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Top Tech Tools For A Seamless Experience For Remote Working

January 6, 2025March 9, 2025

Sitting in front of the laptop screen, tucked in the blanket while enjoying your favorite snack and replying to your manager’s email. Taking a nap during break time or cooking your favorite meal while meeting a deadline, who would have thought the corporate world would be so fun?

This is the reality of modern-day American corporate workers. In the modern world, your home is your office.

As per Forbes, One in five workers are working remotely, and by the year 2025, 32.6 million Americans will shift to remote working.

So, what exactly is remote working and how is it different from working from home? Will this model stand the test of time and what makes this work model sustainable?

Keep reading as we answer all these pensive questions in the later section of this write-up.

The Evolution of Remote Work

Seven years ago when I graduated from university, corporate America was pushing its wake-up early agenda. I loathed the idea of waking up early and getting ready. I mean, who has time to take a cold shower right after leaving the bed? Right?

Seven years after graduation, six years in corporate – working remotely is the new normal. How did we get here? Let us rewind the time.

Most people think it all began with COVID, but remote work was a norm even before the pandemic pushed us to a global halt. In 1973, Jack Nilles, a NASA engineer, laid the foundation of remote work. This was the time long before the internet turned the world upside down.

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Did you know? Remote work is not synonymous with working from home.

Companies recruiting for WFH (work-from-home) positions expect you to stay in the same city and have a work-from-home setup. They actively recruit people from the same country, state, or city.

In the country, companies recruiting remote workers do not limit the location. Top talent from any country can work with these companies. To sweeten the deal, the employee is free to travel and work on the go as well.

In the early 20th century, although telecommunication technologies like telephone and telegraph were available, they were not common. Internet was limited to big companies, government officials, and tech companies. Remote work was a privilege that was only available for a few due to technological constraints and societal perceptions.

In the 1990s when the internet became common, companies started experimenting with their business model. More businesses pushed for smaller offices and remote working to reduce costs, recruit top talent, and make work productivity focus. This was the same time when affordable residential brands started offering their services that further facilitated the work from home movement.

Later, the pandemic worked as a catalyst for remote work experience. During this time, the internet entered the era of lazing fast speed, and Tech, VOIP, social media networks, and communication applications were launched in bulk. While Skype was founded in 2003, now there were new players in the market i.e., Zoom. Moreover, old communication-based apps rolled out their voice chat and video chat features as well.

Today, remote work is no longer a privilege but a necessity. As per Crunchbase, 70% of the companies offer remote working as an option while hiring. This works as a great incentive for the employees, helping them cut their commute costs and time.

There is no doubt that the benefits of remote work are endless; however, shedding light on challenges i.e., communication difficulties, isolation, and a lack of work-life separation is equally important.

To address these issues, tech companies have introduced a hybrid work model. Moreover, telecommunication and social networking companies are rolling out features like video conferencing, cloud computing, and remote collaboration tools to enable remote working arrangements.

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As a remote worker, if you are struggling with your remote work setup, here is a starter pack for your remote work setup.

Essential Tech Tools for Remote Work

There are a plethora of tech tools available in the market. Each tool tackles a different challenge faced by remote workers. Here is a list of common tech tools that will help you resolve these challenges.

Communication and Collaboration Tools

When workers do not share the same location, communication becomes a challenge. Miscommunication in business can result in the form of profit loss or even worse, a shutdown. To avoid miscommunication, collaboration tools are important. Collaboration tools are generally cloud-based, so the user can fetch data in real-time with the use of the Internet.

Moreover, these collaborative tools have mobile applications, desktop extensions, and websites. So, as long as the user has access to a good internet connection like Xfinity, using communication and collaboration tools is quite easy.

What are they used for?

Teamwork makes dream work but without collaboration, it is impossible. In a dream team, members pool their skills, expertise, and knowledge to overcome different challenges and achieve a goal. However, without proper communication and collaboration, achieving a goal is impossible.

Seamless collaboration and communication ensure that each member gets to contribute to the work process effectively and drive the team closer toward the goal. Most of these tools offer traceable digital blueprints with time stamps, so conversations stay documented and easily retrieved at any time.

Benefits:

Real-time communication regardless of time zones
Supports task management
Accountability
Streamline workflow
Reduced misunderstanding

Must-have Features:

Real-time messaging or message app integration
Communication status
File sharing, document collaboration with preview
Calendar setting or calendar integration
Voice calls, video conferencing, and group communication

Our top picks:

Slack	best for third-party tool integrations
Skype	best for voice calls
Microsoft Teams	best for team collaboration
Google Meet	best for meetings
Zoom	best for video conferencing

Project Management Software

In remote work settings, assigning tasks, setting deadlines, and seeking follow-up can become a challenge. Formally, email was used for both communication and project management. However, email has limitations, which leave a lot of room for miscommunication. To fill this gap, project management software was introduced.

What are they used for?

While collaborating with remote workers, setting a standard Project management tool is very important. It brings all the team members on the same platform and offers trackable and auditable performance metrics, boosting the transparency of the process.

