While remote work is sometimes viewed as a trend, the recent global changes ensured it is here to stay.
Many employees are either working from home full-time or splitting their time between home and the office. Experts have found that 12.7% of full-time employees work from home, while 28.2% of employees have adapted to a hybrid work model.
Because of this, remote work tools are more important than ever. Thanks to modern technology, there are a wealth of tools available to help improve your workflow at home. This article will explore a few of these tools and explain the advantages of each.
Here is an updated list of the most effective remote work tools for creatives in 2023.
Loom 🔗
Loom, the ultimate tool for remote work, is simply a video messaging tool that allows you to share messages instantly via videos. Such videos could be a camera recording, or desktop screen, or both. The Loom application works with your device camera and built-in microphone to make recording videos simple and pain-free.
Although new, this tool is pretty easy to use. Most of the features operate on a click-and-done basis. You need no extra lessons on how to use Loom. With Loom, you can record your computer screen alongside footage of yourself narrating. You can also integrate it with other tools like Slack and Google. Take advantage of Loom and handle as many operations as you want from one place.
Slack 🔗
Communication is the key to success in the workplace, and Slack helps to facilitate this. Slack is a well-known remote messaging work tool that promotes collaboration within organizations.
As a team manager, you can create channels for specific topics, for example, a channel for work-related discussions, for smaller teams, and a fun channel. It allows team members to send direct messages in real-time.
Aside from communication, Slack allows users to share files. It has many integrations with various apps and services. It is easy to install and understand. Slack enhances team productivity by centralizing communication and reducing reliance on emails.
Microsoft Teams 🔗
At the beginning of 2023, over one million organizations used Microsoft Teams for communication. Microsoft Teams offers easy messaging alongside all the core collaboration features, from video conferencing to phone calls and group messaging.
For communication, Teams have two channel types: private channels and standard channels. While private channels are best for confidential conversations, the standard channel is open to anyone.
Microsoft Teams is integrated closely with OneDrive and SharePoint, such that you can easily share among members. Without leaving Teams, employees can edit Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and other file types in real time.
Brain.fm 🔗
As a remote worker, several things can distract and disrupt your workflow. You may choose to block out distractions with some cool music, but that also gets distracting. Ward off all distractions using Brain.fm’s focus music. Brain plays music that blends into the background while you focus on your task for the day.
How do they choose this music? Brain app uses a combination of AI and humans to select music or sounds to optimize your performance. While the sounds are made by real humans, the Brain app tweaks the base sounds. The final sounds then influence your brain activity and encourage a flow state.
Asana 🔗
Another great remote working tool, Asana gives you an easy way to plan and manage your projects. Asana was built specifically for workflow management and team collaboration.
Creatives everywhere use Asana for collaborating on projects and tracking their work. Using Asana can help you get the best work done and improve your efficiency when working from home.
Zapier 🔗
Zapier is an automation tool that helps you save time with daily tasks. This tool connects your favorite apps, such as Gmail, Slack, Google Sheets, and many others. It allows you to automate repetitive tasks by creating workflows, known as Zaps, without the need for coding or technical skills.
Also, Zapier is flexible to use, making it a powerful tool to streamline workflows, increase efficiency, and reduce manual tasks. For example, if you ever want to turn emails into tasks? Or save attachments directly to cloud storage? Zapier’s “Zaps” automates these tasks, making your life simpler.
Wrike 🔗
Wrike is a productivity tool that comes with a time management feature. It has a time tracking option that offers online time tracking, giving you complete visibility into your team’s productivity.
Wrike allows you to use a timer to record hours. The timer appears for every company task, which you can activate and pause during break hours. You can also add a time log entry manually. Time tracking allows companies to record time spent on tasks.
In a nutshell, Wrike helps you spend time on billable work, avoid missed deadlines, and plan future work better. When there’s a clear visibility on project progress, teams can make accurate forecasts, deliver projects on time, and ultimately boost revenues.
Superhuman 🔗
AI has seen the start of progressive developments in recent years, and remote tools are not left out. Now, you can write emails in more strategic, creative, and impactful ways, saving you a lot of time. AI can research any topic, edit text, and summarize long documents, thanks to Superhuman.
