Due to the Covid-19 pandemic more and more teams are working remotely. This not only includes working from home but also from different geographies and time zones. Team collaboration has never been more important. What used to be a simple task of walking over to a colleague’s desk and sharing information, now is more complex. Seamless collaboration means team members can reach out to each other easily through email, calls and video chats to discuss the issue at hand.
When all these means of connecting with each other happen naturally without any extra effort or stress, just like connecting in person, the collaboration is seamless. Seamless collaboration fosters a sense of shared responsibility. Things get done faster and without any errors. Everyone’s productivity goes up and there is higher customer satisfaction.
The success of team collaboration depends on the company’s existing practices, strategies and online collaboration tools that are used within the organization.
Every online collaboration tool is different, and it brings its own advantages to the table. Thus, it becomes important to sort out the features for each and make an informed decision. But don’t worry, we’ve done the work for you. Keep reading to know more about some of the free online collaboration tools. There are many types of free collaboration tools for business in the market that are cost-effective and allow employees to work from anywhere and at any time using any internet-enabled device and some of them are listed below. Some of this team collaboration software allows employees to interact and communicate both across and beyond their work environment.
Top 31 online Collaboration tools in 2023
1. Clariti
Clariti is one of the fastest-growing free online collaboration tools especially among small and medium businesses and the startup community. In today’s fast-paced business world, Clariti’s content-rich subject chats are a great way to keep teams aligned and focused on the task at hand.
Clariti subject chats provide context that can be crucial for productivity. When all the relevant information is in one place, it’s easy to refer back to it and make sure everyone is on the same page. Clariti chats can help to reduce the volume of emails by allowing users to share so much more information on a specific topic than just text messages. Users can link emails, files, social media feeds etc in their messages for more focused, context-based conversations. By moving discussion off email and onto a messaging platform, team members can look forward to decluttering their inboxes and focus on more important tasks. Clariti encourages real-time collaboration to resolve issues quickly and make faster decisions.
2. Chanty
Chanty is one of the best cloud-based collaboration tools for business that combines communication, project management, and automation to help teams work together more effectively. Chanty helps teams improve productivity and business collaboration. Unlimited message history, task management, file sharing and powerful notifications organize and save your day.
3. Twist
Twist is one of the best online team collaboration software that makes sense of chaotic teamwork. Collaborative conversations are at the core of the platform, with threads that keep discussions easy to access and well-organized. Each thread gets its own topic, and features include channels that offer organization by department or project, internal messaging systems to keep conversations private, inbox-style design for thread management, built-in search etc.
Mindful features have also been added into Twist, with online indicators, notification control and the ability to stop all notifications when you need time off. If communication is bogging down a business, Twist can help.
4. Pronto
Pronto is a free collaboration platform that covers the entire organization from top to bottom and allows its users to send and receive critical organization and keeps everyone on the same page. Using Pronto you can share any file type—documents, spreadsheets, slideshows, photos, videos, and more. Pronto integrates with all reputable cloud storage repositories, including Dropbox, OneDrive, iCloud, and Google Drive.
Using Pronto you can create reminders for yourself or others in your groups—attach files, photos, or videos and assign due dates with auto-reminders for each task.
Using Pronto you can chat via live video with up to 20 participants all streaming video, or up to 400 participants observing. Pronto Meetings allows participants to join via video or audio-only, record the session, change views, share files or your screen.
5. Brosix
Brosix is an online collaboration tool for businesses that increases teamwork through rich messaging and collaboration features and robust administrative control options. Brosix enables you to create a communication environment that truly addresses your team’s needs. Brosix users can control who is added or removed from the network and can easily manage users through a range of administrative features.
Brosix comes with a package of unique features and tools aimed at boosting team collaboration and streamlining communication. From a range of chat options to screen-sharing and unlimited file transfers, Brosix is designed with the modern work environment in mind. This makes it an excellent solution for enterprises looking to improve their productivity.
