How to set up a remote hub for work to support distributed teams
It can be difficult to encourage collaboration between coworkers who have never met face-to-face, as more offices set up multiple locations or offer remote working opportunities.
It doesn’t have to be difficult to establish a collaborative workplace.
You can make it easier for your entire team to work together by elevating technology from just a few tools to a true remote hub.
This post will focus on:
Remote work hubs:
- Imagine a remote communication hub.
- How to make a remote hub of work for your team
What is a remote job hub?
Before we get started, you may be wondering what “remote worker hub” actually means.
A remote work hub is basically a central resource that supports collaboration and communication within the company. It allows employees from different departments and teams to exchange notes, share information, and be on the same page.
It’s a proactive way to create a cohesive team culture within your company and remind your colleagues that information sharing across departments isn’t just a good idea. It’s actually how things work in your workplace. Learn more about how to collaborate effectively.
Remote work hubs allow everyone to connect digitally even though they aren’t physically present. As companies shift to digital workplaces, it is more important than ever for your coworkers to be able to connect and collaborate.
What is a remote work hub?
It can be difficult to imagine what a communication hub is like for your business communications when we talk about it.
The hub is the center of an activity, network or activity. However, it can also refer to the central part of a wheel from which the spokes radiate. This can be useful visual. Your communication hub is the center of connection for your colleagues from every department.
Apps and tools required for specific tasks within a department are the spokes of this wheel.
Pro tip: A streamlined remote workspace that includes a variety of tools will help you avoid tech overload. This will allow you to spend less time switching between tabs and windows and will save you money because you don’t need to buy as many apps as you can use.
Blueprint for a communication hub that connects distributed teams
The specific remote work hub for your company will depend on the number of employees, the essential functions that you require from technology tools and how you want everything to connect.
It doesn’t matter what tools your departments use, the key is to think through how they can work together.
While we’ll present a basic blueprint that most businesses will find useful, you have the option to customize it to meet your specific business needs.
Your communication command center, the hub
Communication is the foundation of collaboration. A well-oiled hub must have the right communication tool. Your communication tool connects all employees within the company, even remote workers or people who work in different offices.
It connects everyone and keeps them on the same page. This opens up possibilities for collaboration across departments and distances.
Your remote work hub should have a platform that lets you communicate in many different ways. This includes receiving inbound calls, making video calls, and team messaging. RingCentral allows you to share screens, jump on video calls, and share files all in one platform.
You can also track and assign projects to your team using the task management function. Everyone can see what’s happening.
You can easily stay on top of projects by having task management and communication all in one place. Do you want to check in with your team member? You can assign a follow up task from the conversation and attach the file needed to complete the task.
RingCentral is completely free to use, so you can get a feel for the features before purchasing a plan. Paid plans start at $5 per month once you’re ready to get started.
Once you have identified the center of your communication hub, it is time to choose the tools that will not only meet the needs of each department but also integrate with your communication application to create the complete hub effect.
These are just a few examples to show you the tools you need to make your communication hub work effectively.
Marketing is the spokespeople
You’re likely used to this dilemma if you use an email marketing platform for potential customers. Do you scroll through endless emails and unsubscribes? Or do you opt to ignore all notifications and remain in the dark?
You can save time by integrating your email marketing platform with your communications tool. You don’t need to clutter your inbox with notifications about your email campaigns. (Here are some great examples of email marketing) All this can be done right from your team messaging app, which you already check every minute.
Mailchimp, which integrates with RingCentral, is an efficient email marketing tool that allows you to connect with prospects right where they are active and engaged: in their inbox. The best thing? Mailchimp is completely free to use.
This integration will allow you to prepare your team for possible replies and get them ready for tracking other types of engagement.
RingCentral can also send notifications to RingCentral to notify sales and support about emails sent. This will allow them to be aware of any potential follow-up questions.
Your sales and marketing team can see each other’s work in RingCentral’s messaging application, so they can easily share updates or communications. Marketing can update the sales team on the creation of new resources, while sales can submit content requests to see which prospects are being sent.
File management is the spoke
You’ll want to make sure that file management is a priority in your remote hub. We all know that file sharing is a major part of what your team does. This means endless emails with title endings in “version 2″, “final draft” and “final final” are not going to cut it.
Use a platform such as Google Drive to file share and reduce clutter. Google Drive is a great choice because it allows everyone to share documents. This means that editing capabilities can be shared between and within teams.
You can create copy in Google Docs (learn more about 27 time-saving Google Docs tricks), upload and share finalized images from design to even share spreadsheets among finance staff members. Make sure you choose a platform that is easy to use.
RingCentral integrates with Google to make file management seamless within chat software. To share a file, you don’t need to send an email. Simply import it from Google Drive into your team chat and everyone will have access.
Sales is the spokes
A CRM, along with a Bluetooth headset, is essential for every salesperson. It allows them to track the entire prospect’s journey before they make a purchase decision. Your sales reps will be armed with great sales conversation starters that are based on the information that will help a prospect make a decision.
Salesforce is a dynamic tool for sales teams to manage prospects. You can also integrate it with RingCentral to improve your selling communication.
Your sales team will be able to receive notifications about case updates, view opportunities, create leads and add notes to opportunities from within your chat platform. This will allow them to communicate with their colleagues and work with leads.
A marketing team member can instantly send a message directly to the sales team if they interact with a lead via your website’s live chat. Once a prospect is assigned by a manager, the salesperson can instantly create a new lead and fill out the details of the pre-sales conversation.
Salesforce notifications allow your team to keep track of any updates to their cases without having them go through endless emails or manage multiple apps. Salespeople can see all their opportunities and quickly respond to any changes by receiving a notification from Salesforce in the same place they are already communicating with customers, leads, or coworkers.
The spokes are project management
Although we all love a good to-do list and are happy to keep it up, once you begin working with a team or managing multiple projects simultaneously, it is time to stop writing down and take project management seriously.
Project management softwares that are best for you can break down large projects into smaller tasks, track who is working on what, and track the progress of your projects until they are completed.
Asana is a great tool to help everyone stay on the same page and avoid tasks getting lost. Asana allows you to break down a large project into smaller tasks, assign them the right people, and establish due dates for each stage. It’s much easier to plan when projects will actually reach their completion.
Asana integrates with RingCentral, so your team doesn’t need to switch between apps to track project statuses. Asana can notify RingCentral of any updates to your cards or boards, eliminating email clutter and elevating your messaging app to become a remote work hub.
Asana can be started for free.
RingCentral’s uniqueness is its ability to be the communication hub for your team and incredibly useful for customer service teamwork.
RingCentral allows you to communicate with customers. This will improve the quality of customer communications and keep your support team on the same platform. You can also make sure that your customers are happy by using RingCentral.
Your support team will have the ability to work efficiently and quickly within the same platform they are familiar with, rather than having to move from one area for customer chats to another for coworker conversation and back.
Support team members can communicate with customers right from their remote work hub and get quick answers.
Customers can also collaborate with them via video calls and by sharing screens.
Are you ready to set up your remote work hub
You can create a communication hub tailored to your business needs by choosing the right foundation and integrating with the apps and tools that your team relies on.
When you are looking for a new technology tool, it is important to not only ask how your team will use it but also how it will fit in with the rest of your hub.