What is Remote Collaboration?
Remote collaboration is when a team works together from different physical locations. The collaboration attempts are facilitated with different project management tools and other collaboration tools.
Remote collaboration is the best when every individual puts in their utmost effort through work and communication. Remote collaboration can help employees with a healthier work-life balance while promoting their mental health.
Business Benefits of Remote Collaboration
Shifting away from traditional workplaces into a virtual workplace may seem like only a plus point for the employees, but it also offers many business benefits.
- With enhanced collaboration tools and platforms, entire workflows can be reimagined, and it can help employees connect across the globe.
- The model accommodates different work models and dynamic work methods, meaning no department is idle and always progressing.
- Problem-solving skills go through innovation.
- Collaboration software increases work productivity.
- Reduces management hassle with the use of collaboration tools.
- Allows higher amounts of flexibility, which increases productivity.
- Eliminates commuting time, allowing employees to invest more time in work.
- Reduces the business expenses needed to rent and operate an expensive office space.
Factors That Make A Remote Collaboration Successful
1. Communication
Communication is the most vital element for success when every teammate is away from each other. In a software development team, each team member must be aware of the progress of every other team member; the team shows steady progress, making it easy for the team leader to track the overall team progress.
2. Support
A good manager always provides ample amounts of support to their teammates. Whether it’s expertise from experience, guidance about work procedures, or words of encouragement-support is very important to make every team member feel validated and important.
3. Accountability
When team members are accountable for their actions, they continue to work efficiently and meet all the preset deadlines by completing tasks. The team members also continue effectively keeping in touch with their clients and customers for complete trust building and transparency.
4. Accessibility
All remote teams need complete access to all the necessary technologies, information, and tools to complete development objectives.
5. Organization
Different organizational practices can help all the remote team members collaborate more efficiently by sharing information more innovatively. Unlike a general office setting, remote team members can use spreadsheets and online servers to organize, share and synchronize their work.
6. Time Management
Remote team members are highly skilled individuals who excel at time management. This skill can contribute to a higher success rate with remote collaborations since remote teams can submit work faster with higher efficiency.
5 Tips To Make Your Remote Collaboration Highly Effective
1. Set Clear Goals With Clear Communications
When a team has a set of clear objectives in front of them that they have to achieve, the team can then set their plans around the objectives. But how do you set goals the right way?
It’s all in communication skills. When you’re taking all the effort to ensure clear communication between each team member and you, the team members understand the orders perfectly.
Sometimes we try to keep the instructions as brief as possible to save time, but clarity should always be preferred in this case.
2. Increase the Effectiveness of The Communication Channels
Without any fancy intros, let’s show you a few effective communication channels:
- Emails for sharing group ideas and resources
- Workplace-specific messaging platforms for internal communication
- Private message system for one-on-one conversations
- Video call platform for team check-ins
- Technology for sharing documents like spreadsheets
- Interactive virtual whiteboards that every team member can access
But remember not to overuse communication channels. It’s okay to communicate with the employees and ask for progress. Still, if you continuously bombard the team members with messages and demand progress reports, it only overwhelms them and detracts from productivity.
3. Provide Complete Support To Your Team Members
To foster a great team, you must maintain constant support for every team member. Remote work can often make an individual feel highly isolated, and trying to offset the feeling by checking in on each other or taking part in different online team-building activities can help with the phenomenon.
If you’re a team leader, you should facilitate an environment with ideas like a casual chat channel where you can randomly introduce icebreaker questions for the team members to answer and have a fun casual conversation.
4. Keep Every Process Transparent
Increased transparency can result in improved remote collaboration. Increased trust and enthusiasm can help the employees have better morale. Any company can be more successful when transparent with all the employees.
Remote work requires more psychological positivity than traditional office work, and the added transparency can greatly help.
5. Establish Modern Communication Norms
You need to come together with your team to discuss and determine which collaboration software you will use, how the messaging schedule will work, etc. The messaging schedule specifies when personal messages are allowed or not allowed.
Remote communication differs greatly from real-life communication, so you shouldn’t expect the regular norms to flow automatically within your remote work environment.
5 Types of Improved Remote Collaboration Tools
These 5 main types of remote collaboration tools make the entire ordeal possible.
1. Audio/ Video Conferencing
This software needs no major introduction, as this is software with which you can make regular video calls. Though these were used for personal, one-on-one communications, business organizations are using them for video meetings and asynchronous communication more and more.
Though video conferencing has been considered invasive when the team members are at home, innovative features like screen sharing can sometimes be a lifesaver.
2. Team Chatting
Team chatting software are in the top five business communication tools. So it’s evident that you’re not the only person who prefers to text only. Instant messages are preferred among remote collaboration team members for communicating immediate project details or urgent information that needs to be conveyed.
The instant message helps the team reduce interruptions since it’s much easier to quickly communicate in short texts to exchange opinions and ideas.
3. Productivity Management
Project management can ensure higher productivity and better progress regardless of the project. No matter the department, a team has to generate the most work possible within the shortest time.
Project management tools are a must in any remote team for the team leader and the project manager in case a local organization is in remote collaboration with a distant team.
Project management tools allow team leaders to track individual and overall progress. Most project management tools visualize information, making it easier to keep track.
4. Filesharing Software
Modern remote collaboration has reached its peak, all thanks to the different filesharing software. Filesharing software offers the chance for seamless remote team collaboration despite the geographical differences between the team members.
The biggest reason every remote team adapts to a filesharing software (aside from the obvious advantage of being able to share files) is the file-sharing speed. Remote teams can access hundreds of different files in a matter of seconds.
5. Remote Desktop & Security Tools
Remote desktop tools allow employees to connect their computers to other computers set in secure locations; remote employees often connect to the company’s in-house computers.
With a remote connection to different computers overseas comes the risk of security because anyone can exploit the remote desktop tools to gain access to the computers, and that’s where the security tools come into play. Modern virtual collaboration is far more secure compared to a few years from before.
To Wrap It All Up
Remote teams have already been proven to be a far more efficient project completion method than traditional methods, and remote collaboration can make it all possible. It also allows you to work with any professional suitable for your project, regardless of their location.
Want to get started with remote collaboration today? Our remote teams at Impala Intech are prepared to assist you with your next project!
FAQs
Remote collaboration refers to working together on a project or task with people not in the same physical location.
Remote collaboration is important because it allows teams to work together regardless of their location, which can increase productivity, reduce costs, and improve work-life balance.
Some benefits of remote collaboration include increased flexibility, access to a wider talent pool, improved work-life balance, and reduced costs.
Effective remote collaboration requires clear communication, a reliable internet connection, and collaborative tools like video conferencing and shared workspaces.
Challenges of remote collaboration can include miscommunication, lack of trust, time zone differences, and difficulty collaborating on complex projects.