6. pimentaCHAT
pimentaCHAT is an online collaboration tool for businesses, universities, associations and churches. pimentaCHAT lets you make a video or audio call to more than 50 people at the same time. It is a central platform for cooperation. It doesn’t matter what kind of work you want to do. PimentaCHAT lets you reduce emails by including relevant participants with the @username mentioned to notify them immediately. pimentaLIVE lets you make video or audio calls with screen sharing for more efficient teamwork.
7. Stashcat
Stashcat is a free team collaboration software. You can create a channel for individual departments, teams, or the entire organization, even if there are 50,000 or more participants. Administrators retain control over all communication via read and write rights. Using Stashcat you can exchange ideas with one another in individual or group conversations. Conversations allow two to ten people to talk to, are always end-to-end encrypted and allow all types of data to be shared.
With Stashcat, each user has their own file repository in which files can be stored, accessed and used at any time. In addition to this personal file storage, each conversation and each channel has its own storage for shared files. Each file repository offers the option of creating folders to organize your files perfectly. Stashcat’s video conferences allow up to 75 people to exchange ideas in a closed, virtual room.
8. Swit
Swit is an online collaboration tool for businesses that brings just the right amount of everything for collaboration – from chat to ideation, to file sharing, to task management. With Swit, you can turn your conversation into trackable tasks and share the full context of tasks to chat simply by drag and drop unlike any other. You don’t have to get frustrated any longer to go back and forth between chat and tasks, losing context. No more pain from different UI/UX, scattered data silos, overlapped features, repeated custom settings in a disjoint multi-app environment. Wherever your goal takes you, your team will get there faster than ever on Swit—the all-in-one-for-all workspace.
9. Element
Originally known as Vector, Element is one of the most secure online communication platform with end-to-end encryption. This makes it a good tool for teams that require a safe place to send confidential information. Further, Element is the perfect platform to collaborate with other developers over the open Matrix network. Element is apt for use in varying team sizes.
10. Yammer
Think of social networking but on an organizational level. You’ll get Yammer. This online collaboration platform makes it easy to communicate with people across your organization and get answers to your questions, even if you don’t know who to ask! Users can be kept in the loop about organizations’ day-day happenings. You can also create and join groups within specific teams and share media and documents in conversations!
11. RingCentral
RingCentral is a valuable collaboration tool for businesses of all sizes. It allows users to interact, coordinate and stay connected in any workplace environment. With its VoIP phone system capabilities, integrated messaging platform and video conferencing technology, RingCentral has the infrastructure to support teams in collaborating from any location. Furthermore, its user-friendly interface and up-to-date privacy policies make it an ideal choice for businesses looking for a secure way to collaborate with customers, vendors or partners. Overall, RingCentral is an effective solution to streamline communications and facilitate collaboration between employees.
12. Front
Front is a cloud-based online collaboration tool for small and midsize businesses. Front is the best channel to engage with customers on. It brings emails, apps and teammates into one place. There is a universal inbox that all teammates can access, meaning context is never lost. Front also makes it easy to manage the workflow of your whole team.
13. Collaboard
Some people work better visually and for them, Collaboard is the perfect online work collaboration platform. It is a website application that allows its users to create mind-maps, diagrams and notes for projects. Collaboard has features like notes making and editing which allows users to exchange ideas with ease and efficiency. There are various tiers to the product, with advanced features that users can subscribe to.
14. Miro
Miro is an online collaboration platform for teams. It is a good tool for ideation and brainstorming that can be accessed by multiple people at once. This collaboration tool allows its users to draw maps, progress trackers and custom charts with facilitates easy project tracking.
15. Quip
Quip is one of the best online work collaboration platforms with built-in office suite functionality, including word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software. Teams can collaborate on documents, spreadsheets along with chatting within the software. It facilitates mess-free collaboration and propels work within a team. Quip also has multiple document templates that give you a head start on your work. This online collaboration tool is perfect for sales and service teams.
16. Smartsheet
Smartsheet is one of the leading work management software available. It has spread sheet views, calendars and Gantt Charts that allows teams to plan their work and execute in an efficient way. Smartsheet can also seamlessly integrate with leading productivity suite software making work collaboration simple.
