We live in a hyperconnected world, one that is bogged down by excess information and multiple tasks. Task management software is needed to cut through this chaos and help a company move ahead with its projects and priorities. 

What is Task Management Software, and why does your enterprise need one? 

Task management software monitors all tasks in a project, phase by phase, right from the planning to the reporting stage. An effective task management software facilitates this process, but its role goes far beyond simply managing time or prioritizing tasks. 

In today’s AI-driven world, task management tools enable companies to automate workflows, organize deadlines, and plan multiple tasks. These are tools that give a company its edge over its competitors. Using automation, task management software can eliminate tedious and mundane tasks.  

Why do companies need task management software? According to this report, 66% of companies that use task management software conclude projects within their budget. These companies also save 28 times more money than those that don’t use these tools.  

Task management also goes beyond routine resource planning and project estimation. It helps teams build strategies to boost productivity, work efficiently and stick to deadlines. It also extends to delegation because there are so many moving parts to this process. 

Task management tools are even more important in a post-COVID world. The pandemic forced companies to shift to remote or hybrid work environments. The future of the workplace is hybrid. This has increased the need for online collaboration tools. Remote work has scattered employees across locations and work shifts. A company’s task management software also doubles as its information hub, the center of each project’s multiple activities and tasks. A common and comprehensive platform is needed to integrate multiple activities in real-time.   

Read more: The Need for Seamless Business Integration in the Digital Era

How to choose an ideal task management software for your company?

When choosing a task management software for your company, you should outline your processes and goals. Of course, these priorities may differ with each company. But there are four criteria you can focus on choosing the right task management software to get an edge over your competitors.

1. Understand your task management needs as a company

Make sure you understand what exactly your company needs from task management software. What challenges do you encounter when it comes to organization and productivity? Are the employees not engaged enough due to the lack of a seamless communication system? Is there much disorganization among employees? Identify the pain points and current problems in the way your employees work. You can then work on finding the task management software that solves all these problems for you. 

2. Look for software with the best collaboration tools

When it comes to task management software, collaborative tools and capabilities are critical to the functioning of the company’s teams and the execution of their projects. In a world where remote and hybrid work cultures are here to stay, you should choose task management software that helps your employees work on the same page. In today’s market, innovation steers a company ahead of the others. Innovation needs collaboration is multifaceted and fundamental ways. Look for task management software with excellent and intuitive collaboration tools, including enhanced data security to prevent data breaches. InfinCE, for instance, has a comprehensive suite of collaboration apps. 

Today, companies have real-time collaboration or multiple employees contributing to the same report from different locations. Unlike traditional collaboration, real-time collaboration tools should be varied and multifaceted. They should enable and simplify complex real-time interactions. 

Read more: How A Collaboration Software Can Improve Productivity

3. Check for superior project planning features  

Look for task management software that allows you to plan your projects efficiently and also offers real-time updates on activities and collaborations. With project planning features, you can get updates about every task from start to finish. This also extends to how many features the software has when it comes to structuring each project and its subsequent tasks. The software also needs to make room for flexibility. The task management software should be agile and efficient.  

4. Choose software that syncs with other tools 

How well does your task management software integrate with other tools, including your company’s existing set of tools? It is important to choose software that is compatible with other productivity tools – task management apps like calendar apps, emails, spreadsheets, chats, and more. This is crucial because if you don’t check to make sure how the task management software functions with your existing software, you will have to dismantle or replace your existing software. 

One problem that a company could face when it comes to collaboration tools is installing third-party apps. Switching between them constantly when collaborating between teams or employees in different locations is cumbersome. 

Look for a collaboration platform that gives teams access to all productivity tools and apps under one roof. This helps you stay organized even as your tasks pull you in different directions.   

Read more: Why is It Necessary to Safeguard Data Privacy in Project Management?

Here’s why InfinCE has the edge over other task management software 

InfinCE is an all-in-one project management software that has all the above features and even more. It helps companies streamline tasks, automate processes and boost coordination among team members. It also provides the right productivity tools and collaboration apps to manage hybrid and remote workplaces. 

Here are a few things InfinCE offers that set it above other task management software. It uses a lot of visual cues, and this is an incredible way to enable seamless communication among teams and employees. You can visualize business performance on custom dashboards through prebuilt tiles and see all important metrics in a single view. When used with automation to optimize workflows and reduce repetitive tasks, InfinCE gives companies a competitive edge that uses its diverse set of tools.

Experience a free instance of InfinCE to get a bigger picture of this platform.

Since the beginning of 2020, digital transformation has come knocking at the doors of businesses across every primary industry. 

Over the past two years, we have transcended traditional work models and embraced remote-capable ecosystems powered by collaboration and productivity technologies. These have caused a tremendous shift in how people are collaborating and getting their work done. And this has been very beneficial.

Through this article, we’ll explore the many benefits of better systems of collaboration and how they can impact productivity and the workflows within projects. 

But let’s begin by understanding the pain points – why we need collaboration tools and the negative impacts on productivity due to a lack of effective collaboration among teams.

Read more: Moving to Hybrid Work Culture? Here’s What You Need to Consider!

How Lack of Collaboration Can Affect Projects

1. Stunted results

If you don’t have effective collaboration systems or communication tools across the organization, you may not achieve much. To build game-changing solutions in a highly competitive market, you need to leverage the skills and capabilities of your entire team. This is not possible if the digital systems in place don’t allow you to collaborate effectively.

2. Inability to plan properly

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”, Benjamin Franklin said. The success of any project rests heavily on how effectively it gets planned. Whether your organization follows AGILE, Waterfall, or any other project management model, none of their capabilities are enough to overcome improper planning. And proper planning is not possible without effective collaboration across teams.

3. Organizational silos

This is a significant challenge, especially for projects that require a lot of knowledge sharing. If the teams are not consistently aligned with each other, one side will always have incomplete information about the project or the process. This extends even beyond just information. It also holds for goals, objectives, and priorities. Unless the entire team is singing from the same sheet, nothing is going to sound good.

4. Lack of trust among people

This is a people issue than a project issue. But people are vital to any process. If there aren’t enough systems for people to easily collaborate, organizations risk fostering unnecessary competitiveness. People can become disengaged and won’t be able to develop close professional relationships or build trust.

