The Top 5 Collaboration Tools This Team Swears By
Our team at Roaring Pajamas works mostly remotely from each other and our clients.
As a result, effective collaboration tools are our life-line to each other, our vendors and our clients. We compiled a list of the top five tools we absolutely cannot live without for working effectively across the miles.
Take a look and let us know what you and your distributed team rely on to work cohesively from afar.
1) Dropbox
A cloud storage and file-syncing provider, Dropbox allows users to store files in cyberspace and then access and edit them seamlessly from any computer, anywhere. Both personal files and work files stay safe, easily available and separate.
For work, one can create a new Team Dropbox, a central place for the files everyone on a team needs. Even better, Team Dropbox also provides the ability to limit access to sensitive files and folders, so confidential information stays in the right hands.
We use Dropbox on the daily as our image sharing and collaboration tool between team members; we share and comment on images and graphics for use on social media. We also use Dropbox to share large files with clients, while using the feature that allows us to dictate who can access which folders and files.
The best part? With Dropbox, we allow access to very large and graphic-heavy files without the frustration of trying to send emails that often get hung up or end up undeliverable.
2) Facebook Secret Group
Did you know there was such a thing?
A Secret Group is a special and totally private Facebook group that gives the owner full control of all the activities, from invitations to posts, and settings. No one outside of the group knows anything about it or sees any notifications of activity – not even the group name and members.
We use our group amongst our internal team to share industry stories, gather ideas for writing projects and keep in touch in a more personal and interactive way than just via email. In fact, the Facebook Secret Group wins for “both the most fun and informative collaboration tool” for our team.
3) Google Drive
Google Drive provides file storage and synchronization that allows users to store files in the cloud, share files and edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations with collaborators. As with Dropbox, one connects to Google Drive from any computer or device.
We love creating written materials – blogs, marketing strategy documents, editorial calendars, and more – in Google Drive and then sharing with the team so they can comment on or update items as they see fit.
The automatic saving and synchronization of files saves the headaches of version control that often come with attempting collaboration by emailing a document back and forth. In fact, one of our writers rates Google Drive as her ”favorite and most efficient collaboration tool .”
4) RoboForm
With so many passwords to remember – for our internal team and our clients – RoboForm makes password management easy and secure.
RoboForm Enterprise allows us to easily add, update or delete users and assign multiple roles based on permissions. Even better, we grant access to the credentials of our clients’ accounts to different team members and vendors without ever sharing the password!
RoboForm lets both us and our clients sleep at night knowing that everyone who needs entree to different networks systems has access, but passwords aren’t floating around indiscriminately. And who doesn’t need one less thing to worry about?
5) Skype
The free and easy way to call, video chat and instant message application works for more than saying “hi” to friends abroad.
If fact, Skype’s capabilities exceed far beyond friends and family with special solutions just for business that include online meetings, messaging, calls and video with up to 250 people.
Skype remains our go-to collaboration tool for instant messaging between team members – for those times when a quick question, a fast update or even a funny joke needs to be relayed, and no one has time for a phone call.
Which collaboration tools do you and your team rely upon? Any we’ve missed and need to get up to investigate? We’d love to know what works for you – let us know!
