Do you ever wish to host your online community? Perhaps you are a Discord user, and you find that the platform is not meeting all your needs? Well, now you can stop worrying. Today, we will list five of our favorite online community platforms that are an alternative to Discord.  Also, check out our other favorite alternatives for Discord for workflow management. Without further ado, let’s begin with our list of Discord community alternatives. 

1. Tribe

Tribe is a community platform that offers widgets and apps. Create a stand-alone or integrated community website. Enable your users to connect and discuss under your brand. Users can follow, ask questions, start discussions, upvote, comment, and share content. Essentially, Tribe is a cloud-based platform that features all types of social configurations needed to run your community. These social configurations are, but not limited to: 

  • Activity feed
  • Analytics 
  • User management
  • Virtual currencies
  • Onboarding 
  • Compliance
  • Public/private access

In addition to their social configurations, Tribe has many apps that can seamlessly integrate with your business tool. Some tools that the platform integrates with are:

  • Slack
  • Zapier
  • HubSpot
  • Google Analytics
  • Webhooks
  • Messenger

Pricing

As you can probably imagine, Tribe is a fantastic community platform. For people looking for all the bells and whistles that Discord has, but better, Tribe is an excellent alternative. However, unlike Discord, Tribe isn’t necessarily free. Below is a list of their current plans. 

  • Free: Includes free apps for individuals and small communities
    • Custom domain
    • Theme control
    • Groups or sub-communities 
    • 500 members 
    • Community support
  • Plus: Essential apps and tools for small businesses and startups 
    • $85/monthly
    • All the benefits of the free plan
    • Unlimited members
    • White label
    • Plus apps
    • API access 
    • Email support
  • Premium: Administration apps and tools for brands and companies
    • $249/monthly
    • Plus features included 
    • SSO (single sign-on)
    • Advanced Analytics 
    • Premium apps
    • Staging environment 
    • Chat support
  • Enterprise: For large businesses or those in regulated industries
    • Contact sales for pricing
    • Premium features 
    • Custom apps
    • Enterprise apps
    • 24/7 support

Ultimately, Tribe is excellent for professional and nonprofessional communities. The platform gives all like-minded individuals a space to connect through the benefit of their work tool and beyond. And speaking of community tools that work well with business tools, AirSend is our next platform.

2. AirSend

Unlike Tribe, which requires integration to your preferred business tool, AirSend is an all-in-one business and community platform. AirSend allows users to get work done while also interacting with their community simultaneously. You can find out more about how AirSend is a great work tool by visiting our homepage, but now let’s talk about the community element AirSend offers. 

One of the things we like to preach is simplicity. In contrast to Discord, an altogether complex tool, AirSend is a simplistic community platform that is great for those looking for an easy-to-use community with not too many bells and whistles attached. Additionally, with community platforms heavily loaded with features, like Tribe and Discord, it can take an immense amount of time to set up your community before any actual members join. With AirSend, it takes two minutes. 

AirSend public channel features: 

  • Role management
  • Audio and video calling
  • Task management 
  • File/Folder organization 
  • Note tracking
  • Slash command
  • Mute notifications
  • Read receipts 
  • User management 

Our platform offers a clean and new perspective on holistic communities. Community owners have control of who is allowed into their community- which means no more trolls. Further, we offer a reasonable price. 

Pricing

Currently, we are running a promotion. If you sign up now before October 15, 2020, you will get AirSend Pro free on us for one whole year. Public channel features are available across all plans

  • Free: 
    • Unlimited channels and members
    • Unlimited message history 
    • 15 GB file storage, 30 MB file size
    • Unlimited voice, video calls, and screen sharing
  • AirSend Pro: Free for a year
    • Initially $4 per user/month
    • Everything in the free plan
    • 100 GB file storage
    • No file size limit
    • Custom branded channels
  • AirSend Business: Coming soon 
    • Initially $7 per user/month
    • Active Directory authentication
    • Data residency 
    • 24/7 support with four hour response time
    • Data governance 

In summation, AirSend is a great community tool to connect business partners and like-minded individuals in a clean and holistic environment. Another great tool that is great for professionals and nonprofessionals alike is Influitive.

