Since the beginning of the Corona Pandemic in March 2020, private but also everyday life has changed.
Home Office has been an integral part of working life for many employees and employers since then.
In this article, we show you which software you can use in order to be able to work effectively in a team.
Home Office as a challenge
Especially if you do not have your own office at home and have to do your work at the living room or kitchen table, it can be difficult to concentrate.
There is the dishwasher that wants to be cleared or the television that you could run by the way.
All of this leads to distractions that you should avoid. It is best to have a clear separation between work and leisure if it is possible in your home office.
You should also make sure that all devices that you could distract from work are not at hand.
The number one deflection source is the smartphone.
Read an (actually unimportant) push message quickly or scroll through the Instagram timeline-you cost all of these interruptions unnecessarily and disturb your concentration.
This is the best way to help so-called app blockers, which for a period you have specified previously ban access to certain apps and thus increase their productivity in the home office.
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Home Office Software for Team Communication
Despite the that you may not have seen your employees personally for a long time, you will probably have contact with them several times a day.
This works best with these applications:
Slack
Slack is one of the pioneers in team communication.
With the app, which is particularly popular with startups, your entire internal communication can be bundled.
Here you can create individual channels for certain employees and lead private chats.
In addition, language and video calls via slack are also possible.
Particularly noteworthy is the intuitive application interface and the free version for small and medium-sized companies.
Microsoft teams
Microsoft teams, which were originally designed for educational institutions, are also currently particularly popular with companies.
The app is part of the Microsoft Office 365 package, which many companies use by default anyway.
The app is available in a free version and can take some getting used to when it comes to the first setup.
But if you have got involved, Microsoft teams can be operated as easily as Slack.
Fleep
Anyone who attaches particular importance to data protection in team communication should think about using fleep.
Thanks to the company headquarters in Estonia, the servers are in the EU, which protects your data from the European GDPR.
You can use fleep in a free version, the functionalities are similar to Slack and Microsoft teams.
A special feature of Fleep: Nobody has to register with the app. If you don’t have an account, just get the messages by email.
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Home Office Software for Project Management
Without the usual personal contact, it can be difficult to keep an overview of your projects and that of your employees.
So that important tasks are done in good time in the home office, you and your team should work with a project management app.
Trello
The easiest-to-use software for the management of individual tasks and projects is Trello.
The free version of the app is sufficient for small and medium-sized companies since the number of users is not limited.
However, only ten so-called boards, i.e. projects, can be created per free account.
The individual tasks are organized in maps that can be moved by the drag and drop function.
Asana
Asana offers its company a little more functions than Trello and is therefore a better choice for more complex projects.
The app is available in a free version, which is more suitable for small companies because the number of users is limited to 15.
The so-called workload manager is particularly interesting for employers. Based on this, founders can understand how busy individual employees are currently and can delegate tasks more balanced.
Wrike
If you prefer a GDPR project management app, you should take a closer look at Wrike.
The software comes from the USA but has its server located in the Netherlands in Amsterdam.
The scope of Wrike’s functions is impressive: There are various integrations such as Google Drive, as well as briefing and release functions.
However, these numerous features also mean that familiarization takes a lot of time.
Cloud platforms for the Home Office
At the latest since the pandemic and the associated home office, cloud storage solutions have become essential for most companies.
After all, your employees now have to access stored company files from home. And that works best with one of these apps:
Dropbox
The most famous platform to store data in the cloud is Dropbox.
The app is not only known in the private sector but is also used in many companies.
The software is easy to use and therefore very popular.
With the free version of Dropbox, data in the circumference of two gigabytes can be saved. There are two terabytes of storage space for just under ten euros per month.
Dropbox prunes itself to be the market leader in the synchronization of data.
A weak point is the server location in the USA: your data is therefore not protected by the GDPR.
Google Drive
Most companies are already working with Google Docs and Co.
Then why not use Google Drive as a cloud storage platform?
Among the apps presented here, Google Drive offers its users the most storage space: 15 gigabytes.
Google Drive is very easy to use and convinces in particular with the simple release processes of individual files.
Users particularly positively evaluate the joint processing of documents in real-time.
The only shortcoming is the server location in the USA, which is why you shouldn’t save sensitive data in Google’s cloud.
Tresorit
A European alternative to the American top dogs on the Cloud memory market is Tresorite based in Switzerland.
With the free version of the app, you can save data volume of up to five gigabytes.
You can get 500 gigabytes of storage space for around 8 euros per month.
Since the data with a server located in Switzerland is subject to stricter data protection guidelines than in the USA, Tresorit is particularly suitable for companies with sensitive data.
The special thing about Tresorite is that the app, as one of the few cloud storage platforms, offers end-to-end encryption for data.
Simplify the management of your customer inquiries
In addition to the apps presented here, which simplify your everyday work in the home office, you can also think about a software solution for your customer inquiries.
Because the management of customer news can also be streamlined if you summarize all of your users’ communication channels in software.
It is best to use Superchat.
In the platform, you can bundle all the messages of your customers, regardless of whether they enter into the software by email, SMS, or WhatsApp. In this way, you and your employees become even more efficient and continue to satisfy your customers.
