Due to the health threat brought by the coronavirus pandemic, nearly every organization has already shifted to remote work. Businesses have an existing stack of gadgets they use to stay organized, become more efficient, and collaborate at work. However, when operating remotely, business owners need to ask themselves three essential questions about their current stack of digital tools. Does your organization still need your existing tools? Will the usage of these tools change if you work remotely? What are the gadgets that you need to acquire or add to your current stack to, still, effectively conduct business from home?
To answer the last question for you, below is a list of gadgets that will be vital to the success of your efforts of conducting business from home in the midst of the crisis that the world is facing right now.
1.eSignature
An eSignature or electronic signature refers to the electronic form of data, logically associated with other data (also in electronic form), that a signatory can use to sign. As long as it’s adhering to whatever requirements of the regulation it was specifically created under, eSignature will provide the same legal standing that a handwritten signature offers.
Don’t confuse eSignature with a digital signature (the cryptographic mechanism utilized to implement electronic signatures) as they’re two distinct things.
While security concerns exist, official government documents, business transactions, legal dealings, and private affairs widely use electronic signatures. Its objective is, of course, to authenticate a document quickly with a unique, identifiable mark even without using pen and paper.
2.Internal Chat Application
An internal chat app will give you the ability to create different channels for your teams and existing projects. It helps you easily organize the internal communications of your business. If you don’t have an internal chat app yet, then, you definitely should consider getting one. This is especially essential if most of your team members are also already working remotely. The established leader in the internal chat app space is Slack. It allows direct messages and tagging to help you pull different people into specific conversations. Channels can also be muted, and notifications can be blocked depending on how you prefer things to go inside this digital gadget or technology.
3.Video Conferencing Software
You’ll want to make use of video conferencing software to conduct productive meetings with your team or your clients. As you probably already know, meetings are essential for remote businesses as they help in ensuring that everyone communicates with each other and, of course, is on the same page. This allows not only employees but also you (business owner) and your clients to get to know each other by face, despite actually working together remotely. It helps in creating a more unified atmosphere that definitely encourages performance, engagement, and collaboration.
4.Password Manager
A lot of credentials for logins will surely be flying around if your business has a team of remote workers who need to access different platforms. And, you might have guessed it right–that’s going to be terrible for security.
To keep your and your employees’ passwords secure and safe, consider using a password manager. It will help you mitigate the risks, especially since most of the online password managers available in the market can generate hard-to-hack, complicated passwords automatically. Also, one good thing about the best password managers is that they allow business owners or company administrators to actually send passwords to selected relevant employees as needed.
5.Collaboration Tool
Remotely conducting business will always require collaboration, especially on important documents. The good news is that there are now several collaboration tools available to both enterprises and startups, with Google’s Suite leading the line. Real-time collaboration is possible via Google Sheets, Slides, and Docs. Collaborative teams will surely find some valuable features of Google’s Suite useful. For instance, you can easily share documents via a hyperlink. Restricting access is also possible, which will depend on whether you want your employees or clients to work on a file freely, comment, or just read.
6.Work Management Tool
You need a tool for work management if you really want to help your team in their efforts to stay aligned and organized. The problem is that many businesses still heavily rely on physical meetings and documents for work management. Some use internal systems, like intranets. When working remotely, those things just won’t make sense. Digital tools or gadgets for work management are what you need. One great option is Asana. The good thing about it is that you can customize its settings based on the size and needs of your team.
Conclusion
Whether you’ve chosen to conduct business remotely or it’s a decision based on necessity due to the coronavirus pandemic, the remote digital gadgets and tools stack you build can definitely help you in increasing transparency, driving productivity, and facilitating collaboration. The gadgets or tools above will push your business into the digital, remote work future.