3. Influitive

Influitive allows you to build a community of advocates and invite your customers, developers, partners, and employees to complete challenges, referrals, product reviews, and social media posts. As they complete these personalized challenges, they earn points, badge, and levels to redeem professional perks and privileges. Yes, Influitive is built on gamification, which in its own right, genius. The platform is a fantastic choice for businesses who want to build up customer loyalty through a community. 

Influitive is: 

  • Engaging by design
  • Optimized for real value
  • Built upon personalized experiences. 

As Influitive preaches, “Whether you want to generate more leads and references, drive more customer success, or even improve future products through direct customer feedback, Influitive has got you covered,” (Advocatehub Overview). Additionally, the platform integrated with the most popular API and marketing automation systems, such as: 

  • Salesforce
  • Zapier
  • HubSpot
  • Marketo
  • Eloqua
  • Tango Card
  • Gravy
  • Sendoso
  • TrustRadius

Now that we’ve seen the features, what is the price? 

Pricing

Influitive offers three packages. 

  • Professional: Essential functionality
    • Advocacy and Engagement 
    • Discussions and Moderation 
    • Data collection and Reporting
    • Personalization and Targeting 
    • ROI Analytics
  • Corporate: Robust functionality 
    • Everything in the Professional package 
    • Journey Management 
    • Knowledge Base
    • Multilingual Support
    • Premium Branding 
    • Premium Pre-built Content 
  • Enterprise: Complete Platform 
    • Everything in the Corporate package
    • Multi-Program Management
    • Premium Support
    • Enterprise Security

Ultimately, Influitive is a perfect community tool for businesses to amplify their customer loyalty through gamification and incentives- i.e., referrals and reviews. The platform is ideal for mobilizing customer advocates to help grow your business. Drive value through a thriving community. Up next on our list is a community platform that is perfect for casual communities- Viber.

4. Viber

We listed Viber as one of our top Android apps for voice and video calls. But, did you know Viber also offers a community platform? Creating a community with Viber means you get the whole BLT sandwich. 

  • Unlimited members 
  • Endless growth possibilities
  • Admin controls
  • Privacy
  • Moderate discussions
  • Engage new members
  • Manage conversations
  • Delete unwanted messages
  • Ban users
  • Invite link
  • Safe chat

Viber is a super easy-to-use. Similar to AirSend, Viber doesn’t include all the bells and whistles. Instead, they have features that are important to host a community. Additionally, Viber is free, which is a massive benefit for those starting their community. In terms of calling international, it is $5.99/monthly. Speaking of which, hosting international calls is cool. Imagine also creating a community via international. Minus the time difference, I would imagine hosting a global community would be neat. Finally, we list one of the most known community platforms known to be an excellent alternative to Discord- Reddit. 

5. Reddit

I’m pretty sure I can spare you the in-depth explanation of what Reddit is and how it works but indulge me. Reddit is an online public forum where thousands of communities form and where millions of members conglomerate. The UX is relatively simple- upvote or downvote a particular post, comment, and gain karma. Reddit is also a great news outlet voiced by public opinion.

Most people join Reddit to connect with others through communities. However, if you are an extensive Reddit user, you know the platform can be rigorous. Communities have rules that members must follow- and this isn’t necessarily bad. Having strict rules on Reddit is one reason why the platform is so great. Of course, you will have trolls, but communities have this unspoken rule of not tolerating users who go against community rules. Because of the ironclad rule system, Reddit keeps relatively sane communities where members visit to converse and participate. 

However, Reddit is not a great community tool for those wanting to engage with their members more or build relationships with others. Yes, it is a community platform but is a community platform joined by like-minded strangers. To some, this is great, but for others, it’s not. For users, trying to establish a conversation can be challenging with Reddit because of the number of updated posts. Additionally, trying to build/advertise your community on Reddit is extremely difficult. 

