12 Best Tools To Improve Cross-Office Collaboration
Teams with distributed workflows might have a hard time coordinating between offices.
To keep employees working in different locations in the loop about each others’ activities, managers need to invest in infrastructure.
In this post, we will take a look at some of the best cross-office collaboration tools that help build and foster teamwork besides coordinating work processes.
Project Management Platforms
In cross-office collaboration, team leaders need to put in extra effort to keep everyone updated on tasks, projects, and organizational decisions. To streamline communication across teams, business owners and department leaders should build a reliable internal communication infrastructure.
During unprecedented times of Covid-19 when most professionals are working from home, here are some of the best project management and team collaboration tools worth introducing teams to:
1. ProofHub
With ProofHub, cross-office teams can stay transparent through every step in the project management cycle. The platform optimizes planning, collaboration, and internal data management.
It’s fully customizable — team leaders can build personalized workflows, adjust user roles and security settings.
What Makes ProofHub Unique
- Streamlined task management with Kanban boards and Gantt charts.
- Custom workflows that guide teammates on every step along the project management cycle.
- Collaboration-friendliness: ProofHub brings teams together with built-in chat, mentions and real-time proofing.
- Version control and an easy-to-manage file organizer.
Pricing: The Paid subscription starts at $45 per month, billed annually
“Is your cross-office team struggling to keep the project on track due to poor collaboration? Sign up with ProofHub ASAP and save your project from a potential failure.”
2. Pics.io
Pics.io is a digital asset management platform that makes organizing data easier for cross-office teams. It’s accessible cloud storage that will keep your internal documents, images, videos, etc. protected and loss-resistant.
Thanks to a powerful integration ecosystem, it’s easy to connect Pics.io to other tools the team uses — task managers, photo and video editors, etc.
What Makes Pics.io Unique
- One-click access to internal assets.
- File organization toolset: metadata editor, keyword-based search.
- Version control and collaborative editing.
- Twelve branded website templates.
- Permission control and asset encryption.
Pricing: The Paid subscription starts at $18/mo
3. Chanty
Chanty is a full-package communication tool for SMEs and large-scale teams. It aligns teams through messaging, easy file sharing, and advanced analytics for tracking productivity and organizational activity.
The platform puts security first — business owners will be able to limit teammates’ exposure to sensitive data by adjusting security settings. All messages are end-to-end encrypted.
What Makes Chanty Unique
- Messaging and full chat history.
- Content sharing with extensive format support — teams can exchange images, audio, video, and documents.
- Task management. Prioritize to-dos and save important ideas by pinning them to the workplace. Streamlined development collaboration — write and discuss code on the
- Platform using customizable code snippets.
Pricing: The Paid plan starts from $3/user/mo
“Don’t let miscommunication ruin your team performance and project progress. Switch to ProofHub NOW and keep intra-team communication swift and seamless.”
4. Monday
Monday.com offers a sleek way to build workflows. For cross-office teams, it’s a virtual hub that helps connect processes and build unified project management practices on an organization-wide scale.
The platform has a minimalist and easy-to-grasp interface. Although it’s an all-in-one space for managing all business processes, a seamless user flow helps teammates quickly get the hang of Monday.
What Makes Monday Unique
- Integrations that connect Monday.com with other team management solutions.
- Customizable templates that save managers time when designing workflows and setting up project hubs.
- Customizable workflow automations help teammates focus on high-concentration tasks and delegate the rest to technology.
- Timesheet management and performance tracking empower remote teams.
Pricing: The Paid subscription starts at $8/user/mo
Also Read: 28 Best Alternatives to Monday.com (Formerly DaPulse)
Task Management Platforms
Assigning tasks and monitoring the team’s progress is challenging when teammates are not in the same space. Here are the tools team leaders can use to quickly and efficiently track project activities.
5. Todoist
Todoist is a simple platform that helps keep track of tasks and break down complex project workflows into actionable to-dos. The platform combines a minimalist interface with a broad range of features — from voice input to prioritization and task reminders.
Another awesome thing about Todoist is that it synchronizes automatically with other project management platforms. Team leaders will get instant notifications whenever peers cross items off their to-do lists.
What Makes Todoist Unique
- Customizable and easy-to-edit project templates.
- Sleek interface and seamless learning curve.
- Cross-platform availability — keep track of to-dos in desktop browsers, on mobile, and on smartwatches.
- Team-friendliness — discuss tasks, assign responsible teammates, and share files with colleagues.
Pricing: The paid subscription starts at $3/mo
6. OmniFocus
If your team has highly specific project flows and no other to-do list seems to fit in perfectly, give OmniFocus a try. It’s a highly customizable to-do list app — there are 6 default view designs — teams that use Pro can create and upload custom views as well.
An intelligent design is the selling point of Omnifocus. Compared to general to-do list apps, the platform has many more features. However, the workspace doesn’t look cluttered or crowded because all tabs are seamlessly integrated into user flows.
What Makes Omnifocus Unique
- Intuitive keyboard shortcuts that save teams from redundant clicks.
- Event forecast gives teammates a big-picture view of the day or week ahead.
- Real-time notifications on macOS and iOS to keep you on top of each deadline.
