Imagine your designer, writer, or a marketing team sitting on one side of the globe, while your managing team sitting on the other. How do you manage to get your team on the same page? How do you ensure that everyone in your remote working team receives the latest updates related to the project? The answer is ‘collaboration.’

However, collaboration is a big effort and may require a lot of resources. Thanks to the online collaboration tools that provide essential elements to manage the workflow in small businesses and start-ups!

Read on to know six best team collaboration tools you can consider for small business-

Zoho Projects

Zoho Projects is an amazing collaboration tool that allows a comprehensive integration with everything from CRM (customer relations management) to invoicing platforms. It is indeed one of the best tools that enable the teams to work collaboratively on different projects.

The software has several features to boost project monitoring. With the use of task lists, you can plan your projects in advance. By breaking down the projects into smaller tasks, the work becomes manageable.

The system generates detailed yet easy-to-understand graphs, charts, from which you can derive valuable insights. As Zoho Projects can track the bugs, test the system, and fix the issues, it is virtually a maintenance-free platform.

Further, the system stores information safely, and only the authorized members have access to it. However, the thing that sets Zoho apart from the other systems is that it allows seamless integration with almost any third-party application.

Xtensio

Xtensio is another incredible collaboration tool designed to keep the remote working teams on track. It provides an easy way to collaborate with a small or big team. You can create, edit, share, or publish documents, make spreadsheets, pitches, agendas, and beautiful presentations.

With Xtensio, you can bring all your remote working employees under one roof and discuss on important projects. You can group the documents by any category, such as client, type, asset, etc. and keep everything organized.

You can integrate the platform and work with the teams on collaboration channels. Besides, you can keep track of the team activity, and work progress with in-app notifications or engagement with folio stats.

Slack

The popular messaging app Slack doubles as a collaboration tool and fulfills all the users' communication needs. This remote work tool provides the teams with real-time messaging, searching, as well as archiving capabilities.

You can integrate it with several external devices, such as Zendesk, GitHub, MailChimp, Google Drive, etc. It comes with built-in external and internal options that allow users to share and receive files.

The advanced searching, sorting, and filtering ability of this collaboration tool ensure that a user gets the right file every time. Or, you can also filter the results by relevance, file type, or recent type. Even better? It comes with iOS and Android applications so that the user can access the system anytime, anywhere.

Trello

Another leading collaboration tool Trello has fantastic project management features that are sure to benefit any business, big or small. By using the concept of boards, it helps manage, track, and categorize the projects and tasks.

You can discuss the tasks and projects in real-time so that everyone stays updated with the task assignments, activity logs, or email notifications. The employees you add on the board get to vote on the ideas displayed on the cards. These cards display everything the team needs to know about a project.

Further, the drag-and-drop feature makes it easy for you to accomplish any task. You can put cards in the list, track the project’s progress using them, and keep everything well-organized.

Podio

Podio is among the best collaboration tools for remote working teams or those who manage the tasks from a mobile device. When it comes to efficient project management, the functionality of this software is second to none. You can easily collaborate on the small screen of your mobile phone!

It brings together conversations, content creation, or other processes that allow the remote working teams to discuss the project and define the goals. Task management, meeting schedule, and social collaboration are the most important features of the tool.

Moreover, it’s free for up to five users, whereas the basic, plus, and premium plan offers unlimited users. You can also integrate several features, such as interactive sales dashboard, visual reporting, or read-only access to content and files.

Troop Messenger

This platform brings a suite of tools to provide a seamless collaboration, and ultimate connectivity for the teams spread across different locations. The troop is based on a compact chat platform that provides instant communication between groups and individuals.

It’s especially useful for the teams that collaborate on visual projects. The real-time screen sharing feature of this collaborative tool is great for discussing the relevant points related to the images, graphics, or PowerPoint presentations.

Conclusion

These are some of the best collaboration tools that are suited for start-ups and small businesses. Tale time to evaluate what your organization needs, and determine which one of the tools will work best for you.