Just wrapped up a community lunch and learn in Cebu with Zoho and Webinark. What an insightful pocket event!
Hybrid work model has become popular. This means that teams are made up of people who work in the office, people who work from home, and people who do a mix of both. This can make it challenging to collaborate effectively, but project management tools have a number of features that can help:
- Unified communication and collaboration platforms bring together all of your communication and collaboration tools in one place. This makes it easy to stay in touch with your team members, regardless of where they are working.
- Video conferencing. Powerful video conferencing tools allow you to hold high-quality meetings with your team members, even if they’re in different locations.
- Document collaboration. Cloud-based document collaboration tools allow you to work on documents together in real time. This is perfect for projects where you need to share and edit documents with your team members.
- Project management. Project management tools help you plan, track, and manage your projects. This is a great way to keep your team on track, even if they’re working remotely.
- Workplace analytics. Analytics provides insights into how your team is using the platform. This data can help you identify areas where you can improve collaboration and productivity.
Let’s take a closer look into each of the major features I appreciate so much!
Collaboration
They can provide a central location for storing and sharing files, as well as tools for communication, collaboration, and task management. This can be especially helpful for teams that are spread out geographically, as it allows them to stay connected and work together on projects in real time. Zoho offers a variety of tools for collaboration, including:
- Zoho Projects: Zoho Projects is a cloud-based project management app that allows teams to collaborate on projects in real time. It offers features for task management, time tracking, file sharing, and communication.
- Zoho SalesIQ: Zoho SalesIQ is a team chat app that allows teams to communicate with each other in real time. It offers features for file sharing, video conferencing, and screen sharing.
- Zoho Docs: Zoho Docs is a cloud-based word processing app that allows teams to collaborate on documents in real time. It offers features for version control, commenting, and sharing.
Communication
Project management apps can also help improve communication within teams by providing a way for team members to stay up-to-date on project status, ask questions, and provide feedback. This can help to reduce the number of misunderstandings and missed deadlines that can occur when teams are working remotely. Zoho also offers a variety of tools for communication, including:
- Zoho Mail: Zoho Mail is a cloud-based email service that offers features for collaboration, file sharing, and calendaring.
- Zoho Cliq: Zoho Cliq is a team messaging app that allows teams to communicate with each other in real time. It offers features for file sharing, video conferencing, and screen sharing.
- Zoho Voice: Zoho Voice is a cloud-based VoIP phone service that allows teams to make and receive calls over the internet.
Task management
Project management apps can help teams to better manage their tasks by providing a way to track progress, set deadlines, and assign tasks to team members. This can help to ensure that everyone on the team knows what they need to do and when they need to do it, which can lead to improved productivity. Zoho offers a variety of tools for task management, including:
- Zoho Projects: As mentioned above, Zoho Projects is a cloud-based project management app that allows teams to collaborate on projects in real time. It offers features for task management, time tracking, file sharing, and communication.
- Zoho CRM: Zoho CRM is a customer relationship management (CRM) software that helps teams track and manage customer interactions. It offers features for task management, lead generation, and sales forecasting.
- Zoho Tasks: Zoho Tasks is a simple task management app that allows teams to track tasks and set deadlines. It offers features for file sharing, comments, and reminders.
Visibility
Project management apps can also help to improve visibility into projects by providing a way for team members to see the overall project plan, as well as the status of individual tasks. This can help to ensure that everyone on the team is aware of what is happening with the project and that they are working towards the same goals. Zoho offers a variety of tools for visibility, including:
- Zoho Projects: Zoho Projects offers features for visibility into projects by providing a way for team members to see the overall project plan, as well as the status of individual tasks.
- Zoho Reports: Zoho Reports is a cloud-based reporting tool that allows teams to create and share reports on project data. It offers features for data visualization, filtering, and sorting.
- Zoho Analytics: Zoho Analytics is a cloud-based business intelligence (BI) tool that allows teams to analyze data from a variety of sources. It offers features for data visualization, reporting, and forecasting.
Automated workflows
Many project management apps also offer automated workflows that can help to streamline tasks and processes. This can free up team members’ time so that they can focus on more strategic work. Zoho offers a variety of tools for automated workflows, including:
- Zoho Flow: Zoho Flow is a workflow automation tool that allows teams to automate repetitive tasks. It offers features for connecting apps, creating triggers, and setting actions.
- Zoho Creator: Zoho Creator is a low-code development platform that allows teams to create custom apps. It offers features for drag-and-drop app development, data integration, and mobile app development.
Here are other specific examples of project management apps and how they can help hybrid teams:
- Asana allows teams to create projects, assign tasks, and track progress. It also offers features for communication and collaboration, such as chat, file sharing, and video conferencing.
- Jira is a project management app that is commonly used by software development teams. It offers features for planning, tracking, and testing software projects.
- Microsoft Project is a project management app that is commonly used by businesses of all sizes. It offers features for planning, scheduling, and budgeting projects.
- Trello is a kanban-style project management app that helps teams visualize their work. It allows teams to create boards, lists, and cards to track tasks and progress.
- Wrike is a cloud-based project management app that offers a variety of features for collaboration, communication, and task management. It also offers integrations with other popular apps, such as Slack and Google Drive.
I’ve been using these project management tools for my hybrid team for at least 10 years–depending on what customers already use or prefer, and I’ve been really impressed with how well it’s helped us stay organized and productive.