Which platforms are indispensable for home-based working? And how can you maintain effective communication away from the office?
James Lynn, co-founder,听Currensea听
鈥淐ommunication is key when WFH, especially听at听a scale-up. Every morning we have a 15-minute Zoom call to quick-start the day.听We use Slack to keep the conversation moving and offer support.鈥�听
Deirdre McGettrick, founder,听ufurnish听
鈥淏asecamp has been our go–to platform for instant team messages but with additional functionality such as project folders, assignable to–do lists and integration of key team documents.鈥�听
Lee听Wrall, founder, Everything Tech听
鈥淢icrosoft Teams (below) has proven really popular听because of its versatility. It鈥檚 enabled people to communicate and collaborate where they are. It has a familiar interface.鈥�听
Nicola Collister, founder,听Custerian听
鈥�Cloud-based apps mean everyone can have a听鈥�Martini experience鈥�听–听any听time, any place!听Platforms like Workplace by Facebook help build mini virtual communities and don’t need to be trained out.鈥�听
Ranald Young, director,听PMAlife听
鈥淓veryone joins a weekly informal update meeting where THEY update the team on projects, achievements and struggles. This format encourages mutual advice between colleagues.鈥�听
Sarah McDowell, owner, The Leader Centre听
鈥淕ood communication is vital:听managers听should听ask their teams what they want to know; and听teams听should also听ask their managers what they want to hear.鈥�听
Nick Morgan, founder, Time + Space听
鈥淲e use Miro (below) to share workshop boards, Loom to record and share instruction videos, Trello for project management and Google Drive for admin. When we ‘jump on a Zoom’听there鈥檚听a clear agenda.鈥�听
Tim听Ternent,听MD, Incentive Manager听
鈥淏ack-to-back Zoom networking sessions can really take it out of us.听Cloud-based administrative tools听can听give听businesses听headspace to focus on the most important activity:听building relationships.鈥�听
Dave Brereton, director,听MysonPages听
鈥淢icrosoft Teams has been a revelation.听We run an IT听helpdesk and have portals and systems for听everything,听but听nothing to replicate听informal chatter around the desk. It鈥檚 filled the gap perfectly.鈥�听
Lorna Davidson, founder,听redwigwam听
鈥�Good communication is key. I often joke that I can tell someone鈥檚 mood by the way they walk into the office, and you just don鈥檛 get that over Zoom.听We use a mix of Teams, Zoom and WhatsApp.鈥�听
Andy Kent, CEO and founder, Angel Solutions听
鈥淪lack (below) has been indispensable. With some fantastic add-ons and integration work from听our staff, we have kept听communication effective and driven听the business forward听in spite of听COVID.鈥�
Frazer Durris,听CEO, 老九品茶wise Solutions听
鈥淕oogle Hangouts instant messaging is fantastic for check–ins, simple questions that need an answer or communicating with a group. You can do what you need to do without creating email traffic.鈥�听
Nick Irving, partner, Howgate Sable听
鈥淥ur business is people so visual platforms are indispensable. Zoom, Teams and Cisco听Webex听have all been great:听we can handle significant numbers of critical external meetings.鈥�听
Chi-chi听Ekweozor, founder,听Assenty听
“We run live events via Zoom, remotely plan and run sprints through JIRA and use听its integration to keep each other updated on tasks via Slack. We鈥檝e also used our own polling software to engage our virtual event audiences to great effect!”听