A remote team is a small team of employees that work outside of the office without the need to be in close proximity to any one of your company’s headquarters. In today's interconnected world, they could be working from coworking spaces, coffee shops, or even an entirely different city as well!

A remote IT team is an IT department that doesn't operate out of a traditional office. Their tasks and responsibilities resemble those at a regular office but they're working remotely instead. The flexibility in remote teams allows you to build and grow your team size as needed while still having skilled IT professionals. More companies are starting to embrace remote teams and it's becoming the industry norm.

Keeping a remote team fully distributed can be tough. All employees need to be on the same page and there's not the same camaraderie as with co-located teams. Other companies offer a remote work option to their top-performing employees as a reward while still allowing other employees to work remotely when they feel like it.

Why should you have Remote IT Teams?

• Productivity

There are numerous benefits of a remote IT team. One such benefit is that it can boost productivity - when employees work from home, they're at ease and their creativity is more stimulated.

Many people have found that traditional office environments have been distracting or unproductive. Getting out of the typical work environment and working remotely can help a person get a better work-life balance. This new way of working can also provide employees with the chance to create an ideal workspace and make use of their IT skills, not on just what is needed for their job but on things that

One thing you can count on from your remote team: is increased productivity. A study in the Harvard Business Review revealed that remote employees completed nearly an extra day’s worth of work every week compared to their in-office colleagues.

• Efficiency and time savings

Although sometimes difficult to manage in the beginning, remote work has many benefits. For instance, remote workers can set their own schedules and meet without any wasteful time spent on travel. Employees can now take part in remote meetings and keep up with their tasks on the go.

Being remote has a lot of advantages and makes employees efficient. They save on time that they would otherwise spend in personal communication, and are able to focus on tasks more effectively.

• Immense benefits to the company

Remote IT teams are becoming increasingly popular for many benefits. Some of the main advantages include cost-saving opportunities & flexibility. Remote team management apps are perfect for businesses. They allow for cheaper and easier management of a remote workforce. This makes your business more profitable, with a considerable ROI by using this technology.

• Cost Savings

Businesses are shifting from having local IT teams to working with remote IT teams. A lot of companies don't need any definite workspace as they can get things done without one. In addition, you also have an entire business to take care of, so this is the perfect scenario for people who work work-from-home or want a mobile job.

The use of remote teams not only saves people time and effort but also gets rid of the need for large office spaces. The IT team can design a remote infrastructure system. This means those big savings for the company!

• Opening new avenues

When you outsource IT to remote teams, you increase your chances of securing skilled professionals from all around the world. You can work ahead of different time zones and geographical restrictions.

More importantly, workers can work on their own schedule, ensuring that the best quality work is produced. This means employees will be more productive consistently across a whole range of circumstances.

Remote work can actually help you find the best opportunities for your company while giving your employees new work networks around the globe. And since good skills are usually combined on these teams, they usually produce innovative ideas. That's all an IT team needs!

How to manage remote teams?

Managing from afar is challenging initially, but can be done effectively. The most important part of managing remote teams as a leader is to have systems in place that facilitate good communication, ensure work process efficiency, maintain accountability and enhance engagement.

Streamlining remote team communication can work wonders for your remote team. It not only helps establish a good working relationship with the individuals on your team but also improves morale. It also influences their behavior towards each other and their work responsibilities

Maintaining high levels of productivity when managing remote teams has always been difficult. That’s why it’s important to streamline work processes and optimize a well-organized workflow. A single platform is able to give your remote team access to all resources and ensure that they're collaborating efficiently. You'll also have a better overview of project management tasks thanks to the digital workplace.

It's important to physically monitor your team - whether you're working remotely or in person. If you want them to hit their targets, it's imperative that expectations are clear and goals are well-defined. But don't forget about KPIs either as they will help measure their success.

People who work remotely are even more likely to be unengaged with their work if they don't feel like they are part of the team. Talking to them isn't enough—of course, they will say they care about the company, but if you want a team that is more proactive and engaged at work, you have to make sure everyone feels as if they are integral. One way to create an agile and connected team is by ensuring that everyone is on the same page as you. Equip your remote employees with the right tools so they can stay on course. This will keep them more engaged, which in turn contributes to the success of your organization!

