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Online collaboration tools are software used to share messages, video calls, transfer files, edit documents online and chat with multiple people at the same time. Collaboration tools are often used for group projects to coordinate work amongst team members. Some collaboration tools also have project management features that track progress within a project.
What Are the Features of an Online Collaboration Tool?
A successful online collaboration tool needs to be easy to use and set up. It needs to be secure, with features that allow users to share information through both visual and textual means—whatever is necessary for the task at hand. If you want to hold an online brainstorming session, for example, it helps to have mind-mapping and flow chart tools, sort of like a whiteboard. You may also want to be able to quickly share notes or files, adjust calendars, or send notifications regarding changes to the project.
How Can Online Collaboration Help Businesses?
Virtual collaboration is good for organizations of any size, as long as there is mutual interest in working remotely. Clients as well as colleagues stand to benefit from the tools provided by online collaboration tools.
More and more employers are going digital and enabling partially or completely remote workforces. Online collaboration effectively allows employees to shrink the distances between each other. They can work together on the same projects at the same time, as if they were all in the same room. This means that projects can be done much faster, as there is no need to send documents back and forth between offices.
Best Online Collaboration Tools & Software Platforms For Business
Office Online
To edit the same document paragraph by paragraph with the rest of your team remotely or from different devices, Office online is the go-to tool.
Provided that you have internet connectivity, this web version of Microsoft Office allows you to co-author a document in real time, edit and converting PDF documents to Word documents and vice versa, resume reading your word documents where you left off, and send in-line replies to your team by email. And it allows you to do all these from any device, securely and reliably.
Pros
- It is free
- Works perfectly from both mobile and desktop
- Changes made by collaborators are updated in real time and everyone can see who is making them.
Cons
- Requires internet connectivity to work
Adobe XD
For designers, AdobeXD makes quite a bit of sense. The software allows for real-time collaboration between team members on design projects.
The solution has a creative cloud that allows others to edit and make any needed adjustments on design in real time. With this solution, teams can design and prototype websites, mobile apps and more in real time.
Pros
- Replete with great native UI elements
- Has a tutorial to help you get your way around
- Very clean interface
- Easy to fill the UI with content
Cons
- Fairly hard to animate the UI
- No CSS export
ProofHub
ProofHub is a remarkable project management and team collaboration software. It enables managers to work jointly with their team members to plan and deliver projects spotlessly. You can organize and assign tasks to the team members smartly. The in-built chat app helps you eliminate remote communication barriers.
ProofHub provides you an online workspace where you can organize files, share notes and monitor everyday progress. There’s an online proofing tool that helps you review and approve files. Comprehensive Gantt charts help you plan your project effortlessly by placing it into easy-to-understand visual timelines.
Pros
- Free trial
- Easy to set up and understand
- Simple pricing with no per-user charges
- Powerful collaboration features
Cons
- Limited third-party integrations
HeyOrca
Finally, a collaborative social media management tool designed for agencies.
HeyOrca’s social media calendar allows you to effortlessly schedule and collaborate on social media posts, manage content approvals, and report on your results… all in one place.
It’s a visual platform built for social media managers that need to collaborate and communicate digitally on content – whether it’s with a client or internal team. Here’s how Alicia from Conversion Interactive Agency describes her experience:
I love that our content creation and client approvals all happen in one simple, easy-to-use platform. It really opened the door for more direct collaboration with our clients and empowered our team to build stronger relationships with them. HeyOrca’s support team is unmatched – any questions or suggestions are addressed lightning fast and they’re always friendly and great about following up.
HeyOrca enabled us to make the switch from spreadsheets — a clunky, outdated process, to a completely seamless workflow that enabled our team to work smarter and more efficiently.
Pros
- Rated 4.8/5 stars on G2
- Free 14-day trial
- Very low learning curve
- Unique pricing model – every calendar comes with unlimited users, social posts, media storage, support, and up to 10 connected social accounts
- Calendar format allows you to easily manage scheduled posts & plan future content
- Visual editor shows you exactly how posts will appear on social media while you create
- Easily share scheduled posts with clients or managers for approval or feedback
- Instantly pull social media reports & share them with clients or management
Cons
- No optimal posting times (Coming soon)
- No paid post promotions (Coming soon)
Skype
Skype is an instant messaging and calling app and is one of the popular project collaboration tools. It allows audio and video calls between multiple devices like one on the laptop and the other on phone. Bring your teams together through group video calls and give great presentation online with the help of screen sharing. You can make free or low-cost calls locally or internationally.
What’s unique about Skype?
- Stay in touch with people all over the world for free with voice and video calls, text messages and screen sharing.
- Group calls. Get a group of people together on one call – you can add up to 25 people.
- Notifications based on mentions
- With voicemail, you record a personal greeting in your own voice
WebEx
WebEx is for businesses that rely heavily on meetings that need a full-featured communications software solution. It offers much secure team workspaces in the cloud. With WebEx, businesses can streamline their businesses and help solve real human problems.
What’s unique about WebEx?
- HD video conferences with collaboration and file-sharing capabilities.
- WebEx mobile app for iPhone, iPad, Android, and Blackberry.
- Get your own personalized meeting room
ClickMeeting
ClickMeeting is a browser-based web conferencing tool that comes along with dynamic features. It is mainly used to make webinars more effective and online meetings more collaborative. You can connect seamlessly with others regardless of location and operating system. Overall, ClickMeeting is a perfect tool that fosters effective communication and collaboration.
What’s unique about ClickMeeting
- Easily engage your audience and allow more room for interaction.
- Offers high-quality and live seminars
- View and export detailed info and derive useful predictions and trends
- Share screen and videos with other attendees
- Getting started is hassle-free and only takes a moment
Google Docs
Google docs is another simple way of collaborating with a small or big team. You can easily share, edit, and eventually, publish documents of all kinds, make spreadsheets and presentations. Everything here is for free and easy to use. And once you have set the offline mode on your Google docs, you will not need an internet connection to use the docs.
What is unique about Google Docs:
- Easily create and edit documents online
- Format documents with Google Fonts typefaces, images, tables, and more
- Import Word documents and export in Word and PDF formats
- Collaborate and co-edit docs remotely
Toggl
Toggl is one of the best collaboration tool with a no-hassle time tracking software. You can better take control of your time, boost productivity and increase revenue with Toggl. It integrates with tens of different project management tools and makes the project manager’s life a lot easier.
What’s unique about Toggl?
- Log time anywhere on the web – Connect your timer more than 100 web tools via browser extension and track time anywhere.
- Instant overview of your billable time and team progress
- Real-time time entries and collaboration
- Automatically notify your team when they’ve forgotten to log hours, schedule their reports straight to your inbox
- Offline time tracking & mobile functionalities
- Integration with your favorite productivity tools
Conclusion
Online Collaboration tools. Use this simple, yet comprehensive guide to find the perfect collaboration tools for your team or organization. Learn about features, how to implement online collaboration tools, and the benefits of using online collaboration tools.