Twenty-twenty has been unanimously voted the Year of Adaptability. Zoom forged its way into the limelight as the primary teleconferencing software facilitating peer-to-peer collaboration. Meanwhile, programs like Slack, Trello, G Suite, and WeTransfer became household names for tools that keep work culture alive and teams connected remotely.
Recent curveballs, interrupted workweeks, and a scarce supply of toilet paper ushered in a new era of remote working — amongst other things. In 2016, the World Economic Forum forecasted a future characterised by a 'fusion of technologies that blur the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres' — the 'Fourth Industrial Revolution'. Now, as we restructure our routine and attend virtual meetings in the digital landscape, this projection is tangible and literally, close to home.
Founded in 2011 by Eric Yuan, Zoom Video Communications became a 'unicorn' company valued at $1 billion by 2017. After releasing their initial public offering in 2019, the formidable cloud-based video conferencing service — valued at US$16 billion by the end of its first day of trading — was reportedly used by over half of Fortune 500 companies. In March 2020, one day saw Zoom's application downloaded 2.13 million times. By the end of April 2020, the company had 300 million daily meeting participants using their platform.
Depending on your business needs and the scale of your workforce, Zoom can be used to host webinars, conferences, live chats or private meetings on both desktop and mobile devices. For the benefit of those unable to attend live sessions, hosts can also choose to record meetings for later reference. If you're a small business, the free plan covers a 40-minute session with up to 100 participants. Plus, if you're using a computer, you can share your screen with other participants for remote collaboration.
Launched in 2013, Slack — the 'collaboration hub' designed to facilitate topic-based communication channels between coworkers — was labelled the 'fastest-growing workplace software ever' by Vox Media a year later. The enterprise software company, valued at US$15.7 billion by late June 2019, became integrated into business communication processes around the world.
When compared to email, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield notes that conversations are organised according to subjects rather than dates. Members privy to those conversations automatically have access to messages without having to be individually CC'd. Used as a primary messaging channel between coworkers, Slack renders other social networking sites and instant messaging apps for work somewhat obsolete.
Now more than ever, it's important to maintain a strong work culture and communication strategy to keep your team on the same page, no matter where they work from. With integrated apps like Zoom, Trello and Google Drive, teammates can coordinate virtual meetings, share files and keep track of progress per project or client.
Established in 2011, the Kanban-style work management system Trello — bought by Atlassian for US$425 million in 2017 — went on to reach 50 million users worldwide. Inspired by the functionality of a sticky note on a wall, Trello was conceptualised to be just that: only virtual, accessible, visually stimulating and more sophisticated.
'Kanban' translates from Japanese to mean 'visual signal'. With Trello boards, individuals and coworkers can create interactive columns consisting of cards, checklists, images, links and messages shared between members of the same board to work through pipelines efficiently. In light of recent working-from-home arrangements, Trello signups in March were 'almost double' what they had been the year before, according to Business Insider Australia.
It's impossible to explore the above without recognising the central role of Google's G Suite. After Gmail launched in 2004, apps like Google Calendar, Docs and Drive followed. Today, G Suite has 2 billion users — and for most businesses, big or small, it's the backbone of remote collaboration. Using Google Docs, multiple users can work on the same document simultaneously and save it in a secure, accessible location for review.
Finally, WeTransfer. Designed in 2009 to allow users to share large files that would otherwise bounce back via email, the Dutch cloud-based service is now recognised as 'a creative's best friend' and a reliable alternative to Dropbox. For anyone dealing with files too large or slow to send conventionally, it's essential.