Tools and methodologies for remote working
Due to recent developments and following the announcements of the Government, at Crowdpolicy we believe it is our duty to assist in the effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and protect our associates.
As of tomorrow, Monday, March 16, and for as long as required, we will be working remotely. We believe that this situation will help reduce this phenomenon and protect the health of all of us while not affecting the services we provide to our partners and customers.
The following article lists some of the technological and operational tools we have been using over the years at Crowdpolicy so that we can work remotely, without geographical or spatial constraints. We hope that this article will be helpful to all those who want to work remotely.
Our tools are cloud-based, which means that they are available regardless of where we are.
Email, storage, office suite in the cloud
We use the G Suite cloud system of Google. It is a set of cloud collaborative business tools that includes email (such as GMail but customized to your own domain, e.g. @crowdpolicy.com), storage (Drive), calendar, Google Docs, spreadsheets, presentations, chat, video calls, forms, and more. The cost starts from about €5 per month, per user. Its main advantage is that it allows simultaneous working on the same files.
Through an Internet-connected computer, mobile phone or tablet, it is accessible everywhere without interruption or any hidden costs. And it always works. The same goes for Microsoft 365.
Call center
Our choice is VoIP. VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is the most modern method of telephone communication. The difference with traditional telephony is that voice transmission is achieved through the Internet, without any geographical limitation on its use. You just need Internet access. You can have a geographic number and be anywhere, as it works on a device, mobile phone or software on your computer. You can also have a virtual call center, email voicemail, email fax etc., and manage everything through a web application. We use modulus, but there are several applications you can choose from.
Meetings — video calls
We do it all remotely using the zoom application which allows up to 100 users to chat simultaneously via PC, mobile phone, tablet or regular local phone calls. You can see others, share files and presentations, write on a whiteboard (e.g. about training topics) and so on. There is a free package and subscriptions start at €13 per month.
Daily communication — collaboration
We use Slack for daily communication with our partners and customers. Slack offers a unified environment allowing you to send instant messages and its structure is based on channel categorization. Channels can be about groups, projects, customers, products etc. In addition, you can search anything written or attached to Slack, and with a “@” in front of a username it notifies the user, as in social networking services. There are also more features, such as calling and video calling, uploading files, integrating other applications for notifications etc. It is available for free, while paid packages start at €7.5 per user.
Project management
We use the Atlassian Jira. It helps with software product development and project management. It includes several functionalities, such as project, tasks and time tracking, resource planning, portfolio management, software problem management etc. The original package for up to 10 users is incredibly economical, just €10 per month. It works on cloud and you don’t need any infrastructure.
Knowledge management
We use, among other tools, the G Suite Google sites, which helps organize team knowledge as well as collaborative product and project development.
In addition to Google sites, we use the Atlassian trello. It is a collaborative work tool that helps organize, prioritize and track tasks, projects and products. The free version is most helpful!
CRM (Customer relationship management) — sales organization
We use Pipedrive. We list contacts, companies, customers, projects and sales and customer service flow.
Customer service
We use zendesk on which runs our service Crowd360 https://crowdpolicy360.zendesk.com/hc/el.