When you work remotely, it's important to keep your team feeling like they're part of a united front. Find ways to increase transparency and show that you care about your employees. Your mission, vision, and values should be communicated so that employees understand the importance of their work. It's important to take into account personal goals along with company goals. Company-wide behaviors need to be meaningful, achievable and encouraged.

With remote work being an increasingly popular way to manage a team and a ubiquitous way of doing business, it's important to equip yourself with the skills needed to manage your team effectively.

Best tools for remote work management

Communication is important in any type of setting, but it’s especially crucial when you’re remote. Making small talk over Slack to accomplish tasks isn’t as simple as knocking on a co-worker’s door at the office.

Given this, your organization needs to find tools that will help keep the team on the same page.

Project management and working with a project management tool are very similar. You will notice that most of the tools below will have an effect on how your company communicates and manages its work.

Let’s take a look at some of the tools

• Trello

Trello is a popular project management tool. It has a variety of general-useful features. One of them is the Kanban system, which helps organize projects in an efficient way from start to finish. Managers and those in charge of something are able to create cards and guide them through a lean process that’s as customizable as you want it to be.

Trello is the perfect project management tool. It gives you a visual list of what needs to be done and allows you to create new cards quickly and easily. The interface is also really easy to use so you can track your project progress without any hassle. By creating tasks and delegating them, you can keep track of the progress you make on each project, plan and organize tasks more effectively, and store key information that is needed for a project.

This is a great example of software that doesn’t need to be complicated to do its job well.

The simple, yet effective design allows for a seamless team experience in modern productivity apps.

• Slack

Slack provides an easy-to-use chat/channel communication tool that can keep everyone connected. It integrates with other tools like G Suite, Dropbox, and more. Examples of fun slack bots include a fortune-teller who will send daily fortunes to you at random times during the day. It is hard to imagine a remote team that isn't communicating using Slack

The phrase “Where work happens” in the Slack tagline is telling about its necessity in project management.

Slack is a great communication option for remote software development teams. It's affordable and has useful features that help keep everyone on the same page, regardless of where they are.

• Zoom

Zoom is a great company that provides you with all the tools you need to run an efficient video conference. It integrates directly into Google Calendar, which makes it really easy to use and doesn't take up too much space. The best thing about Zoom is its high-quality video calling, which will make all your calls more productive and engaging.

A free plan can give you 40 minutes of conference time and a pro plan is more generous. It includes webinar hosting features that can be ideal for your marketing goals.

Users find video recordings to be one of the best features because they can improve learner retention and make educational videos for present and future use. You can also use them to document common procedures in the workplace.

• Dropbox

Dropbox is a cloud-based file hosting service that serves as a digital filing cabinet. Its users can store their data and keep it on hand, making it accessible to anyone they wish. Dropbox is a quick and easy way to upload and download files of any type - PDFs, Microsoft Office files, photos, videos, music; you name it! This online library was designed with ease of use in mind.

This product is compatible with many devices, like laptops, phones, and such. And it's possible to reach it from either.

Dropbox accepts payments via credit card. If you need more space than the free version offers, we recommend a paid version that will cost you $8,25 per month.

• Asana

Asana has been around for a while now and is steadily becoming more popular for its many features. You can use Asana to manage timelines, projects, automation, and integrations - it's a comprehensive toolkit with the right solution for any size of the organization.

Asana’s interface is task-oriented, making it an excellent tool for remote work management.

By providing a task-assigning framework for your teams, Asana helps with the categorization of what needs to be completed.

The simplicity of the solution means that it's easy to see who is responsible for what, so it minimizes the chances you'll be confused about where your responsibility lies.

Conclusion

You need to have specialized skills to successfully manage a remote IT team. An outward-facing business model can help you build your team, by attracting some fresh blood as well as new skills. Tapping into different cultures and different skills is key for maintaining your remote organization over time - and allowing it to become even more successful.

The business landscape will undoubtedly change in the future as enterprises grow global. It's clear that remote teams will shape what the workplace is like in the future. Now is a good time to change your organization if you haven't done so already. Take advantage of new technologies to help with your business. You'll be able to focus on other important aspects by having good management systems for your remote staff.