Remote work is on the rise. As remote work grows in popularity, the need for remote work tools becomes more apparent. How can your team maintain communication, manage projects effectively, and share work quickly when each staff is located in a different cities?

The answer is remote work tools

In this article, we’ll take a look at some must-have tools for remote work. Our list includes communication apps, project management solutions, file sharing tools and more. But first, let’s take a minute to discuss the purpose of remote work tools.

Some may be asking (especially remote beginners), “why do I need to add more apps to my workflow? I do just fine with my email and phone.” Well… maybe you are right but these two purposes below can make you reconsider.

1. Greater Productivity: Any time you have the right tools at your disposal, your productivity levels goes up.All of the tools that’ll be listed below will help you get more done in less time. Some of them do this by giving you more convenient ways to converse with colleagues. Others do it by allowing you to easily share documents, images, and videos.The point is, an investment in remote work tools will supercharge your workflow and allow you to become more productive almost instantly.
2. Better Team Morale: Let’s face it, remote work is amazing, but it can also be lonely. Without the regular human-to-human interaction that office work provides, you may find yourself craving real connection with other people. If you don’t get it, you may become burned out and depressed.Fortunately, many of the remote work tools listed below will help you get the human interaction you need. Chat and video conferencing tools make it easy to speak with colleagues whenever there’s a need. Most project management apps allow users to chat and share ideas.When you and your colleagues are able to communicate effectively, you’ll see team morale rise.

With that in mind, let’s dive into our list of remote work tools!

Communication

Slack
Slack is more than a tool for chatting—it’s almost a religion. If the hilarious gifs and useful chatbots don’t hook you, the endless array of integrations that will cut down on your emails most certainly will.

HipChat
HipChat is another great chat tool from the folks at Atlassian. If your team uses Jira or other Atlassian products, adding Hipchat to the mix will streamline your life like whoa.

WhatsApp is becoming widely accepted these days. So yeah it can be used for communication too.

Project Management

Trello
Trello’s ease of use makes it not just a great tool for project and task management but also leading remote product feature prioritization sessions! It’s got a great mobile app, too.

All work in Trello happens on Boards. Boards are then divided into Lists, which represent different stages in a project and populated with Cards. A Card represents a specific task and can contain due dates, chat boxes, attachments, and more.

Asana
Project and task management abound in Asana, which also works particularly well for remote teams because of all the options available to manage and track tasks.

Other ones to note are Float, JIRA

Meetings and Video Chats

Google Hangouts
Google Hangouts is the default tool of choice for video meetings. Slack even lets you launch a hangout right from within a channel!

Zoom
An alternative to Hangouts, Zoom has a higher threshold for the number of people who can be in a meeting at once.

Youtube Live
Need to record a quick video? How about host a live broadcast or training for your team? YouTube Live is Google Hangout’s alternative to scaling a broadcast globally.

Development and Design

GitHub
This is the ultimate tool for developers to host their code online. Not a developer? GitHub is also the site of choice for many company wikis.

InVision
InVision is a great tool for building prototypes and sharing them with your team. Contextual comments make collecting feedback a snap.

CodePen
Write and share HTML/CSS & JavaScript on the fly! Share with your remote team members and preview your code/get feedback in real time. You won’t know how you lived without it!

Cloud Storage & Collaboration

Google Drive
Google Drive needs no introduction. Store and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and more all with your Google Account.

Dropbox
This is the cloud storage of choice for most design and dev teams. Dropbox also recently announced Paper—a separate app similar to Google Docs that lets you collaborate in real time.

Worthy of mention here also is Box

Others

Take a Break Please
This app helps you avoid the remote worker hunchback and that dreaded carpal tunnel-y technology claw that is a result of sitting for prolonged periods of time in weird positions. This app forces you to take breaks throughout your day.

ProdPad
I’m new to ProdPad but so far am intrigued. ProdPad is a tool for remote product management teams prioritizing features and building roadmaps.

Yeah! Now you are ready to boost your productivity level while working remotely. Remember to use the one that best suits your taste. Don’t be tempted to want to use all at once.