Seven remote work software tools

The coronavirus crisis forced a significant number of businesses to close their offices and their employees to work from home.
But how has modern technology enabled these businesses to operate effectively in unfamiliar circumstances?
In this article, we look at seven SaaS tools that helped facilitate remote work.
Zoom
You have to have been living under a rock for the last six months to have missed the Zoom revolution that has swept right across the globe.
As working habits changed more or less overnight, so did the way that businesses and people operated and interacted.
For those who were experiencing the thrills of remote work for the first time, a video conferencing solution was needed to ensure that it was business as usual. Zoom certainly seemed the people's choice.
Did you know?
Between May and July, Zoom’s revenue increased by over 350% to a staggering £496.3 million.
From a professional perspective, Zoom is ideal as it offers FREE 40-minute calls for up to 100 participants. For organisations needing to increase the time or participant count, there are different subscription options available.
Zoom’s success has extended beyond the world of business. While they don’t make up the majority of users, Zoom’s easy-to-use interface has meant that it’s also been a popular tool to use outside of a professional setting.
“While PayFit UK may have only 20 employees, the global PayFit team numbers over 500.
“When lockdown first kicked in, and the scale of the pandemic was becoming visible to everyone, the leadership team decided to implement regular company-wide updates.
“Zoom was the obvious choice as a video conferencing solution for over 500 employees. It’s simple to use for large audiences and has managed to maintain a reliable video quality despite a massive increase in global usage.”
Nick Miller, PayFit UK Country Manager
Slack
Okay, we're not claiming to be the hipsters' choice when it comes to software, and we do understand that Slack is hardly a small-time player in the world of business communication platforms.
However, we can't disguise the fact that throughout the pandemic Slack has been able to provide many companies with an extremely reliable and valuable service.
Founded in the late noughties, Slack's users were numbered at 10 million in January this year; however, a little over six months later, this had increased by 25% to over 12.5 million.
This can be attributed to the drastic decrease in people attending places of work. With over-the-desk chats, "water cooler conversations" and coffee breaks no longer an option, Slack has become an easy and manageable alternative.
With the option to select different statuses — e.g. 🗓 - In a meeting,