Quickly Run Remote Teams with these 12 Tools

In this guide, I've explored twelve tools essential for managing and running remote teams effectively. These tools address various aspects of remote work, including virtual meetings, time management, task prioritization, and performance monitoring. They are designed to foster better collaboration, enhance productivity, and ensure a cohesive remote work environment. This guide is particularly valuable for businesses transitioning to or improving their remote work infrastructure, offering practical solutions for common remote work challenges.

Team management is increasingly important to run remote teams effectively.

Effective team management is more than just motivational speeches, coordination and meetings. Click To Tweet

The idea of managing different virtual team or employees from different time zones and locations across the globe without worrying about much of the infrastructure cost is genuinely appealing.

However, not everything is a cakewalk. 

Team management refers to a variety of team activities which bring the team together to carry them out. By predicting problems, finding two-way workflows, and being attentive to remote team members needs can help you manage and run remote teams effectively.

There are tools and software you can use to manage your remote teams without much effort.

You need to make sure that each team members will have specific needs to be met in a team’s growth.

Keeping in mind the needs of team members is crucial for the effective team management plan. You can use team management software to enhance collaboration and helps to coordinate everyone’s work.

Advantages of team management

The full advantage of remote work can’t help teams who don’t cultivate the opportunity to work together and maintain their social ties. As a business owner or employer, you always want to achieve the highest results from your employees and ensure that your staff is satisfied with their job. Team management maximizes task management and improves team collaboration in remote employees. You should have a clear startup structure to maximize the effectiveness of the management.

Some of the advantages of team management:

1. Boosts productivity

When each team member has clear responsibilities and deliverable, they will be able to focus on their tasks and give their best.

2. Promotes learning

When different team members with different talents collaborate, they get the chance to exchange ideas and learn skills that they didn’t have beforehand.

For example, in a team of web developers many developers prefer subject research and check resources like App Academy School Reviews to gain insights into the best design practices and user-friendly interfaces. When such developers collaborate with the rest of the team, it facilitates exchanges of insights.

3. Increases performance

Teamwork makes the team perform optimally, and as they have higher fulfilment and performance levels.

4. Promotes team building

When team members complement each other, the gaps in team members’ skill sets and communication is less.

Social teams planning events and projects that encourage people to take their break off work tend to accomplish specific goals in this regard: to help people improve work, to make them have more fun, and to help people understand their potential. The advantages of team management are extensive and helpful for you to run remote teams.

Effectiveness required to run remote teams

 If you are searching for a niche skillset or want to draw a flexible hobbyist, remote work may be a choice for small business owners.

However, as a boss, you must ensure that the remote team is as successful and productive as possible. They will not be magically practical, comfortable, or willing, mainly if they have never previously worked in their home office. To maximize the productivity and run remote teams, you must have an effective team management plan in place for your employees working remotely.

You will also need to equip your team with the right tools so they can work more effectively. If you are a construction company, you will need to use Construction CRM to manage projects, communicate with clients, and track progress.

Here are five ways to successfully run remote teams:

1. Explain issues thoroughly when seeking answers:

Make sure to explain a problem or a task thoroughly at the beginning itself.

Some of the managers too often just inform their remote staff about the issues instead of telling their expectations. Due to the lack of complete information or instructions about a task, the solution they come to may not work exactly as per your expectation.

1. Set small expectations for significant projects:

You can improve communication within the remote team by setting smaller targets. Instead of implementing a big assignment and being left out, you should verify the success of your workers for each minor milestone. That also helps you to recognize possible issues during the entire cycle so that the outcome will not have to be duplicated and corrected.

2. Use clear communications:

In terms of teamwork, connectivity is the secret to progress, not just for remote staff but also for any working partnership. For dealing with remote workers, multiple contact networks are better used-but the default “best fit” setup must be implemented.

Video chats, tweets, telephone calls, Slack: they will all help open (and retain open) communication lines and build a productive working partnership.Moreover, getting to know iCloud guide and learning how to use it can enhance collaboration by providing a centralized platform for sharing files, coordinating tasks, and ensuring seamless access to shared resources across the team.

