Technology has become increasingly prevalent in the workplace. This is especially true when we talk about working from home. While not a new concept, working from home has become increasingly popular, and the ever-increasing opportunities that technology provides allow working from home to be more prevalent than before. However, as with all new opportunities, many people have become overwhelmed with the choices and options they have when working from home. Thus, this article has a list of tools that can help you work from home.
These online tools greatly benefit professionals who are working from home, as they streamline work, making it more efficient. This improvement in efficiency has a lot of sizable long-term effects, largely because time is such a valued resource and its efficient use yields mutually beneficial results for your employer and you.
All of the tools we will discuss in this article have similar goals: to make your usage of time better. Each of the tools improves efficiency in a different way, making integrating them into one digital office setup a sure way to make working from home just as easy, if not easier, than the traditional work setup.
Cloud Storage
Documentation in the workplace is a tedious task. Organizing and finding your needed files in a mountain of documents can be difficult. This challenge is further magnified by working from home, as you will not only have your work files to manage but also personal files. To solve this problem and to make your organization easier at home, you can use cloud storage or shared online storage to keep your documents organized. Not only does this reduce your physical clutter by reducing the use of papers, but it also provides you with a great way to share documents with your co-workers online.
Using cloud storage, files can be shared through a simple link. Collaborators will have access to the files without having to physically transport them or undergo the process of manually sending several documents. They will have access to the files at all times and can even add their files to that storage so that you can access their files as well. However, the most impressive aspect of cloud storage in helping solve the organizing concerns of professionals who are working from home is that they will not have to worry about losing documents. Once uploaded to a cloud storage files will remain in that storage indefinitely until someone removes it.
Project Management Systems
One of the difficulties magnified when working from home is managing the projects you are working on. Not only will you need to allocate time for responsibilities that you usually have at the office, but you will also need to keep track of your personal activities at home as well. While it is difficult to keep track of personal activities, you can take some of the burdens off of organizing your work activities through project management systems.
Project management systems provide a variety of tools to make organizing your projects and tasks easier. Furthermore, a lot of these types of software can be used to make your work more transparent to others, which could allow your superiors to observe and see your hard work.
Another benefit that project management systems can provide is that they can be a good reference when writing project reports as they can refresh your memory concerning a certain project. They can also provide helpful details such as the time allotted, the activities you were invested in during work hours, and the start and end times for each activity.
Online Databases
This tool is geared toward people who are in academic writing or belong to business industries that require a heavy amount of research.
It can be difficult to find documents to use as references and specific templates to use when we are creating an important project or accomplishing a certain task. Even in traditional office work, it can be a hassle when references are in physical copies. While we have solved exchanging documents using cloud storage, we have not solved where to get documents and templates for our projects.
Luckily, this is one of the problems that is easier to solve when you are working from home. As your internet connection is unrestricted unlike computers in the office, you can find several online databases that offer a variety of resources, from academic papers to legal templates. Using online databases and cloud storage has the potential to make researching significantly easier.
E-Signatures
Due to the nature of working from home, a lot of files that are sent for your projects will be digital documents. Some of these documents might require your approval in the form of a signature.
Similar to how cloud storage can improve working from home, utilizing electronic signatures will save you the hassle of using too much paper. Also, you will not need to print out documents that need your signature just to scan them again to create digital copies. Furthermore, you will always have your signature ready and can give it at any moment it is required, saving time and making interactions between you and your colleagues more efficient.
Some electronic signatures software will allow you to store several e-signatures in a single place so that you can have a reliable place you can refer to whenever you require a specific signature for a specific occasion.
Chatrooms
While many individuals view chatrooms as an application for leisure, there are several chatroom applications used for professional purposes. This is because the creators of these types of applications recognize the importance of communication in the workplace. In addition, they also recognize that professional communications can be made more efficient when it is done digitally. The main benefit that chatroom applications provide, especially for someone who is working at home, is delivering information regardless of location. As a professional, you can communicate with your superiors about the details of projects without needing to schedule physical meetings to delegate tasks and instructions.
Chatroom applications can also be beneficial in combination with cloud storage and online resources as this makes it even easier to communicate with your colleagues about certain references, documents, and projects that you all need. Furthermore, this type of software makes all communication between workers centered around a single application, removing the consequence of having professional conversations mixed with personal messages.
Conclusion
While not everyone is familiar with digital applications like the ones listed above, there is no denying the growth of the presence and effectiveness of professionals who are working from home. They make difficult tasks easier to manage while working from home and allow professionals to flourish outside of the traditional workplace.
Of course, going full digital is not for everyone, and so it is advised to find a balance between traditional workstyles and using digital tools. As a professional, it is good to be open to things that have the potential to make our lives easier. However, those things cannot be found unless we are willing to explore boundaries outside the traditional workplace.