Online tools for working remotely as a team

Teleworking is being used more and more because of the enormous possibilities that it opens up: the ability to hire talent in other cities or countries without the need for the employee to move, working even if you can’t leave the house for some reason, or simply because you want to and prefer home to the office.

Teleworking isn’t easy, but it’s much easier if you take advantage of the enormous number of tools that make communication and organisation optimum for both those in the office as well as those who are far away. There are lots of free and paid options, and this time we’re going to cover the five best and most popular applications that you can use to work remotely as a team.

Trello

Trello is an excellent tool for organising projects very easily: you have boards for each project. The boards contain  lists where you can add cards with each task that has to be done. When you create a new board, it comes with three default lists that give you an idea of how to start, but of course you can change them later and organise yourself however you wish.

For now, Trello is available only in English. It’s available for free and has premium accounts with additional options. But, if you create a free account, you’ll be able to do everything you need to, such as add tags, make checklists, add due dates to tasks, upload file attachments and invite other members.

Trello has applications for the web, iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows 8.

Wunderlist

Although Wunderlist started out as a very simple to-do list application for personal use, it now has improved premium features that allow you to attach files, assign tasks to team members, comment on tasks to clarify doubts, create sub-tasks, save web content, print, send everything by email and share lists in other ways. Wunderlist is available in Spanish, but you’ll need to pay for a Pro account to access the advanced features.

Wunderlist has applications for Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, the web, Android, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Windows and OS X.

Hall

Hall is a messaging service for companies, where co-workers, salespeople and clients can communicate in a single space. It has a sharp-looking, well-designed interface, and integrates with different cloud storage services and collaborative tools. It currently integrates with Dropbox, Box, Asana, Trello, Pivotal Tracker, Zendesk, Github and more. Hall is free for groups of up to five people, and then they have to pay $3 a month for each additional user, also increasing the storage space, and allowing group videos.

Hall has applications for Windows, OS X, the web, iPhone and Android.

BusyFlow

If a work team already uses multiple applications to handle everything they do, BusyFlow is a good solution for them because they can administer the different applications from a single website. BusyFlow lets you use Dropbox, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Pivotal Tracker, Google Task, GitHub, Trello and Basecamp on a single desktop, where you can hold private discussions, share files, create everything you need directly without having to go to a special application and administer the tasks.

You can also receive notifications via email, and connect via the webapp or the mobile applications for iOS and Android. Busyflow is recommended for groups of up to 20 people who are involved in software development, consulting or for teams that work via Internet.

Redbooth

Redbooth is a very complete tool because it brings together two important things for a work team to stay organised: a written or video chat, and a task administrator, in other words, its almost like combining Trello with Hall. With Redbooth, you can create tasks, assign them to certain members of the team, and then receive progress reports for each one so that everyone stays excited about the job when they see the milestones achieved.

It also integrates with Dropbox, Box and Google Drive for file administration, and discussions can be created with text or with high-definition video. Of course there are mobile applications for iOS and Android, and they are available in Spanish. Redbooth is free for teams of up to five people (although this doesn’t include all of its features), with each each new user after that costing $5.