17. Todo.vu
Todo.vu combines the power of CRM, task management, time tracking and billing functionality. It is the perfect tool for freelancers that deal with multiple clients. Since there is an inbuilt billing function, users don’t have pore over their time spent to actions completed ratio. It’s all there in one place! Small agencies can also make use of this online work collaboration platform to accurately measure their task timings for client billing.
18. ProProfs-Projects
ProProfs is one of the best collaboration tools in the market. Managing multiple projects can be a big task to oversee. However, thanks to ProProfs, the job becomes much easier to handle. Managers can assign tasks, track progress and discuss with the team all under a single dashboard. And the best part, you can also generate reports on the progress and invoices for the clients with a single click!
19. Box
Box online collaboration platform is a cloud content management and file sharing utility that allows you to collaborate with users wherever they are and from whatever device they are using. Box offers premium security for its users making it a trustworthy platform to store your work. On Box, you can seamlessly integrate countless apps that are used for productivity and work management making it easy to work with.
20. Slack
Slack is a popular online team collaboration software that helps teams communicate and stay organized. It offers many features, including real-time messaging, file sharing, and searchable archives. Slack also integrates with a variety of other productivity tools, making it a one-stop shop for team communication. One of the key advantages of Slack is its ease of use. The interface is intuitive and user-friendly. Additionally, Slack is highly customizable, allowing users to tailor the tool to their specific needs. With its many features and benefits, Slack has quickly become one of the most popular collaboration tools on the market.
21. Airtable
Airtable is an online collaboration platform that helps teams to communicate and work together more effectively. It is an online communication tool that allows team members to share ideas, documents, and tasks. Airtable also provides a task management system, which helps teams to track progress and deadlines. The tool has a friendly user interface and is easy to use. It is also free for up to three users. Airtable is a powerful team collaboration software that can help teams to work together more effectively.
22. Google Chat
Many businesses use Google Chat as a collaboration tool. It is an online communication tool that helps teams to work together by providing a platform for messaging, video conferencing, and file sharing. It also has features that allow users to collaborate on projects, such as setting up brainstorming sessions and creating joint documents.
Google Chat is a valuable tool for businesses that need to improve their online collaboration and communication. It helps teams to work more efficiently and can be used to resolve issues quickly. By using Google Chat, businesses can improve their productivity and profitability.
23. Trello
Trello is one of the most popular project collaboration tools for businesses. Trello helps teams track projects by filtering them through different stages on a “board”. It has a simple, functional UI that is good for small or medium sized projects.
24. Asana
Asana is an online collaboration platform that helps teams to communicate and work together more effectively. With Asana, teams can create projects, set deadlines, assign tasks, and track progress. Asana also offers a range of features that make it easier for team members to stay on top of their work, including comments, @mentions, and attachments. Asana is an essential tool for any team that wants to work together more efficiently.
25. Troop Messenger
Troop Messenger is a team collaboration software that enables businesses and teams to communicate, collaborate, and share files securely in real-time. It offers features such as group chats, audio and video calls, screen sharing, and file sharing, which makes it a one-stop solution for all team communication needs.
With Troop Messenger, teams can create different groups for different projects or departments, and members can easily join or leave groups based on their needs. It also allows team members to communicate with each other privately through one-on-one chats.
Troop Messenger is available on desktop and mobile devices, making it accessible to users from anywhere and at any time. It also offers end-to-end encryption, which ensures that all communication and data shared on the platform is secure and private.
26. Discord
Discord is a communication platform primarily designed for gamers, but it has expanded to become a popular tool for communities of all kinds. It allows users to create and join servers, which are essentially virtual spaces where people can communicate with each other via text, voice, and video.
Discord offers a variety of features, including group chats, voice and video calls, screen sharing, and file sharing. It also has a customizable user interface, which allows users to personalize their experience with themes, emojis, and plugins.
One of the main features of Discord is its ability to create and join servers, which are essentially chat rooms that can be organized by topic, game, or interest. Users can create their own servers or join existing ones, and they can also be set to public or private.
27. ProofHub
ProofHub is an online collaboration tool for business that helps teams to communicate and work together more efficiently. It provides a shared workspace where team members can share files, leave comments, and track progress on projects. ProofHub also offers a range of features to help with project management, including task lists, Kanban boards, and Gantt charts.
