What Are The Best Online Collaboration Tools Of 2021?

Since the beginning of 2020, many companies have had to rethink the way they view and implement business collaboration efforts. Online collaboration has become the saving grace for most organizations looking to ensure that their staff and end-client can efficiently collaborate on pressing initiatives online. 

With more work moving online, it can be tough to understand which particular online collaboration tools or applications best suit your company’s needs.

LDI’s cloud communications team provides a business consultative approach to helping customers identify which tools and applications can best serve their team and end clients. We have worked with various businesses to understand their requirements and recommend collaborative technology solutions that can best be leveraged.

This article will act as a guide to the best online collaboration tools of 2021 so that your business can get a thorough understanding of which tool may fit your needs better. After reading this article, you will know which online collaboration tool is right for your business.

What Is An Online Collaboration Tool?

An online collaboration tool or web-based application is a platform that provides basic services such as instant messaging, file sharing mechanisms, and collaborative search engines (CSE) to help an organization, team, or community effectively distribute information and collaborate.

An online collaboration tool can bridge the gap between working remotely and working in the office by providing a seamless way of interacting and getting feedback on important projects with one click.

As online collaboration continues to grow in popularity, it can be hard to discern which tools will provide your team with the technology it needs to start creating, productive, and engaged.

That’s why we broke down the four best online collaboration tools of 2021 for you to consider some of the best tools in the industry for your business.

3 Best Online Collaboration Tools Of 2021 

These three online collaboration tools help facilitate everyday communication among employees and help provide better organization for individual and group tasks.  

Each tool can help your business distribute these tasks among individuals in and out of your company while assisting them in keeping track and streamlining their work progress.

Let’s take a deeper look at three of the best online collaboration tools.

1. Microsoft Teams

What puts Microsoft Teams at the top of the heap? 

As an online collaboration tool, it provides more than just voice and video conferencing. It’s an all-in-one solution that offers opportunities for users to seamlessly collaborate in real-time on documents, from spreadsheets to presentations, texts, graphics, and more.

Teams is integrated into Microsoft’s collection of cloud-based office tools, known as Microsoft 365, so if you already have Microsoft 365 and haven’t migrated to Teams, what are you waiting for?

By simply creating “Teams,” which are channels for file-sharing purposes, your business can improve workflow amongst its staff. 

With teams, employees can get one-on-one conversations, group messaging, video meetings, and audio calls, as well as separate channels dedicated to collaboration.

2. Zoom

Not only does Zoom provide a qualitative video conferencing solution, but it also offers simplicity and accessibility to its users.

Zoom’s free version is widely accessible to small businesses that don’t have a large setup or infrastructure to devote to qualitative video conferencing. With zoom, all you need is a computing device to download the web-based application. 

In addition, Zoom is so user-friendly that technology novices and experts alike can use this tool for collaboration purposes. Screen sharing and recording features are also easy to use and help users present their projects effortlessly.

By simply adjusting your license subscription, Zoom can scale up from zero to thousands of participants within your company. 

3. Cisco Webex Teams

The Webex Teams application is an excellent team collaboration solution with a primary focus on hardware to answer your team collaboration needs.

Cisco Webex Teams provides additional company hardware offerings that range from room kits to cameras, innovative collaboration displays, and digital whiteboards.

It’s a standalone platform that provides a multi-channel of communication and collaboration through file sharing, chat, video, whiteboard, and individual spaces devoted to a particular discussion on a  specific topic.

With hybrid and remote work becoming the prominent business models in 2021, hardware-focused Cisco Webex teams can take remote team collaboration to a whole new level.

Which Online Collaboration Tool Is Right For Your Business? 

The truth is, online collaboration is unavoidable nowadays. It’s become a necessity whether your business abides by a hybrid or remote business model.

When it comes down to choosing the right tool or application for your business, it’s worth it to take a look at what your business needs right now.

Is your business in need of a tool that delivers qualitative video conferencing and minimal collaboration, such as screen sharing for presenting purposes or group chat? In that case, Zoom is an affordable, user-friendly option to consider for your needs.

However, suppose your organization is looking for an all-in-one solution that combines chat, video conferencing, voice calls, file sharing, multi-channel utilization, and creative freedom to collaborate on projects. Microsoft Teams would be a great choice depending on the size of your business.

There is no such thing as a wrong or bad choice when choosing one of the above tools. It all comes down to what your team needs most and aligns best with your current business model.

At LDI, we offer Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and LDI Elevate as collaborative options when considering a tool to keep your business productive and communicative.

LDI Elevate is an intuitive online collaboration tool that encompasses Microsoft Team’s approach, particularly for small businesses. Much like Teams, allows users to build channels amongst departments to organize documents, tasks, links, and other vital information that would be helpful to your business.

Contact an LDI representative today to learn more about an online collaboration tool that can optimize the efficiency and productivity of your employees.