The Best Apps and Software for Remote Working

Working from home is an opportunity to get even more done than you would when in a hectic commercial environment. Thanks to the ability to design your workspace around your individual style and needs, you can create your very own office where productivity levels always remain high.

Hosted desktops allow business owners and employees to access their usual desktop experience using any device, in any location, at any time of day or night.

This means you’re most likely already using top software the likes of Microsoft Teams, Zoom, WhatsApp and LinkedIn, so this guide suggests a range of additional resources that will help you to increase your productivity and achieve sustainable workflow.
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Project management tools

Trello

Trello has been around for a while and remains a very user-friendly system for organising all of your projects by placing them into themed boards (or cards). By doing so, you categorise everything that needs completing, allocate people to specific tasks, and can even see the current status of each one.

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Asana

Asana is similar to Trello but gaining popularity thanks to its very straightforward grouping system of Today, Upcoming and Later. This makes it super clear when a job needs doing and flags up any that are overdue.

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Basecamp

Basecamp is another project management classic that’s great for home workers. You can add a range of projects, each with individual tasks, and also use the platform for chatting about progress via threads and direct messages.

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Monday.com

Monday.com seems to be all the rage at the moment. It’s yet another project management system but it comes with a key difference, in that you can also use it as a CRM system. Giving you the option to manage ad campaigns, track bugs, oversee customer projects, develop video campaigns and much more, it’s a highly versatile tool and well worth checking out.

Top tip: Try to only use one project management tool across your business if possible.

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Collaboration tools

Dropbox

Dropbox has been around since 2008 (how time flies) and shows no sign of disappearing. This is because it’s just so straightforward and can be used to store any kind of files you wish in a private cloud. Whilst highly secure, Dropbox enables fast collaboration by allowing you to share links to specific files or add users to wider folders.

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Slack

Slack combines project management with instant messaging and file sharing, making it an excellent tool for having brainstorms, asking quick questions and everything in between. The app is very user-friendly and the threads feature ensures that conversations don’t get mixed up.

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Workplace

Workplace takes Facebook’s longstanding strength of connecting people and makes it work especially well for teams. You can add everyone in your company and connect them through familiar features such as the News Feed, Groups and the Facebook Live video function to maximise workplace communication and employee engagement.

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Productivity tools

Focus Booster

Focus Booster is an intuitive tool that helps you to better understand how you’re using your time. It then offers handy suggestions regarding how to maximise the amount you get done each day by making small changes.

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Evernote

Evernote is excellent for taking down notes, organising them into topics and projects, and syncing them across all of your devices.

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I Done This

I Done This is just as beneficial to mental health as it is to productivity, as all of your team add their daily achievements to it. The system then creates a morning newsletter than sums up your company’s overall progress and emails it to everyone’s inbox. It’s a digital newsletter that celebrates all of your successes!

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MindMeister

MindMeister is perfect for people who like their ideas to be represented visually. The tool invites you to mind map your ideas, share with team members and then develop them as part of a collaborative approach.

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Brain.fm

Brain.fm is a really enjoyable one as it offers a wide range of music selected using a science-first methodology, which helps you to think, focus and get more work done.

Bonus app: We’re sure that you and your colleagues love working from home but sometimes it’s nice to get a change of scenery. That’s where Workfrom comes in very handy, as it helps you to discover cafes, bars, restaurants, libraries and other coworking spaces in your local area, which is also really useful if you’re visiting another city for business purposes.

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Switch to hosted desktops

Hosted desktops from GoCloud enable businesses to embrace remote working and facilitate Bring Your Own Device policies. If you’re ready to make the switch, get in touch on 01482 751133 or email hello@gocloud.co.uk.