Read more: How Can Organizations Profit More from Collaboration Software?

So, what is the solution?

The simplest answer would be to facilitate better collaboration among their teams. And how do we do that? 

The solution lies in the digital ecosystem that the organization operates within. The right digital workplace orchestration could be the difference between a successful, collaborative project and one that’s struggling to take off.

This leads us to our next point of discussion – 

How better technologies can improve collaboration and productivity

1. Breaking Down Silos

Better collaboration means better communication, which leads to better transfer of knowledge among teams. An effective digital workplace solution can empower knowledge workers to access information or educate themselves on best practices in real-time. This enables them to continue and complete their tasks. They need not wait for the information to arrive from the source or mail it back to them.

2. Transparency and Visibility

A robust digital ecosystem is beneficial not only to the people who are involved in the project but also to those who manage it. For example, collaboration tools can allow managers to maintain oversight on the project and remain in constant communication with the people involved. It will enable them to interfere appropriately and resolve crises in real-team as they arise.

3. Enhanced Workflows

Workflows benefit in multiple ways from incorporating organization-wide collaboration systems. Firstly, it speeds up the processes by reducing the time between ideation to implementation. It can also help avoid version control issues by offering easy real-time file-sharing capabilities. This removes inefficiencies like having to pass documents through emails. 

4. Engagement and Morale

A study conducted at Stanford University claimed that “when people treated as partners work together with others – even when physically apart – their motivation increases.” The simple act of connecting people can help bridge gaps between teams and build engagement and morale. When people are working in silos, they remain unaware of how their work impacts the overall project. Connecting people not only improve organizational cohesion it gives them the motivation and perspective to deliver better. 

Read more: 5 Ways InfinCE Can Save On Your Enterprise IT Budget

InfinCE- A Perfect Collaboration Platform for Businesses

Now that we know how a great collaboration platform can improve productivity let’s look at a good option for your business.

InfinCE is the only true digital workplace orchestration platform ever built. It is a one-of-a-kind solution that offers all the collaboration and productivity tools and the technical infrastructure an organization needs. 

Leveraged effectively, organizations can use InfinCE to turbocharge their workflows, deliver better, and achieve improved innovation within the organization.

Let’s check out how.

1. Cloud-based infrastructure

InfinCE offers a fully cloud-based ecosystem for its extensive list of productivity and collaboration tools. It allows employees to access these tools anytime and from anywhere in the world, on a device of their choice. Further, the model also supports real-time file sharing, allowing teams and individuals to share documents through secure access systems. This avoids delays that can arise by relying on the manual transfer of files.

2. Easy tracking and analysis

InfinCE enables business leaders to efficiently monitor and review business metrics through personalized dashboards and data visualization tiles. In addition to a whole host of pre-built standard tiles for monitoring information, it allows for customized tiles for specific requirements like monitoring servers, apps, and even employees. These insights can help leaders make faster decisions and resolve problems faster. 

3. Security

Digital security is a significant point in today’s work environment, especially when talking about a digital workplace model. InfinCE takes this into special consideration by protecting all data stored within its infrastructure with the latest cybersecurity protocols. Everything is stored securely on virtual private servers with advanced firewalls. In addition, smart access control systems permit only the right people to access or edit files. 

4. Comprehensive and Extendable 

If the digital workplace system is not capable enough or extendable for everyone’s use, an organization-wide adaptation may be impossible. This means that you risk going from individual silos to department-based silos. This is where InfinCE stands out. It comes packed with a whole host of productivity and collaboration tools. It ranges from the software to edit documents and spreadsheets to email clients and servers and much more. Further, the platform’s unique infrastructure makes it highly extendable – businesses can remove old applications and add in new software or SaaS options from other vendors.

Through this discussion, it’s easy to see how greater collaboration is directly proportional to better productivity and project management.

A powerful and effective digital workplace orchestration platform like InfinCE with its suite of productivity and collaboration tools can do wonders for your project workflows. There’s no better way to empower your teams.

Chat with our expert to learn more about InfinCE. 

Every business faces two types of challenges – the challenges from within and the challenges from outside. If you could make your employees satisfied, motivated, and excited to work, many internal issues would be solved even before they arise. One such internal challenge is Employee Engagement! Studies have found that more than half of the employees are uncomfortable with their workplace; hence they are not wholly focused on their work. But employing business collaboration software can resolve these issues.

An innovative all-in-one collaboration platform like InfinCE can minimize all workspace-related issues and motivate your employees to work more eagerly and enthusiastically. The most attractive side of InfinCE business collaboration software is that it lets you unify the entire workforce and brings together all of them to strive for a common goal. 

Below explains what you should consider when looking for a perfect team collaboration solution for your business.

Read more: A Guide to Improving Workplace Collaboration for the Modern Enterprise

Criteria for Choosing Collaboration Software

As there are numerous business collaboration platforms out in the market, entrepreneurs often find themselves in a dilemma when choosing one that will benefit their organization. Apparently, there are many things to be considered to ensure effective integration of the software in terms of its cost, output, and scalability. Some of the key features an ideal business collaboration solution should include are:

1. Advanced Communication Options

The primary goal of any business adopting a collaboration platform is to ensure streamlined communication among the employees. Therefore, integrating communication features like instant messaging, audio/video calling options, private and group chat options, etc., into the application makes it a perfect fit.

Different companies have different policies when it comes to communicating within their company. They may even change their communication policies from time to time. For example, some prefer emails, while some others may rely on audio/video conferences. Some may also use multiple communication channels for different employee hierarchies, such as video conferencing with top-level management and audio calling for others.

It is important to keep a tab on these aspects before you finalize a collaboration software for your company. Additionally, it is also essential to check the compatibility of the software across multiple types of devices – PCs, tablets, and smartphones to ensure it improves employee engagement.

2. File-Sharing Tools

Conventional file sharing via email has many drawbacks, and it even exposes the data in emails to cyber threats. Besides, as more and more emails with attachments pile up in the inbox, it would be pretty challenging to find the required data when you need to pull out something quickly before a meeting. However, in a modern business collaboration software like InfinCE, there are many user-friendly options for file sharing, which make it all effortless.

