Our economy is globalized, and we may have to work with people all over the world. Text messages, social networks, and messaging applications have accustomed us to instantaneity, and to real-time communication.
In fact, it is a complete invasion. A multitude of collaborative tools are flooding into the world of work. There are hundreds of them and they address a wide range of needs, as shown in our comparative article of 18 essential tools to facilitate remote work.
After having entered the private sphere, these tools now challenge our work habits.
Tools that transform our work habits
A single tool can change the way we work. Then what can be said about the accumulation of many tools that make their way into every company, asserting themselves and becoming indispensable? These tools can be found at every stage of our work processes and profoundly change our habits.
These could be, for example:
- Shared agendas, for better personal and team organization
- Instant messaging systems or team-communication platforms, which are gradually replacing emails, at least for internal exchanges
- The removal of phone calls – which the under-30s are fleeing – in favor of new modes of communication such as short voice messages
- The sharing of documents in the Cloud, and several people editing those documents simultaneously, even thousands of kilometers apart
- Video conferencing tools that reinvent meetings
Read also: Remote Working : How do you maintain motivation on a daily basis?
A work revolution, towards a more collaborative way of working
This avalanche of tools is part of a fundamental movement towards ever more synergetic work. The traditional model of the employee who seamlessly works in his corner and only speaks up once a week during the weekly meeting to present what he has done is now outdated. This employee quickly disappears in favor of new ways of working that put more emphasis on communication within and between teams.
Ultimately, collaborative tools act as a myriad of Trojan horses, vectors of a work revolution. This new way of working, towards which we must strive, aspires for the following:
- Having improved information sharing
- Increasing asynchronous work, and significantly saving time on many non-essential meetings
- Improved productivity, by eliminating unnecessary and time-consuming tasks
- More cross-functional work, which challenges the pyramidal hierarchy inherited from the old paternalistic business model
These tools are of course not flawless, and it would be naive to believe that the new emerging forms of work are absolutely perfect. However, the crisis we are currently experiencing at the global level, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, gives us a first glimpse of the positive aspects these tools bring.
Read also: Talkspirit is a named category leader by GetApp
Collaborative tools and widespread remote working
In France, strikes against the retirement reform, followed by the COVID-19 pandemic, showed that remote working could be a backup solution for millions of French citizens.
Of course, while remote working is common for some, it can remain inconvenient to many others. Therefore, we wanted to offer you the best advice for a successful transition to working remotely.
Above all, these widespread remote working experiences show how essential collaborative tools have become. Thanks to them, large parts of the global economy can continue to operate even when companies have closed their offices.
Thanks to these tools, communicating with your colleagues remotely has never been so simple!
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Let’s keep in mind here that collaborative tools have made their way into the vast majority of companies today. They come to simplify the life of employees and self-employed people for many daily needs.
Enterprise social networks such as Talkspirit have the advantage of bringing together the most popular tools on a single platform and contribute to making internal exchanges within the enterprise more fluid.
If you are planning to use a corporate social network, the Talkspirit team is at your disposal to help you with your plan!
Download our sheet: 8 key steps to choose your collaborative platform
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Author: Paul Maubareyt
