Smart working: the best programs for working from home | Tips and Tricks

Interest in it smart working, the way of working without constraints of time and place for the exercise of the profession, has grown dramatically during the pandemic. And today, despite the return to work in person, smart working is the new reality for thousands of Italians.

In this article we will present a list of best programs for working from home, in order to increase the productivity of workers and entrepreneurs.

Slack

Slack is the benchmark for internal communication between teams. Not only does it allow you to create multiple channels and corporate groups, it also allows for quick written conversations. Thanks to Slack’s professional chat, companies simplify processes and avoid the use of email.

The Slack program comes in four plans different:

• Free: Free basic version offers access to 10,000 most recent team messages, 1: 1 calls and video calls between employees, and integrations with other apps such as Office 365 and Google Drive.
• Pro: at a price of 6.25 euros per month, the Pro plan guarantees, among other things, unlimited integrations, calls and video calls for up to 15 employees, and the history of all messages exchanged within the team.
• Business: The strength of the Business plan at € 11.75 per month is teamwork 24 hours a day with guaranteed uptime of 99.99%. Added to this is a dedicated 24-hour assistance, every day of the week, with a response time of 4 hours.
• Enterprise Grid: Slack’s comprehensive plan offers support for up to 500,000 users, simplified administration with customizable policies and centralized controls, an enterprise level of security. To find out the price of the Enterprise Grid plan, contact the sales office of the platform by telephone.

Two valid alternative to Slack are Google Hangouts and Discord. The first tool is especially effective for those who use Gmail for sending and receiving emails. Instead Discord gives its best in the exchange of information through voice calls or video calls.

Zoom

Zoom is one of the main video platforms for the creation of meeting online. It owes its international success primarily to ease of use, an indispensable element for large-scale diffusion. Another factor that has allowed it to emerge among the most interesting solutions of meetings during smart working is the specialization in call with many people.

Zoom also features four different ones plans:

• Base: the basic version of Zoom is free and allows you to organize meetings for up to 100 participants lasting 40 minutes. In the case of individual meetings, the platform sets a duration of 30 hours each as the only limit.
• Pro: the Pro license costs 13.99 euros and offers the possibility to increase participation in online meetings up to 1,000 people with the Large Meetings option, along with unlimited group meetings, cloud recording up to 1 GB and streaming on social media.
• Small Business: the monthly cost rises to 18.99 euros, but the functions of the two previous plans are joined by single authentication, transcription of recordings in the cloud and – above all – participation in online meetings goes from 100 to 300 people.
• Enterprise: The full plan, dedicated to large companies, increases the number of meeting participants from 300 to 500, as well as offering unlimited cloud storage.

To find out more, we invite you to read our in-depth study on how to use Zoom for videoconferencing.

In alternative to Zoom we point out Microsoft Teams and Skype. Microsoft’s Teams platform is integrated into the Office 365 package and offers full support for smart working. Of the three Skype is perhaps the least complete, but it remains a point of reference for conversations between two people.

On the same topic: Group video calling app, the best solutions

Trello

Trello is an ideal program for tracking the progress of projects within a team, one of the most difficult operations in the context of smart working. As we will see shortly, there are other solutions, but at the level of management and organization of activities Trello remains the first choice for most businesses. Also available on any mobile device.

These are the prices of the different four plans by Trello:

• BaseFeatures included in the free version of Trello are unlimited members, cards and storage (10MB per file), two-factor authentication, and 250 workspace command runs per month.
• Standard– For $ 5 per month, Trello offers boards, checklists and unlimited storage (up to 250MB per file), workspace auto command runs from 250 to 1,000 per month, plus introduces custom fields.
• Premium: The $ 10 / month Premium plan offers unlimited runs of Workspace commands, authentication via Google Apps, plus Dashboard, Timeline, Workspace Table, Calendar, and Map views.
• Enterprise: In the full plan (estimated cost of $ 17.50 per month for 25 users) the boards are visible to the whole organization, not to mention the introduction of public board management and permissions at the organization level.

Alternative in Trello? Google Keep e Airtable. The app of the Mountain View giant, among its main strengths, presents the display of pending activities on Gmail or Google. Airtable is more like Trello, and while not as complete as the former, it offers a more practical interface.

On the same topic: Best apps for taking notes and notes

Google Drive

Google Drive represents a simple and at the same time professional solution for the document management and archiving, another essential activity for working from home in smart working. With Drive you can create different types of documents, from texts to presentations, from spreadsheets to images, without forgetting the possibility for members to work simultaneously on any type of device.

Drive is part of the Google One suite, which features several plans subscription:

• Free: 15 GB of storage is available in the free version.
• Basic: at the price of 1.99 euros per month (or 19.99 euros per year) the storage space goes from 15 to 100 GB. On top of that, the Basic plan includes assistance from Google experts.
• StandardStorage space doubles from 100 to 200GB. The price also rises, reaching 2.99 euros per month (or 29.99 euros per year).
• Premium: The fourth and final Google One plan guarantees up to 2 TB of storage, the assistance of Google experts and a VPN network for Android phone for the price of 9.99 euros per month (or 99.99 euros per year).

Other options for managing and archiving files include One Drive e iCloud, solutions indicated respectively for those who work with the Microsoft Office suite and those who use Apple devices in sectors such as marketing and design.

Read also: The best cloud and paid services

TeamViewer

TeamViewer appears in the list of the best programs for smart working, as support software for working from home. It is very useful because in fact it replaces the IT manager, the figure who in large companies helps to solve the problems related to the use of technological devices. TeamViewer is a remote support program that guarantees assistance for PCs and mobile devices.

Below are the prices referring to the different plans:

• Free: TeamViewer is free for private and non-commercial use.
• Single user: at the price of 29.90 euros per month, the plan for a single user, who can start one connection session at a time.
• Multi-user: the cost of the subscription rises to € 59.90 per month and provides for the enabling of 15 users, with 1 single simultaneous remote session.
• Team: The most advanced TeamViewer plan costs 129.90 euros per month. The Corporate license includes 30 enabled users and the possibility for up to 3 users to start 1 single remote session simultaneously.

Another program that, like TeamViewer, allows remote access and management of computers is LogMeIn, which guarantees the automation of routine IT activities and the support of multiple groups of the same company.

To know more: How to control PC from smartphone

You might also be interested in: Iperius Remote, the free remote control software