Many people think of innovation as something that’s the preserve of brilliant loners. In truth, however, it’s something that’s far more likely to happen in an environment where collaboration is encouraged.
When you think about it, that makes sense. Groups of people working towards a common purpose are far more likely to find solutions to a problem than an individual battling through on their own.
But even people who recognise this can sometimes get fixated on the idea that collaboration is something that should happen in person.
While that may once have been the case, advancements in technology mean that people on opposite ends of the world can collaborate seamlessly.
At Innoway, we know this all too well. Given our own travel habits and the diversity of partners we work with, we rely heavily on online collaboration tools.
Here are the ones we swear by.
Trello
Founded in 2011 and now owned by Atlassian, Trello is excellent for getting stuff done quickly on remote projects.
Trello uses the Japanese Kanban paradigm for managing projects. Originally popularised by Toyota in the 1980s, the system uses a series of boards, cards, and lists to show how far along a project is.
The software is incredibly flexible, easy to use, and free.
Slack
A couple of years ago, there were some who believed that Slack had the potential to kill internal email. It hasn’t quite done that, but it has proved to be an incredibly effective team messaging tool.
It’s great for communities, communication, knowledge-sharing and coordination. Importantly, it allows for collaboration between organisations, as well as within it.
At Innoway, we use the free version but there are paid plans as your organisation’s needs scale up.
Google Drive
Anyone with a Gmail address can use Google’s file storage and synchronisation service. Users get up to 15GB of storage for free, with paid options available for anyone who needs extra.
At Innoway, we use Google Drive for resource sharing and collaboration and have opted for a paid version.
Dropbox
Dropbox is still our favourite tool for the fast sharing of documents, especially to third parties.
It may not be as secure as google drive, but it’s certainly faster and simpler.
Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a piece of sales CRM software designed to help small sales teams manage intricate or lengthy sales processes.
Founded in 2010, it is designed with ordinary salespeople in mind rather than their managers.
At Innoway, we find it incredibly useful for business development.
Harvest
Nobody likes filling out timesheets, even when they’re vital to getting paid.
Founded in 2006 by Danny Wen and Shawn Liu, Harvest aims to make the whole process much simpler, seamlessly blending time management, invoicing and accounting.
We love it for its flexibility, scalability and the fact that it’s in the cloud.
Polymail
As far as we’re concerned, Polymail is far and away the best tool for email management and campaigns.
It offers real-time tracking and delivers instant feedback when your messages are opened, clicked, or downloaded.
Additionally, it allows you to automate your email outreach and connect with more prospects.
There are a variety of paid options available, based on the size of your organisation.
What collaboration tools do you find useful? Let us know in the comments section below.
