Building the Right Toolkit for a Remote Team

Tools Are the Backbone of Remote Work

When you run a remote team, your tools aren’t just tools. They’re the backbone of how you work together. We’ve tried a lot over the years, and while we’re always evolving, here’s what’s working best for us right now...

Our Daily Home Base: Slack and Zoom

Slack is our go-to. It’s fast, flexible, and works just like texting. We can quickly drop in screenshots, keep projects organized in channels, and communicate naturally whether we’re at our desks or out running errands. It’s our daily home base.

If we need to talk face-to-face or share our screen, we rely on Zoom. This was a bit of a splurge cost-wise, but it’s so much more reliable than any other conferencing tool I've used.

Urgent Communication Still Matters

When something is really urgent, we shift to WhatsApp, text, or a good old-fashioned phone call. I've rarely needed to use them, but it’s important to have those options when things move fast. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to reach someone and realizing you don't have their phone number... this goes for customers too.

Business Operations: Zoho, Google Drive, and Flexibility

On the business operations side, we use Zoho for a lot: email, support desk, document signing, and accounting. It’s robust and cost-effective, especially for small businesses.

That said, we’ve learned to pick and choose. The conferencing tool had frequent connection issues, so we use Zoom instead. And while we store files in Zoho, we rely on Google Drive when we need easy, real-time collaboration with clients.

The takeaway: don’t be afraid to change things up if something isn’t working. It’s not worth the ongoing frustration.

Mobile-First, Always

The real key is that every tool we use has a mobile app. Our team needs to be able to jump in from wherever they are — whether it’s from a home office, a kitchen, or a park bench during their child's soccer practice.

Supporting Client Work

Of course, we also use tools like JIRA for implementation projects and Salesforce every day alongside our clients. But it’s the mix of everyday tools that keeps things running smoothly behind the scenes.

Trial, Error, and Balance

No system is perfect, but with the right blend, and a little trial and error, you can build a toolkit that fits your budget and supports how your team actually works.