5 effective tools to facilitate remote work

5 effective tools to facilitate remote work

Remote work is a godsend for many people - the desire to manage one's own time on one's own, the employer's lack of physical control over everyday activities and the ability to choose the priorities of daily work are becoming something very desirable. Remote work undoubtedly has many advantages and for many it is an opportunity to save a lot of time (e.g. no daily commute to the office). On the other hand, you should be aware of the "pitfalls" and how poorly organized remote work can contribute to becoming an ineffective employee. What to pay attention to when working outside the office and how to be more productive? It is best to use ready-made tools that will allow us to become more effective.

KeepMeOut is a browser-based tool that will stop you from frequenting distracting websites throughout the day. What is very helpful is that you can set your own tabs for your biggest weaknesses - for many this will be Facebook, Twitter and Reddit. KeepMeOut will warn you if you visit one of these sites too many times within a certain time period (you can set the time frame yourself). So when your browser starts reminding you to visit Facebook too much while you're at work, you'll learn pretty quickly to walk away from this unproductive temptation.

      2.  SaneBox

There is a good chance that the most insidious device of time is your inbox. You need to be connected to email during the working day to keep in touch with clients and colleagues, but it's all too easy to get caught up in so-called cycle check-answer-check. You've probably caught yourself more than once that you were simply catching up on e-mails during the entire eight-hour working day.
 

However, this cycle can be systematized. SaneBox is a "smart filter" that analyzes your email habits, allowing you to determine which messages are really important and which can wait a while. Only the most important emails are sent to your inbox, while the rest goes into a special folder reserved for less crowded emails. That way, during a specific workday, you can only spend time on the emails that matter.

      3.  Todoist

If task management is a challenge for you, you should check out Todoist. Todoist allows you to track tasks, subtasks, projects, subprojects, due dates, recurring commitments, priorities, reminders - basically all your workload. It is important that tasks are available from any platform - laptop, smartphone, desktop computer, tablet, etc., which makes this tool an ideal solution for even the most nomadic workers. Todoist also offers shared tasks shared between users.

      4. TopDox

Cloud-based document management solutions are hugely popular today, but with so many options to choose from, synchronizing data for collaborative work can become a real hassle. For example, let's say you use Google Drive, but your co-worker prefers to use Dropbox, and one of your biggest customers always uses OneDrive. So how to solve this situation? Which tool should be used in this situation?
 

Fortunately, the solution to this dilemma is TopDox, which allows you to access and edit documents stored on different platforms from one central location. No more jumping from card to card - now all you have to do is log in to TopDox.

      5. Evernote

It would be unforgivable to list and compare any productivity apps without mentioning Evernote. The application has become very popular due to the functionalities it offers. However, its principle of operation is very simple: collect important e-mails, Internet clippings, documents, notes, to-do lists and reminders in one cloud location, and then access them from any device.
 

While other apps have many of the same features, the developers' addition of Skitch really helps set Evernote apart from other similar tools. Skitch allows users to annotate documents with text, shapes, and sketches, adding a vivid visual element to their own personal notes and shared documents shared by members of a given group.
 

Summary:
 

Tools supporting productivity and increasing the effectiveness of remote work are just an additional way to make remote work more valuable every day. We have collected the most interesting tools for us to improve remote work. Ultimately, however, only you can tell what your particular weaknesses are. Use these five tools put together for you as benchmarks for your own productivity plan. Use those that meet your needs, discard those that are not for you and always look for new, better solutions.