7 Free Online Collaboration Tools in 2017
Whether you are a large,medium or small business organization,collaboration is key to your success. With the right online collaboration tools,you can effectively keep your team well connected and moving in the same right direction.
The good news is that you can get many free online collaboration tools. These tools will effectively help you in this aspect. As many business organizations move towards working together remotely. In your search for the best tool to use,consider the suggestions below.
1. ezTalks Meetings
If you are looking for the best and most innovative online collaboration tool for free,to carry out cloud video collaboration,ezTalks Meetings is the perfect tool to go for. It is a professional and easy-to-use video conferencing software.It features HD video and audio that delivers crystal clear audios and high definition videos that mimic the normal face-to-face communication. Its innovative whiteboard tool will allow you to use a pencil,eraser,highlighter,screen capture,and texts among other tools to draw up any of your ideas. It has an instant content and screen sharing feature that will allow your team to share documents in present PPT or real time. Chat both privately and publicly using its cross-platform chat tool.
2. Google Docs
It’s among the top ranked free online collaboration tools. It allows your team to work on a single document at the same time. This tool features an easy-to-use interface and anybody that has been using the Microsoft Office suite can adapt to it so easily. It allows your team to create online spreadsheets,presentations and documents easily.
With this free online team collaboration tool,you won’t need any installation of an office software. All you need can be done via either your browser or mobile app for an Android and iOS phone. After creating your document and sharing the direct link to it,your other team members can view and edit it in a live mode. The best part is that the contents of the edited document are saved and stored automatically. This can be accessed remotely on any of your preferred devices. In addition,it provides you with a detailed history of any changes that were made to the given document. The chat facility available on the tool allows you to easily communicate as they work on a document. You have the option of exporting the document to use it in an offline mode.
3. Dropbox
It’s an online collaboration tool for free that gives you access to articles,files,and documents among others. Whether you are using a tablet,smartphone or laptop,Dropbox will allow you to effectively access your target document. Although there are native apps that have been developed specifically for Blackberry,Android,Ubuntu,Mac and Windows,you can still access Dropbox from your Internet browser.
With Dropbox,you can create shared folders then share the link with your team. You then send them an invitation to this shared folder. Once they accept this invitation,the folder will appear in any of their gadgets. Any file uploaded to this folder can easily be accessed. This tool will offer you an enterprise solution and is compatible with popular mobile platforms and computers.
4. Slack
This is a reliable communication tool offering an enterprise plan for large and highly segmented business organizations. It can also be used by small business for effective and free online collaboration,and you can upgrade it to your preference as the business expands. It can be used to sort your team’s conversations into a variety of channels. For example,connecting it with IFTTT adds an automated action to your communication. If you chat,this tool is effective and will ensure that you can store important conversations,search past messages among others. Moreover,there is a voice-calling feature that has been launched and is so effective.
5. Scribblar
It is a free online collaboration tool that is simple to use and the best for holding any virtual brainstorms. It will offer your firm a reliable enterprise service. Interactive whiteboard is its main feature that can be altered by several users in real time mode. It allows for downloads and uploads of pictures,but not documents. This tool features a reliable VOIP tool with great capabilities in audio transmission. It is an easy to use online collaboration tool for free whether you have been doing online brainstorming or not.
6. Asana
If you are targeting workflow management that will improve your productivity,then this is the best tool to consider. It uses aplomb to handle all the minor details of task management. It can be used to keep track of a firm's daily to-dos of work,and the status of jobs. It is a flexible and easy-to-use online collaboration tool. This means that you can access it through your browser.
You can also use any of their mobile apps,but at the moment,there aren’t any desktop apps for this software. You have to create an Asana account for every team member,then set up teams and projects. In each project,you come up with task lists that may also have subtasks,due dates,tags,followers,comments,attachments,and an assignee. Task completion,communication and other important details are recorded and stored,so you can refer to them at any time. Under dashboards,you get details of all projects completed over time. All you need is use its interactive checkboxes to tick off any of your completed projects. Unfortunately,the tool doesn’t include billing information or Gantt charts. Fifteen people can use this software absolutely free and you have the option of upgrading it if need be.
7. Trello
This free online team collaboration tool that makes the keeping of any of your project overview very simple. It is a card based system and it enables you to create customized columns such as in progress,to-do among other. With these columns,organizing individual tasks is made easier. The tasks you are handling is then added to the set columns as a small card and for each card,you have the option of setting a due date,assigning an individual to it,and writing comments. Currently,this tool has the best tablet and mobile collaboration app in the market. This is a great online team collaboration tool for free to use for your enterprise needs.
In a nutshell,choosing a best free online collaboration tool has to be based mainly on your company need. Its size,machines used,and the exact nature of the tasks that need to be completed are very significant before making your choice. Moreover,some of these free online collaboration tools offer advanced services. You have the option of upgrading as the business expands. Ensure your decision is informed.