A collaboration tool is defined as a software application which is designed to enable employees to work together on a given project, remotely and in real-time. A team collaboration software can be as simple as Google Doc for editing content or a full suite project management softwareOpens a new window .
In this article, we explain what a collaboration tool is today, its components, key features that enable effective team collaboration,, benefits and the top 10 software in 2020.
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What is a Collaboration Tool?
A collaboration tool is a software application which is designed to enable employees to work together on a given project, remotely and in real-time.
A team collaboration software can be as simple as Google Doc for editing content or a full suite project management software.
Remote working, especially during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, has created a critical requirement for companies to offer a secure and conducive digital space for their employees to effectively communicate in real-time. Since the outbreak and global shutdowns, it is predictedOpens a new window that the team collaboration tools and robots market will expand from about $500 Million in 2018 to almost $9 Billion by 2026. Infact, in the month of March 2020, Microsoft onboarded more employees to its collaboration platformOpens a new window in one week than ever before.
Team collaboration tools fill in this gap by creating a digital workspace for employees to collaborate on projects. Also known as groupware, team collaboration tools enable employees to work together on projects by offering easy-to-use tools that replace made of physical communication and collaboration.
Although the pandemic has accelerated online collaboration further into a trend, the core understanding of the importance of team collaboration had already been established. A 2019 Queen University surveyOpens a new window found that nearly 75% of employers deemed team collaboration as very important.
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Advantages of Collaboration Tools for Team Coordination
If the goal is geo-agnostic and real-time collaboration among your employees and teams, collaboration tools can bring with it an array of advantages for strengthening communication and collaboration in your organization. Below are some of the key benefits of collaboration tools today:
1. Improved Communication and Collaboration
Collaboration tools facilitate employee-to-employee and cross-team communication using applications like instant chat, remote video conferencing, broadcasting messages for team wide communication, real-time project collaboration, content sharing and document management etc.
Moreover, the rise of online collaborative whiteboards aids in training, discussion and brainstorming sessions with the help of real time visual aids, which is much more effective and immersive than having a physical whiteboard in a meeting room.
2. Increased Transparency and Efficiency
It is a known fact that data doesn’t lie and is impartial. Any communication over a collaboration tool is stored in the system, unless voluntarily erased.
For example, unlike physical meetings that depend on memory recall and meeting notes, a conference over a video chat can be downloaded and distributed to all attendees once the meeting is over. Similarly, a chat among team members in a group is visible to all members.
Since collaboration tools provide a secure space for company-wide document sharing as well, it increases the efficiency of employee onboarding, training sessions and sharing past meetings and decision making details with authorized members. This reduces overall redundancy (and associated costs) and increases overall organizational efficiency.
3. Project Management
One of the core functionalities of any team collaboration software should be the capability to manage projects within members of the team. Activities that are a typical part of managing any project, such as scheduling, resource assignment and management, and project overviews, are typically included in team collaboration software.
In addition to this, teams have access to dependable communication methods, in-depth project views, collaborative work capabilities, and fine-grained workflow management, The usage of team collaboration software allows teams to function as a well-oiled machine without any of the common pitfalls associated with team workflows.
4. Work Planning
With the rise of remote and global teams, the need for transparent and real-time work planning is more important than ever. Team collaboration software features such as.
The close integration of team collaboration software with popular calendar service providers means that employees can take advantage of workflow automation through groupware. Team collaboration software can help improve the scheduling process and enable employees to create goals and meet them in a much more timely manner.
5. Faster Time-To-Market
In conjunction with modern management and team practices like Agile and Scrum, team collaboration software can greatly decrease the time-to-market for most product companies, especially in the SaaS industry. With efficient working procedures and optimized workflows that utilize the collaborative capabilities of groupware, Agile teams can bring new products and updates to existing products faster to market by cutting down on common pitfalls in software development.
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Team Collaboration Software Must-Have Features
When looking for a new team collaboration offering, companies must tick off a list of must-have features in the software. Some of these include:
1. Robust Communication Options
When looking at a team collaboration tool, companies must also delve deeper into the communication options offered by the software. The platform should allow team members to communicate with each other on planning, goal settings and action items.
2. Dependable Security and Usage Statistics
Due to the nature of the platform bringing together all users on a common platform, utilizing team collaboration software is more secure by design than using multiple discrete softwares. The team collaboration software should offer a higher degree of security over existing workflow management tools. Companies must look for software offerings encryption and secure servers being to use them without worry.
The team collaboration software should also offer detailed access and usage statistics, so that administrators can know exactly who accessed a document and when. Moreover, it should also have stringent access controls, so as to prevent unauthorized usage and access to mission-critical data.