Summary

Here is a list of our five favorite Discord alternative community platforms. We presented you with three community tools that are great with working with business tools and people. After the top three, we listed our two absolute favorites, which are great for casual communities. Each community has something to offer. It is only a matter of figuring out which one is best for you and your organization.

In our guide on remote work communication, we mentioned the importance of status reports to keep everyone on the same page. Here is an expansion of that. In this blog post, we’re going to talk about the importance of status reports in remote work, how to implement status reports, some tips on making status reports work for you, and how we do our status reports using AirSend.

Why Status Reports Are Important

In short, status reports keeps everyone in sync with each other and help keep you on track, both of which are increasingly important in a remote work setting.

As a team crosses a certain number of people it becomes harder to keep all people, groups, and teams in sync with each other. People working in one area or function might not be aware that it might impact or affect other areas inadvertently or there are other unknown ramifications of the work they are doing.

Distributing that information across everyone becomes challenging. Using Team meetings etc. to communicate statuses become ineffective as it either takes too long or wastes time.

Status reports increase the visibility of the work you are doing and raise the overall profile and awareness of initiatives and new projects across the whole team. Also, status reports are a work journal for yourself and help you focus on what needs to be done every week and brings clarity and purpose.

How to Implement Status Reports

Like most things, consistency is key in successful implementation of status reports. Here are some guidelines to follow:

  • Have everyone on the team add their weekly status report to a set location. We use an AirSend Channel to collect ours.
  • Make sure everyone sends status reports weekly (ideally at end of the day on Friday) to wrap up your week.
  • For easy filtering, everyone should use the same subject keywords. For example, ‘status report w/e 7/14/2017‘ (‘status report’ is the keyword, w/e just says week ending and the week).
  • Make sure everyone knows what to put in their reports, which brings us to:

What Status Reports Should Communicate

Status reports should communicate a few essential things:

  • What you got done last week (Be as specific as you can, details are ok)
  • What problems or challenges you overcame, and what problems you still face and are working on
  • What you plan to accomplish or work on next week
  • Any other information worth sharing (upcoming time off, achievements outside work, etc)

Additional Status Report Pointers

  • Everyone needs to send out status reports
  • Status reports are meant to communicate first, so make it readable and useful
  • Sometimes, the simplest way is to keep adding notes on work done in the week and send it out at the end of the week. It becomes hard to remember all the things that were done at the end of the week.
  • Sometimes, for certain work, it might be hard to write reports (for example for tech support which deals with 100s of emails in a week). In those cases, pick a sample of the most important or interesting problems that you worked on during the week. 
  • Make the next week section a realistic plan of action for yourself. Please don’t dump your entire sprint action list there unless you really plan to complete it by then.
  • Status reports are the #1 way to communicate the work you are doing and the progress you are making, so make sure to showcase the achievements and the tough problems you tracked and solved. This will include customer support sessions for specific problems and what happened there.
  • If you learned something new this week please share that.
  • If you are undergoing training, please share your training guide and the progress you made there.
  • If you took courses outside, please share that.
  • A status report is a communication and a showcase about you to the entire team, so take some pride in how it is crafted and how it is sent. 

Status Reports in AirSend

As mentioned before, we use a Weekly Status Reports Channel in AirSend to share our weekly status reports. This works well for us because it’s easy to format messages using Markdown and share images and other files in AirSend. Below are some actual screenshots of our status report Channel.

Messages and Attachments

Important Information in the Wiki

Task Tracking in Actions

We hope this was useful to you!

Until next time,

The AirSend Team

After the first smartphone came out, people started communicating through their phones. Communicating through a smartphone is an easy and effective way to get work done. However, having a bare-bone smartphone is not enough to get by today.

We need apps. Apps that range from workflow, organization, planning, and of course, communicating. In this blog post, we will be showing our favorite apps that are perfect for holding meetings; in other words, voice and video calling. Here are six of the best android apps for voice and video calls. 

