Before asynchronous and remote work became the new normal, meeting with others around the world could be expensive and timely–or just not possible. However, modern remote work tools–like Almanac!–helps us overcome all such barriers.
Fortunately, it’s now possible for people in all different time zones and geographies to collaborate meaningfully on work that does not depend on simultaneous group presence. In this blog post, we will introduce 15 asynchronous tools that will allow your team to work more effectively – all while staying completely remote.
Asynchronous work is the act of working together while also not necessitating that the individual projects be exclusively completed simultaneously by every member of a team. Working asynchronously allows teams to work on a project collaboratively without being in the same geographic location and time zone.
These tools are a type of resource designed to help your remote teams automatically improve in communication and collaboration without needing to meet in real time.
Asynchronous collaboration tools ensure that businesses’ conversations, collaboration, and discussions are distributed properly, but without necessitating immediate presence. Take, for example, two coworkers working on the same spreadsheet without needing to be in the same office–or even living across the world from one another.
There are many major differences between synchronous and asynchronous communications. The largest differences, though, become present within remote teams and businesses that struggle more with meeting.
Synchronous communication involves a direct and live real-time connection to team members. Productivity, collaboration, accountability, and general discussions or conversations are at a peak when everyone can be physically present at the office. You can receive direct and instant feedback while in-person.
The fact of reality, and especially in modern times, is that everyone has a different schedule. This becomes even clearer when your teammates don’t live in the same area, same time zone, or even the same country. Asynchronous spreadsheets, documents, and meetings all make it easy for your team to grow in size and productivity.
Remote-first businesses are becoming increasingly more commonplace as technology advances to connect and facilitate meaningful group collaboration. Asynchronous collaboration tools may very well become a major future norm, and for good reason, too.
Accountability is tough in any job, especially when your schedules don’t line up. Working asynchronously makes it easier for remote teams to keep their conversations and creative collaboration going through notifications, real-time editing, and working in threaded detailed documents. Chats make it easier for team communications and can eliminate the hassle of video conferencing.
The best asynchronous collaboration tools automatically make a difference depending on each software’s functionality. Organization will be one of the primary benefits and best uses of asynchronous tools. The more organized customizable features are distributed, the better.
You want the freedom to make decisions in your configuration, but not so much that it’s disorganized and you need more software to organize your other messy software. The best software will allow you to make the most out of how you collaborate, communicate, and create.
Look for a good spreadsheet, easy-to-navigate documentation, and an simple way to share information. Focusing on these critical aspects will make the most of async tools.
The following are the 15 best asynchronous tools for remote teams.
Almanac prides itself on being the premier fully asynchronous-dedicated platform designed to empower private teams and enterprises. The company proudly works with the American Red Cross, as well as the professional giant Indeed, University of Maryland, and other organizations of various sizes.
The software strives to provide freedom while not becoming a chore to use and navigate–a must for any industry. Despite being a newer async platform, it’s already garnered a loyal following, further highlighting its exceptional quality compared to other tools. For these reasons, it’s arguably the most valuable software amongst the 15 best asynchronous tools for remote teams.
Check out an interactive demo here:
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Almanac is truly an impressive software that can be best utilized for small teams to the largest enterprises. It is most useful for getting work done as a team, especially documents that require complex thought, editing, and attention to detail. Almanac is also excellent for policy and handbook development, both of which are critical to workplace structure.
Loom makes it to our list of the 15 best asynchronous tools for remote teams because of the software’s interpersonal touch. The async software specializes in video-heavy communication. Skip chatting and instantly say what you’d like to, without wasting time typing.
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Loom is best for those enterprises that want to maintain an at-work environment remotely. The video recordings may be less ideal for more casual and relaxed async work, but ideal for professional companies.
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Slack is a software company dedicated to making work more efficient between people, and as such, it makes it in as one of the 15 best asynchronous tools for remote teams. The software is heavy on messaging and social interaction thanks to emojis in chats and features many integrations, familiarization may be slow.
