Collaboration Tools for Your Team

We always hear that “communication is key” in business. Is communicating with all of your team members or employees a challenge? Are you communicating enough and efficiently? We have compiled a list of collaborative tools that are all free and will help improve communication across all departments and locations for your business.

1. Skype: You may think of Skype as a way to communicate with family and friends, but it works the same way for office mates that might be working from home or in another office. Sometimes you need to see someone face to face in order to have the result of better communication and fewer misunderstandings. Skype is FREE to use, even across states and countries.
2. Dropbox: This cloud storage tool is great for collaboration. You can privately share documents, images, and files of any kind through this tool. You can also use it to send large files to your customers or clients such as digital catalogues, product images, and more. The basic account is FREE.
3. Co-op: Co-op is very simple and great for communication between co-workers. It integrates seamlessly to your desktop as to not interrupt other tasks and allows you to post updates, ask questions, share links, and even tracks your time on specific tasks. This is another FREE tool.
4. WebEx: You might already be familiar with Cisco’s online conferencing platform, but you may not know is that the basic version is free. This can be used for staff conferences from different locations all around the world and you can also hold conferences with clients as well.
5. Passpack: This is a convenient and FREE tool that allows you to store business account passwords safely and securely and share them with other co-workers.
6. Join.me: This collaboration meeting tool allows for screen sharing and Voice over IP. The Basic Version is Free.
7. Mind42: This is a simple, easy to use, and FREE web based mind mapping application. This makes brain storming ideas with fellow co-workers that are far away possible.
8. Sync.in: This tool allows something called “document conferencing”. It is a FREE tool that makes a virtual whiteboard possible to post ideas and share brain storming topics. The feature that makes this tool different from other document sharing tools is that you can edit, revise, and share the documents in real time.
9. FlockDraw: This collaborative whiteboard application is great for business with a need for more creative whiteboard sharing including images, drawing, and designs. Of course, this one is also FREE.
10. Google: We can’t go through a list of FREE online tools without mentioning Google. In fact, this entire list could have been just about Google’s free tools includingGoogle Drive, Gmail, Google Alerts, Google Analytics, Google Apps for Business, Google Calendar, Google Hangouts, Google Insights, and Google Talk. All of Google’s tools can be used for online collaboration and sharing.