By Yvonne C Thompson
The great thing about working virtually now is that there are so many options available to stay organized and communicate effectively. When I started working as a VA several years ago, there were options, yes, but not nearly as many as there are today. Using today's web-based tools almost takes the virtual out of the relationship.
The question is not whether to use a collaboration tool, but which one. Which tool will help your team complete its projects on time and in sync? Which will give your clients the confidence that you are on the same page with them? When making that decision, just think of solving the problem. Often we will get dazzled by the fancy features of a tool without considering whether it addresses our need.
First clearly identify what is needed. If you are supporting one or several clients, know how you need to communicate with each. For a team, you want to get buy-in from the team members, if possible.
When working with clients, you want privacy, confidentiality, easy and ubiquitous access, and reliability. Clients want to be assured that their data and info will be secure and they can access it any time and from anywhere. So having one convenient, easy login should be part of your process. You can provide a login on your website or give the client the option of logging in on host site. Either way, it should be easily remembered, accessible, and reliable.
These are some options for working with clients. Take a look and see if any work for you. I am not necessarily recommending any of them. Selecting a tool is a choice that must be made based on the well-defined needs of each user. They were chosen because they represent a cross section of the available web-based options available. Of course, there are many others.
- Blue Tie
- HyperOffice
- Central Desktop
- Basecamp
My personal favorite is Central Desktop for its flexibility, robustness, and adaptability. You can't beat it.
For your virtual team you want the same things as you do when choosing a tool to work with clients, except it is important that you get buy-in from the entire team. If the entire team is not using the tool, it will not work. Survey the team to find out what is most important. Is it document sharing and editing? Does the team want to be able to track and manage meetings accurately?
For many teams project task tracking and management is the key item. All these items must be considered and weighted according to their importance to team and the project(s). Then select two or three options that will meet the agreed upon needs. The team should select the best option from the group and all agree to work with the selected option.
Other things to think about...do you need to collaborate on documents, making changes, keeping them up to date? Look for a tool that has a wiki function. You know, the same ability that allows you to contribute on Wikipedia. Central Desktop and Basecamp both offer this feature. Is project management your main concern? Again, Basecamp and Central Desktop are good options.
If you really just need a central depository for documents, a calendar, email access, and task tracking, take a look at Blue Tie. It has one of the best and simplest interfaces I have seen. Or try HyperOffice, which is very similar to Blue Tie.
Teams or clients or both, the tools you choose will determine how smoothly and efficiently your workflow will be. Personally, I have found that a combination of my personal desktop tools such as Microsoft Outlook and one major web-based tool for teamwork and managing client(s) tasks keeps things flowing.
My work days are usually manageable. I know each day what needs to get done, rarely feel out of control as the day progresses, and am confident how to start the next day when each day ends.
No comments:
Post a Comment