- Perspectives — a unique feature that groups similar to-do lists together for improved concentration and focus.
Pricing: The Paid subscription starts at $10/mo
7. Any.do
Any.do found a creative way to encourage users to keep putting things on their to-do lists. If, as a team leader, you struggle with teammates not updating Trello boards or adding new tasks to Jira, this platform is a powerful antidote.
In a nutshell, whenever they cross off an Any.do item, the platform reminds users to schedule a new assignment. It’s a hassle-free way to keep users accountable and encourage them to keep scheduling.
What Makes Any.do Unique
- Integrations with Microsoft Outlook and Google Calendar.
- Sleek interface that makes scheduling fun.
- Easy task sharing between individuals and groups.
- Create map-based to-do lists and reminders.
Pricing: The Paid subscription starts at $6/mo
8. TickTick
TickTick is another powerhouse among to-do apps. It uses NLP and intuitive UX to make scheduling new tasks as seamless as possible. You can use TickTick for time tracking, too — it even has a built-in Pomodoro timer.
In case your team wants to have a calendar view of their tasks, it’s as simple as adding a TickTick integration to Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook.
What Makes Tick Tick Unique
- Convert emails to tasks or enter to-dos by voice.
- Customizable iOS widgets.
- Streamline scheduling with recurring tasks.
- Put multiple reminders for meetings your team can’t miss.
- Prioritize to-dos using tags and labels.
Pricing: The Paid subscription starts at $28/yr
Team Communication Platforms
Staying in touch with cross-office employees is challenging for team leaders. That’s when reliable messaging tools can save the day and help leaders share their vision with the entire team.
9. Discord
Although Discord is the holy grail for gamers, it’s not as popular among team leaders. However, the platform is jam-packed with unique features that provide a reliable backbone for internal communication.
Discord’s interface and stellar performance are another reason to give it a try. The platform is big on gamification — through sleek animation and minimalist controls, it succeeds in making communication fun.
What Makes Tick Tick Unique
- Supports messages, voice calls, video conferences, and screen sharing.
- Multiple workplaces are connected in one interface.
- Flexible permissions and security control.
- Creative interface tweaks: animated avatars and emojis.
Pricing:The platform is free
10. Microsoft Teams
If your team uses Office 365 to manage and share files, Microsoft Teams is a natural addition to your communication toolset. It comes with all features of a standard messaging app (voice messaging, video calls, screen-sharing) and more — the platform is deeply integrated in all Microsoft solutions. Through Teams, creators and editors can work on documents, spreadsheets, or slides in real time.
The platform is available on desktop and mobile.
What Makes Microsoft Teams Unique
- Live conference call captions.
- Customizable “Teams” tab.
- High video quality and background blur.
- Notifications and tags that help teams exchange reminders.
Pricing: The Paid subscription starts at $5/mo/user
Time and Performance Tracking Platforms
Trust is the number-one challenge of the leader of a cross-office team. To promote transparency and openness within the company, a lot of managers use time trackers and performance managers.
Here are our favorite tools for tracking time and team efficiency.
NOTE: Make sure that no one on the team has tracking objections. Specify the tools you use for monitoring in everybody’s contracts — otherwise, you could be going against privacy laws.
11. Toggl
Toggl is an easy-to-use timer. The mechanics are simple: teammates set the timer whenever they are working and turn it off when it’s break time. You can use the platform to log time for completed projects as well so that each minute of productive time is accounted for.
Toggl keeps team leaders in the loop by sending them custom reports about how much time everyone spent working during the last week. With one click, you can export this data as CSV or PDF.
What Makes Toggl Unique
- Supports billable hours (for companies working with external clients).
- Time audits assess the efficiency of your workflows.
- Customized reports.
- All tasks are segmented by projects. Also, you can assign labels to each entry for ultimate clarity.
- Time rounding.
Pricing: The Paid subscription starts at $8/user/mo
12. HubStaff
HubStaff takes team monitoring to the next level by tracking both the time and the location of your employees. You can even set the platform to automatically capture screenshots of teammates’ workplaces (do give them a heads-up beforehand).
At the end of the workday, you can check on your team’s progress on a customizable dashboard.
What Makes HubStaff Unique
- Automated workplace screenshots
- Timesheet generation and administering payroll
- Customizable timesheet templates
- Location-based tracking
Pricing: The Paid subscription starts at $7/user/mo
Conclusion
Trust and structured processes are crucial for building high-performing cross-office teams. When managers cannot connect with talent personally, they need to put in extra effort in onboarding, communication, and building a value-driven corporate culture.
When the entire team is not connected in the same physical space, it’s important to have a digital hub where you share ideas and files, collaborate on projects, and connect personally.
Luckily, the productivity market keeps pumping out innovative solutions for enhanced team communication, collaboration, task management, and more. Take some time to look around and choose your favorite platforms — if you succeed at gathering tools the team is comfortable with, your future projects will be fueled for success.
Author Bio
Olena Zherebetska is a content writer at Pics.io, a powerful Digital Asset Management tool that will help you organize and manage your tools more productively. She has a passion for content writing and world literature. You can also find her on LinkedIn.
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