Benefits:

Task management
Time tracking
Progress monitoring
Calendar integration
Risk management
Resource allocation
Performance tracking

Must-have Features:

Task ticket feature, deadline setting, and assignee tracking
Time stamps, file sharing time, task completion time
Third-party tool integration
File, document, picture, and video sharing
Performance audit and completion metrics
Flexibility and customization
Work pipeline, templates, and workflow management

Our top picks:

Trello	best for Kanban boards
Asana	best for agile framework
Jira	best for product development
Monday.com	best for startups
Coda	best for creative projects

Cloud-Based Solutions

In the realm of tech business, he who holds the data holds the reign of the business world. So, businesses take data very seriously. It influences their decision-making process, helps them nullify the risk, and makes their audience target laser-focused.

Cloud-based solutions offer an infrastructure, tech, and expertise for easy access to data at all times. Companies can store, access, share, and restrict the availability of data.

What are they used for?

Cloud-based solutions are mainly used for data storage. Companies store data on the cloud and offer data access to the required departments, members, or people of management. Tech companies relying on important data, metrics, and numbers for decision-making especially use cloud-based solutions.

With the help of cloud-based solutions, remote workers have access to important data at all times. This especially helps in improving the work speed by offering sensitive data access to only related personnel.

Benefits:

Real-time access, real-time editing option, and real-time marketing
Data Confidentiality
Data backup options and data safety
A very low storage fee
Better control
easy service switch option

Must-Have Features:

Third-party tool integration
Email and access tracking
Access time stamp (last edited by)
Workflow management
Mobile applications
Employee self-service
Online editing
Channel distribution
flexible data sharing and restriction option

Our top picks:

Google Drive	best for Google Workspace users
Dropbox	best for third-party integration
OneDrive	best for interface and usability
iCloud	best for Apple users
Box	best for business use

Virtual Meeting Platforms

In the world of remote working, a voice call is an old story. Most companies now rely on video meetings. In fact, video meeting is the only way most team members get to interact with each other.

What are they used for?

Virtual meeting platforms allow remote workers to effectively communicate with their members, management, and stakeholders. Companies collaborating with remote clients, remote teams, or small startups trying to cut travel time rely largely on virtual meeting platforms.

Most business brands have their own virtual meeting platform to ensure end-to-end encryption. However, startups with limited budgets rely on subscription-based virtual meeting platforms.

Benefits:

Cost-Efficiency
Flexible and Convenient
One-on-one conversation
Enhanced nonverbal communication
Easy accessibility

Must-have Features:

Presentation feature
Screen sharing
Integrations
Recording
End-to-end encryption
Virtual Background
AI-powered transcription
Maximum number of participants

Our top picks:

Zoom	best for features and popularity
Google Meet	best for Google Workspace Users
Microsoft Teams	best for Microsoft user
Zoho Meeting	best for affordability
Webex	best for Enterprise Conferencing

Remote Desktop Access Tools

Team collaboration in this tech-savvy era requires more than video calls. Most tech businesses using sophisticated technology require desktop access for the sake of software configuration, troubleshooting, and training.

What are they used for?

A remote desktop is an ideal tool for training new employees, helping them with complex tasks, and supervising people. Most companies dealing with important data restrict data access, install recording tools, and even run updates remotely. This improves work transparency, pushing employees toward productivity.

Benefits:

Performance Monitor
Device control
Quick troubleshoot
Effortlessly documentation access
Promotes transparency
Access restriction

Must-have Features:

Drag and drop file sharing
Screen sharing
Remote user access
Recording
Seamless access
Audio and video access

Our top picks:

Team Viewer	best for personal use
Zendesk	best for IT team management and support
Any Desk	best for affordability
Remote Desktop Manager	best for security features
Remote PC	best for startups

Beyond Management Tools – How Do I Stay Focused?

Most of the tools listed above are ideal for teams, startups, or companies with at least 25+ employees. However, freelancers or solopreneurs running businesses from their humble home offices might feel left out.

As a former digital nomad, here are some of my top favorite task management and organization tools that I love using every day:

Productivity Apps:

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Listing down daily tasks is a great way to stay organized, manage tasks, and maintain the daily workflow. You can list down your daily work-related tasks, sort your calendar, or enter tasks like cooking as well.

As a freelancer, I use productivity apps like Todoist, Evernote, or TickTick. These daily task apps are not just good for managing important tasks but can also help in staying organized. I use my app to list my daily menu, recipes I want to try, and friends I need to meet.

Time tracking apps:

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Time tracking on 9-5 jobs is not a norm for most companies. However, for freelancers and contractors working on an hourly basis, time tracking can become quite a challenge.

As a former full-time freelancer, I have used Time Doctor for billing my clients. However, apps like Desktime, insightful, and toggl Track are also very helpful.

Noise Canceling and Focus Tools:

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Staying focused is one of the biggest struggles that most remote workers have to face. Most of us end up catching stray noises be it traffic noise, home appliances, or a TV. As a remote worker, these pesky background noises are the number one cause I struggle to meet deadlines.

To avoid getting distracted, I wear my noise-canceling headphones but my favorite way to stay focused at all times is to use background noise apps. Apps like Noisli, krisp, myNoise, etc are a great way to stay focused and they are free as well.