and integrates with the best Slack apps like Google Docs, Box and Dropbox for a more unified experience.
Pros
- Hosted in the cloud so no need for costly installations
- Messages are fully searchable
- Supports private group communication
- Allows for external sharing
Cons
- Has a message visibility limit
- Pretty expensive on a per user basis
- Is slower to load than other apps such as Flock or Brief
- It can be cumbersome to sign into each workspace to communicate with different teams
Flock
If you are looking for more comprehensive communication features, then Flock is a great alternative for Slack (above). It is a communication tool that allows teams to have different channels, as well as individual and group conversations.
Unlike Slack, Flock is much faster with short load times and allows users to search through all messages, URL and files with ease. The tool is optimized to find virtually any search query regardless of its source in the channels. Further, it supports screen sharing, audio and video calls. Flock users can conduct polls, set reminders, share notes, and assign tasks for maximum productivity.
Pros
- Has short load times
- Messages are fully searchable
- Has unlimited message visibility
Cons
- Has fewer app integrations than Slack
- Does not support automated bots
Skype for Business
Most of us are familiar with Skype. Simply put, it’s an online collaboration tool that allows users to communicate with any other Skype user for free via instant messaging, voice, video and screen sharing.
More importantly, Skype supports conference calls for up to 25 people, which means it can be a very convenient way to bring all your team together for a quick update of project status.
For more premium features, opt instead for Skype for Business.
Pros
- The tool is free
- You can call anyone in the world who has a Skype account
- Supports screen sharing
- The app is easy to install
Cons
- Offers no language translation services
- Skype picks up background noises easily
- Sound quality is dependent on bandwidth
Asana
Organisation to the max
TODAY’S BEST DEALSVISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Project tracking+Handy integrations
REASONS TO AVOID
-Other apps have better comms features
Asana has been around since 2008, making it a veteran in the collaboration arena, and companies such as Intel, Uber, Pinterest and TED all use it as their core method of communication.
It’s been designed as an easy way for companies to track the work of employees and to get the best possible results. Using the platform, you can create to-do lists for ongoing projects, set reminders for upcoming deadlines and send requests to colleagues. Team members can also assign comments to posts within the app.
You can organize all your projects in a list or board format, and there’s a search function so you can locate past work quickly. In short, Asana is a very effective way to stay super-organized and facilitate conversations when it comes to updates on how work is progressing.
Best Visual Collaboration App
Visual collaboration apps are growing in popularity, and our two favorites are Editors’ Choice winner Miro and close runner-up Mural.
Both take the form of a digital whiteboard or canvas that multiple people join simultaneously. They have tools for drawing, posting sticky notes with text, uploading files and images, embedding videos, and adding other kinds of content to the board. Miro offers video calling, so you can chat with colleagues while simultaneously brainstorming and working on visual projects. Mural purposely offers only audio calls—the idea is to keep the visual focus on the board.
Miro and Mural both include a healthy stock of templates. Mural’s library includes many templates used for team building and group icebreakers. They work almost like tabletop games. Miro offers more in the way of library objects and templates for making charts, diagrams, and other visual aids that you can reuse in other business materials, such as presentations.
Mural has templates for team building exercises.
Best Collaborative To-Do List
Todoist is the PCMag Editors’ Choice winner for to-do list apps, but it’s also a highly valuable collaboration tool. If your team needs an inexpensive tool that helps a group of people write down, prioritize, and manage everything they need to get done, it’s at the top of the list.
What makes Todoist better than other collaborative to-do apps? For starters, it has apps for every major platform that all work reliably and sync effortlessly. It also gives you a ton of tools for organizing tasks, such as priority ratings and labels, without creating a cluttered interface. That keeps the app easy to use and highly accessible to newcomers.
Airtable takes a database-style approach to organizing collaborative work.
Best for Kanban
Kanban is a system for working used in a variety of fields, though it’s especially popular among software developers and other kinds of technical workers. Without explaining kanban too deeply, it uses a board and cards on that board to represent tasks or ideas. The board contains columns, and each column is (usually) a stage or step in the work process. So you might have a board with the columns To Do, Doing, Done. You write down all the tasks that need to be done and put them into the To Do column. When you start a task (symbolized by a card that contains the task name and other details about it), you move its card to the Doing column. When you finish, you put the card in the Done column.
Trello is one of the friendliest kanban tools on the market. Anyone can sign up for an account and start using it quickly. It isn’t especially feature-rich out of the box, but with a paid account you can choose Powerups, or add-on features, to make it more powerful.
Many collaboration apps have started adding kanban views so that you always have the option to work in kanban if you want. Asana, Zoho Projects, Teamwork, and even Todoist all have some kind of board feature now.
Conclusion
The online team collaboration (OTC) service is designed to connect all the groups in your organization to perform better, faster. Using this hybrid cloud-based system, your team can access files, calendars, contacts and much more, anytime, anywhere. As an added bonus, you’ll enjoy total privacy by keeping your business data secure in an integrated, encrypted solution.