1. AirSend

AirSend brings everything you need to get work done into a single, elegant workspace. No more switching between apps. Send messages, share and organize files, and complete actions all in one place so that you can focus on what you do best. AirSend’s Android app features:

  • Voice and video calling
  • Task management
  • File organization/sharing 
  • Wiki management
  • Send messages

AirSend voice and video calling is unlimited across all plans. Further, AirSend offers a push-to-start calling feature. Having a voice and video call feature in addition to workflow management features makes getting work done faster.

2. Discord

Aside from AirSend, Discord is one of our favorite android apps for voice and video calls. With Discord, create a home for your communities and friends, where you can stay close and have fun over text, voice, and video. In addition to voice and video calling, Discord features:

  • Bots
  • Unlimited channels and servers
  • Streaming

Though Discord is a powerful voice and video app, it is mainly designed for communities and not so much workflow. However, according to several reviews, the calling version via the android app sometimes cuts off after 20 minutes. On the upside, Discord’s app is easier to use than the desktop version. 

3. Google Duo

Google Duo is a high-quality video calling app. The biggest perk to Duo is that it is simple, fast, and easy to use. Duo features: 

  • Group calling with up to 32 people
  • Take photos while calling
  • Send voice, video, and photos
  • Make calls between android and iOS- share and join calls with a link

According to several reviews, the highlight to Duo is that users can leave personalized video messages to those who don’t pick up- like a voicemail, but better. Google Duo is a great way to hold conference calls on-the-go. It is also a convenient app for those who already use GSuite for their work.

4. Viber Messenger

Viber is a free, simple, fast, and most secure messaging and calling app. With Viber, you will have access to unlimited calls, endless texting, and high-quality video chat! Additionally, the android app allows you to make free international calls, send text messages, and open a group chat. Viber features: 

  • Fully synced desktop and tablet apps
  • Free audio and video calls
  • Send free messages
  • Self destruct messaging 
  • Create Viber communities 

Unfortunately, Viber tends to lag quite often, especially after an update is made. There are also no read receipts. Finally, the app doesn’t show the real-time status of the person you are talking with unless you exit the chat and join again. Aside from the negatives, Viber is extremely user friendly. 

5. Workplace from Facebook

Workplace is a messaging app that connects everyone in your company. The app is specially designed for remote work. Workplace also features integrations from Microsoft, Google, and Dropbox. The app features: 

  • Chat, voice, and video calls
  • Create groups for team projects 
  • Connect with desktop and mobile devices
  • Share important updates in your groups via live video

Workplace often has connection issues. These connection issues can range from loading page errors and push notifications, not working. The neat thing about the app is that unlike regular Facebook, Workplace doesn’t bury important posts. 

6. Dingtone

Dingtone, a free calling app, allows you to make unlimited free phone calls and send free text messages to anyone. Dingtone also gives you a free number as a second line. Having a second line with a free number is great for dealing with clients, such as real estate agents. Dingtone features: 

  • Free calls and texting
  • International phone calls
  • Voice to messaging- speak your message, and the app will type it out

Dingtone is a simple and fast app. The app shines, especially with users who have a terrible phone signal. Most users recommend using the free plan instead of paying.

You asked, so we provided.

The AirSend Team is proud to announce that you can now make voice and video calls with screensharing in AirSend Channels.

Need a team meeting or want to chat with a client? Just click the phone icon at the top of any Channel to start a call with the people in that Channel. During the call, you can easily mute / unmute yourself, turn video on / off, and start / stop screen-sharing.

Keep everyone in the loop with chat and calling.

We envision AirSend to be a collaborative tool where people can get work done all in one place, and the addition of voice and video calling brings us one stop closer to that goal.

Thank you for staying with us on this journey! Feel free to share any thoughts in the AirSend Feedback Channel.