3. Plan to de-escalate problems:

Develop a simple way to identify and track issues with the remote teams. Be sure that they can articulate the nature of the problem, how much time it takes to solve it, how much money it takes to overcome it, and how important it is to finish the project. In case existing resources cannot solve the problem, make sure you have a plan B in place.

4. Hire the best:

What can you do most to make your remote team as useful as possible?

Before your employees even start a project, it happens: hire the best. Whether your company builds websites or provides financial advice, it is critical. It influences not only the competence of the staff but also the productivity you pointed to earlier: 800% more efficient app engineers are among the most skilled than full-time employees.

Tools required for effective remote team management

To run remote teams, you might face a problem right from the accessibility of jobs and contact in the trans-time zone to a sense of belonging. However, despite the continued growth in the adoption of the remote working paradigm, organizations must be prepared for the reality of remote jobs.

What’s the trick, then?

How do you treat someone you never see in-person to work and participate? Aside from cultural changes, a very different tool set is essential to run remote team and make the team members feel like a successful, fair team member. Only the correct technical configuration is necessary for the remote operating layout.

Here you can find five critical remote team management resources to support remote workers and promote cross-site collaboration.

1. Virtual meeting tools 

Rich face-to-face video calls are the backbone of remote teams and help bridge the physical distance.

Although people enjoy meeting others, don’t underestimate the value of daily visual talks with your team. Tools like Zoom, Google Meet has become a household name, after the COVID-19 lockdown.

These tools offer a lively space for one-on-one talks, team talks, and business meetings that demand room for break-outs.

2. Timely – for managing resources, KPI tracking and invoicing accurately

Time management is a vital resource for any remote company, rendering evident all team tasks, resources, and project activity.

In terms of the payroll, it is also very critical, without which you cannot reliably log overtime or charge customers. Timely is one of the few time management tools that optimize the whole work. It gathers all remote team members and uses AI to document their schedules.

Managers will also use optimized real-time dashboards to monitor the workloads, efficiency, operation, and project budget expenditures of workers. Strong staff approval is central to the entire system, and remote workers are confident using it.

3. Trello -for task prioritization and workload 

Trello allows people to manage projects and assignments quickly and works well for remote teams. The members of the teams can test their tasks for agile boards using the various boards and workflows – as essential as the traditional “To-Do,” “Working” and “Done.” 

4. iDoneThis – for managing, leading and checking in

Managers will not be able to guess how their remote team is going. iDoneThis is a lightweight and flexible activity management tool, with staff reviewing every day and then storing them indigestible files. 

5. Engagedly – for guidance, performance, and building trust.

Continuous monitoring, target selection, and research benchmarks are incorporated in Engagedly to help you run remote teams effectively.

The 360-degree tool for review helps supervisors, co-workers, and all others to receive input and remote employees to report about their performance for some time.

6. Coda

Coda’s primary emphasis is on interactive documentation, designed to integrate documents, phones, and device functionality, including Kanban boards and mini databases. You build and share one file with your colleagues.

Coda documents are also essential to keep all the proposals of team members in a particular document — in other cases; they can be used as a project management tool.

You may add additional pages to a document, group them into files, and create a library from an entire shared database.

Here are some of the best web applications for managing remote teams:

1. NiftyPM

NiftyPM is your regular process preparation, arranging, and monitoring tool to help you effectively run remote teams. The app supports Windows, Linux, Android, and iOS.

It is a new-age management software that reduces project development cycles and improves virtual team productivity by combining projects, work, people and team members.

run remote team - nifty pm

Features:   

Time & Expense Tracking   Issue Management   Budget Management   
Resource Management Status Tracking   Milestone Tracking   
Requirement Management   Idea Management   Percent-Complete Tracking   
Portfolio Management   Kanban Board   Timeline View   

Pricing:

StarterFree
Pro$79 /User/Month/Billed Yearly
Business$124 /User/Month/Billed Yearly
EnterpriseCustom

2. Hubstaff

More than 10,000 people worldwide continue to make and using time-tracking tools from Hubstaff.