For instance, you can quickly share the link to a file stored in the cloud storage of InfinCE while at a conference. It allows the other team members to access the file and relevant data quickly. It is even possible to set user-level permissions on the files to limit the access to sensitive data for the top management. 

Often, it is quite a nuisance to download a file from one cloud storage space and upload it into the collaboration tool again or upload a file from the local device when you are in a virtual huddle. However, it will never be the same when you use the InfinCE collaboration platform for your business.

3. Event Management Solutions

Meetings and conferences are quite common in a modern business organization. However, keeping all the members informed about a scheduled meeting, getting their participation confirmation, and coordinating the events is no cakewalk. Business collaboration software plays another significant role here by giving you a streamlined calendar.

The integrated calendar in InfinCE allows you to keep track of all the upcoming events from a single dashboard. You can share the calendar with the team members to keep everyone in the organization informed on what is going on in the company, even if they do not need to participate in all planned events.

Read more: How InfinCE Online Collaboration Tool Helps Achieve Your Business Goals

4. Support Services

While moving to a new working ecosystem of collaboration software, we are bound to have many questions. Getting everything on track will take time and requires assistance for the same. With InfinCE collaboration software, you will not face any issues because it offers round-the-clock technical support services via three modes – email, chat, and phone. Be it a simple requirement or a complicated problem, you can reach out to the tech support team to resolve things quickly.

Another benefit of having dedicated support for your collaboration platform is that it flattens the learning curve. There could be many features that you are unfamiliar with and may not have someone to guide you through them. With 24/7 support, you can master the functions of your business collaboration tool in no time.

5. Security Features

Before you choose your collaboration tool, you need to find out the level of security it offers. Does it speak about the security policies, the precautions users need to take, and remedial actions to observe in case of adversity? 

When using a top-level collaboration tool like InfinCE, the admin is entrusted with huge responsibilities to ensure the security of the software. However, the software itself can provide high security only if a well-informed admin monitors the processes from time to time. That is where InfinCE delivers a unified dashboard to help the system and network admin track the security of the tool. At the same time, it also allows assigning roles and integrating security features like two-factor authentication and secured sign-in options to evade risks. Above all, you can count on the transparency of InfinCE for all your security concerns.

Watch: How InfinCE’s Collaboration Apps and Productivity Tools Helps Businesses Gain a Competetive Edge!

How Can You Benefit from Using Business Collaboration Software

When great minds work together for a common goal, the result will be amazing. Business collaboration software creates a space for improved cooperation and lays the stepping stone for achieving impeccable results. Moreover, with effective collaboration among the workforce, the time required for realizing the goals becomes shorter. It eventually translates into business growth and the overall profitability of the company.

Apart from breaking the barriers to business growth due to lack of communication among the workforce, a reliable all-in-one collaboration platform also paves the way for better scalability. When you can monitor all the resources, experiences, finances, and infrastructure from a unified dashboard, it is easy to proactively tackle any challenges and make effective problem-solving decisions. What’s more, when you ensure optimal employee engagement and productivity, you can explore modern markets, build new relationships, and invest in diverse market structures.

Collaboration is an integral part of every business’ success. The above-discussed points highlight how business collaboration software promotes employee cooperation and satisfaction in today’s new world order. Superior innovation, productivity, and efficiency are guaranteed when you integrate a modern collaboration tool like InfinCE and utilize its features to the fullest. Connect with our experts today to know more about InfinCE, or just Sign Up 30 days free trial to explore!

Benefits of Monitoring Your Virtual Desktop Infrastructure in Real-time

As more and more companies send their workforces to operate remotely, the IT market is witnessing a surge in demand for VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure). The development of the high-performance network 5G and next-generation computing devices make VDI an integral aspect of cloud computing today. 

For those who are not familiar with VDI, here is a simple definition. Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) refers to the technology that employs virtual machines to manage virtual desktops. It hosts virtual desktop environments on a centralized server so that they can be deployed immediately upon request by end-users. It differs from desktop virtualization in the sense that VDI can be both persistent and non-persistent.  

Desktop virtualization is a general umbrella term that covers any technology employed to break-up a desktop environment from the system hardware that is used to access it. While Virtual Desktop Infrastructure can be considered a type of desktop virtualization, VDI can be implemented in multiple ways like managing remote desktop services.

Read more: How IT Teams Can Prepare to Support Remote Workforce During COVID-19 

How Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Works

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure uses a hypervisor to separate a server into different virtual machines that have the capability to host virtual desktops. These virtual desktops can be accessed by end-users remotely from their devices, while the host server will do all the processing and manage the allocation of resources. VDI can also have software-based gateways to let users connect to the appropriate virtual desktop environment securely.

In persistent Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, users connect to the same virtual desktop environment every time they access it. This makes it easier to customize the desktop for their specific needs, such as a personal physical desktop. In non-persistent VDI, users connect to generic virtual desktop environments, and there is no need to maintain any customized desktop environment between sessions. This allows companies to manage their resources effectively with a large set of employees that do not need a tailored desktop.

Key Benefits of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

In the modern-day scenario, VDI can help businesses overcome the challenges that legacy systems posed. This can be in terms of user mobility, ease of access, security, flexibility, and performance. Organizations can now use hyper-converged infrastructure to facilitate greater scalability and high performance at significantly low costs. 

Although VDI may seem a bit complex to some businesses, the enterprise adoption of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure can benefit the company.

1. Effective Centralized Management

VDI works based on a centralized format, which allows the IT team to update, patch, or configure multiple virtual desktops within the network quickly.

Read more: Top 4 Advantages of Centralized IT Administration for Your Business 

2. Seamless Remote Access

VDI lets users connect to the virtual desktop environment from any location using any device, making it more flexible and convenient for different teams to collaborate on a project.

3. Better Cost Savings

VDI handles all the processing tasks at the server level, which keeps the hardware requirements for end-user machines in check, leading to better cost savings for the organization.

4. High-end Security

VDI manages data on the server, making it easier to protect sensitive enterprise information with high-end security features rather than managing security at multiple endpoint devices.

