Technology can make things move forward even when you are out of the office. Here are a few productivity tools and apps to help you manage your company from home.
Yammer
Yammer functions like a private Twitter for your office. It is a great way to share updates and let your team be aware of your status. Yammer works on your desktop and lets you know the status of the entire team without disturbing your work. The company offers a free and paid version.
Skype
This VOIP tool is a great way to actively ping or interrupt colleagues with a question even when you aren’t on the same office. It can be used to share files and screens with other workmates. You can adjust your status into ‘busy’ or ‘away’ and keep coworkers away when you have important things to do. And for the best part, Skype is absolutely for free.
FaceTime
FaceTime is a valuable tool for most Apple users. It lets you enjoy face to face conversations with the entire team. The application works on the Mac, iPhone and iPad—each one should have one of these devices to take advantage of the free app.
Google Docs
Google Docs is an efficient way to share documents and spreadsheets to coworkers. It is a useful tool for collaborating on proposals and potential contracts that will be sent to clients. Today, Google already offers Google Apps business plans for as low as $50 annually.
GoToMeeting
For bigger, internal meetings, a lot of companies use GoToMeeting. The application lets you have a phone dial in, screen sharing and web voice meetings all at once. Although the software is available through a monthly subscription of $49/ month, a lot of companies still find the application useful for their virtual meetings.