Track hours of service, pay staff members, invoice customers, show in-depth content, and more in their mobile, desktop, and online dashboards.

run remote team - hubstaff

Features:   

Billable & Non-billable Hours   Billing and Invoicing   
Multiple Billing RatesLeave Tracking (Vacation)   
Mobile Time Tracking   Timesheet Management   
Employee Database   Offline Time Tracking   

Pricing:

Free versionfree
Basic$5.83 /Month/Billed Yearly
Premium$8.33 /User/Month/Billed Yearly
Enterprise$16.67 /Month/Billed Yearly

3. Hive

Hive software is a project management and collaboration tool to help you run remote teams. The platform integrates well with tools like Slack, Zapier, Zoom, Hubspot, and more. It is a team management solution for teams of all sizes who need to share files, chat and automate work management.

Features:

Collaboration Software FeaturesMilestone Tracking  Audio-Video Conferencing 
Percent-Complete Tracking   Task Management   Timeline View   
Task Management   Project Management   Kanban Board   
Project Planning   Resource Management     Portfolio Management   
Time TrackingProgress TrackingGantt Charts
Chat (Messaging)Task Management SoftwareGroup Calendars   

 Pricing:

Professional: $12 /User/Month/Billed Yearly

4. Intheloop.io

In the Loop is a cloud-based event scheduling system to help you run remote teams at ease of clicks. It allows businesses to track and record event registration. The platform lets users manage shared mailboxes like “info@”, “support@”, and “sales@” with team members.

The platform offers the best way to know who’s working on what by assigning emails and give an overview of your team members responsibilities and monitor their progress with automated workflows.

Quickly Run Remote Teams with these 12 Tools 1

Features:   

Exhibit/Vendor Management   Attendee Management   Badge Management   
Social Media Promotion Gift Matching Management   Contribution Tracking   
Reporting/Analytics   Payment Processing   In-App Sponsorship   
Pledge Management   Room Block Management   Guest List Management   
Donor Management   Abstract Management   Speaker Management

Pricing:

  • Studio: £7 per user/month
  • Business: £12 per user/month
  • Enterprise: On request/Contact for details

5. Plutio

Plutio is a platform for top management that helps an organization to operate and function smoothly.

This software tool assists people in project scheduling and time control. Users are quickly paying for invoices to customers through PayPal and Stripe.

Quickly Run Remote Teams with these 12 Tools 2
Plutio features

Features:   

Budget ManagementIT Project Management   
Status TrackingPortfolio Management   
Task Management   Project Planning   
Requirement Management   

Pricing:

Solo$15 /Month
Studio$20 /Month
Team$30 /Month

6. Time Doctor

Time Doctor is a time monitoring app that works well with Linux, Android, and iOS. The automatic time logging allows users to monitor the time of your team members accurately. Users can monitor check hours, different billing patterns while working remotely. You can make use of Time Doctor to track time and projects.

run remote team - time doctor

Features:   

Employee Database   Billing and Invoicing   
Offline Time TrackingAutomatic Time Capture   
Multiple Billing Rates   Timesheet Management   
Overtime Calculation   Billable & Non-billable Hours   
Leave Tracking (Vacation)   Mobile Time Tracking   

Pricing:

  • Business: $49 /Month
  • Enterprise:$99 /Month

7. SoapBox

SoapBox is an all-in-one platform to record, edit, and share videos in no time. It promotes the decentralization, mobilization, and evaluation of input on employee suggestions for businesses. One can integrate Soapbox with Slack, Google, and Microsoft Calendar software.

run remote team - soapbox

Features:   

  • Task Management   
  • Discussion Boards   
  • Chat (Messaging)

Pricing:

  • Basic: Free
  • Pro: $8 /User/Month

8. Toggl

Toogl is a simple time tracker for remote workers and a useful tool to run remote teams. The software only needs one click to start a new entry of time or to continue tracking. The app works with almost all platforms like Windows, Mac, iOS and Android devices on a platform-independent basis.