Until next time,

The AirSend Team

The onset of a new and continuous digitized workplace has called for new practices to follow. Rather than getting up and getting ready for work, we now work in our pajamas from home. However, just because we work from home does not mean we can forgo all practices to follow in a work environment. Here are 13 of the best practices to follow in an online work environment.

1. Setting a Morning Routine

Working from home has changed the way we work. Our usual morning routine when going to work is no longer something we can do. Instead, we have to make subtle changes to the way we get “ready” for work. I find that creating a work-from-home morning routine is one of the best ways to start a positive workday. Your morning routine should get you in the conquering mood. I recommend doing things that wake you up, get your mind ready for the day, and have a positive outlook.

My morning routine consists of four steps: Drinking coffee (choose your favorite mug and coffee for the day- helps with boosting your mood), read my book for an hour, take a shower, and put on a movie or the Golden Girls- I find that watching movies help with my concentration. My morning routine requires me to wake up an hour early, but doing so actually prepares me for the planned tasks I have to do.  Your morning routine should be acclimated to fit your needs best. Essentially, do things that help you get in the mood to conquer your workday.

2. Work in 40-minute intervals with 15-minute breaks

An important practice to follow in an online work environment is to work in intervals. I find that it is always best to work in 40-minute intervals with 15-minute breaks. Doing so allows for maximum productivity. By often taking breaks, you give your mind a chance to recharge and ensure focus. Some people do not like working in 40-minute intervals, and that is fine. Work in whatever interval you think will be best for your mind and productivity. 

3. Planning Ahead

Planning your tasks the night before ensures that you stay focused with minimum panic the next day. By panic, I mean panicking on what assignments you are going to do for the day. It is easier to plan the night before, and even to plan your tasks for the entire week.

4. Be Proactive in Meetings

Now that everyone is working from home, it is essential to show your bosses that you are still proactive/productive. Let your superiors know that you can be productive in any environment.

5. Eat a HEALTHY Big Lunch

Everyone says breakfast is the most important meal of the day. However, I tend to think lunch is the most important meal of the day. Having a well-balanced lunch personally puts me in a positive and energetic mood for the rest of the day. Lunch is also the most exciting part of the workday, so why not make it even more exciting by making it a big and healthy lunch? 

6. Answer Emails Twice a Day

We all know emails can take an enormous amount of time to sort through. So why do it? Well, before starting a workday, we sometimes feel the need to declutter everything- which granted is essential, and we will discuss why this is important later in the blog post. However, sorting through emails is not a crucial thing in life, nor is checking your email every 10-minutes of the day. It’s distracting. Should anybody need to contact you with an urgent message, they can DM you with whatever chat tool your work uses.

7. Say a Mantra Every Day

Darius Foroux, who wrote, “Do It Today: Overcome Procrastination, Improve Productivity & Achieve More Meaningful Things,” suggests that saying a mantra to yourself every day energizes and changes your state of mind. At first, I doubted that saying a mantra could change your state of mind, but after trying it out for a week, I found myself more excited to start the day. Saying a mantra to yourself also helps during times of feeling helpless and unmotivated. Try it for yourself.

8. Cut to the Chase

If you are that type of person who does not have the patience waiting around for others,  then don’t. The best way to get work done is to do it. If you want to get the job done, jump straight into the action.

9. Record ALL your Thoughts and Ideas

Foroux states, “like all computers, we have a Random Access Memory (RAM),” (Do It Today, 2018). Our RAMS store relevant information, but like computers, our RAM is also limited to storing. When our RAM is full, older information will be deleted to make room for new information. So, how does one fix this type of problem? Record your thoughts and ideas- this gives leeway for more brainpower. It is also lovely to have a place where you can store all your brilliant ideas.

10. Eliminate Distractions

I am sure I do not need to give the whole spiel how eliminating distractions increases productivity, but I am going to anyway. Eliminate all types of distractions that keep you from working, such as your phone, a fantastic book you are reading, cats, etc. The point of eliminating distractions is to ensure you are not distracted! Keep things around you that improve your focus and productivity. For me, it is movies and shows.

