The digital age is an era of ambitious ideas, innovations, and bold decisions. People are not afraid to launch their projects, wanting to realize their skills and acquired knowledge. More and more young people who have just graduated from higher education institutions do not want to work in famous companies or small firms, like their parents. They want to establish and manage their own business, which will revolutionize this or that industry. How many such ambitious people have achieved their dreams, developing a small business into a famous company? These guys are showing up more and more lately.
Indeed, today it is much easier to start your own business than 10-15 years ago. Thanks to digital technologies, the minimum threshold for it has been significantly reduced. Today, it is not necessary to have colossal resources to create a profitable business. The main thing is a great desire, the availability of the necessary knowledge/skills, the willingness to work/study 7 days a week, and constant development. After all, almost every one of us can launch our own startup.
Many ordinary people often do not understand the meaning of the word. They think that a startup is a type of business that is necessarily associated with IT technologies. Of course, today it is impossible to start and build a business without the use of digital tools and services. However, the concept of a startup has a different meaning. This is a certain type of business model, which doesn’t require large financial resources in the early stages of development. Successful business building in such a case requires extraordinary, innovative methods of solving problems and difficulties. Unfortunately, few leaders cope with the workload and challenges. According to statistics, most startups close within the first year. Moreover, the sad end does not depend on the uniqueness of the idea. In most cases, managers made many mistakes during the stages of planning, analysis, and further development of the project. However, today you will find thousands of examples of successful startups that have grown from a small team into branded projects with thousands and even millions of active users.
Do you have a team? Have you started working on a project? Have you defined a goal? Do you act according to the developed business plan and know what you want to get in a month, a quarter, and a year? Have you assembled a team of like-minded people who are professionals in their field of activity? Fabulous! It’s time to create and optimize all workflows. But first, choose the collaboration tool that you will use to launch and develop your project. The market offers hundreds of digital platforms. They have their own advantages and disadvantages. But only a few of them are worthy of your attention!
How to choose the right business tool for your team?
As already mentioned, you’ll find hundreds of apps for teamwork. Programs and IT services are very diverse and tailored for different purposes, from setting and monitoring tasks to analyzing employee productivity. Before choosing a tool that your team will work with, analyze the needs that the software should cover. For example, if you have a lot of tasks on a project, you need the program to visually show what status each of the key tasks is in. You must control whether a situation has arisen in which the execution of a key task may be blocked due to, say, other subtasks.
If the process of communication is important to you first of all (the ability to conduct video conferences with the team and discuss tasks in real-time), then the program should be tailored specifically for communication.
If you need a node-specific time-tracking or custom document creation program, these are the features to look out for.
You should analyze the workflows in advance and draw up a set of requirements for the business tool. Based on these criteria, you should choose the most appropriate platform for organizing and optimizing teamwork.
Examples of IT services for team management
Most collaboration tools work on a subscription model. You choose the most suitable tariff, according to the price/capabilities, pay for a subscription and start working. Some apps offer a free version for a few days to a month. Usually, it’s enough to test the functionality. If everything suits you, you are free to switch to a paid subscription.
The financial situation of most startups forces them to cut costs as much as possible. Therefore, paying for a subscription is an unaffordable luxury for many projects. Don’t have extra funds to pay for subscriptions? Then pay attention to free but functional services. Today there are many such proposals. The usability of the free version will be significantly limited compared to the paid version. Given this information, which IT collaboration tools should you pay attention to?
Trello
This is a great option for a startup with limited financial resources. You can manage multiple project boards for free to assign and track tasks. Each task is a card that, as it is completed, will follow from column to column. Thus, you’ll see how many of the tasks are currently running, which of them are ready for verification, and how many tasks have been completed.
If you switch to a paid plan, you will be able to connect an unlimited number of different components to the boards. They help to add new fields and features to task cards, automate several routine tasks, and so on. The subscription price is very democratic among the segment. It is $10 per user per month.
Slack
It is the most popular corporate messenger with millions of users worldwide. The tool provides excellent opportunities for communication between team members. The main advantage of the platform is integration with third-party applications (more than 2400), which significantly expand the functionality. For example, you can install a VoIP service (Google Voice, Clerk, etc.) to take communication with employees, customers, and partners to the next level. Send voice messages, set up meetings with partners, collect customer feedback, forward SMS to Slack, and use SMS mailing with promotions and offers. Slack’s power to create and streamline teamwork is only limited by your imagination.
Jira
This is an excellent business app for medium and large businesses. If you are making consistent profits from a startup, then you might want to consider it. Jira allows you to build team interaction using an agile methodology, plan backlogs, set tasks, track their progress, issue releases, and create reports. It is a very flexible tool with great functionality. There are a lot of functions. You will probably spend a lot of time getting everything set up to work.
Basecamp
It’s one of the few collaboration tools, which has not lost its relevance in 2022. Basecamp allows you to assign and track tasks, view client information, upload files, track the time it takes to complete tasks, and leave comments on tasks.
Nozbe
This is another effective multifunctional task manager for a small team. Incoming tasks can be prioritized and delegated. You can work with the program both in web format and in the format of mobile applications. An important advantage is a synchronization with third-party applications such as Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.
