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Over the last two years, every one of us has been there – busy attending our fifth or sixth Zoom Meeting or Google Meet of the day. We have all struggled with turning our camera toggles on and off and muting and unmuting ourselves during calls to speak. To put it simply, we have all tried our best to stay focused, attentive and collaborative.
Even the hard-working, super-focused team of employees need a productivity boost, irrespective of whether they are working remotely or in an office. Here is where the role of seamless collaboration & file sharing comes in. A dispersed workforce or team can work more productively and effectively by having collaborative tools and the right file sharing platform. Let’s take an in-depth look into why seamless collaboration is crucial for a company to succeed and why it should be the center of attraction of digital transformation.
How Does Seamless Collaboration & File Sharing Contribute to the Productivity of Remote Teams?
A remotely-working, dispersed workforce is not always collaborative, at least not without the right collaborative tools. According to Forbes, collaboration results in better productivity. Therefore, having virtual collaboration technology is so essential. While it is no longer possible for employees to indulge in quick hurdles for boosting morale or have productive talks by the break room, virtual collaborative tools can effectively empower the employees to be productive regardless of their location. Some other benefits of seamless collaboration paired with effective file sharing include:
- Ease of Accessibility
Working on a project regularly with lots of files that need to be shared with team members can honestly get truly overwhelming. With the help of a collaborative file sharing tool, the process becomes smooth and convenient for the whole team. If a team member wishes to share any file or folder, they can easily do it using DropShare. It is a secure platform that works very well with all leading cloud hosting providers. Its drag-and-drop functionality makes sharing bulky files or images very convenient. The app also provides an option to secure the download links by setting a password. Therefore, team members can easily share important files without worrying about any security breaches.
- Better Communication & Strengthened Team Relationships
The chances of misunderstanding developing between co-workers are increased when collaboration is reduced to emails or other manual forms of communication. Virtual collaboration using tools allows team members to understand the issues better and address solutions faster. There are a lot of video collaboration tools available that make communication a lot easier and more convenient than lengthy email write-ups.
- Reduced Reworks
Emails are very helpful when recapping and documenting details of a project. However, emailing is a poor way to collaborate. Back-and-forth sharing of attachments between two team members’ inboxes often leads to errors. Moreover, the important feedback can easily get lost in translation. The better alternatives are virtual collaboration tools that allow seamless communication between team members. The real-time collaboration keeps everyone involved on the same page, thereby eliminating the need for unnecessary edits and reworks.
- Efficient Management of Tasks and Workload
Virtual collaboration is not all about communication. Cloud-based file management tools ensure that every team member has exactly what they need to contribute to the project. These tools allow employees to access any file they require from anywhere in the world. On the other hand, schedule management tools allow the systematic distribution of work and deadlines among the team members. If team members reside in different parts of the world, the tools make scheduling important meetings hassle-free.
- Streamlined Operations
Earlier, it was always a hassle to ensure that all the people involved were up-to-date with the latest developments in the project. The creative review meetings often did not have full attendance because key stakeholders were not present during the meeting. Fast forward to now, every meeting gets recorded, all the relevant files are stored with relevant links, important notes along with commentary are available. All these can be shared with anyone without hassle, thanks to collaborative tools. As a result, the frequency of unnecessary,time-consuming meetings has also been significantly reduced. The less time wasted in attending unnecessary meetings, the more time there is to focus on doing value-adding work.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, workforces all around the globe are immensely dispersed. Now, work is no longer confined to the shackles of the rigid 9-5 schedule. Similarly, talent is also no longer confined to a geographical location. As almost all companies continue to adapt to the new standard of flexible working environments, collaborative technology is increasingly becoming an integral part of the culture. Be it the messaging platforms, cloud-based file-sharing tools, visual collaboration tools – all of these are becoming an essential part of a workforce that aims to be more productive.