11. Focus on One Thing Some Days

If you have recurring tasks, try to do as much of the same thing in one day. That way, you can focus on other projects for the remainder of your week. Also, concentrating on one thing/recurring tasks for a day is a great way to take a mental break from other more intensive projects.

12. Keep Away Clutter

A clean workspace is a happy workspace. Simple. Keeping away clutter minimizes distractions, keeps the mind comfortable, and increases productivity. It also helps to replace a mess with aesthetic decorations and colors. Having an aesthetic workspace gives you a reason to look forward to “going” to work every day. After all your home office should be a comfortable and clutter-free space.

13. Keep Thinking to a Minimum

If you are spending too much time thinking about specific tasks, stop. Just do it and see what happens. If you like the results, great; If not, move on to something else. These are our favorite 13 of the best practices to follow in an online work environment.

What does a next-generation workspace mean? What are the next generation qualities supposed to be?  We answer all these questions and more in today’s blog post. When designing a next-generation tool, one of the more essential qualities is to have a fresh and revolutionary perspective. In other words, what are the current problems we experience in collaborative platforms today, and how can we provide a revolutionary solution? AirSend and Notion have the answer.

AirSend

AirSend is a new collaborative next-generation workspace. Our motto is to get work done better and faster. How do we implement this motto? Through a simplistic and seamless design. We excel as a next-generation tool because we built AirSend from scratch. We planned and designed all features to fit into one workspace seamlessly: 

  • A place to view and upload files
  • Create tasks
  • Write notes
  • Use markup
  • Host meetings

When designing our tool, we knew we wanted the essentials to be easy-to-find and minimized clicks. With this idea in mind, we created a revolutionary solution- everything in one straightforward layout.

The green arrow pointing towards the actions tab. The red arrow pointing towards the files tab. The blue arrow pointing towards the wiki tab. The purple arrow pointing towards the calling function. The essentials are all located in one space.

Sure, you are thinking, “there are already current tools out there that have everything in one space, like Microsoft Teams.” The problem with Teams, however, is that adding features appear as an afterthought. 

Microsoft Teams

The purple arrow pointing towards the posts tab. The red arrow pointing towards the files tab. The blue arrow pointing towards the wiki tab. The black arrow pointing towards extensions that can be added to the taskbar. The green circle is the panel where teams and channels within teams are located. The yellow circle is your menu panel, which allows an external/different view of files, calendar, DM’s, activities.

As you can see from the image, the UI to Teams is complex. The UI is complicated because there are too many things in on workspace. Though these features make Microsoft Teams better, the positioning of them does not. Think of Teams as a renovated house. Sometimes when you enter a renovated home. It looks great, but often when renovations aren’t done right or have unusual additions, it can leave a disappointed feeling.

Picture a house with countertops from the ’60s with stainless steel appliances. It doesn’t look right. That’s what Microsoft Teams is. A renovated house. Whereas AirSend is a brand new house with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances- the features fit the design. Like AirSend, a next-generation workspace, Notion has a fresh perspective on the collaborative workspace. 

Notion

Notion – The all-in-one workspace for your notes, tasks, wikis, and  databases.

Notion is a new tool that blends your everyday work apps into one. It’s the all-in-one workspace for you and your team. Notion is an application that provides components such as databases, kanban boards, wikis, calendars, and reminders. Users can connect these components to create their systems for knowledge management, note-taking, data management, project management, among others. Similar to AirSend, Notion has the fresh and revolutionary idea of putting everything into one workspace- as in fitting everything into one piece- like a puzzle. 

Summary

So what makes a workspace tool the next generation? Ideally, an imagined, then reimagined idea that is designed to add all essential features into one ideal workspace flawlessly. These features are easy-to-find and should involve minimized clicks, like AirSend and Notion. 

