While the COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it a practice of staying indoors and continuously washing hands, it has also renewed our appreciation for technology. With everyone working from home, people have come to realize the importance of technology not only to maintain business continuity but also to keep in touch with our family members and friends.

Following are some of the tools that help us boost productivity while WFH.

Task Management Tools

One of the biggest challenges people face while working from home is being on top of all assigned tasks. With our day to day work becoming more and more collaborative, task management becomes a key aspect to focus on while working from home. In these situations, task management tools such as Trello, Basecamp, Asana, etc helps team leaders and members be aware of the status of every task.

Another tool that helps with task management and collaboration is Google online Suite. This can be thought of as the online version of Microsoft Office where employees can create, collaborate, and critique tasks on the go.

Connectivity Tools

Working from home doesn’t only impact the productivity of employees, it also impacts the mental state of teams. In a time like this, it’s very important that we touch base with our teams as much as possible. Anup Kumar (Comcube Integrated Solutions) shared his thoughts on employee engagement while working from home and said, “Keeping the members as a team is the most difficult part in work from home situations. The company should always do some activities which give the members a mental relaxation and keep the team together”.

Being in constant contact helps team members better adapt to the new work style while helping the team leader be on top of all challenges and wins faced by the team. Google Hangouts and Slack are a couple of tools that can help you be in touch with your team throughout the day and help them whenever needed.

Google Meet, Zoom, and Skype are video conferencing tools that can help you conduct interviews, hold virtual meetings or even share a cup of coffee with your colleagues so that you won’t miss your office space much.

Client Servicing Tools

During a crisis such as the current pandemic, it becomes doubly important to take care of your clients. Right from the moment a prospective client visits your website to the time you close a deal and beyond, you need to provide impeccable customer service. AI-powered chatbots will help customers get relevant information as soon as they land at your website. This coupled with client relationship management tools such as Salesforce Service Cloud and Zoho CRM help you to track and manage customer service solutions effectively.

Productivity and Reporting Tools

From tracking timesheets to mapping employee happiness to recognizing peers, productivity, and reporting tools can not only help you boost your team’s productivity but also to manage the happiness quotient within your team. Clockify is a completely free time tracking software for teams and helps track work hours across projects.

Chimp or Champ is a weekly anonymous employee happiness meter that helps check your team pulse, improve employee well-being, and achieve better results. Employees receive a weekly check-in over email to express how they felt during the week, reflect on the reasons, and write actionable feedback. The team leader, on the other hand, receives a pulse report on how the team feels along with anonymous actionable feedback.

WooBoard is a cloud-based peer recognition platform that uses social features and gamification design to drive everyday engagement in the workplace. WooBoard is the place to celebrate one’s successes. It provides visibility on all the wonderful things people are doing and it inspires more of the same. This results in increasing the positivity of the culture and improving the overall vibe around your office.

If you still miss your office with all these tools, follow these tips to survive your WFH and boost your productivity.