COVID-19 has forever transformed the way that businesses operate, regardless of your industry. The way that we communicate, collaborate, acquire services, shop, and even making payments has changed drastically in order to ensure that business is not affected. As business owners, we must take extra caution and prioritize the safety of our employees and clients above anything else. Successful business owners have successfully adapted to managing remote teams and maintaining productivity with a fraction of the usual workforce. Here is a definitive set of tools that will assist your day to day work and ensure that business runs ‘as usual’:
Video Conferencing Software
This is definitely something that any business should have in their arsenal in the midst of a global pandemic. Communication among the employees, various stakeholders, and clients are at the core of any successful business. Since hosting in-person meetings might include the possibility of COVID-19 spreading, we must certainly switch to our Online Alternatives.
- Zoom: Zoom is probably the most popular and they offer a free plan, but the meeting duration is limited to 40 minutes. It can host up to 100 participants.
- Google Meet: If the 40 minutes limit is a deal-breaker for you, there’s always Google meet, which is unlimited. It can also host up to 100 participants, which is ideal for large teams.
You can also try Skype or Cisco Webex based on your requirements.
Appointment Scheduling Software
An appointment scheduling software is essential for businesses in many sectors in the midst of COVID-19. Here are some of the best scheduling software that you can start using right away.
- GoSchedule: GoSchedule is a very popular appointment scheduling software for businesses like salons, pet clinics, government embassies, wellness clinics, yoga, and dance studios. It can help you manage your appointments, staff, and non-contact payments via Razorpay, PayPal, Stripe in one place. They also provide dedicated customer support round the clock. They also have some convenient automation in a place like an appointment confirmation and reminder emails. GoSchedule can also help you schedule periodic break hours to include sanitization into your daily routine.Some businesses are also eligible for a free subscription because GoSchedule wants to help enforce social-distancing during these times.
- Google Calendar: You can also use a basic tool like Google calendar to manage your appointments. It can integrate with Google meets and help you invite multiple guests to a meeting.
Collaboration Tools
For Business operations to function smoothly, it is very important that internal teams can still communicate and collaborate synchronously with each other. Many businesses have turned to internal collaboration software like: Slack: Slack can help you chat, collaborate, and share files within your organization belonging to the same team or with different teams. Slack has a basic free plan and also hosts a variety of paid features that can be useful based on your requirements.
- Microsoft teams: The best part is that it is completely free and is the perfect ally that your remote teams need. It promotes seamless collaboration through calls, video, screen sharing, file sharing, and chat. It is a robust, all in one tool that you must definitely try as a business owner when you want to manage your teams remotely.
- Workplace by Facebook: Workplace is basically a similar space like Facebook, but entirely reserved specifically for your own organization. It is simply your organization’s very own social network that allows employees to follow each other, share news, updates, and collaborate with different teams. This is especially useful when your organization has multiple branches across geographies.
Are you one of the business owners affected during this pandemic? Which productivity tools in the above do work best for you? Please leave your thoughts below.