Advances in remote collaboration have made teamwork over long distances easier than ever. In fact, some of the more recently released remote collaboration platforms have so many features that choosing the right tool for the job can be overwhelming. So, we have put together our recommendation for three remote collaboration features that your team should be taking advantage of – shared desktop/screen, shared control, and session recording.
There are many features to take advantage of between the various remote collaboration tools. Some of these features include:
Security features are crucial to any platform or program, particularly those used for corporate projects - fortunately, in this day and age, virtually every application or platform is developed with this need in mind. So - although security features are necessary, most platforms already have security measures available or already in place.
Remote collaboration security measures should include encryption protocols and clearly outline their privacy policy.
Integration features are not available on all remote collaboration platforms, and depending upon your needs, they may not be necessary. Although - as we know here at Drovio from our integration with Slack and soon Teams - integrations can take your collaboration to the next level, keeping the whole team up-to-date at all times.
Internal messaging is another feature worth looking for in a remote collaboration tool. Although, it is not one of our top three features to look for because it is already a feature on most platforms.
Internal messaging makes it easy to tag teammates and maintain a good workflow even when team members are online at different times.
A mobile-friendly website design or mobile application is also a helpful feature, but in this day and age, they are features that most remote collaboration platforms do have.
A mobile-friendly website design or application allows participants to participate in live collaboration even when not in front of their PC. This feature further adds to the versatility of remote collaboration. A mobile-friendly design also ensures that mobile users do not experience lagging or delays that can interfere with their ability to participate in a live interaction.
Cloud-based storage is helpful for remote collaboration software but not a mandatory feature. It used to be that video conferences required pre-planning – copies of documents to email or print out for participants to view. Cloud storage speeds up access to these files and ensures that session participants can directly view files under discussion in real-time.
As great as the features listed above are, we do not include them in our top three remote collaboration tools and features. So, what remote collaboration software features do we have on our list? Our “must-haves” include:
The shared desktop or shared screen feature allows remote collaboration participants to share their screen with and view the screens of other users. The shared desktop or shared screen tool is one of the most notable features of any remote collaboration platform - without it, participants are limited to audio and visual interaction – essentially, a video conference.
There are multiple benefits to sharing a screen during remote collaboration, including improved communication, better collaboration, and more efficient and creative project development.
The shared control feature allows each user in a remote collaboration session to have their own cursor. Up to ten cursors are available on a single session, giving each participant the ability to point, underline, and emphasize areas of shared screens.
Shared control is a good way for meeting participants to be more efficient in making points and explaining ideas. More importantly, however, shared control is a prime tool for co-editing projects.
Shared control co-editing is a particularly valuable tool for design and programming projects, as it allows multiple participants to pull together an entire project simultaneously. Simultaneous co-editing and code creation also sparks a new level of creativity as participants work together. Additionally, with live collaboration like this, team members can catch errors as they happen and consult each other for solutions as problems occur which avoids problems further down the road.
The session recording feature allows users to record a remote collaboration session as it takes place. This recording feature has two very useful applications – onboarding/training and playback.
Remote collaboration tools are a great means of putting together demonstrative onboarding videos to familiarize employees and clients with a company, service, or product. Repeating the same introductory videos can be tedious, and ensuring that each employee or client gets the same information during their onboarding session can be tricky at best. Fortunately, a remote collaboration tool that offers session recording makes it simple to create a single onboarding video, record the session, and playback when necessary for future employees or clients.
Session recording is equally as useful for participants in a remote collaboration session. When a virtual meeting covers a lot of material, it is easy to get overwhelmed but recording the session and playing it back later ensures that meeting attendees do not miss important points.
Lastly, session recording can also prove helpful if disputes arise later on. Rather than a problem becoming “he said, she said,” when all discourse gets caught via a microphone, the answer is on record.
You will notice that we did not incorporate audio and video chats in our list of “must-have” tools – this is because any good remote collaboration platform offers audio chat and video chat features. Additionally, they are staples on which all team collaboration projects rely. Instead, we focus on less-obvious features that offer more hands-on interaction for a better team experience overall.
Shared desktop/screen, shared control, and session recording, are three must-haves of all of the features that Drovio has to offer. Our tool does not just make long-distance collaboration easier; it also improves the quality of work done and increases overall productivity too!
Create your free account and start collaborating right away with your team on all your apps. Should you have any questions about our offers, be sure to contact us.