While we all wish we could meet with our realtors to help pick out our dream home, there is a particular pandemic happening that prevents us from doing so. However, it is not the end of the world. Because of the epidemic, technology is evolving to become better and more acclimated to our current needs- particularly team chats. There is a heightened reliance on specific attributes in team chats- mainly when working with clients.These attributes are: 

  • Seamless communication via channel and email
  • Fast file sharing 
  • Folder organization 
  • Clear video and audio calling
  • Built-in reminders

When working with clients, it is essential to have the listed attributes above in an easy-to-use team chat tool. We explore five top team communication apps for real estate agents. 

AirSend

From nurturing leads to selling homes, AirSend is a great team communication app for real estate agents. With AirSend, everyone stays in the loop. Realtors and clients can send and receive messages and have voice and video calls in private channels with clients, team members, builders, and title companies.

Having a comfortable and versatile way to communicate is always great. Still, real estate agents need more than just an easy way to communicate. This is where AirSend’s file sharing and organization shine.

AirSend has its own file server, so there is no external file storage required. Having built-in file storage also means no personal files crossing with sensitive documents.

Additionally, realtors can create and organize folders- this helps with finding information more accessible and faster. Further,  esignature and SMS will be coming soon to AirSend- which will make working with clients a whole lot easier. 

Finally, my personal favorite, AirSend, works with email. Clients, builders, and title companies can receive and reply to your messages through email. They don’t need an AirSend account.

So, while realtors can enjoy a centralized and organized space to work and communicate, clients can ease from worry having another communication tool under their belt. Now, let’s talk about the other team communication apps for real estate agents.

Flyp

Flyp gives agents a second phone number for their device to use as a business line. You get an additional phone number, but that number has it’s own voicemail and address book. When using Flyp, realtors can:

  • Organize their life- Adding multiple phone numbers to your device
  • Receive a local number- Realtors can choose their area code for each Flyp line they own
  • View all they need in one space- See all your calls, texts, and voicemails in one place

Using Flyp is a convenient way to securely call and manage clients; however, it lacks the fundamentals needed to get more than just calling. While it is useful to have an app that handles all your calls through a different number, realtors would still need to use other apps to manage files, view conversation history, and set reminders. Our next team communication app does that- Flock. 

Flock

Flock is one of the more promising team chat software. With integrations from Google Suite and a built-in shared to-do list, productivity seems promising. They also carry other features, such as guest accounts, one-way announcement channels, and a five-column interface. They also support video and audio calls. 

Flock also offers built-in tools, such as app integration, polls, to-do lists, the ability to create public and private channels, reminders, and many more. However, as neat as these features may seem, some of them, like polls, may seem useless to real estate agents and clients.

With recent reviews and case studies, a major con to Flock is its five-column interface. Having a busy interface can make users feel overwhelmed. The other con is that to successfully carry transactions with clients, clients also need to have a Flock account. 

For those not looking for the full works of a team communication tool, that’s okay. There are alternatives, such as WhatsApp.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp has a large number of users (over 2 billion). You can use WhatsApp to chat, share files, and have voice and video calls. You can also set an image or video Status that lets your colleagues know how your day is going.

The downsides to WhatsApp are that the images and videos that people share go directly into your phone’s multimedia library, which can get annoying. And the number of users allowed on a group video call at one time is eight. However, the upside is that WhatsApp is a commonly-wide known tool, so using it is pretty straightforward. Finally, we introduce one of the favorite team communication apps for real estate agents- Google Chat. 

Google Chat

Hangouts Chat is the same concept as Microsoft Teams, except it is owned by Google. The perk and perhaps the most significant selling point is the G Suite integrations. Having GSuite is an obvious plus for real estate agents since it covers everything they need. To further add to the benefit, Google has created Google Chat and Meet. Google has also added calling functionality within Gmail, so calling and working through email has never been easier. 

Like WhatsApp, Gmail is widely used, so conversing with clients is familiar. However, for some, tracking conversation history upon hundreds of emails can seem somewhat complicated. Not to mention the unwanted spams in emails. Rather than trudging through tons of emails to continue conversations, it is easier and more efficient to carry conversations within channels. 