5. Superior Performance

VDI can be used in all kinds of business scenarios as it allows deploying virtual desktops for end-users on-demand efficiently, thereby boosting the remote workforce’s performance.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure is also ideal for organizations that have BYOD policies in effect. As the centralized server will handle all the processing jobs, VDI can accommodate a broader range of devices while maintaining endpoint security and data integrity. However, managing VDI involves dealing with an extreme level of complexity. So, there could be many scenarios that will create challenges for the company.

Read more: 5 Ways Virtual Private Server Make a Difference to Your Business’s Digital Future 

How Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Monitoring Helps

The most common challenges in employing VDI are:

• interruptions in the network connection, 
• poor user experience, and 
• issues related to functionality. 

Troubleshooting virtual desktop environments can be overwhelming for the IT team. So, using Virtual Desktop Infrastructure monitoring tools is a viable solution.

VDI monitoring refers to monitoring, reviewing, and managing the functions, operations, and performance of the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure environment in an organization. It allows easy implementation of troubleshooting steps while facilitating security appraisal and better performance management. Nonetheless, VDI monitoring involves dealing with several processes and methodologies across the virtual desktop environment endpoints and the hypervisor layer, making it an intricate and extensive process.

VDI Monitoring: Setting Up the Objectives

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure monitoring uses a dedicated application or a virtual monitor to manage its operations. This allows the system to track user activity, operational status, security features, resource allocation, and more at every layer of the VDI. This makes it essential to define the monitoring platform’s objectives to effectively address all the problems related to operations, connectivity, and infrastructure. In general, the VDI monitoring tool should:

• Provide the necessary insights on all the levels of the VDI, including the hypervisor, virtual machines, and software-based gateways
• Provide extensive visibility of the networks, routers, communications links, servers, and applications of the platform
• Provide reports based on these levels of visibility to resolve the identified problems in the infrastructure or general platform

VDI Monitoring: Choosing the Tools

Selecting the tools for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure monitoring relies on the nature of the problem. Some VDI monitoring tools are designed to address the server-side issues, while some focus mainly on the client-side issues. Nevertheless, VDI monitoring should be based on a broader outlook of problems at every level of the infrastructure and the platform. Typically, VDI monitoring tools can be classified into three groups:

• Management and monitoring tools from VDI solutions providers that work on a licensing scheme and are more administration oriented
• Tools specially designed to review, monitor, and manage VDI platforms, which support the development of a hybrid structure for problem resolution
• General-purpose monitoring tools that cover VDI projects and allow organizations to evaluate the performance of the platform based on varied metrics

Ensuring Success

To ensure successful Virtual Desktop Infrastructure monitoring and guarantee optimal performance, it is vital to choose a reliable VDI monitoring tool packed with powerful features to track every aspect of the virtualization platform, network, applications, and server. Simultaneously, IT teams should be trained in employing VDI architecture, its various transactions, and elements. IT teams should also possess the technical knowledge to monitor the VDI in real-time to ensure that all the operations continue running smoothly.

InfinCE, a remote work platform, empowers your remote teams with access to their digital workspaces through powerful, secure, and flexible virtual desktops, anytime. Focus on your business, while we take care of the setup and maintenance of your virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and applications. Get in touch with us to learn more. 

Leading Examples of How Technology Helps in Managing Virtual Teams

Technology advancements have eliminated the constraints of physical boundaries for businesses. Today, every business is looking to serve a global customer base leveraging different digital channels. Even organizations that only serve regionally are increasingly adopting digital tools to improve their business processes better and cater to their customer’s growing needs.

All of that has led to the increasing popularity of remote work culture and virtual team management. Employees nowadays find it more convenient to perform their duties from remote locations using team collaboration apps. It also helps companies cut infrastructure costs. Today, it has become vital to employ the right online collaboration software to manage the virtual teams and ensure the right outcomes effectively.

How Team Collaboration Software Helps Manage Virtual Workforce

Virtual work culture has benefits as well as challenges. Common challenges faced by entrepreneurs managing virtual teams include scheduling work across different time zones, lack of transparency, ineffective communication, and other technical and socio-emotional issues. Leaders need to be more disciplined with their team management strategies and use a robust all-in-one online collaboration software platform to ensure optimum productivity.

Modern all-in-one team collaboration software comes with multiple features, such as instant messaging, video conferencing, file sharing, data storage, time tracking, reporting, and other capabilities to keep your team engaged and ensure better results. This way, you can also instill individual accountability, clarify job roles, define team norms, and do a lot more. Below are some examples of how technology and remote work tools can enhance virtual team management.

Read more: 5 Points To Consider While Choosing Your Enterprise Collaboration Software 

1. Improved Communication

Efficient and fast communication always plays a crucial role in facilitating the flow of ideas across the workplace. Online collaboration apps allow you to connect with team members at different locations via one-on-one or group video conferencing, audio calls, instant messaging, and other means. This way, you can remove all the communication barriers that often crop up among virtual teams and keep your team aligned with the business goals.

Read more: 5 Best Practices To Enable Seamless Communication For Your Remote Workforce 

2. Superior Brainstorming

Remote work removes time pressure and allows all team members to contribute toward achieving the business objectives. Generating ideas through brainstorming helps find the most suitable alternatives and devise the best plans for realizing your short-term and long-term goals. Besides, online collaboration software also makes project management more effective by facilitating real-time interaction and access to essential data. You can also set realistic deadlines so that the brainstorming process yields the best results.

3. Informed Decision Making

The cloud-based document storage features in the collaboration apps allow seamless cooperation across different departments. In other words, it overcomes the hurdles of not being in the same location. Having a shared space for communication and collaboration empowers employees to work collectively and figure out the best strategies, inspirations, ideas, and tactics to achieve the business goals. Moreover, discussing the possibilities over video conferencing can help make more informed decisions while keeping the entire team in the loop.

4. Seamless Information Access

Gone are the days when you needed to inform your team members about the changes in business policies or other strategies by email. Using online collaboration software, you can let your virtual team know of the updates in real-time while also sending individual notifications about the changes. You can even tag different team members to review the updates or take the necessary action. As you can store all the data and files in a centralized location, remote employees can easily access the relevant information to perform their jobs.

