If you are like the many organizations that are preparing for the Coronavirus (COVID19), you are considering having your employees work remotely to prevent the spread of the illness. However, engaging a workforce remotely can become a challenge if you are not equipped with the proper tools.
The good news is that there are a few companies that are offering free trials of their collaborative software. Adopting software and technology can create a virtual workplace – that is engaging and productive. To help you stay connected during this time, we have put together a list of the top five tools to help you engage your remote employees and stay connected.
1. Google Hangouts
Google is now offering the enterprise version of its messenger tool Hangouts Meet to all G Suite customers until July 1, 2020. Features include recordable meetings for as many as 250 participants and Livestreaming capabilities that allow as many as 100,000 viewers.
2. Gnosis Connect
Engage your remote workforce with employee training and online learning. Infopro Learning is now offering free 3-month trials of its learning management system. Features include unlimited course uploads, customizations that represent your brand, an intuitive dashboard to make navigation easy and access to support anytime you need it.
3. Microsoft Teams
Microsoft has begun to offer free trials of its premium plan for their Teams application for the next six months. This app allows users to schedule meetings with groups and chat with teammates. The application features extra storage and allows users to record meetings.
4. Microsoft Yammer
Yammer is another tool offered by Microsoft. Although this tool is not free unless you already have Office365, it provides features for collaboration that are useful for distributed and remote teams. Users can chat, create teams, share media and work together on projects using this tool.
5. Zoom
Zoom provides software based-conference rooms for businesses big and small. Zoom has extended its free plan to countries such as China and is removing restrictions regarding both the numbers of participants and meetings allowed. In addition to these changes, Zoom is also hosting information sessions to assist new users in learning how to use the tool.
Conclusion
Keeping remote workers motivated and connected can be easy with the right tools. Providing your employees with software that makes communication and collaboration easy is the first step in boosting the productivity of your remote teams. In addition to increased engagement, online learning can help achieve business and organizational goals as well. Learn more about how Infopro Learning helped a leading global media company develop product knowledge training for their 31,000 distributed employees and increase their sales by 7% while boosting overall business performance.