run remote team - toggl

Features:   

Leave Tracking (Vacation)   Mobile Time Tracking   
Offline Time TrackingMultiple Billing Rates   
Billable & Non-billable Hours   Overtime Calculation   
Timesheet Management   Make Employee Database   

Pricing:

Free versionFree
Starter$9 /User/Month/Billed Yearly
Premium$18 /User/Month/Billed Yearly
EnterpriseCustom

9. Desktime

Desktime includes several profound learning features, such as the ML algorithm library, neural network simulation, and model testing. It is possible to control time from mobile devices, but people can’t track time offline.

run remote team - desktime

Features:   

Employee Database   Billing and Invoicing   
Billable & Non-billable HoursLeave Tracking (Vacation)   
Multiple Billing Rates   Mobile Time Tracking   
Overtime Calculation   Offline Time Tracking   
Automatic Time Capture   Timesheet Management   

Pricing:

  • DeskTime Lite: Free
  • DeskTime Pro for $87.08 /Month/Billed Yearly

10. People Box

People box is an innovative meeting program that allows organizations to produce and maintain productive outcomes. It allows them to improve their work relationships through improved interpersonal experiences, automatic preparation, and careful supervision. The system aims to plan, organize, and guide decisions on a broad scale.

run remote team - people box

Features:   

Employee Management   Performance Metrics   
Feedback ManagementIssue Management   
Workflow Management   Scheduling   

Pricing:

  • Free: Free
  • Basic for $6 /User/Month/Billed Yearly
  • Enterprise for $10 /User/Month/Billed Yearly

11. Adam.ai

Adam.ai is an all-in-one meeting scheduling system that spans the whole life cycle of the conference. It gathers and integrates information quickly and intelligently to turn the meetings. For people who work remotely, the tool maintains all relevant cloud information, files, and records securely.

run remote team - adam.ai

Features:   

Item Tracking   Attendee Managing   Agenda Managing   
SchedulingCommittee Meetings   Invitation Managing   
Minutes Management   Voting Management   Internal Meetings   
Meeting Preparation Tool   Post-Meeting Tools   Materials Managing  

Pricing:

Free VersionFree
Pro$4.99 /User/Month
Enterprise Custom
Quickly Run Remote Teams with these 12 Tools 3
Adam.ai Capterra review

12. Eyeson  

Eyeson is an interactive webinar and conference tool that helps you run remote teams. The app delivers high-quality group video calls with no interruption while keeping data consumption low. Also, the installation of software is not necessary for people who use it.

run remote team- eyeson
Eyeson to run remote teams

Features:   

Screen SharingMulti-Presenter   
Social Sharing   Live Chat   
On-demand Webinars   Attendee Management   

Pricing:

  • Basic:$9 per host
  • Corporate: Custom
eyeson G2 review
Eyeson G2 review

An overview of all the tools discussed in this guide:

