Top 5 Collaboration Tools for Remote Teams in 2018

Technology is revolutionizing the way we work. Teams from any parts of the world can collaborate with each other with the help of apps. There is a growing trend of companies achieving better efficiency without being in the same location.

In 2016 Forbes listed 125 companies that successfully adopted a telecommuting culture.

Another article from the same source listed benefits of telecommuting including improving productiveness, reducing pollution, and decrease organization overheads.

The key to effective remote working depends on systems that make it happen. If you are considering setting one up, here are the top 5 tools that can help.

Slack

At the core of a successful remote is good communication. Lacking this, all teams will falter.

Slack was the first chat service created for remote teams. Marrying the functionalities from classic mIRC and modern-day features, it created the perfect work chat app. The core feature of this app is its ability to create organize multiple Workspaces and Channels.

Each Workspace can represent a company, while a channel can be a department of project. This makes it easier to talk and share documents and links.

Slack also integrates with a wide number of collaboration tools like Jira, Google Drive, Salesforce, Trello and Dropbox. Because remote teams typically use a number of these apps, it helps that they talk to each other.

There are a couple of minor downsides that may annoy you from time to time. Many functions are tucked in non-intuitive corners. The app takes longer to load on all platforms, and some integrated attachments don't work.

Commenting on teammates' conversations are also more complicated than should be. But worst is the notifications that don't always get through, which cause communication delays.

Slack starts out free with limited space. After hitting the cap, it will start hiding oldest conversations. A paid version opens up unlimited chat storage and some integration features. If managed well, a team can stay in their free version forever.

If you decide to pay, you are doing the company a good service. Pricing starts from $8 per user per month, which can be bumped down to $6.67 if paid annually.

This unlocks External Access, which allows non-Slack users like suppliers to join your channel. It also unlocks video calls with up to 15 participants, which includes screen-sharing. If you're a penny-pinching startup, free video calls can be obtain elsewhere.

Paid pricing comes with 10 GB of storage, which can be increased to 20 GB on their $12.50 a month tier. The highest tier also comes with additional IT support like Provisioning/Deprovisioning, Uptime Guarantee, and 24/7 Customer Support

Slack is available on iOS, Android, macOS and Windows apps, and also on browser.

Discord

If you tried Slack and found it clunky, slow and filled with bugs, you are not alone.

Other similar platforms like Microsoft Teams provides a free tier but with limitations similar to Slack. Facebook's Workspace offers an attractive forever-free tier. Lest you want Facebook snooping at your chats, we suggest staying away.

We have been testing Discord for a while, and are very happy thus far. Discord is a multi-channel and multi-server chat platform built for gamers. It has all the channel management of Slack, but with some absent features.

While Slack's private channels lets us choose who to invite, Discord's equivalent can only be accessed by admins. And while Slack has a messy function to comment on chats, Discord lacks this altogether.

But where Discord lacks features on one side, it more than makes up on another. You can create Voice Channels where everyone can enter and speak freely. This function is built for voice chat while playing games, but also makes a good meeting room. Unfortunately in order to minimize storage space, Discord doesn't not store voice conversations.

Putting links into a Channel will not enable one-click features like Slack. Instead, it works like a hyperlink that needs to be double-clicked. Although inconvenient, we think the simplicity works well with speed.

Discord is free forever without any caveats. The company says they will not open up paid tiers or include ads. Instead, they plan to profit from game bundles or skins. it is available for iOS, Android, macOS, Windows and on browsers.

Trello

Trello is a project management tool that adopts the efficiency of a Scrum Board. Those coming from a Salesforce platform will appreciate its simplicity.

Build a Board for each project, and fill them with Lists containing multiple Cards. Each Card is assigned to one or multiple members. All reporting, updating and checklists can be done there. It also includes ability to attach files, images and links.

The simplest way to use Trello is by having Lists like To Do, Doing, and Done. A team can work on each Card, report on its progress, and move it across Lists. It also has colorful tags and a great calendar view for big-picture planning.

Trello starts out with a Forever Free plan, which allows unlimited Boards, Lists, Cards and attachments. We can also link files from Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and Box. Paid Plans start at $ 9.99 per user per month, and includes integration with major tools like Jira, Slack, Evernote, MailChimp. Trello is available in browser, and on all mobile and desktop operating systems.

Google Drive

Google Drive is the first of its kind, with the aim to bring all document creation and storage to the cloud. With a Gmail account, we can create and edit all Microsoft format documents like Document, Excel and PowerPoint. We can also organize them by color-coded folders and have multiple layers of sharing controls with anyone.

At no price at all, Google Drive provides 15 GB of storage and a creation tool. Offline editing is also possible. Competitors offer a meager 2 GB storage on their free plans, and sub-par document creation tools.

Microsoft offers the Office 365 with 1 TB of storage, and a powerful set of work applications. But this comes at a hefty price of RM 359 per year for 5 users or a one-off RM 529 per person. And Microsoft Office 265 requires all collaborating members paid versions of the same tools.

Zoom

Every remote team needs a video conferencing tool. It has to be fast, reliable and simple enough to use. It need not contain excessive functions that only slow it down.

If you’re thinking Skype, that ship has sailed a long time ago. Ever since Microsoft's acquisition, Skype has no idea what it wants to be.

We want key functions like good connection, number of participants, screen share, collaboration, annotation, and white-boarding. Thankfully, Zoom can do everything so well for absolutely no cost at all.

On top of the functions above, Zoom’s free plan allows up to 100 participants in a single meeting. This is achievable with the simple click of a link. Participants don’t even need to be Zoom members.

Other platforms like Skype and Google Hangouts require all participants to be members and friends of each other. Each meeting can only run up to 40 minutes (which is a lot by our accounts). If that's not enough, start another one of their unlimited quota.

Paid plans start at $14.99 per host per month, where meetings can run forever, enables cloud storage of recordings, and more functions. It’s available on iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, browser, and by phone call.


A company adapting telecommuting into its culture has a lot to change. New systems need to be implemented, and some old ones replaced. Communications and reporting is essential to avoid any breakdowns. When done properly though, you can cut down on pay and overheads. Your hiring options expand beyond city borders as well.