5. Easy Reporting

Working with virtual teams means collaborating with people in different time zones. It can make monitoring team productivity and efficiency a bit confusing for project managers. However, modern team collaboration software platforms can make it painless by providing employee performance tracking and time management features. You can also generate reports on the progress of different projects and advise the team about what needs to be done to meet the shortcomings.

6. Better Relationships

Building good relationships is a vital aspect of a successful business, which may seem quite challenging for companies managing virtual teams. Remote teams usually spend very little time engaging with each other than what happens in a typical physical workplace. That is why you need to schedule regular meetings and keep the channels open for social conversations to build better employee-management relationships. That will go a long way to develop rapport and boost the confidence of your team members.

Read more: 4 Tips To Attain Success In The New Normal Remote Work Environment 

All-in-one online collaboration software can effectively tackle your virtual work culture’s challenges and let you make the most of your digital workforce. By following the best practices and getting the right virtual collaboration tool, you can ensure the most productive outcomes.

Read more: 5 Features of InfinCE that will Transform The Way You Work 

The pandemic showed us that it is possible to maintain your productivity levels while working from home to be on par with an office-based culture. Hence the only requirement is that you make the right collaboration platform available to employees. With secure information policies, seamless cloud-based deployment and management, InfinCE offers the best enterprise collaboration platform for today’s businesses. Get in touch with us to explore more. 

Building an ideal digital workplace today: What you need to know!

The modern-day workplace is evolving rapidly with remote working culture, distributed teams, innovative business models, and more. This has led to the rise of many digital workplace software solutions that empower organizations to make the most of their digital transformation. Yet the availability of multiple features in online collaboration tools also makes it a bit difficult to choose the right one for your needs. That is why it is important to understand how online collaboration software can help to unlock your business potential for the better.

The need for robust digital workplace software solutions has never been more important to tackle the new challenges. Traditional content management systems and remote work tools do not make the cut anymore. You need to equip your business with the right solutions to ensure high-end productivity and improve the efficiency of your digital workplace. Here is a checklist that will help you in that regard.

1. Define the Strategy and Roadmap

You need a dependable digital workplace strategy and roadmap before you start investing in any kind of online collaboration tools. It is imperative to determine your goals and technology priorities and understand how the remote work platform can provide more value to your business, your employees, and your consumers. This way, you can find the best solutions for meeting your specific requirements and ensure that your business processes support your objectives.

Read more: 5 Points To Consider While Choosing Your Enterprise Collaboration Software

2. Focus on Project Management

Once you have identified the need for online collaboration software for boosting your digital workplace culture, you need to see how they can help with project management. Your ultimate goal should be to make sure that your team members stay aligned with the company objectives and perform their roles on time to meet the targets. Similarly, your remote work software should also allow you to analyze the market trends so that you can figure out the right approaches to stay ahead of the competition.

Read more: 5 Ways A Project Management Tool Can Help Your Business Grow 

3. Ensure Seamless Communication

The most practical benefit of remote work software is that they allow easy communication. Yet this should not be limited to instant messaging alone; you should also make sure that your team can seamlessly share relevant files and information to make it more effective. Therefore, you need to invest in all-in-one digital workplace software that allows you to make the most of both top-down and bottom-up communication channels through different features like polls, feedback forms, news bulletins, etc.

Read more: 5 Best Practices To Enable Seamless Communication For Your Remote Workforce 

4. Include Video Conferencing Features

While you are looking for seamless communication, also see if your remote work platform comes with video conferencing capabilities. This is one of the most popular modes of communication these days and helps to ensure that your remote team can have face-to-face interactions with each other. Likewise, it should also have simple collaboration tools to let your employees convey their ideas across easily. This way, you can maintain good relationships within the company and ensure superior productivity and business efficiency.

Read more: Why is InfinCE the safest choice for your company’s video conferencing requirements? 

5. Leverage the Power of Chatbots

Chatbots powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) can perform many of the day-to-day rule-based business tasks to ease the stress on your employees. That makes automation and chatbots an integral part of any digital workplace, allowing your team to focus on other important aspects of the business. Besides, chatbots can also help to streamline employee access to essential data and information across the business network. Chatbots also enhance customer experience by facilitating quick responses to their queries.

Read more: Automation In Small Business: 4 Areas To Get Started

6. Look for Personalization

Your online collaboration software should also come with personalization features and allow you to customize the digital workplace solution as per your needs. Many of the modern all-in-one workplace collaboration platforms come with AI-driven personalization capabilities, which give you superior results in terms of delivering relevant information as per the user roles, location, preferences, interests, and other activities. This can help to boost employee engagement and ensure improved productivity and experience.

Read more: Personalize your digital workplace with InfinCE’s enterprise collaboration features 

7. Opt for Flexible Integrations

Your business may already be using many different digital systems such as ERP solutions, CRM systems, content management infrastructure, etc. Therefore, you should make sure that your digital workplace platform allows flexible integrations with these systems as well. That way, you can continue using the existing digital platforms for your intended purposes and make them even more efficient by integration with the remote work software. Remember that your goal should be to unify these systems with technology and not create disruptions in the business processes.

8. Keep an Eye on Data Security

Data security forms the backbone of any company in today’s digitally-advanced era. As your employees will be accessing critical business data from different locations using the remote work tools, you need to make certain that the online collaboration tools you use are equipped with high-end data security features. This should go beyond standard user authentication and limited access; instead, you should bring additional safety features like firewall protection and data encryption to the mix.

Read more: 5 Features of InfinCE that will Transform The Way You Work 

The modern-day workplace can be complex, but it is not too difficult to navigate. You just need the right digital workplace software solution to strengthen your systems and ensure improved efficiency, productivity, and revenue.

The impact of using workplace technology is growing strong in every industry. Powerful workplace apps like InfinCE empowers businesses to make the most of digital transformation. Remote work software will not just ensure higher employee productivity and satisfaction, but also lead to better customer experience and help in superior revenue generation. Get in touch with us to understand how InfinCE can be the game-changing workplace application for your enterprise. 