ToolsPricingFeatures summary
Nifty PMPaid plan starts at $39/moWhat is good?
Affordable option and pretty easy to use.
Good option for small teams.
What is not good?
Can be sometimes slow.
No native print function..
HubstaffThe paid plan starts at $7/user/moWhat is good?
Good UI.
Powerful reporting features.
What is not good?
Some functions such as idle time cannot be customised.
HiveThe paid plan starts at $12/user/moWhat is good?
Easy to customize and it offers plenty of integrations.
Suggestions based on AI make working quite easy.
What is not good?
Processing nested tasks and subtasks is a mess.
InTheloop.ioThe paid plan start at $8/user/moWhat is good?
Prevents any email overload through powerful email management
Manage shared inboxes smoothly.
What is not good?
Deleting and archiving of messages is only limited to your loop emails.
PlutioPaid plans start at $15/monthWhat is good?
Specifically caters to the needs of freelancers and small businesses.
A tool that balances complex operations and simple ones.
What is not good?
One may encounter slight bugs.
TimedoctorPaid plans start at $5/user/monthWhat is good?
A great tool to track the productivity of team members.
Very easy to use and pocket friendly tool.
What is not good?
The UI is slight outdated.
SoapboxPaid plans start at $7/month/userWhat is good?
Helps managers to discuss projects and other tasks .
The entire process of organising virtual meetings become simple.
What is not good?
The UI needs time to get accustomed to.
PeopleBoxPaid plan starts at $7 per employee per month.What is good?
AI powered tool that help managers manage their remote teams.
Easy to use with an interactive user interface.
What is not good?
New tool so some features might be hit or a miss.
DesktimePaid plan starts at $7 per user per month.What is good?
 Keep a track of all the information related to meetings in one place.
TogglPaid plan starts at $9 per user per monthWhat is good?
A simple and nice tool with not a lot of features.
Generous and worthy free plan.
What is not good?
Not a great option for businesses who have complex needs.
Adam.aiPaid plan starts at $4.99 per user per month.What is good?
Good customer service.
Not loaded with a lot of features so it comes handy for simple meeting recordings.
What is not good?
It doesn’t integrate with google meet.
EyesonPaid plan starts at $19 per month.What is good?
Operates even in low internet connection speed .
Very affordable.

Our Experience:

We all are witnessing the rise in remote work, and more and more organizations are going remote now. Remote work is now a common term because of the changing working conditions triggered by a COVID-19 pandemic.

It is time for organizations and managers to have effective team management in place for both on-premise and remote employees.

With the number of remote work devices increasing, working and collaboration through teams of various time zones can be made more straightforward than ever!

Questions asked while looking for tools for managing remote teams:

Does home working mean remote work?

Remote work is when you work outside of a traditional office environment. Mostly remote means are other than the regular workplace.

How do we make workers responsible and efficient?

The most straightforward approach will be to implement apps for accountability, allowing the workers to log in and out every day and see how long they spent on work. It isn’t a perfect arrangement for full-time staff, but it’s beneficial to contractors paying an hour or contract jobs. They will answer in kind if you have taught them properly, and shown them that you trust them.

Flexibility in work, what do you mean by that?

Flexible employment is any change in workplace job habits on a routine basis. Remote work may include part-time, hourly work, start and end times later or early, pre-defined hours and so on.

How to grow distributed teams?

For smooth operation of the distributed team, each person should know their role and understand how to adjust to the team. Each member of the team should know the importance of communication, as well. Make sure to facilitate communication and collaboration among team members.

How do remote teams build workplace culture?

When you see the teammates check how they are doing, it’s a smart idea to schedule every day and monthly stand-up sessions or daily tests! Often do not only concentrate on work but also spend some time (like birthdays) enjoying special days, chatting about odd things, and attempting to understand one another at a personal level.

What are the requirements to successfully handle the remote team?

To manage a remote team, managers should create rules of engagement with employees. Make sure to note down the working schedule, holidays, meeting and other ground rules of teams to avoid any sort of confusion.

How will I treat staff members around countries and time zones?

Firstly, implement more distributed interactions. Don’t expect instant feedback unless it’s very urgent. Establish a 24-48 hour internal reaction law. Make use of team management software to help your team become more productive. 

Sreeram
Sreeram

I am Sreeram, a results-driven SEO specialist with over 4 years of experience empowering businesses to grow through digital marketing. As a freelancer for leading SaaS companies and agencies, I am passionate about implementing data-backed SEO strategies that deliver exponential organic growth. I have successfully executed link building campaigns that generated an 800% increase in organic traffic for a B2B SaaS and a 400% rise in backlinks for a SaaS website. I offer deep expertise in on-page SEO, link building, SEO tools, and project management. With a bachelor's degree in computer science and certifications from Semrush and Google, I stay up-to-date on the latest trends and techniques. When not optimizing campaigns, I enjoy building new websites from the ground up. I am wholly devoted to the world of SEO and thrive on helping businesses attract and engage with customers online. My analytical, results-driven approach ensures that clients achieve their growth objectives through sustainable SEO success.

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