3. Integration with Existing Workflows
With the rise of Agile and Scrum management strategies, team collaboration platforms offer a unique tool to make such processes even more efficient. Modern solutions must integrate closely with existing corporate workflows and work even better when teams with Agile or Scrum approaches utilize them.
Apart from an integration into existing company culture, the solution in question must have capabilities to integrate with other software and technologies used in a typical enterprise setting. This allows for a unified workplace experience, where employees can use team collaboration software as a command centre for all processes.
4. Ease of Use
Team collaboration platforms should be easily usable and approachable for even non-technical members of a team, utilizing visualization techniques such as Kanban boards. As introducing a team collaboration software fundamentally changes the way employees work with each other, onboarding and training processes must be easy. The software must also be easy-to-use with a low barrier of entry so as to prevent it from negatively impacting existing workflows.
5. Centralized Document Storage
Team collaboration solutions today often include a feature for document storage, usually in the form of a centralized repository. This allows for a variety of improvements in a team, usually promoting information sharing between members in a seamless manner. Other must-haves include automatic version control for sensitive documents to ensure that an unedited copy of the document always exists.
This document storage repository should also be protected by top-end security, ensuring that mission-critical sensitive information is not given out to those without the appropriate credentials. Utilizing a central document repository Opens a new window is also a more secure solution than self-storage solutions, bringing together all relevant documents into one location.
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Top 10 Collaboration Software Tools for Teams in 2020
Team collaboration software comes with many utilities, features and price brackets. While we have done the basic research and shortlisting for you, we highly encourage you to thoroughly test out the tools that are of most interest before taking the final call on purchase.
Here is the list of top 10 collaboration software tools for employees and teams working in medium to large enterprises in 2020 (listed alphabetically):
1. Airtable
Core Offerings: Airtable is a team collaboration software that is essentially a combination of a spreadsheet with a database. Along with grid, calendar, Kanban board, gallery, and form views, Airtable also boasts AI features. Airtable’s AI removes duplicate entries and forms automatic smart relationships between objects in databases.
Value adds: Some of Airtable’s value adds include visualization in the form of bar, line, scatter, and Gantt charts. The software also features rich formatting for ease-of-use and org-charts to represent information in an easy-to-read manner. The software even has an application marketplace for added functionality with features intelligent search and cloud vision image recognition.
Ease of Use: Everything is presented in blocks, with each block containing a specific functionality. Even non-technical users can mix and match blocks to create customized workflows with ease. Airtable also has Integrations with slack, Evernote, Twitter, Dropbox, G Suite, GitHub, Instagram, Facebook and more. It also has native mobile and desktop apps with instant sync across all devices
Security & Compliance: On the security side, Airtable has geo-redundant backups for assured uptime, collaborator permissions to control access, and record-level revision history. It also boasts SAML-based SSO, 256-bit TLS encryption in transit and AES 256-bit encryption at rest. Airtable is compliant with SOC 1, SOC 2, and is ISO 27001 certified.
Pricing: A free tier is available with limited records and no block functionality. Priced tiers start from $10/user/month, and a $20 tier is available with block functionality, email support. An enterprise tier with additional features is available with pricing decided on a case-by-case basis.
2. ClickUp
Core Offerings: Some of the main features offered by ClickUp are task views, documents collaboration and sharing, spreadsheet creation and management, chat, to-do lists, reminders, screenshots and recording. ClickUp’s project management features include goal tracking and a variety of views like list, Kanban, box, calendar, Gantt, file, and form view.
Value adds: ClickUp has automated import from other popular team collaboration toolsOpens a new window like Monday, Asana, etc. for companies to port over from their existing team collaboration software. The software also has over 100 value add services like Agile Board Views, multiple assignees, threaded comments, filtered search, recurring tasks, and more.
Ease of Use: ClickUp has a feature known as spaces for deciding the look and feel of each individual virtual workspace. Complex teams and tasks can utilize more complex workspaces, while simple interactions like customer service can use much simpler ones. The status view on action items can help team members get up to speed on progress made by other members. ClickUp also has over 1000+ integrations, templates to get teams up and running quickly, and applications on Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, Linux, Web, and more.
Security & Compliance: This team collaboration software is compliant with Privacy shield framework, GDPR, HIPAA, and is currently undergoing PCI compliance testing. It is hosted on AWS with a VPN environment, with data being encrypted over 256-bit SSL.
Pricing: A free tier is available with 100MB of storage, with paid tiers starting at $5/user/month. The $9/user/month tier has additional security features, private views, and access to all automations. The enterprise tier has additional compliance features and extra automations, custom SAML, and more, with pricing available on demand.
3. Huddle
Core Offerings: Huddle mainly focuses on offering document collaborationOpens a new window and secure file with automated version control and secure file request features. The software also features asynchronous communication features in the form of separate comment streams for streamlined conversation. The software also offers customizable landing pages and branded login pages for enterprises, along with deep feature customization options.
