15 Best Communication Tools that Can Skyrocket the Productivity of Any Business

Have you seen “Mad Men”? Set in the 60s, the show talks about the Golden era of Advertising in the most literal manner possible. Don Draper’s Sterling Cooper and Partners has perfectly set the stage for collaboration and open office culture. What stole the show for me was how technology was used in those days, the technology that was available, to make lives easier.

There is this one incident, in the first episode of the show, where Peggy walks in and is made to sit in front of a typewriter. Joan, her senior, asks her not to be too overwhelmed by technology. Technology has advanced, improved collaboration, and is overwhelming even today. 

Having said that, I still have a question- how is communication related to productivity? 

Communication tools are very important for better collaboration and help automate a lot of tasks. Here are a few tools that we believe can enhance communication internally and externally i.e. with clients for your organization. Are you ready to look through the different tools, and understand how they work?

Let’s get started then!

1. Workplace by Facebook 

Facing issues that make remote working unmanageable? Do you think that holding a two-way conversation with people on your team is getting difficult in this mobile world? Workplace by Facebook was developed just for that purpose. This tool makes communication in real-time a possibility. From managing your to-do list to delegating tasks by acting as a task management software, the workplace is an app that you simply cannot ignore when it comes to communication. 

If you want to discuss a particular project or, you want to delegate the tasks or brainstorm & plan, this tool is your go-to for seamless communication. You can keep your employees engaged as a result of this tool, and gather data and insights that will help you make informed decisions.

2. Slack

If you want to make your workplace more efficient, and people more communicative about their issues, then you should use Slack. It is again a collaboration tool that makes internal communication smooth and seamless. Paperwork happens to be the biggest demon in your life, and storing documentation a major headache. Slack not only makes sharing easier, but also helps you connect with the team over projects in an uninterrupted way. You don’t need to channelize your energy into finding out emails that talked about a particular project. The tool allows you to create private channels for a particular project or person. If you are looking for face-to-face meetings, then Slack provides you with video conferencing functionality.

3. Microsoft Teams

Let’s say you don’t want to talk on emails or, any other medium that takes up a lot of your time. Teams is the answer to your problems. You can place a video/audio call, chat through the teams tool, and share files and other documents with the people within your team or outside, depending on who all have access to the credentials. This tool helps you stay away from the clutter created by emails. The best part about teams is that you don’t have to bother about integration; the tool integrates with all software and systems available. 

4. Calendly

Communicating your timeline for a meeting or sending alerts via emails for the scheduled appointment is a passe. You need to look for tools that go beyond emails, and work in real-time. Calendly is one such tool that you can use to collaborate with your team, and communicate the time for the meetings, and ensure that you don’t book the same meeting twice or, you don’t have two meetings on the same schedule. You can even add quick notes for the meetings with this tool.

5. Gsuite

Gsuite is known for its collaboration and productivity abilities. It is complete with email, sharing, document creation and accessibility tools that makes your life easy and fast. You can easily communicate your details via the chat tools available with gsuite. The sharing tools make connecting with others in your workspace easy and effective. Accessing documents on the go has become easy as a result of the Google drive. 

6. Skype for Business

When you are unable to carry out face-to-face meetings because half your staff works remotely, then Skype for business is your go-to communication tool. It helps conduct audio and video call conferencing, and allows you to stay connected with your people within the organization as well as clients. Right from collaborating over project brainstorming to conducting a meeting to check on the progress of the project, the tool allows you to stay connected in real-time. 

7. Toggl

Many a times you spend a lot of time doing something but, then you have not achieved anything at the end of the day. Your productivity is questioned when you are unaware of how your day goes. That’s why you need Toggl. It helps keep a track of how and where you spend your time, logs in the hours of work, and helps you understand which work is profitable, and which ones are not. The graphical representation of your work also helps you understand how productive you were over a week or month. 

8. Evernote

Staying organized may be on the top of your task list but, somehow you are unable to manage it all. Your to-do list is incomplete and so is your planning. You have an idea but when you actually begin to work on the project, you don’t remember what you were planning to achieve. Instead of waiting till you begin the project, Evernote allows you to plan, share your ideas and even brainstorm with colleagues. With the task management abilities of this tool, you can stay organized and steer ahead with your project.

9. Teamdeck

When you have a new project on hand, you need to plan for the same. The collaborative planning tool is what you need at this hour. With teamdeck, you not only ace the resource planning aspect, but also manage the time tracking and ensure productivity within the organization. You will know just how many resources you need to get started. You can even share with the entire team, which resource is not available on which date, which makes collaboration easier. 

10. Dropbox

How does it feel when you are unable to send emails that contain heavy attachments? You need to send the files for immediate action but, there is no way your email can do it for you. that’s where a tool like Dropbox makes life convenient and your project life productive. You can add the folder to dropbox, and share a link with the team. They can easily download the file or document that you have sent, and your communication related to the project occurs in real-time.

11. Office 365

Akin to Gsuite, Office 365 has all the tools that make communication in real-time effective, thus increasing productivity within the organization. You have word, excel, powerpoint etc. available which allows you to create documents on-the-go. You can easily man the sharing activities with one drive, which makes collaboration faster for the team. 

12. Cisco WebEx

When you are a company that has too many remote teams, and want to ensure seamless collaboration between them, then you ought to use this tool. It makes meetings and video conferencing easy. You can even share your screen, and enjoy a meeting online that looks and feels as if you are sitting in the same room, and discussing these points. The training component of this tool allows you to create tutorials and training courses.

13. Ryver

There are times when you want to conduct discussion on a particular project, with the members of that particular project. Ryver, not only allows you to manage the projects, but also makes discussion on a particular project closed for the group. You can easily assign and manage tasks with this tool, thus allowing faster collaboration. With the instant messaging and conferencing facilities, you need not rely on email for instant communication. 

14. Zoho Cliq

What makes Zoho Cliq different from the other project management tools? For one, it allows you to invite guests to discuss a particular aspect of the project. You can share the chat link, ask them to join for one conversation and then remove them from the group. It also allows you to conduct video conferencing with internal and external members of your organization. An in-built calendar makes scheduling and sending alerts on the day’s schedule easy. Overall, this is a handy tool that makes communication effective, and your organization productive. 

15. Zoom

If you are a big organization, managing internal communications can be a hassle. Well, not quite so with Zoom. It is an effective communication tool which allows you to conduct video conferences with your team members, irrespective of their location. sometimes, holding a meeting within the organization seems impossible. That’s where the tool comes to help. 

Summing up

Technology can help businesses increase their productivity through proper channels of communication and streamlining of the various tasks. A good software solution needs to be implemented in the organization for proper collaboration, thus increasing conversions and boosting productivity. 

SmartTask IO aims at offering businesses just the solution that can enhance communication through the right methods and techniques. Try out our collaboration tool and see how we reimagine your business.