Smart working there are many free programs that greatly simplify people's work. Here are the best ones for video conferencing and working on documents remotely
Smart working is a tool that in recent years is used more and more by companies. Working from home one or two days a week allows you to have a more regular rhythm of life and also devote yourself to non-work activities. To work at its best, however, it is necessary to have the right equipment (computer, smartphone and a good Internet connection) and above all to know the ad hoc tools.
For those who are not used to working from home, smart working can be problematic, but with the right applications everything becomes easier. For meetings, for example, there are many platforms for video conferencing that allow you to better manage any eventuality and problem. Similarly, there are free platforms for sharing files or for working four-handedly on documents. Three are the main needs of the new smart worker: communicate with colleagues, manage the to-do list and work on shared files. Here are the best free programs for smart working.
Smart working: the best programs for video calls
Those who work in small teams and don't have big specific needs can safely continue to use text chats like WhatsApp, Telegram and Messenger. Tools that, if necessary, also offer the possibility of making video calls. For those with higher needs, however, there are specific programs such as Zoom Meetings, Skype, Hangouts Meet, TeamSpeak, Microsoft Teams or Slack. Especially Zoom has experienced a great growth in recent months, thanks to special features that allow you to create multiple rooms for meetings at the same time or the ability to set a virtual background so you can not see where you are talking.
Smart working: the best programs to track the commitments
Not being in physical contact with colleagues, during smart working is essential to draw up a list of tasks and "unload" as the tasks are completed. The most widely used program in the world to do this is Trello, which has an interface designed specifically to track the progress of projects assigned to different people or work teams. Google Keep is an alternative present on all Android devices, simpler and more straightforward, which may suffice for those who don't have to manage complex to-do lists.
Smart working: the best programs for working on shared files
To work on shared files remotely there is an old and inefficient method and a new and much more powerful one. The old one is to work on the single file offline and then send it via email. In case of changes and corrections, a ping pong of files arises that, sooner or later, makes us miss a revision and slows us down in our work. The more modern and smarter way, instead, is to use an Office suite in the cloud that allows you to work all on the same files at the same time, to assign each employee read or even write access only to certain files and, above all, keeps a copy of the documents in the cloud, safe.
To do all this with not very complex documents the best choice is Google's GSuite: it's easy to use and fast. If you need to work on more elaborate files (especially presentations or very heavy spreadsheets) the best choice is instead Office 365 from Microsoft: it's much heavier and more complex, but at the same time it's also much more powerful.