10 Leading Apps for Secure Enterprise File Transfer in 2020

From being one of the world’s most severe pandemics, the COVID-19 disease has devastated economies of almost all countries worldwide by forcing them to go into lockdown situations that were unprecedented in the past. There are several businesses that have been forced to operate with their staff working remotely and their business moving to predominantly digital channels. From retail to finance, there was a rapid shift in consumer appetite from an in-person store or branch visit to availing of goods and services from the comfort of their homes. To sustain operations of their digital customer channels, businesses had to ensure that their workforce too was able to work seamlessly and productively from their homes. However, conducting daily business operations from home rather than an office environment had its fair share of challenges. One of the most dominant challenges that existed was facilitating seamless and secure file sharing between employees. 

Confidential files that involved sensitive information are often shared between employees of the same department or between departments for various operational reasons. While at the office, the securely monitored local network serves as the best medium to share files irrespective of a file’s size. Being locally hosted and monitored, there wasn’t any threat from erroneous or malicious access being made of the files. For employees who now have to work from home, businesses have to rely on internet-based file-sharing platforms to enable continuity of their operations through successful employee collaboration.

Read more: 6 Ways to Build a Secure File Sharing Practice Within Your Organization

Keeping this need of facilitating secure file transfer between employees, let us explore the top 10 apps that help businesses achieve this feat seamlessly:

1. InfinCE

If you are looking for a one-stop-shop to enable your business to transition into a digital-friendly one, then InfinCE is the solution you have been searching for. InfinCE offers unparalleled cloud file storage and sharing options as well as becomes a comprehensive enterprise digital platform for collaboration, customer relationship management, HRM, and all core operational areas. InfinCE offers a branded cloud platform and a custom website builder with personalized options to match your brand’s identity. 

Read more: 5 Features of InfinCE that will Transform The Way You Work 

2. Dropbox Business

One of the early birds in the cloud storage market, Dropbox made its name from being the preferred destination for storing and sharing files online. For businesses, they have a dedicated enterprise version offering seamless file sharing, collaboration, and synchronization while ensuring secure information exchange between stakeholders.

3. G Suite Google Drive

Google is the undisputed leader for personal communication and collaboration with its range of services like Gmail and G Suite web productivity and storage apps. For businesses, Google offers an even more superlative file sharing and collaborative experience with its dedicated business focused G Suite Google Drive services. With highly affordable subscription plans and splendid support, it offers a great value proposition for businesses of all sizes.

4. One Drive for Business

Microsoft did not want to be left out of the enterprise file sharing market when its key rivals were all offering highly competitive products to entice customers. The One Drive for Business platform offers a highly scalable cloud-based storage and file sharing service that allows employees to securely share large files with their peers effortlessly and also get access to Microsoft’s leading enterprise collaboration tools like MS Word, PowerPoint, etc. as integrated subscription options for very attractive prices.

Read more: Top 10 Alternatives to Microsoft Teams that Aid Remote Work in 2020 

5. Citrix ShareFile

Citrix is a darling of the enterprise world where thousands of companies rely on their virtualization and secure remote access platforms to conduct business. The file-sharing app offered by Citrix offers an equally efficient job of helping businesses facilitate better and more secure file sharing to sustain their operations.

6. Firefox Send

The world’s most popular open-source web browser offers a free and secure file sharing feature via the Firefox Send option. It allows users to share files securely by simply dragging and dropping the file into the browser and share access links to relevant stakeholders. You even have options to set expiry for the files after a certain number of downloads or even set password protection for added security.

7. WeTransfer

WeTransfer provides business users with a simple drag and drop interface to host files on the cloud and share it with privileged access to any stakeholder. With free and paid versions available, the platform offers one of the quickest free sharing experiences for any collaborative file.

8. FileCloud

If you need a file-sharing platform that can be customized with your own intuitive corporate branding guidelines, then FileCloud is the perfect option for your business. It offers a highly personalized dashboard that can be modified according to your branding guidelines to give a unique user experience for all your employees while they use it to share files seamlessly with peers.

9. Box Business

Box is also one of the earliest cloud storage companies that revolutionized online file sharing. With seamless integration capabilities for G-suite, Office 365, and other popular collaboration platforms, Box makes for an attractive enterprise data-sharing platform with secure credentials thanks to its focus on encryption using data protection policies of high standards.

10. SendAnywhere

This is one platform that sticks to its name more rigorously to carry out its operations. It simply lets users send files from one location to anywhere using its secure data transfer channel. A paid subscription offers higher data caps and more control over transfer permissions making it a worthy contender for today’s business users.

Read more: 11 Online Collaboration Tools That Facilitate Remote Work In 2020

We hope you get to make an informed choice for your business’s digital future from our recommendations above and enable your staff to seamlessly share information and collaborate on work. Besides secure file transfer, InfinCE offers a basket of features that enable hassle-free and seamless remote work for enterprises of all sizes. 

Get in touch with us to know more about how InfinCE can be the best remote cloud platform for your business. 

How can businesses pick the right enterprise collaboration platform?

Recently, we wrote about the leading online collaboration tools that facilitate remote work in 2020 and which are the best alternatives to Microsoft Teams your business can consider. We know how important it must be for you to facilitate remote work collaboration among your teams positioned far and wide, at their homes or co-working spaces. That’s why this time we decided to share a few tips on what all you need to consider while choosing the best enterprise collaboration software for your business. 

Half the year down, COVID-19 is still doing its rounds worldwide, pushing the economy to a slow reopening after months of lockdown. While some countries are experiencing drastic spikes in the number of cases, others are witnessing a gradual decline of cases. Irrespective of their geographical positions, a huge section of the global workforce is poised to continue working remotely for a long time to come in the interest of safety.

Read more: 5 Tips To Effectively Manage Remote Teams During Challenging Times

So, here are 5 things you need to keep in mind while choosing an enterprise collaboration platform for your business:

1. Evaluate your needs

All modern-day enterprise collaboration platforms have tons of features and each of these features may sound exciting when you hear or explore them initially. However, not all businesses need all these features to be present in their collaboration software. You need to go back to the drawing board, run a campaign internally within your workforce to identify the challenges they face in collaboration, the tools, and support they need through a collaboration platform, and then have a look at features offered by leading vendors. This will help to keep your digital infrastructure optimized and personalized according to the needs of your workforce. 

