Starting a business might demand a skill, however, scaling a company requires teamwork. Because of the pandemic, setting up physical meetings is no longer so viable hence, the need to converge online using any of the free team collaboration tools.
According to an Alfresco survey of over 753 business professionals, it was found that nearly 83% of professionals depend on technology to collaborate. 82% of the participants also felt that they would feel affected if this technology to collaborate was lost.
Creating collaboration spaces wherein teams can meet despite their geographical locations has been the core goal of many businesses. Currently, there are many of these platforms online, but for this section, we will focus on the free team collaboration tools.
1. Flock
With Flock, team members can share messages, share files, host video conferences, manage to-dos, and set up calendar events all from one easy-to-use app. Flock works with popular business tools such as Google Calendar, Google Drive, Asana, MailChimp, and Twitter, making it easier for team members to stay on top of things without juggling a dozen different apps.
It has 5GB storage for file sharing and a 10K message history for a quick search with built-in productivity apps such as shared notes, polls, and reminders. It is one of the free team collaboration tools.
2. Slack
If you’ve heard of effective team chat, you’ve probably heard of Slack. IM, channels, video calls, integrations, and bots for hundreds of third-party tools; Slack has it all. But the free plan limits you to 10 service integrations, so choose wisely.
Slack has 5GB storage for file sharing and 10K message history and grants access to about 10 apps or service integrations.
3. Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams have since launched a free plan for small businesses. It has innovative features such as inline translation for messages and the ability to record meetings with automatic transcriptions. Also a plus, its deep integrations with OneDrive and Office 365 services.
This platform has unlimited audio and video meetings with up to 250 participants and 10GB of team file storage + 2GB per user. Hence, it is one of the best free team collaboration tools.
4. Twist
Twist makes it easy to organize and keep track of discussions with threads. Their message board-like interface is simplistic, though using threads and the inbox (they work more like email threads, not Slack threads) takes time to understand.
Twist doesn’t bother with audio/video conferencing or screen sharing features, they have a wherein integration instead. Twist Unlimited offers unlimited conversation history, file storage, service integrations, and priority support.
5. Discord
Discord bills itself as an all-in-one voice and text chat for gamers, and it’s clear why. Besides the usual private and group DMs, Discord offers an alternative way of collaborating in real-time: Voice channels.
This platform has unlimited users, messages, text and voice channels, and file sharing (individual file size < 8MB). It remains one of the best free team collaboration tools.
6. Zoho Cliq
Zoho Cliq allows you to view multiple conversations—each in its own column—so you don’t have to shuffle back and forth between a channel discussion and a private chat with a colleague. Also, host video conferences with up to 100 participants on the free plan.
Cliq Unlimited grants unlimited message search, up file storage, and allows you to connect up to 100 third-party integrations. You can also unlock the PrimeTime Assembly feature, so you can stream live videos to 10,000 participants.
7. Rocket.Chat
Rocket.Chat is a free team collaboration tool. They easily deployed this platform to on-premise or cloud servers, Rocket.Chat is free with zero restrictions on core functionality.
The strong disadvantage is the free plan doesn’t come with any web, email, or phone support, so be prepared to hunt through pages of technical documentation for any fixes.
8. Trello
Trello is one of the biggest free project management tools. With this platform, you can manage everything from your life, travel plans to business/client-related stuff by arranging them in different categories in Trello.
A lot of social media managers love Trello because of its unique user interphase that makes it easy for them to create content calendars for their different brands. Indeed, it is one of the finest free team collaboration tools.
9. ClickUp
ClickUp is another free team collaboration tool that helps you eliminate the noise and set your focus on specific tasks you need to complete in order to achieve your goal. This platform has both its free and paid account for users.
ClickUp helps users set their tasks in order from “about to do”, “in progress”, and “done.” They also have easy-to-use visual interphase with videos that will help educate and inform a person.
10. Wirke
Wirke helps you drop your tasks to make it easy for members of your team to interact, check work progress, and grow.
On Wirke, you work and optimize results in the same space to launch your best, most clever campaigns yet. Get real-time performance insights with no BI tools, no spreadsheets, and no headaches.
11. Zoom
Zoom prides itself on keeping you securely connected wherever you are. During the pandemic, the valuation of this company increased because of its wide and rapid adoption from businesses.
As more users have utilized this platform, it created plans that are highly affordable. Despite its plans, you can still make free calls on Zoom making it one of the best free team collaboration tools.
12. Hangouts
Hangouts is a platform wherein you can have a one-on-one conversation or include all your friends communicating with both text, emojis, photos, and stickers.
You can turn any conversation into a free video call with just one tap. You can either talk one-on-one or invite friends for a group call with up to 10 people.
13. Google Docs
Google Docs brings your documents to life with smart editing and styling tools to help you easily format text and paragraphs. Choose from hundreds of fonts, add links, images, and drawings. All for free.
You can select from a wide variety of resumes, reports, and other pre-made documents — all designed to make your work that much better, and your life that much easier.
14. Zapier
This platform offers seamless automation for busy people. Zapier moves info between your web apps automatically, so you can focus on your most important work.
With it, you can build processes faster and get more done—no code required, connect your web apps with a few clicks, so they can share data and send information between your workflow.
15. Spacetime
As a remote worker, you’re used to seeing your teammates in a group chat and team meetings. But when multiple time zones are involved, getting people together (at the right time) isn’t always easy. Without a fast way to schedule meetings with your remote team, you’re stuck wasting time.
Spacetime helps you schedule meetings with your remote team across time zones, instantly and painlessly.
Conclusion
With a high demand for easier and faster collaboration despite physical locations, these free team collaboration tools are some of the finest you can ever find.
Your choice of a tool would depend on the type of business you run, your team strength, and your budget for the tool.
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