Ease of Use: Huddle automatically recommends talent for project teams, and even real-time activity stream for checking outstanding tasks at a glance. This team collaboration software also prides itself on easy access controls, integration and sync with other applications like Microsoft Office Suite, Slack, Google for Work apps, and a seamless sync between it’s mobile and PC applications
Security & Compliance: Huddle offers government-grade security, and was the first SaaS collaboration vendor to achieve FedRAMP. It is also compliant with ISO 27001. This team collaboration offering has dedicated firewalls with DDoS protection, Safe Harbor frameworks, with data encrypted in transit through TLS v 1.2, and at rest with 256-bit AES. Huddle also offers admin controls and granular permissions to protect sensitive data.
Pricing: Huddle does not offer a free tier. The first tier starts at $10/user/month and works with Microsoft Office 365, albeit with restrictions on storage and file size. The next pricing tier comes with custom branding and API access, while the enterprise tier has added compliance and unlimited storage.
4. Microsoft Project
Core Offerings: This team collaboration offering from Microsoft Opens a new window focuses on file sharing, chats, meetings, and simultaneous task updates. This information can be presented in grid, board, Gantt chart, and timeline views, along with a centralized view of all projects on an interactive roadmap,
Value adds: Microsoft Project works closely with other Office products, featuring dynamic scheduling with Office Calendar integration which double checks timings with allotted members. The software also has a deep integration with PowerBI for interactive dashboards, and can be customized for teams that utilize Agile methodology.
Ease of Use: Along with the tried and tested Microsoft user interface and experience, Project also has built-in templates for common project use-cases.
Pricing: The pricing starts at $10/user/month, and this tier does not have a desktop client and a lot of features are restricted. The $30/user/month and $55/user/month plans come with more features and added application support.
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5. Monday.com
Core Offerings: Monday is a team collaboration software offering Kanban, form and calendar views, file sharing, and workflow automation. Team members can also engage in per-member assignments, visual project planning, amd take advantage of analytics and charts for key decision-making,
Value adds: Monday also features custom-made apps for custom workflows and routines. Some examples include whiteboard, status and presence, and real-time document editing.
Ease of Use: This collaboration software also offers integrations with popular CRMs and over 50 productivity applications including Zoom, Slack, Zendesk, Salesforce, Facebook Ads, Mailchimp and more. Monday also has mobile and desktop applications with instant synchronization between the two.
Security & Compliance: Monday is compliant with ISO 27001, ISMS ISO 27018, SOC2 Type 2 security. They have also committed to intense internal security review and addressing new security threats as they appear. They are hosted on Amazon web servers, with AES-256 encryption at rest and TLS v1.2 encryption in transit.
Pricing: The pricing for the platform changes depending on the number of users across 3 different tiers of plans; basic, standard, and pro. An enterprise tier is available with all additional features.
6. Podio
Core Offerings: Podio’s main offerings include automated workflows, integrated chat, comments on action items, and file sharing. Some add-ons are data visualization features, calendar integration, unlimited storage, custom-built extensions, and API access.
Ease of Use: Podio features customizable structure and UI for maximum efficiency among various teams. The software has integrations with Dropbox, Google Drive, Evernote, Zendesk, Sharefile, GoToMeeting, Freshbooks, and more. It is supported on both web and mobile applications,
Security & Compliance: Along with granular admin capabilities, Podio also boasts HTTPS encryption with AES 256-bit keys and a SSL-secure connection. It is compliant with US/EU Privacy Shield standards and ISO 27001, and is hosted on AWS with redundancy.
Pricing: A free tier available for companies upto 5 employees, with paid tiers starting from $7.20/user/month for unlimited items and external users. The $11.20 and $19.20 plans feature added security and automation features.
7. Taiga
Core Offerings: Taiga offers a Kanban board, issue tracker, admin controls, and wikis for documentation. Teams can also track progress across multiple project with their ‘Epics’ feature. Taiga users can also engage in real-time progress visualization with full visibility for all team members. The software claims to be made for Agile teams.
Ease of Use: Along with an Intuitive user interface, the app also features UI for Scrum methodology. Along with a variety of integrations with applications like GitHub and Slack, Taiga also offers Webhooks and importers for transfer from other apps. A mobile application is also available for teams working on the go.
Security & Compliance: This team collaboration software is compliant with ISO 27001, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001, PCI-DSS, EU code of conduct. As for security, Taiga offers DDoS mitigation, redundant physical network, and ensures that data is transmitted over SSL-secured connections.
Pricing: Free trials are available for all pricing tiers, and a free tier is also offered with limited users and projects. Companies can also choose to pay $5/user/month plan for unlimited users or can host the software themselves with self-hosted and on-premises offers.