Superhuman AI helps you write emails faster than before. It reduces the time you spend thinking about the right words. Simply put in a few phrases summarizing the message and let Superhuman do the rest. Not to worry, the email will sound just like you. Superhuman looks up your previous emails and writes similarly. Also, it edits your emails. And with the rise in remote jobs, Superhuman helps remote workers increase productivity.
Zoom 🔗
Zoom is a video and audio-conferencing platform. It has become one of the top remote work tools in recent times.
Zoom allows you to host video conferences with up to 100 people for free. This is enough to accommodate your employees. If you have more employees, you can subscribe to their business plan allowing up to 300 members.
It also includes features like screen sharing, making it excellent for collaboration. You can use Zoom on your desktop or mobile phone as they have an app for both iPhone and Android.
Google Meet 🔗
Google Meet is a virtual meeting platform that allows users to host and connect with others remotely. One of the notable features of Google Meet is its integration with other Google services, such as Google Calendar and Gmail. As a manager, you can schedule meetings directly from Google Calendars and notify every team member.
When using Google Meet, you need not create a new account. The free plan allows meetings with around 100 participants. Also, Google Meet offers real-time captioning and automatic background noise filtering to enhance the meeting experience.
In addition, Google Meet provides a secure environment for online meetings. It offers encryption in transit and proactive anti-abuse measures to protect users from unwanted disruptions.
Taskade 🔗
Taskade is a project management tool for remote teams, especially small teams. Think about a place where you can take notes, organize tasks and plan other activities. Taskade has an interface that is easy and flexible to use.
The Kanban boards are useful for visual task management, real-time collaborative document editing, integrated video and voice calls, deadline notifications, team chat, task dependencies, offline access, team performance analytics, and customizable workflows. These features enable remote teams to work efficiently, communicate effectively, and achieve their goals seamlessly.
Google Drive 🔗
Do you need a centralized location where you can share and collaborate on Word Documents, Excel spreadsheets, and slideshows? Google Drive offers all of this and more.
Google Drive can be accessed through your computer or mobile phone, making it an essential remote working tool for large companies and creative agencies alike. As a creative, it also allows you to collaborate on documents in real time.
It offers real-time editing among team members, giving it an edge over other products in the market. The drive comes with large cloud storage with top security and transparency. It is easy to use, and you can trust the brand.
Dropbox 🔗
Dropbox comes closely beside Google Drive as a tool for cloud storage and file sharing. It provides a convenient solution for freelancers and remote workers to back up their important documents, photos, videos, and other files, which they can access from anywhere with an internet connection.
One of Dropbox’s key features is its file-sharing capabilities. You can create shared folders containing big files, allowing multiple people to collaborate on documents in real time. It is an ideal remote work tool for teamwork. Remote workers can work together on projects, share feedback, and exchange files easily.
Dropbox also offers various integration options with third-party apps and services, enhancing its functionality and allowing users to streamline their workflows. So, whether for personal use or business purposes, Dropbox provides a user-friendly and reliable cloud storage solution.
Vagon Teams 🔗
Many creation software requires a lot of computing power that many people cannot assess. That’s why Vagon is such a powerful remote working tool.
Vagon lets you run apps on its supercomputers in the cloud, eliminating hardware dependency. It is most suitable for a team of animators, architects, researchers, CAD designers, and similar agencies. This set of creatives can work freely as a remote team.
As Vagon runs with cloud technology, it is fully secure, and you can use it on any device. All you need to do is create a Vagon Teams account and assign each cloud computer to the team. With Vagon, any member can run performance-savvy apps on any device, wherever they are.
Adobe Creative 🔗
Possibly the best creative software suite available, Adobe Creative gives users access to several software packages. Through a single subscription, you can use Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, and more.
Adobe Creative is one of the best work-from-home tools for video producers and graphic designers. Adobe Creative allows for team collaboration in real time. With Adobe Creative you can also share assets with your entire team.
Improve Work Success With Remote Tools
Making the transition to working from home is not easy. Luckily, these tools are available to improve the experience. They reduce communication challenges, enhance collaboration, and ensure secure access to essential files and meetings.
Vagon is one of these tools. Vagon improves remote work by allowing you to run resource-intensive applications in the cloud. Integrating these tools into organizations helps to maintain productivity, foster teamwork, and adapt to the flexible work landscape of today. Embracing these tools will not only enhance your remote work experience but also enable you to thrive in the digital age.