These tools make it easy for teams to plan and track their work, ensuring that deadlines are met, and tasks are completed correctly. In addition, ProofHub integrates with a number of popular productivity apps, making it even easier for teams to collaborate. As a result, ProofHub is an essential tool for any team that wants to work together more effectively.
28.Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a powerful collaboration platform that enables users to chat, meet, call, and collaborate with each other in real-time. It’s designed to enhance productivity and simplify communication within organizations, particularly those with remote or distributed teams.
One of the most important features of Microsoft Teams is the chat functionality. Users can send instant messages to individuals or groups, and can also create channels for specific topics, teams, or projects. This makes it easy to stay in touch with colleagues and ensure everyone is on the same page.
Another key feature of Microsoft Teams is its video conferencing capabilities. Teams offers video conferencing for one-on-one or group meetings, making it easy to communicate with remote team members. Users can share their screens, record meetings, and collaborate on documents in real-time, making it easy to work together and get things done quickly.
Microsoft Teams also integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft Office applications, such as Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This allows users to easily access and share documents and files, and collaborate in real-time, all within the same platform.
29. Flock
Flock is a collaboration platform that is designed to help teams communicate and work together more effectively. It offers a variety of features that are specifically tailored to the needs of modern workplaces, including messaging, video conferencing, and file sharing.
One of the key features of Flock is its messaging functionality. Users can communicate with individuals or groups in real-time using Flock’s instant messaging functionality. They can also create channels for specific projects or teams and can easily share files and links within the chat. This makes it easy for teams to stay connected and collaborate on projects in a centralized location.
30. Gitlab
GitLab is a single application fr the entire DevOps lifecycle and serves as a collaboration tool for business that empowers stakeholders to weigh in on the code production process. Gitlab helps teams to communicate and work together more effectively. It is an online communication platform that allows users to share documents, collaborate on projects, and track progress. Gitlab also offers a number of features that make it easier to manage work collaboration, such as task management, file sharing, and team chat. As a result, Gitlab can be a valuable asset for any team looking to improve their collaboration skills.
31. Invision
The same way Gitlab empowers developers to work together, Invision empowers designers to work together to create sleek, shared UX for apps.
These are some examples of online collaboration tools that will help your team to get more done in less time. If you have been looking for free team collaboration software to sign up for, we hope this list will have been of great help to you. Using online collaboration tools will boost productivity, help you maximize your profits, and make your employees more satisfied. Online collaboration tools can also help you cut down on unwanted costs and other time-sucking activities.
Here are some tips to promote online collaboration and boost productivity
1. Get a good collaboration tool
There are many free online collaboration tools for business. Online collaboration tools for business help both remote and in-house teams achieve greater levels of coordination, complete projects on time, optimize resources and achieve higher productivity. Provide access to team collaboration software that can bring all communication like email, chat, audio calling, screen sharing etc in one place.
2. Improve communication
According to the statistics, 57% of employees report not being given clear directions and 69% of managers are not comfortable communicating with the employees in general. Improving communication is key to improving collaboration. Therefore, organizations should invest in the right tools, get regular feedback from employees, encourage two-way communication between employees and management and organize team-building activities.
3. Reduce emails
According to a McKinsey report, the average professional spends 28% of the workday reading and answering emails. That equates to a staggering 2.6 hours spent and 120 messages received per day. By agreeing with your team on communication rules, you can reduce distractions and eliminate email overload.
4. Reduce meetings
One survey revealed unproductive meetings prevent 65% of workers from completing their work. Meetings also increase the chances of people committing mistakes in their work. Face-to-face meetings were replaced by Zoom meetings post-pandemic and soon many employees started suffering from Zoom fatigue. Companies must streamline their communication in such a way that only a few meetings are needed.
5. Foster creativity
Motivate your team members to think outside the box. Creativity inspires employees to work with each other and inculcates the mindset of continuous learning. Creativity also encourages employees to seek new information, knowledge and new ways to solve the same old business problems.
6. Allow team members to take the initiative
By encouraging your team members to come up with new initiatives, you can transform a sluggish and disengaged team into one that is lively and problem-solving. An innovative culture can make employees proactive, engaged and committed drivers of business performance.
