Being able to work in your pajamas or in the comforts of your own home may sound like a dream, but due to the sudden lockdown, most of us will have to get used to our new normal—at least, for the time being.

More companies are adapting the work from home scheme as the present situation calls for extreme measures to keep everyone safe. Though some are already offering this as an employee perk, some companies are still treading waters on how to make telecommuting work for everyone in their organization. This paves the way for the advance development of phone and desktop applications which make telecommuting more accessible for every business.

From file management to actual meetings, here are some work from home apps to gear up your employees and enable them to do their work at the comforts of their home:

Files on the go

Cloud storage can be advantageous not just in saving physical space, but also its accessibility. Employees can conveniently access company files through different massive cloud services available. Tech giants, such as Google and other online cloud storage, such as iCloud and Dropbox, can be good alternatives for storing and sharing files as well.

Aside from its large storing capacity, cloud storage makes it possible for teams to simultaneously work together on a single document, making it one of the must-have work from home applications to boost collaboration and productivity among the group. It may even help your company in saving cost for ink and papers!

Digital Discussions

Video conferencing is increasingly becoming a vital technology for businesses, especially for those who need to telecommute and wants to keep in touch with their clients or partners overseas. Face-to-face meetings can be quite challenging. In fact recently, unified communications giant, Poly, released a study highlighting the distractions a noisy workplace can bring; thus, work from home applications such as Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts, and Zoom can be a great help in providing access to real-time and virtual face-to-face interactions. It can also be used for client interviews, internal alignments, and business meetings, to name a few.

Everyday Messaging

Group huddles are easy to do in an office setting since everyone is physically reachable. However, this can be quite challenging in a work from home setup.

Bridge communication gap through telecommuting apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Viber. These apps are widely used for quick updates as well as file sharing for quick and easy review and approval. Microsoft Teams can also be used as a chat-based workspace for easier collaboration by integrating it with other Microsoft tools.

Email Management

We all know that email is a business staple, so it is important to have easy access on your corporate email address to respond to queries and updates. Microsoft Outlook is an excellent choice if you want to check emails on a desktop or even on a mobile phone. With its flexibility, you can also log in multiple email accounts on the application at the same time and a calendar feature where you can set and track meeting appointments.

If you do not have a Microsoft licensed account, Gmail is the way to go. It is more user-friendly and can serve as both personal and business email at the same time. You can also integrate Google Drive with your Gmail for easy file access.

New Productivity Tools

As technology grows at an accelerating pace, more applications are being introduced by different technology firms for businesses to use. Lark Technologies has recently announced that their all-in-one digital collaboration suite is now free across the Southeast Asia Region. This platform allows its users to use essential work from home tools such as Messenger, Online Docs and Sheets, Cloud Storage, Calendar, and Video Conferencing. These tools are integrated which makes it possible for easy collaboration.

Another innovative tool for effective remote work is Alcatel-Lucent Rainbow™. This cloud-based communication and collaboration platform is designed “to be at par with the richness and quality of face-to-face or natural interactions” according to Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise PH Country Manager Kit Andal. The platform is also compatible with home and mobile devices for easy access to important interactions.

Other helpful tools

Aside from these necessary tools, there are still a ton of work from home apps that can help improve your work productivity at home.

If you need to send a digital copy of a printed document, there is a mobile app for file scanning called CamScanner that allows you to make a PDF file of your document just by taking a picture of it.

Another helpful tool is Evernote. This app is designed for digital notetaking and can be used during meetings or even when doing checklists. It has a lot of interesting features such as business card scanning and clipping web pages and can also sync through multiple devices.

There are a lot of digital alternatives that every employee can rely on. work from home apps can help you work smarter and get used to telecommuting. As technology advances, companies too must adapt to innovation and consider a rather unusual, but effective trends such as working from home.


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