Rather than the management implementing a platform that is most appealing to them, the focus here is to garner requirements from the actual workforce who would be using this platform for collaboration and then pick a vendor that offers these features on demand.

2. Scalability

It is likely that every collaboration software you came across in your search will be a cloud-based one. Thus, you assume that they will be scalable. But scalability is not restricted to just storage on the cloud. By scalability, we mean the ability of the platform to grow across all dimensions as more departments and processes in your business go into the platform. It includes support for feature additions, easy development of new features, accommodating multiple processes and new policies over time, and above all, handles more complex computing needs in the future based on your business’s growth. 

A digital collaboration platform is not something that you invest and implement for the short term. It will be a crucial digital platform that will grow with your business and adapt to changing work trends in the future.

Read More: How IT Teams Can Prepare to Support Remote Workforce During COVID-19

3. Cost Efficiency

As described in one of the previous points, your business may not need all features as advertised by vendors. By subscribing to more features, you will end up paying more on the subscription fee if the platform offers a “pay for what you use” model of subscription. Some features may be needed only in the future when your business grows and more employees use these features. Hence a platform that allows you to configure your subscription is the most desired option from a cost perspective. Once you identify the features you really need as described earlier, you can pick a vendor that offers you the freedom to pay for only those features on demand.

4. Security

When almost all of your employees work remotely, it is likely that confidential and sensitive customer information will be handled through the enterprise collaboration platform you deploy. Hence there needs to be an adequate security protocol in place within the software that lets you make governing policies on data and information exchange within the digital environment. Permissioned access, transparent work and project management, logged activities, etc. will be required to ensure that there is no compromise in security.

Read more: Why Is InfinCE A Better Choice For Safe Video Calling Than Zoom

5. Usability

When employees are suddenly moved into a new paradigm of working, there will be disruptive impacts on their daily routine. On top of that, if they are allotted a new collaboration platform without adequate onboarding time and awareness, the chaos will multiply many folds. To make a smoother transition into a new enterprise collaboration software, companies must pick a digital platform that has a high focus on usability and provides a comprehensive support and training exercise to help make the transition seamless. 

These tips could be video demonstrations, how to use manuals, a comprehensive FAQ section, dedicated support associates available all time, and much more. Platforms with intuitive interfaces and a shorter learning curve can be given preference for quicker adoption in your workforce.

The remote work culture is here to stay for a long time. We did not mean to say that there will not be a return to the office, but even when work resumes from office, employees would certainly feel much more comfortable to avail of Work from Home options occasionally. The pandemic showed us that it is possible to maintain your productivity levels while working from home to be on par with an office-based culture. 

Read more: How InfinCE Helps You Quickly Transit to Remote Working

Hence the only requirement is that you make the right collaboration platform available to employees. With secure information policies, seamless cloud-based deployment and management, InfinCE offers the best enterprise collaboration platform for today’s businesses. Get in touch with us to explore more. 

Here is a list of the leading remote collaboration tools of 2020

We’re nearing the halfway mark of 2020, and most of the world’s working population has shifted to remote working. This transition would not have been possible if powerful digital collaboration tools for employees to stay connected were not available. From schools to IT companies, every organization has integrated an online communication and collaboration platform to help their workforce carry out daily operations smoothly and interact with their peers, customers, or any relevant stakeholders in their work. 

Read more: 5 Best Practices To Enable Seamless Communication For Your Remote Workforce

Here is a look at the top 11 online collaboration tools that made a difference for businesses in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic:

1. InfinCE

While collaboration and communication are the key elements to look forward while choosing a digital platform for your business, InfinCE offers enterprises with a host of other features in addition to the key elements like an integrated CRM, Rich management dashboards, cloud-based secure web hosting, virtual desktops and much more. It is one of the best online collaboration tools for small and medium businesses.

2. Microsoft Office 365 and Teams

One of the most popular players in the global software industry, Microsoft has helped numerous organizations manage their remote work operations smoothly with their pool of collaboration tools and platforms. From productivity tools like MS Word, Excel, etc. to video and conferencing solutions like MS Teams, they offer a large set of options for businesses to choose from.

3.  Slack

Slack definitely needs no introduction to several global companies as it has helped millions to collaborate efficiently even before the COVID-19 pandemic took things in a different direction. Offering personalized experiences, video and team conferencing, mobile app support, and seamless integration with popular cloud storage services, Slack offers a solution for all your remote work needs.

4. Zoho Cliq

From simplifying team communication to managing real-time messaging, task schedules, and automation, Zoho Cliq offers enterprises of all sizes with a comprehensive suite of collaboration tools. It also offers easy integration with other 3^rd party platforms for storage, calendar management and even offers easy management of customer relationships by integrating seamlessly with Zoho’s own established CRM solution.

5. Trello

Trello has a massive fan base across the globe, be it amongst organizations or individual freelancers and consultants. The primary reason for this fan following is undoubtedly the simplicity of the platform to help organize multiple tasks that require collaboration from a number of employees. The simple interface and easy navigation within individual Trello cards help managers and employees to handle even complex projects efficiently with Trello and it integrates well with other platforms such as Slack, Google Drive, GitHub, etc. to make the experience even more rewarding for teams.

6. Asana

From organizing workflows, tracking work progress, and facilitating seamless communication, Asana is still one of the veterans in the online collaboration space and has been around since 2008. Companies like Intel and Uber rely on Asana as their core communication platform to stay organized, enable better conversations between staff, and manage diverse projects and their individual task progress.

7.  Google G-Suite

Undoubtedly one of the world’s most well-known tech brands, Google doesn’t want to be left behind in the race for online collaboration tools. Its G-Suite platform offers a host of capabilities with a collection of apps for various enterprise collaboration activities. You have everything from emails to video conferencing to productivity apps all rolled into different subscription plans that you may feel free to choose depending on your organization’s size. With top-notch security, support, and scalability, G-Suite is a trusted platform for thousands of businesses worldwide to help run their operations smoothly.

