Essential remote work tools for WFH communications tech stack
Enterprise collaboration tools like Slack, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams have inundated the news as many companies shift toward mandated work from home policies due to COVID-19. It’s natural that these types of remote technologies take center stage as organizations scramble to normalize the world’s unprecedented remote workforce shift.
Slack and Zoom make it easy to keep in constant contact with small teams or individuals working from home, but it’s not enough. Let’s not be mistaken, productivity and collaboration tools are powerful, but as social distancing continues, organizations need to understand the ramifications of shelter in place and how to utilize remote working technologies properly to address what’s being neglected: connecting employees to the broader organization.
Note that intranets do not replace any of the remote work tools in the chart above. Each technology is designed for a specific purpose and is most effective when used appropriately. For example, Slack channels shouldn’t be used to share critical company updates because it risks getting lost in newer activity posts.
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What your remote communications toolkit is missing
So what’s the best technology or solution for a remote workforce? Often overlooked, it’s a platform that can streamline top-down critical information while aligning and connecting employees organization-wide: the modern intranet. A modern intranet or an internal communication platform fills in the gap that the most-often talked about enterprise technologies miss. While productivity software is designed for employee-to-employee communication and real-time collaboration, the intranet is purposefully designed to streamline critical top-down communications especially for a remote workforce. It’s important to make the distinction between traditional intranets and modern intranets. Modern intranets are different from the intranets of the past. Among many other differentiators, modern intranets can alert and deliver instant updates to employees from anywhere, without relying on the help of IT. And in times like this, it’s absolutely critical to be able to reach remote employees instantly.Filling in the remote work communications technology gap
Having multiple kinds of technology is key to empower employees to work efficiently, but we must recognize how to appropriately use each remote work tool to not only keep employees productive but to preserve company culture and connection. Productivity and collaboration technologies do not address the human need to feel engaged and aligned with an organization. When your entire workforce is working remotely, it’s inevitable that employees will begin to feel uncertain about where they stand. To make matters worse, prolonged isolation leads to loneliness and can affect an employee’s self-esteem and sense of motivation. Employees are looking up to leaders for guidance, clarity, and direction, not the timeline of the next product launch. Organizations need a modern intranet to provide a:- Source of truth for critical information that reach every remote employee, without getting lost
- Virtual watercooler to strengthen company culture, identity, and social connections
- Trusted place to help remote employees find what they need, like the latest documents or experts across the organization
How to utilize remote working communications technology effectively
There are countless enterprise collaboration tools available for remote employees. The chart below outlines the appropriate use cases for each remote work tool. Hopefully, this chart will help serve as a guideline if you’re looking to assemble or complete your work-from-home tool stack:List of the Best Remote Work Tools
| Remote Work Tools | Best-of-Breed Example | Why You Need It | How It Should Be Used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web conferencing | Zoom | To replicate the conference room |
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| Team messaging | Slack | Instant feedback and collaboration |
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| Office productivity suites | Google Suite | Excellent for real-time collaboration |
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| Modern intranet or an internal communication platform | Simpplr | Highlight important communications that could get lost in Slack and email Keep employees in touch with other departments and the broader organization |
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| Google, Outlook | Legacy tool that the entire company is familiar with |
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| Everything else | Salesforce, Workday, Concur, etc. | Sales, HR, expense management |
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