In today’s work environment, having the right tools to support team collaboration and communication is essential.
The dynamics of dispersed teams and remote workers has stretched the concept of teams well beyond geographical locations. And although team members may be separated by distance, the fast paced nature of information and deliverables requires them to work together closer than ever.
Fortunately, there are many tools available to support your team and bring them together.
With that in mind, we created a list of the top nine tools to support your internal communication and team collaboration. Categories include email, video, social networking, project management, and more.
The goal is to find a solution that can bring your team together on a user friendly platform to communicate and collaborate towards a common goal. The tools on this list were chosen because they’re easy to use and allow you to onboard your entire team without long periods of training.
You might only need one of these tools or you might find a combination of tools works better for your workflow. This list shows what’s available so you can create a specific toolset for your particular needs.
If you happen to be on the Google network of Gmail or G Suite – Gmelius is for you.
The main advantage in using Gmelius is that it combines several of the features on this list of tools without requiring you to jump back and forth between different platforms. Once you install, all the features are available directly from your Gmail inbox.
Gmelius supports Google Chrome, Opera, Safari, and Brave browsers as well as Android and iOS for mobile devices.
What makes Gmelius great?
Gmelius pricing is available in four different tiers, which includes the free version with unlimited email tracking and email scheduling.
Premium tiers include the Sales, Team, and CRM plans:
Sales, known as the Automation Suite is $9 per month and includes Sequences, Single-stage campaigns, Unlimited email templates, and more.
The Team version comes in at $14 per user/month with all the collaboration features including shared inboxes, labels, and boards.
The best value tier is CRM, perfect for Business Automation, which will run you $20 per user/month. It has everything in Sales and all collaboration/team features. It also includes multi-stage campaigns, team activity reports, and more.
Hardware, software and network development has made video communications more accessible. Zoom improves online collaboration and team communications using video.
Zoom’s cloud platform has an easy to use meeting software that integrates video conferencing, simple online meetings, and group messaging for small and large organizations alike.
The ease of use, sharing capability, and price point makes Zoom a standout amongst other conferencing vendors.
What makes Zoom great?
Price: Although the free version is limited to only 40 minutes on group meetings you can host up to 100 participants.
At only $14.99 per month/host the Pro version also gives you 100 participants, but the meetings can last up to 24 hours. The Business and Enterprise version are $19.99 each with the added benefit of more hosts, participants, and customization options.
Managing projects across borders requires a secure and robust platform. Huddle is used by global enterprises and in the highest levels of government agencies.
Yet, small organizations can also afford the services the company offers.
Huddle ranks as one of the most secure collaboration solutions in the industry.
What makes Huddle great?
Price: Huddle has a pricing structure which starts at $10 per user/month. Each tier requires a minimum number of users which is 10 for the Starter, 15 for Huddle, and 20 for Huddle Plus.
With each tier you get more storage, file size for transfer, and team workspaces.
As messaging apps go, Slack is on top of the food chain. Simply put, it is a chat room for your entire organization. But it is much more than that.
With Slack you can organize your communication for group discussions, share information, send private messages and integrate a host of applications to manage your entire workflow in a single platform.
What makes Slack great?
Price: Slack has a free version with one on one voice and video calls and 10 integrations. The pay version starts with Standard at $6.67 per user/month with unlimited integration, search history and up to 15 participants for voice and video calls with interactive screen sharing.
The Plus is $12.50 per user/month and it has the same features as the Standard plus more storage, uptime guarantee and 24/7 support.
Organizations use Intranet software to keep a tight rein on their activity. Samepage provides a platform for sharing all communications with everyone within this ecosystem.
Teams across an organization can create channels and use the built-in tools to communicate and collaborate.
What makes Samepage great?
Price: Samepage has a free version with extended features including 10 teams, direct voice/video calls and more.
The Pro version comes in at $7 per member/month and it provides unlimited teams and sub-teams, extended admin capabilities, and advanced integration to name a few of the features.
Push notification allows organizations to distribute information quickly and effectively to small or large groups. The technology makes it possible to keep your staff in the loop in real-time for any development of a project or the organization as a whole.
SnapComms can even deliver visual push notification directly to the desktop, mobile, or digital signage with news ticker.
What makes SnapComms great?
Price: SnapComms has a free 30-day trial version. If you want the premium version, the cost of the license fee is dependent on the number of users, hosting solution, and SnapComms’ Channel purchases.
Having a reliable depository for all your data in one central place means you and your team will know where it is at all times.
Dropbox is a proven platform for storing this data and making it available anytime, anywhere.
What makes Dropbox great?
Price: Dropbox has plans for individuals and teams. The individual Plus plan gives you 1TB of storage for $8.25 per month and 2TB for $16.58 per month with the Professional.
For teams it starts with the Standard plan for $12.50 per user/month for 3 TB and $20 per user/ month for as much space as needed.
With all the data being generated, organizations need a knowledge management tool as part of their internal communications and collaboration solution.
Evernote Business keeps track of all your information so it can be shared from anywhere, including offline.
What makes Evernote Business great?
Price: Evernote Basic is the free version for taking simple notes. With Evernote Premium you can organize everything for $7.99 per month for yourself.
If you want to add your team you will need Evernote Business starting at $14.99 per user/month.
Making employees feel connected to the place they go to work requires effective communication and engagement. Recognizing their accomplishments is one way to do it.
Kudos is used by Shell, Marriot, DHL Express and other big brands to share feedback with their employees to lower turnover and boost performance.
What makes Kudos great?
Price: You sign up for a demo and free trial.
Keep in mind there is no such thing as the perfect tool, nor one that will solve all your communication issues. When choosing the right tool consider the way your team collaborates and the final goals of your workflow.
You will more than likely have to combine tools to arrive at a solution that works for your team. When possible try to use a solution that combines key features and has a low learning curve so your team can get straight into the benefits.
The goal is to implement solutions which allow your team to focus on their main tasks without having to worry about the tools which will help to make it happen.