Read more: 5 Workplace Innovations You Can Welcome with Video Conferencing

8. Ryver

Ryver offers a simple and easy to use interface for employees to connect and converse within an enterprise. From the ease of setting up teams to offering privileged features to different groups and the ability to manage private virtual spaces for individual project discussions, Ryver has grown into a strategic internal tool for several modern-day businesses. A major highlight of Ryver is the Facebook inspired intranet feed where employees can converse together/with each other on updates shared by the organization.

9. Facebook for Work

How amazing it would be if virtual office collaboration tools work similarly to Facebook with the same theme and inspired layouts? Well, this is exactly what Facebook themselves tried to offer when they launched the Facebook for Work platform. From productivity apps to seamless communication channels, the social media giant has brought several inspiring features into the product aimed at making internal enterprise communication interesting.

10. Podio

Podio makes for a great mobile-friendly workforce communication and collaboration platform. It offers flexible configuration options and easy integration with several functional and productivity apps like Evernote, Google Drive, Dropbox, and much more.

11.  Basecamp

A darling of technology service companies, Basecamp brings together a very useful set of capabilities for communication and collaboration under one roof. With a highly affordable fee for unlimited teams, it finds tremendous use in companies with more staff.

Read more: 4 ways to bolster your IT team’s efficiency to support remote operations during COVID-19

With COVID-19 showing minimal signs of weakening, your business will be in dire need of an online collaboration platform to help employees stay connected. Get in touch with us to explore why InfinCE will be your best choice among the 11 we have covered in this blog.

CRM systems have come a long way from their origins as contact management systems for storing and retrieving contact information. Enterprises across-the-board now regard it as a valuable and indispensable tool to not just manage and improve relationships with contacts but to manage the entire gamut of customer relationship management.

The nature of CRM has also witnessed a tectonic shift. Cloud-based CRM now dominates with 87% of the total market share, a big jump from just 12% in 2007. The overwhelming preference for cloud-based CRM is for good reasons.

1. The Cloud Facilitates Big Savings in Cost and Effort

On-premises CRM entails huge upfront investment in hardware and servers. The cloud CRM vendor absorbs such investment and offers a pay-as-you-go payment model for clients. Businesses pay only a monthly charge, converting their capital-expense (CAPEX) costs into an easy attributable operational expense (OPEX.) Still better, the CRM becomes easily scalable, with the ability to add capacity easily as and when required, and scale-down during downtime.

The spillover monetary benefits of hosting CRM in the cloud includes hassle-free maintenance, no troubleshooting, and freedom from having to upgrade the CRM periodically. These tasks are done by the vendor, and the enterprise can, in fact, do without single IT personnel in-house.

Cloud-based systems are quick and painless to deploy as well. The set-up is as simple as paying the subscription fees and logging in. Cloud-based CRM systems tend to prioritize ease of use and accessibility, meaning easier learning curve for end users and lesser training costs for enterprises.

2. Cloud Enables Anytime, Anywhere Access

The biggest advantage of cloud-based CRM is anytime, anywhere access. The data and the software reside in the cloud, and accessible through convenient mobile apps or other front end software, without constraints of geography or time. The ability to access the CRM through intuitive mobile apps is arguably the single biggest benefit of cloud-based CRM considering 65% of employees achieve their sales quota when using mobile CRM, and only 22% of employees achieve their sales quota when mobile CRM isn’t used.

The anytime anywhere access make cloud hosted CRM ideal for today’s fast-paced and highly competitive world, where opportunities exist only for a short while and have to be seized at the instant. Opportunities come knocking rarely. With a cloud-based CRM ready, the executive is ready to seize the opportunity by having all information and resources in his smartphone, regardless of whether he is at the airport, a spa, a business meeting or out for lunch.

3. Cloud Brings Integrated Data Management

A cloud-based CRM not just centralizes data in one place, but is also handy to integrate information from external, disparate sources, such as media activity, project management information, accounting information, and more. Dedicated cloud integration tools facilitate the seamless sharing of data from disparate sources.

The integrated and consolidated processing of information prevents gaps in information or understanding when dealing with a customer across multiple touch points. Marketers and other users have access to real-time or latest data, synced from the cloud server whenever online.

4. Cloud-Based CRM is Always Updated

Upgrading on-premises CRM is a hassle, requiring modification of the code, and provisioning everything again. With a cloud-based CRM, the vendor takes up the task. The vendor is more likely to upgrade the CRM and co-opt new features very fast, to pre-empt losing customers to competitor products. Cloud-based CRM vendors are also more likely to innovate, to offer better features and functionality, to differentiate themselves from competitors.

5. Cloud CRM Facilitates Seamless Collaboration

A cloud-based CRM doubles up as an effective collaboration tool, offering remote and off-site employees a reliable and robust medium to connect and collaborate with their team and customers alike. The Cloud CRM offers a common interface enabling team members to share data and updates that contribute to the end objective of increasing sales and customer satisfaction. International teams especially can collaborate effectively across time-zones.

6. Cloud Offers Robust Security More Often Than Not

Security is the literally the million dollar question staring at enterprises in the wake of heightened security breaches. A 2018 study by Juniper Research estimates cybercriminals to steal an estimated 33 billion records in 2023, up from an already whopping 12 billion records in 2018.

Contrary to perception, the cloud is more secure than on-premises systems. Any decent cloud-based CRM offers robust security, free from the usual suspects of out-of-date software. The CRM is the bread and butter rather than an appendix, the vendor is more likely to and is able to take the proper precautions, with dedicated staff looking to discovering and closing weak security points.

CRM also lessens the risk of system failure, with dedicated servers and redundant databases minimizing the risk of loss of data or downtime. Businesses have the flexibility to negotiate an SLA service-level agreement with an agreed upon level of service, including the acceptable “downtime,” beyond which compensation sets in.

While the cloud-based CRM offers several advantages, it is by no means a magic wand to success. Success depends on the skillful implementation, overcoming challenges such as retaining control of data, effective collaboration with the vendor’s support system and provisioning adequate bandwidth to access the cloud seamlessly. With INFINCE make it all possible. Call us today to learn how INFINCE can help you battle business challenges with infinite cloud.