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This software is best for any remote work teams who need an easy communication tool.
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Miro is a multitasking software with a visual focus and core. The software is made to help visualize work laid out for groups and teams so they can get work done. This puts it up with the 15 best asynchronous tools for remote teams.
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Miro is best for creative individuals who would ideally work out ideas that can be explained and planned visually.
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Asana is a group working software that focuses on completing work that needs to be completed by a team. By focusing on met goals, it serves as a checklist connecting teammates. You can see many of their key features here:
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Asana is best for teams that want to stay on track via a connected to-do list.
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Zen Desk is one of the best asynchronous tools for remote teams. It specializes in optimized customer contact and history tracking. Analytics and auto-prompts make contacting customers easier, as well.
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Customer service or sales teams.
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Friday is an intuitive dashboard software for teams. By keeping teams up to date with tasks, this asynchronous tool works to improve team organization visually.
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Friday is best for teams that want to stay up to date with each other and keep progress reports.
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Trello is a group project management software. Featuring built-in AI to help assist with making routine actions simpler, the app also features some integrations that can help remote teams work more effectively.
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Trello is best for teams that would like to expedite to-do listing.
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Yac is among the 15 best asynchronous tools for remote teams due to its ability to connect team members. Audio clips are one of its stronger abilities. Screen sharing and paired audio make for a successful duo.
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Teams that want to create more meaningful interactions.
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Twist is an asynchronous messaging and information sharing platform that features real-time chat, video calls, and an email service. It offers a seamless workflow building tool for remote-first businesses through third-party integrations and more.
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Teams that want to get work done with minimal interaction.
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ClickUp is a productivity app at its core. The intent is to save users time on otherwise repetitive actions so that extra time is spent on personal use. ClickUp allows for real-time collaboration on the creation of everything from wikis to reports to roadmaps, with links to assignable tasks. Automatically assign tasks, see what is completed, and check on forward movement.
Created content in ClickUp has manageable permissions, so your documents will remain safe. The formatting in Docs is extensive, but mostly simple, although commenting on active files seems to leave much to be desired.
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Teams that need to get projects done promptly, as well as efficiently with minimal interaction.
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Calendly is the calendar organizer intended to make planning and scheduling more efficient. By scheduling more deliberately, this asynchronous tool hopes to reduce the amount of time spent emailing and waiting for replies or messages that go in circles.
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Individuals looking to make scheduling calls a lot simpler!
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Sketch is an asynchronous design-editing software made to make working on visual edits easier amongst remote teams. The app allows for real-time editing and high-quality graphics editing.
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Design and creative teams.
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Email is one of the oldest digital asynchronous work tools still used today. While asynchronous in nature, emails have very limited features, some more than others. Still, email is always an option for new teams. The unfortunate aspect is that there is very little collaboration between teams as far as editing and working together.
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Anyone looking for a straightforward online communication tool.
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Hypercontext is a software exclusively designed for managers to help their teams. This remote team management tool believes that good work and good workers are negatively affected by bad managers. The intent and goal of Hypercontext is to improve meetings and relationships between employees and their managers.
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Managers looking to stay on top of organizing their work, but maintain healthy relationships with their coworkers
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Asynchronous work is the answer to the future of getting work done. With brainpower running continuously across time zones, more work can be done while also being better work. Working when one is at their best allows teams to finally reach that “above and beyond” which every team aspires to.
But, just “okay” software just won’t do–the best teams require the best tools. That’s where Almanac comes in.
Trying to stay on top of your remote teams can be challenging, but Almanac can help streamline it and make it much easier. With its comprehensive features, user-friendly interface, and friendly support team on call to help with any questions, they stand apart as the best asynchronous tool for remote teams, hands down.
To learn how Almanac can help you manage your remote teams with more efficiency, why not reach out to them today?
