Technology is revolutionizing where, when, and how we work. Today, we can work remotely and make our daily bread from the confines of our home. However, being a remote worker does not come without its unique challenges. Luckily, there are some tools that can help us make it all easy.
What are these tools? Check out some of them here:
Online Office Suites
Office suites are now shifting from installed software packages to connected online applications. Two of them are Microsoft Office Online (the web-based version of Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and Google’s equivalent G Suite (docs, sheets, slides, and more). You need this for any presentation or paperwork that you are going to create.
PDFBear
With PDFBear, you can easily share a file with others, convert Word doc to PDF, PDF to PPT, etc. You can do this within a few clicks, then download your accurately converted documents. All this is done online on the cloud and within 2 minutes. There are hardly any other tools with that speed and accuracy! This can be beneficial when you submit output to your boss or client. Aside from that, this web-based tool allows you to have access to all its features for free!
Fast and Reliable Internet Service
This is kind of a given, but the most crucial. This is a world with evolving technology daily, and as such, it becomes a matter of necessity to have fast and reliable internet service as a remote worker. The idea is to make the home workspace comfortable and make the tasks easier. It is one thing to have a fast internet service in a remote workspace, and it is another thing for internet access to be reliable.
To make the transfer of documents, meet deadlines, easy communication with teammates, and online meeting with partners smooth and effortless, a non-negotiable tool is a fast and reliable internet service. One important thing to note is that a fast and reliable internet service suggests a faster consumption of data. It is important to have a data plan that is elastic enough to cover the work period on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis depending on your budget.
Team Chat Application(s)
As a remote worker, it is important to have team chat applications, where communication with team members is as fast as possible. Rather than waiting to place a call or having to send an email, simply shoot them a message.
It’s important because as a remote worker, questions can arise that require urgent answers, or in some cases, show proof that you understand what you’re doing in real-time.
There are several Team Chat Applications, depending on which one best fits your work. Applications such as Zoom, Skype, Slack, Chanty all exist to make working from home feel as much like a workplace too.
Screen Sharing Software
Most often than not, it is best to create a presentation for meetings. Several applications have made this possible, such as Zoom, our regular Whatsapp (Video Call), Slack, etc.
Being able to Share your Screen sends a message to teammates and superiors that work is seriously going on from your end.
A Cloud Storage Application
It is important to have a cloud storage application where any team member can easily send and retrieve a document, either past or an updated copy. The Cloud storage application should be such that it can be accessed from any device for any team member.
There are some cloud storage applications available like the popular Google Drive, Dropbox, Onebox, etc. It is therefore important to choose one that each team member is familiar with and can use easily.
Note-taking Applications
These are applications that help a remote worker stay organized and tidy. These applications help to organize the daily tasks, help to save articles and links a person would like to read later.
Examples of these applications are Evernote, Microsoft Onenote. They help to avoid having sticky notes all around the work area at home.
Mind Mapping tool
As a remote worker, it simply means that such a person would be doing a lot of brainstorming alone. Unlike the workplace or office where the whiteboard exists to map out ideas and brainstorm in the conference room or hall, in a remote workplace, mind mapping tools that can mirror the office whiteboards are available online to brainstorm and map out ideas for easy execution.
Some of these online applications are Coggle, Mindly, MindMup, etc. It is important to select based on familiarity and pocket size.
A Reliable personal Computer or Laptop
While a workplace already has a desktop installed for every worker, it is quite different for a remote worker. A remote worker must ensure that his personal computer is reliable enough and durable for the execution of daily tasks.
Not having a reliable personal computer makes working from home a nightmare as a mobile phone, no matter how smart, cannot perform all the required tasks all the time easily.
Video Conference Applications
As much as it is called remote work, at one time or the other, a remote worker would still want to have that feeling of seeing other teammates together, discussing tasks to be executed, challenges, and even solutions. These tools can serve as official meeting points from the confines of each remote worker. Examples of these applications are Zoom, Skype, Slack, etc.
To do List Applications
These are applications that help a remote worker organize the daily tasks he needs to do. Unlike a normal workspace or office where a secretary exists to keep the schedule of each day and assign convenient time to each activity, a to-do list application does this for a remote worker. These applications can lighten up the load of anyone who is working remotely.
In Conclusion
Being a remote worker seems very easy but can be demanding. But with these tools, you can rest assured of a convenient remote working experience. Be it a video conferencing tool to mirror a real team experience or cloud storage tools to foster smooth storage, you can never go wrong with these tools.
