As more and more businesses permanently embrace the work-at-home option, there’s a need for tools that help them continue to operate seamlessly. Zoho Corporation, a global technology company, just release a tool that helps small businesses do just that.
Remote Work Tools on Cliq is an enhanced version of Zoho’s chat software enabling employees to check-in for work and essentially interact with co-workers the way they would if they were in the same office—no matter where they’re working from.
When the work-from-home policies were enacted in most states this spring, Zoho noticed Cliq usage soared—seeing increases of 225% in message volume and 1200% in calls made per day. Group calling in the U.S. grew 10 times from its prior numbers. But they realized, teams working remotely had difficulties collaborating as they would if they were in their physical office space.
So they developed Remote Work Tools on Cliq to solve this challenge by creating a program that does what traditional chat software can’t do.
Even though they’re a large business, Zoho operates with an entrepreneurial mindset. As Raju Vegesna, Chief Evangelist at Zoho explains when they noticed their employees were finding it “sometimes difficult to stay as connected as we were in the office…we realized customers might be facing this challenge as well.” And Remote Work Tools on Cliq was born.
Key Remote Work Tools on Cliq features include:
- Easy Check-in. Employees can check-in and check-out of work from Cliq as if they were swiping their IDs when arriving at or leaving the office.
- Check work status. Team members can easily update their work status (available for collaboration, engaged with work, having lunch or taking a short break), allowing co-workers to see who’s available and who’s busy as if walking the office floor.
- Live video feeds to see who’s available. A virtual equivalent to peeking at a co-worker’s desk to see if they’re free, live feeds enable teams to see if it’s the right time to connect with a co-worker.
- Instant group calls. Group calls are initiated with the touch of a button, allowing teams to collaborate when the situation calls for a quick face-to-face meeting.
- Easy document management. Integration with Zoho Writer enables teams to preview, share or export documents from the document link.
- Integrated extensions. Messages can be turned into project work items, such as adding a technical issue to Zoho Projects using an integrated extension.
These features (and more) bring the in-office experience home, improving team morale, collaboration and productivity. Teams can even build their own tools with widgets that integrate with users’ everyday apps to create a custom home view directly inside Cliq.
The program is available now. You can get more information at Zoho.com.
Working from home stock photo by LightField Studios/Shutterstock.