7. Communicate expectations
It would help if you communicated to your team members the importance of collaboration. Make sure that they understand this is the minimum standard for being part of the team. If everyone understands your position on collaboration, it becomes easier to execute different tasks.
8. Clarify the team goals
Your team members need to feel that they are working towards the attainment of something specific. Jointly create measurable goals and clearly define what a win is. Doing so gives them a sense of purpose and unity.
9. Recognize and reward
Research by OfficeTeam shows that 66% of employees and 76% of millennials would quit their jobs if they felt unappreciated. Lauding individual performances will motivate other members to perform better as well.
10. Streamline work processes
Your company processes must be clear and straightforward to ensure team collaboration. You do not want a situation where each team member has their own way of doing the same task. That would cause miscommunication and disagreements. Streamlining work processes ensures everyone is on the same page.
11. Track team members’ progress
As you encourage your team members to collaborate, each one of them wants to see their efforts pay off. Track the progress of different tasks assigned. In so doing, you can confidently show your team what has been achieved and what’s still pending.
12. Get feedback
Taking regular feedback from your employees gives you a chance to see where the problem exists and how best to maneuver around it. Managers must identify the issues that are affecting team collaboration and keep them at bay.
13. Honor requests and keep promises
Keeping promises and honoring requests goes a long way to cementing your team. Broken promises are the cracks that start to separate team members. As a team leader, you must keep your word.
14. Highlight the strengths of your team members
Empowering team members by focusing on the core strengths of each person allows them to work together collaboratively. That allows them to view each other as teammates and not competitors.
15. Resolve conflicts
For better team collaboration, leaders should identify potential conflicts between the team members and deal with them accordingly. Handling conflicts at the early stage and resolving them amicably will save the company lot of time and money.
16. Nurture a positive attitude
Keep the team environment open and creative. Leave the judgments on the sidelines. Encourage your team to see any obstacles as something they can conquer together. Nurture a can-do attitude. Provide adequate training that will ensure their development. If you want your goals realized, you need to encourage your employees to do their best.
17. Build cohesion within your team
Build cohesion within your team. After all, there’s no ‘I’ in the team. Keep everything inclusive as much as possible. Daily huddles are particularly helpful. They allow your members to share what they have done or will do. This helps keep the workflow moving forward.
18. Encourage team members to share
While internal file-sharing software can help your team members to access the resources they need to do their jobs, creating spaces for sharing knowledge, insights, and resources will improve team coordination and cohesion.
19. Lead by example
If the top management of a company is good at exhibiting collaborative behavior, then this will filter down to your team members. Top-level managers should also be good team leaders to set an example for their subordinates.
20. Collaborate offline
Offline team building activities such as team lunch, impromptu morning coffee, beer after work etc help team members to bond with each other based on mutual interest.
These tips and strategies discussed above will help you to improve the decision-making process and overall business productivity by improving team collaboration. The best thing leaders can do to improve team collaboration is to make the process of collaborating a great experience.
Different types of online communication tools for office collaboration
- Online chat: You need a flexible chat app that can reduce your in-person meetings, phone calls, and unnecessary emails. Chat is a powerful way to quickly communicate with the whole team and streamline your workflow.
- Online project management: Having access to a good project management tool will help you to manage the whole team, maintain all the necessary documents, keep costs under control and meet the project deadlines.
- Audio and video: For a team that is geographically dispersed, audio and video calls are very important to collaborate and stay updated on the project developments.
- Cloud storage: Maintaining all the necessary documents in the cloud helps you to collaborate better so that the location constraints are not felt.
- Reminders and calendars: They are very important for the smooth flow of work and meeting project deadlines.
- Social media integration: Since social media is slowly becoming a work tool, you need a system that can integrate social media into your everyday work app.
Advantages of using online collaboration software
- 27x7x365 access: Online tools provide access for the entire team, anywhere and anytime. Most of the companies guarantee 99.99% uptime for their tools. With cloud software, collaboration between employees improves drastically. You also get automatic access software updates. The advantage of anywhere access facilitates remote working.
