Free Remote Working Technology
25/03/2020 Business Continuity All News
Free technology for helping you to collaborate whilst you're remote working.
Like many companies, we're getting used to the new norm of having our entire workforce working in a distributed environment.
Since some staff at Jigsaw Finance have worked remotely for many years, we already use a number of systems to help our staff collaborate whilst working in this way. As we appreciate how difficult it can seem at first to operate in a distributed environment, we thought it might be helpful to share some of the free technologies we are using with you.
Slack
Slack
Slack is an Instant Messaging Service that can be used online, installed on your computer, or as a mobile app.
As a business with various members of staff sitting in different departments, we have found Slack to be really useful as you can set up different Channels to message in. We have channels set up for each department and also have themed channels for communicating useful links, etc.
We've found this to be a great tool for both internal collaboration and employee engagement, with staff continuing their light-hearted banter even though they're miles apart.
Slack has free and paid plans and we’ve found the free plan to be more than enough for our needs.
Find Slack at https://slack.com
They’ve even produced a great guide for remote working at https://slack.com/intl/en-gb/resources/using-slack/slack-remote-work-tips?geocode=en-gb
Zoom
Zoom
Zoom is a Remote Video Conferencing Service that can be installed on your computer or as a mobile app.
We've found Zoom to be an excellent tool for scheduling our usual face-to-face meetings. Zoom is easy to install and it's relatively straightforward to understand its basic features.
Zoom has both free and paid plans. Here’s a selection of features that we’ve found to be really useful on their free plan:
- Encrypted communication
- Voice and video recording options
- Screen sharing
The Screen Sharing feature is a great collaboration tool allowing staff to 'point and show' rather than describe their screen in detail.
Find Zoom at https://zoom.us
Trello
Trello
Trello is a web-based Project Management Tool that can be used for collaborating on projects.
At Jigsaw Finance, this system is mainly in use by our technical and marketing staff, but it can be useful in other business areas that find the need to collaborate on both small and complex projects.
Again, this product has both free and paid plans and we’re currently using the free plan without issue.
Find Trello at https://trello.com
We hope that you've found the above useful!
Wishing you the best in these difficult times
Jigsaw Finance Limited
Jigsaw Finance Limited is a credit broker and not a lender. We can introduce you to a limited number of lenders and their finance products. We are not an independent financial advisor; we will provide details of products available, but no advice or recommendation will be made. You must decide whether the finance product is right for you.
We will receive a commission payment from the lender/finance provider if you decide to enter into an agreement with them. The commission payment received is for the introduction and work in facilitating and arranging the finance for you and is a one-off payment from the lender to Jigsaw. The calculation of this commission is based either on a fixed fee or a percentage of the amount you borrow, this is determined and may vary by the commercial agreement Jigsaw has with the lender. We may work with just one lender or a limited selection of lenders when arranging finance. As a Credit Broker, we may also have other commercial arrangements with a lender which do not influence the terms of your finance agreement. We may share some of this commission with the motor retailer.
The amount of commission will be made available to you before signing your finance documents.
All the lenders that we work with pay commissions at different rates, however, the commission received does not affect the amount you will pay under your finance agreement. Our aim is to secure finance for you at the lowest interest rate available from our panel of lenders. Finance may be available from other providers outside of our panel, and you should consider your options before entering into an agreement, we are not able to provide impartial recommendation.