Properly communicating with your group members and employees is essential for an organization of any capacity, especially so for businesses that are just starting out. Establishing proper communication channels for your organization and utilizing them to their fullest extent is the key to success and improving business productivity.
According to kanbanzone.com, availing the services of various online collaboration tools can greatly benefit you in communicating with your team. This, in turn, helps your business complete all deadlines in time, keeps your employees updated, and helps your managers issue orders and requests in a shorter amount of time.
The thing is, there are just too many choices to choose from! There are thousands of online collaboration software out there and choosing the perfect application for your organization out of them is like finding a needle in a hay bale.
All of these online collaboration applications offer some features of their own and it is vital that you choose the tool that fulfills all your communication demands.
To avoid business owners from getting befuddled by the many available choices, we have made this detailed list of the best and most useful collaboration applications that you can utilize for your small business. Each tool has its own unique features and benefits so make sure you read the article till the end to not miss out on any crucial detail.
Slack
Source: psqs.org
Slack is one of the most reliable options for communicating with your team and interacting with them on various communication channels. It has various features integrated into it such as the instant messaging feature, calls over the internet, communicating through dedicated video feed channels, and the ability to host software bots that provide additional feasibility and features.
The free plan Slack offers is quite adequate for basic communication and software integration. You can have an unlimited number of messages on the server and invite users from all around the world to join the server. This is especially useful for receiving and communicating with international clients that would have been very difficult otherwise.
The servers you get with the free plan can hold up to five gigabytes of files and can store up to 10,000 messages. That being said, it doesn’t have free video meetings and you will need to get their premium plans for that. These plans open up a number of other options, the least of which is access to a larger amount of software applications that can be integrated into the communication channels for added convenience.
Kanban Zone
Source: kanbanzone.com
While relatively less known and massively underrated as compared to the other tools in this list, Kanban Zone still holds its ground with its immense simplicity. Kanban Zone provides you with a number of standard features such as assigning columns and tabs to a specific board which helps you keep a track of everything that goes on in your organization.
You can assign members to work on specific tabs and assign their tasks to the various states in the software such as To Do, Buffer, In Progress, and even the Completed state. This helps owners and managers manage multiple boards in one single glance streamlining the entire process of progress recording.
Depending on the type of your business and your needs, Kanban Zone offers various plans for various organizations. The great thing is that all of these plans are extremely affordable. The only major disadvantage is that you are pretty limited in communicating with your team and if your business needs a lot of features, then this tool might not be it.
Discord
Source: xda-developers.com
Discord is one of the most well-known communication apps in the world, especially amongst gamers who are the main target audience of the app. However, that does not mean other users can’t use it to fulfill their organization’s demands. In fact, it is one of the most highly-rated apps for business owners and is one of the most fun ways to interact with your employees and team.
You can send and receive an infinite number of messages, calls (both audio and video!) and also add in as many users as you want which makes it ideal for small organizations that have a large number of employees. Did we mention it is completely free? Because it is completely free! You can even host conferencing sessions with your employees and utilize screencasts for presentations or group planning – the options are limitless.
That being said, Discord wasn’t primarily designed for working professionals and business owners may find the design and UI unprofessional for organizational operations. Their premium is also quite expensive and does not justify its price point considering the only productive feature it offers is an increased file sharing limit.
Zoho Cliq
Source: encaptechno.com
Zoho Cliq is one of the most convenient applications for online collaboration. It offers the users the option of opening several tabs at the same time for tracking separate conversations. Essentially you have the option of talking with multiple individuals at the same time instead of opening and closing different tabs.
This is especially helpful when you are communicating with different teams at the same time. The tool also features an amazing conferencing option allowing you to invite up to 100 members at the same time. The tool is also extremely compatible with other applications that work on the same line as the app.
It can be also used with a combination of other Zoho apps because of their seamless integration. It also offers an infinite number of messages and calls of both types as well as channels to sort your business’ various projects. You get file integration with various software and the ability to share and store files up to 100GB which can be further increased if you buy their premium subscription.
However, due to the many features and options, it can take some time for you and your employees to get used to the software’s interface and features. This can be a big turnoff for organizations that are looking for simpler interfaces and better ease of access.
Conclusion
There are several online collaboration applications out there that can satisfy your small business’ demands quite seamlessly. We hope this article was insightful for you and if it was, please consider following our website for regular updates as it will help us out immensely.