- Low cost: There is no installation or maintenance for the online tools. You can pay as you grow and there is no fixed cost for the license. Moreover, you don’t have to employ a technical team around-the-clock to take care of your systems and servers that are mostly energy intensive.
- Security: You don’t have to worry about the safety and security of the applications, as they come with in-built safety features. Cloud applications are far more secure than the on-premises ones. The various compliance issues are also taken care of.
- Data accuracy: When you store all your data on the cloud, there is less chance for data contamination or duplication. Data backup and data recovery are also easier when compared with on-premises
- Mobility & Flexibility: With online tools, you can carry your work wherever you go and most of the cloud applications are also available as mobile apps, giving you both mobility and flexibility when it comes to accessing the applications.
Conclusion
Post pandemic, online collaboration tools for business have become a permanent feature of the modern workplace. These online collaboration platforms are cost-effective and allow employees to work from anywhere and at any time using any internet-enabled device. Companies are showing great interest in implementing online collaboration platforms to make their employees more productive. A study by Deloitte shows that a vast majority of business leaders believe that providing their employees with access to modern online collaboration tools can improve productivity by as much as 20-25%.
Every employee on average spends three hours a day searching for information and sorting emails. A carefully chosen team collaboration software will help you to save time wasted on this unproductive work. A good online collaboration tool should be able to bring all your communication like email, chat, calls, screen sharing etc. in one secure, online platform and connect all of them so your team members can find the information they need without searching. We hope our long list of online collaboration platforms will significantly reduce the time spent on long email exchanges, avoid communication silos, stop searching for information and make you more productive at work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the best online collaboration tool?
Clariti is one of the best free online collaboration tools that not only brings all your emails, chats, online meetings, shared files, social feeds, and tasks in a single app but also links related conversations in Workspaces. Workspaces eliminate the need to search for information as everything is neatly organized without any extra effort.
What are the best online collaborative tools in 2023?
Clariti, Element, Yammer, Glip, FrontApp, Collaboard, Miro, Quip, Smartsheet, Todo.vu, ProProfs, Box are some of the best collaboration tools in 2023 that let remote workforce to share files, share screens, have audio calls and brainstorm on projects.
Which collaboration tool is best?
Clariti is one of the best business collaboration tools that help companies unite their teams in different locations so they can communicate and work together efficiently. This results in lower costs, shortened project timelines, improved productivity, and increased return on investment by breaking down information silos and allowing team members to communicate seamlessly with each other across departments.
What are some examples of collaboration tools?
Clariti, Chanty, Twist, Pronto, Brosix, pimentaCHAT, Stashcat, Swit are some of the best collaboration tools that help companies with real-time information exchange (e.g., direct and group messaging, file sharing, screen sharing etc) to facilitate business processes while minimizing delays and errors that lower productivity and impact customer experience.
What collaboration tools are used in business world today?
Clariti, Chanty, Twist, Pronto, Brosix, pimentaCHAT, Stashcat, Swit are some of the best collaboration tools in the world today that helps employees to share work information with each other quickly and efficiently so that they can minimize the time spent on administrative tasks and maximize the time spent on productive tasks. This is especially important due to the rise of remote and hybrid work models.
What is the example of collaboration tools for business?
Clariti, Chanty, Twist, Pronto, Brosix, pimentaCHAT, Stashcat, Swit are some of the best collaboration tools that help businesses to streamline workflows by improving communication among departments and creating a nimble organization that can respond to market demand quickly.
Which is the best collaborative tool for business?
Clariti is one of the best business collaboration tools that help companies unite their teams in different locations so they can communicate and work together efficiently. This results in lower costs, shortened project timelines, improved productivity, and increased return on investment by breaking down information silos and allowing team members to communicate seamlessly with each other across departments.
What is an online collaboration tool?
Online collaboration tools help users access the software from anywhere, anytime, using any device so that employees can communicate with each other to get their work done, whether in the office or at home. Clariti is an online collaboration tool that can be accessed from anywhere. All you need is an internet connection. You can sign up with your email id, and invite your colleagues and friends also to use Clariti. Like any other online collaboration tool, Clariti requires no installation or download.
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