8. Trello
Core Offerings: Trello offers a Kanban board with project assignment, workflow automation with rule-based triggers, chat for action items, due date assignment, checklists, comments, activity log, and file attachments.
Ease of Use: Trello has an easy-to-understand interface, with drag and drop functionality for cards on a board. It is markdown enabled, and features notifications for all activities, along with robust application support for all platforms. Trello has integrations with 100+ applications including Slack, Adobe XD, Jira, Dropbox, Google Drive, Salesforce and more.
Security & Compliance: Along with powerful admin controls, Trello also has board access controls. It is secured with SSL/HTTPs connection, with off-site backups of data for redundancy,
Pricing: A free tier is available with unlimited personal boards and unlimited cards. Companies can upgrade to business class with $10/user/month, for features like higher attachment file size, priority support, unlimited team boards and power-ups. An Enterprise tier is available with additional organization-based features.
9. Wrike
Core Offerings: Wrike’s core offerings include Interactive Gantt charts, smart resource allocation, rich comments with image tagging, and custom workflows with work progress visualization. Teams can also create customizable dashboards, and take the help of templates to get up and running quickly
Ease of Use: Wrike has integrations with various software for CRM, visualization, file storage, email, and chat. Some include Adobe CC, MS OneDrive, G Drive, GitHub, JIRA, SAML, Outlook, Teams, Slack. This team collaboration software has a mobile and desktop app
Security & Compliance: Wrike is compliant with 27001, SOC1, SOC2, and offers a separate data center for EU customers. It also adheres to the Privacy Shield framework (US/EU), and offers intrusion detection and protection, system integrity protection, admin controls, with TLS 1.2 encryption secured by an AES 256-bit algorithm.
Pricing: A free tier is available, with a free trial for all other tiers. The software costs $10/user/month for upto 15 users, $25/user/month with customization for upto 200 users. An enterprise tier is also available.
10. Zapier
Core Offerings: Zapier claims to offer accessible automation for teams, creating workflows known as ‘Zaps’ to automate repetitive tasks and free up space for teams to collaborate faster. Along with templates for common use-cases, teams can take advantage of 2000+ integrations, customizable Zaps with branching logic, and automate multiple actions with one trigger.
Zapier offers integrations with Google sheets, Gmail, Twitter, Slack, Google Calendar, and more.
Ease of Use: This software offers a no code approach for workflow automation, making it suitable for non-technical individuals.
Security & Compliance: Zapier is compliant with GDPR, CCPA, SOC 2, and is hosted on Amazon cloud. Account access credentials are encrypted with AES-256.
Pricing: A free tier available with only 5 workflows and 100 tasks/month. The pricing goes up to $600 with 100,000 tasks/month, custom integrations, unlimited workflows. Other pricing tiers are placed at the $20, $49, and $299 price points.
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5 Team Collaboration Software Best Practices
1. Define a Project’s Scope
The first step towards using team collaboration software is defining the scope of a project accurately. This gives a clearer idea of what to work towards when starting a project. Team members will also be able to visualize goals more easily and use the team collaboration software’s features to achieve them.
2. Setup a workflow
Team collaboration tools work well when there is a defined workflow for team members to follow. A degree of control and discipline is to be followed when setting up a workflow for various members of the team, with features of the team collaboration software serving a supplementary role in each step.
3. Assign Roles and responsibilities
Roles and responsibilities must be clearly mapped out before beginning a project or team endeavour. This reduces the chances of miscommunications down the line, and also enables clearer usage of team collaboration software, as certain tasks can be assigned to individuals who are tasked with completing them as the project progresses.
4. Use Communication Features Effectively
Many modern team collaboration tools come with both synchronous, like IMs and video chats, and asynchronous communication methods, such as comments and action item communications. If a long-term action item is the topic of discussion, it is better to use asynchronous communication. Similarly, if a priority item needs to be solved, teams can tap into more time-sensitive communication methods. The key to effectively using the software is to identify when to use each kind of communication.
5. Share Resources
Team collaboration tools today also offer team members a variety of options to easily share resources between each other. Using a central document repository and file transfer features allows team members to work together quickly by cutting down on work duplication and unneeded communication.
Closing Thoughts
Remote working Opens a new window has shown companies how important it is for companies to ensure team communication and collaboration. Team collaboration software can help bridge the gap for companies to take on newer methods of working without missing a beat.
Existing workflows can easily be ported over to modern team collaboration software to allow companies to truly step into the Internet age. Teams can also adapt their workflows to the additional features offered by team collaboration software and use it to further make their workflow more efficient.
What are your thoughts on team collaboration software and their effect on modern teams? Comment below or let us know on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window . We’d love to hear from you!