Principales herramientas de colaboración para pequeños negocios

Online collaboration tools are often essential for small businesses that want to stay efficient and productive. They can help your teams communicate, share files, and track project progress, regardless of where your employees are located. If you are considering implementing remote or hybrid work in your business, then it's even more critical to choose a web tool(s) that will fit the needs of your company. But you may be wondering, "what is the best online collaborative tool?"

Choosing the right tools and technologies can be particularly overwhelming in today's digital age, where the options are plentiful. That's why we've created this guide outlining the best online collaboration software for businesses. Below, we're also explaining how to curate the best online collaboration practices, which can help you successfully optimize your use of these tools.

How to Collaborate With Your Team Online

Customer service, software development, data entry, and content creation are just some of the roles that can be done online. But in order to excel in these areas, it takes teamwork. Introducing digital collaboration best practices can help foster better synergy between your teams.

A good place to start is with the three C's of collaboration: communication, cooperation, and coordination. Successful businesses thrive when team members share ideas, work together towards a common goal, and synchronize efforts.

For help introducing the three C's at your company, you can integrate the best online collaboration tools into your business strategy. You'll also need fast, secure, and reliable broadband Internet-like Secure Internet de Optimum Business—to reap their benefits. 

Considerations for Choosing a Collaboration Tool

The basis of better digital collaboration is using collaboration tools that help prevent miscommunication-a common issue with remote or hybrid companies of all sizes. You'll also want to ensure your tool of choice helps your teams with time management and productivity.

Here are some additional things to consider when choosing a collaboration tool for your small business:

• The features: Some online collaboration tools offer more features than others. Options can include chat rooms, calendar synching, message scheduling, and more. Choose the tool that has the features your business needs to grow.
• The price: Collaboration tools can range from free to hundreds of dollars per month. Research your options to find one that fits your budget.
• The user interface: You’ll want a tool with an interface that’s easy to use and navigate.
• The level of support: Make sure the collaboration tool offers good customer support in case of any questions or problems.

Best Online Collaboration Tools for Small Businesses 

Below, learn about six of the top online collaboration tools for small businesses. Most of these offer free and paid plans with different levels of features, so you can pick the one that's right for your team.

Slack

Slack is a cloud-based messaging platform that helps teams communicate and collaborate more effectively. Is your inbox overwhelming you? The app helps cut down on emails (60% fewer emails*, according to one user survey). It allows for real-time communication, which is a must if your business is moving rapidly. Features like voice notes, video chats, customizable channels, and a searchable message history are also helpful.

*Weighted average. Based on 1,456 survey responses from weekly Slack users in the U.S., UK, Australia, and Canada with a ± 2% margin of error at 95% CI (November 2022).

Benefit: You can organize conversations by topic, project, or team in accordance with what makes the most sense for your company.

Consideration: Because Slack is a real-time communication tool, it’s easy to get sucked into conversations and notifications. This can be a distraction if you are not careful.

Monday.com

You don't need to be a skilled PM to use this project management tool. Easily streamline your business workflow with the help of customizable "boards" that will help you prioritize, assign, and oversee tasks from start to finish. Within Monday.com, you can create different workflows to manage various arms of your business. Think: marketing, CRM, HR, software development, construction, video production, and so much more.

Benefit: Get a high-level overview of multiple projects.

Consideration: The learning curve can be steep. Monday.com has many features, so learning how to use it effectively takes time.

Asana

Asana is a web and mobile work management platform that can help you plan, organize, and execute across the board. If you currently work with multiple applications, you'll appreciate how the tool easily integrates them all into one hub.

Benefit: Asana visualizes how work maps out over time with the use of Kanban boards and Gantt charts. You can spot risks, see how changes affect deadlines, and make plans that teams know they can count on.

Consideration: Asana does not have built-in time-tracking capabilities. This can be a challenge for teams that need to log how much time they spend on tasks.

Airtable

Think of Airtable as a hybrid of a spreadsheet and a database. This makes it easy for people familiar with spreadsheets but also powerful enough for more complex data needs. One feature that makes it stand out from other online collaboration tools is its generative AI, which automates repetitive tasks (emails, creating new records, or updating data) and helps with creative content.

Benefit: You can create and manage your data using an easy drag-and-drop interface.

Consideration: Airtable doesn’t have as many integrations with other applications as some project management tools, which can be challenging if your business uses multiple apps.

Google Workspace

Chances are, your team is already familiar with Google products, even if your business doesn't currently use them. (They're widely used for both personal and business purposes.) For those not familiar, Google Workspace provides a centralized space for all the administrative on-goings of your business. Some of the apps included are Gmail, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Chat, Google Analytics, and Google Drive.

We can't mention Google without noting its AI. It has the power to predict and surface what's important for your business in real-time-across multiple apps. Example: Google Analytics can find patterns in your data, which can help you to identify trends and make better decisions.

Benefit: Google Drive uses machine learning (ML) to predict which files are essential for each user and to surface those files in the Quick Access section of the Drive interface. ML-based search enhancements also help users find files that they may have forgotten about.

Consideration: Google Workspace is a cloud-based suite of tools, so it may sometimes be slow to load, especially for teams with a lot of data. 

Microsoft Office 365

Similar to Google, Microsoft 365 houses a family of internal apps: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft To Do, Microsoft Booking, and more. Appointment-based businesses will appreciate Booking, a scheduling tool that allows customers to book their appointments. And businesses that are content-forward can benefit from 365's generative AI capabilities. These can be used for wordsmithing while writing emails, working in Word, and more.

Benefit: Microsoft marries its software and hardware well, especially regarding tablets (read: Microsoft Surface, the brand’s laptop/tablet hybrid). Many features, like its To Do app, are designed with tablets in mind, so you can whip out your stylus and “write” if that’s more your speed.

Consideration: Microsoft Teams has many features and may overwhelm employees who are new to online collaboration tools.

Do You Need to Upgrade Your Internet?

Once you choose an online collaboration tool, don't let your Internet service be the reason you don't have the best experience using it. Our fiber Internet network offers speeds up to 8 gig, along with 99.9% reliability and symmetrical upload and download speeds. Learn more about Optimum Business Fiber Internet Plans aquí. 

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