Companies should choose software that meets their individual needs. Here are some criteria that you can use to identify the best service for your team:

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Give preference to multiple features

Some tools offer excellent service but are only focused on one aspect of team collaboration. Give some thought to how efficient this really is. Teams may end up spending time changing between complementary software. If a free trial is being offered, take it. It might look like that is slowing down the decision making process but you will thank yourself for the extra due diligence step later.

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Look for ease of use

This is obviously one of the most important criteria. If a service works but takes a lot of time to get used to, it won’t help teams (especially fast-growing teams.) Request a demo and keep an eye out for an intuitive interface and simple navigation. Sometimes less is more!

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Pay attention to privacy options

Collaborating with teams doesn’t mean all conversations and files should be public. Sometimes, you’ll want team members to have private conversations or work on sensitive projects. Make sure you look at privacy options before you choose a service. 

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Cloud is king

Cloud-based technology has many advantages. It can solve your version control headaches by allowing you to see recent edits and activity. All information is stored online so everyone can be on the same page, no matter where they are.

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Ask for integrations and compatibility

As your team grows you might find needs for more tools and hence having a healthy palette of integrations is important in your collaboration tools since these tools are the glue that hold your team together. Trying to bolt in an unsupported tool at a later stage is costly and kills team productivity and morale. 

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We have sometimes seen an over-reliance on platforms such as Slack as the go-to tool for all collaboration needs. Slack brings teams together in one virtual workspace and makes online communication exceedingly smooth. Slack is simple to use thanks to its intuitive interface, and it also offers the most robust array of features compared to many of its competitors. Those features include clutter-free message threading, customizable emoji and themes, myriad notification controls, quick file sharing, built-in video and audio calls, and search with powerful filters. But it may not be the right choice for everyone. We recommend you think of the following 3 main categories and choose a tool for each since no tool does all three well. The three categories with some options are:

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• Team Communication

  • Slack

  • Flowdock

  • Microsoft Teams

  • Twilio

• Project and Task Management

  • Asana

  • Trello

  • Excel (with great looking free templates from the web)

• Document Collaboration

  • Google Docs

  • Quip (bought by Salesforce)

  • Igloo

 

If all this looks confusing, we are happy to chat with you, understand your requirements and suggest best options for your specific needs.