The Case for Cloud Collaboration Tools

When the COVID-19 pandemic took the world by storm and governments ordered shutdowns and restricted businesses from opening, the companies that were able to transition to having their teams work remotely continued to be operate. The tools that quickly became enablers for remote working scenarios and were quickly adopted by businesses were collaboration tools. From video conferencing to chat and project management apps, cloud collaboration tools saw a surge in the number of users. The reason for this is simple, people needed tools to collaborate and communicate in a remote working environment.

In a matter of a few weeks remote workers adopted the new tools and became accustomed to using them. They saw the value the tools brought to their working lives and, in some cases, their personal lives and a case was made for the ongoing use of these tools.

They are easy to implement & learn

The most popular cloud collaboration tools and services are made with great user experience in mind. And while the big names like the Microsoft 365 office suite and Google’s G Suite were already well known and used all across the globe, some of the tools in these suites such as Teams and hangouts were not being leveraged.  In addition, project management apps like Basecamp and Asana and video conferencing tools like Zoom (just the name a few) increased the number of users exponentially, all over the world.

They growth of these cloud-based collaboration tools is not difficult to understand. They are easy to download, implement and use. They are built with intuitive functions and features reducing the learning curve for new users.  They also offer countless integrations and on-going support. What’s not to love?

They solved a problem – and will continue to

These cloud-based collaboration tools and applications solved a problem when the world needed a solution. They offered affordable, easy to implement tools that helped workers get work done all around the world, wherever they are located by offering features like instant chat, video conferencing, document sharing and collaboration, project collaboration, VoIP integrations, security and much, much more.

That being said, the problems that they are solving are not going away anytime soon. While businesses all over the world are starting to bring back their staff to the office, a lot of employees and businesses are choosing to embrace remote working like they never before. After all, the COVID-19 confinement period proved that with the right IT tools in place, work gets done – wherever you are. Business owners and employees are loving the flexible possibilities that remote working is offering.

This will pave the way for a new reality of remote work and hybrid situations for a lot of businesses and these apps are now tools that businesses and employees have embraced, making the case for the importance of using and leveraging the right cloud collaboration tools for your business, whatever your reality and your industry is.

Using the right apps, and the right partners

Most of us ended up searching for different tools and found numerous competitors online. Choosing the right apps for your unique business needs, implementing them properly for all of your users, making sure they are managed and secured and training your employees on them is a challenge for businesses of all sizes. This is where finding and working with a knowledgeable IT partner can help you cut through the noise, pick the right apps and get right to work.

If you need help with defining, implementing or maximizing your communication and collaboration tools investments, MicroAge, with locations all across Canada can help. Our experts in cloud and collaboration applications help your business move forward.