4 productivity tools to improve virtual collaboration

Working with a group on an important project can be a frustrating experience, and using tools not suited to that sort of work only makes things more difficult.

Email is great for exchanging messages with one person, but it falls flat when sharing information with multiple people at the same time. Fortunately, there are many helpful tools out there to make collaboration easy. Once you find the right program for your needs, you can greatly increase productivity by streamlining the communication and sharing process.

Here are a few of the best virtual collaboration tools out there.

1. Twoodo

At first glance Twoodo looks like some sort of corporate Twitter, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The platform uses hashtags to automatically sort messages into different projects and categories, allowing you to make a post in seconds, without having to sort through menus to find the right section. Twoodo also allows you to create different teams, controlling who sees which messages.

Messages and tasks can be put on the calendar through a simple drag and drop, and Twoodo can sync with Google Calendar to provide mobile and email notifications. Twoodo also integrates with Box, OneDrive, Google Drive, and Dropbox for file management.

With its simple, Twitter-like interface, Twoodo’s main selling point is ease of use. Someone completely unfamiliar with the platform can figure it out in a matter of minutes. That allows your team to get up and running right away, without the hassle of trying to sort out a complicated program.

2. Murally

If you’re in need of a more visual collaboration platform, Murally might work for you. Where Twoodo is reminiscent of a social networking site, Murally calls to mind a bulletin board. Murally’s main feature is a virtual canvas that allows you to place images, videos and sticky notes. Notes can contain text, drawings or both, allowing you to convey ideas that would be difficult to get across through words alone.

The canvas can be expanded as the project expands, and you can zoom and pan to get a closer look at specific parts. Murally also allows you to vote on ideas. The canvas also maintains a log of changes, making it easy to see what’s new even on more complex projects.

3. Kanbanize

For more structured projects, Kanbanize may be the way to go. It organises tasks and milestones using cards, making it easy to see the progress of the project at a glance. Cards can be organized into custom-created categories. You can also select different colors for an easy visual reference. Cards can be filtered in a number of ways, including color, priority and keyword.

Setting limits on how many tasks a particular user can be assigned ensures work is divided appropriately, and prevents more experienced team members from being overloaded. You can also set unique permissions for each user on each project, allowing someone to edit one board while only being able to view another.

4. Moxtra

If you and your team are always on the move, Moxtra could be the right choice. Although there is a desktop version, Moxtra was designed to work best on mobile devices. It has a variety of features to make it easy to collaborate without sitting at a desk. Moxtra’s suite of communication tools includes text and voice chat, as well as the ability to create clips to share with other team members. A clip records your voice as well as what’s on the screen of your device, allowing you more effectively explain an idea or procedure.

You can import pictures, videos and other files to Moxtra. Imported documents can be annotated with text and voice notes. Users can also freely draw and mark on the document to create visual annotations. Documents, images, chat logs and anything else related to a project is put together in a binder, which is continuously updated and synchronized as changes are made to any of the contents.

Different types of projects demand different collaboration tools, so choosing the platform that will best serve your needs will allow you to maximize your productivity gains.

Fortunately, the variety of available options means there’s sure to be a tool that’s right for you.

Regardless of what you’re working on, any of these tools can be used to dramatically increase the productivity of your team by making collaboration easier for everyone involved.