Part III: General Best Practices for Remote Work Communication

Once you have a clear communication framework and a team composed of the right people, it’s important to have a clear set of guidelines on what is expected of your team members.

Now that we’ve gone over all of the basics that you need to know about synchronous and asynchronous communication, here are some general best practices for remote work communication to tie it all together.

Incentivize Clear Communication

Rewarding clear, legible communication through frequent feedback is a good way to keep everyone on the right track. An example of this would be requiring detailed weekly activity reports and responding to those reports with good feedback.

Have Core Working Hours

Your ability to implement core working hours depends on the geographical placement of members and team lead preferences. However, if possible, a core working hours policy where everyone is expected to be online and working for around 3 to 4 hours every weekday allows for a good balance of synchronous and asynchronous communication.

With core working hours, there is enough time for necessary real-time discussions. You also still get the asynchronous communication benefits of schedule flexibility and the ability to engage in deep work.

Deep work is focusing on a cognitively demanding task without distractions. It lets people quickly process complex information and produce higher quality results in less time. Examples of deep work include:

  • Writing an article
  • Researching a topic
  • Analyzing data and creating a report

Increasing team members’ ability to do deep work is important in boosting the overall productivity of your organization. Core working hours make sure your team has time to be connected through synchronous communication and time to engage in asynchronous communication and do deep work.

Set the Right Expectations

Once you have a clear communication framework and a team composed of the right people, it’s important to have a clear set of guidelines on what is expected of your team members. This is important for both in-person and remote teams, but particularly so for remote teams where there is less supervision and ability to give and receive immediate feedback.

There are innumerable books on how to manage people, so we’re not going to go into detail here. Just keep in mind that setting healthy expectations and being clear on company policies on communication (and everything else) is essential!

Something that can help with this is having a section dedicated to remote work communication best practices in your employee handbook or having an entire, separate training and guidebook on communication available to team members. Asynchronous and even synchronous communication in remote work, unlike synchronous communication that happens in-person, may not be as intuitive. So, it’s good to have written guidelines available for team members and new hires so that everyone is on the same page.

Hire the Right People

Not everyone is a good fit when it comes to a remote working, distributed situation. Remote work places an emphasis on certain skills and attributes that may not be as important in an in-person office environment.

For example, because the amount of face-to-face, spoken communication is reduced when working remotely, writing skills become very important. The ability to communicate clearly through writing, whether that be writing in a chat app or writing a multi-page report, is necessary for a good remote worker.

So, when you are hiring for your remote team, make sure the candidates are good writers.

Some other things to look for are:

  • Evidence of discipline and self-motivation
  • Pre-existing remote work experience
  • Ability to focus on the job at hand (avoid side-hustlers)

Some red flags are:

  • Evidence of anti-social / loner behavior. Remote work positions can attract people who want to be as isolated as possible. Loners may work well for specific positions that don’t require much collaboration, but generally speaking they are difficult to work with and not a good fit.
  • Experience in only highly supervised roles. You need someone who can get work done without having the feeling of being watched or constantly nagged. This is why hiring someone with pre-existing remote work experience is ideal.
  • Evidence of lack of focus, or the side-hustler. Remote work listings can attract people who are looking to start their own thing but still need a paycheck, or people who engage in many gigs / side-hustles at one time. Make sure the person you are hiring is planning to dedicate enough time, energy, and focus to the job.

Remote Work Communication Checklist

Since we’ve given you a mountain of information to digest, here is a checklist to help you quickly and easily improve or create your remote work communication framework.

We recommend sitting down with your laptop or a sheet of paper and writing down your answers to the below questions. Your answers to these questions will create a complete remote work communication framework for you and your team so you can either start off on the right foot or optimize your pre-existing set-up.

Asynchronous Communication

  • What modes of async communication are you planning on using? (Email, Wiki, Discussion Forum, Task Management)
  • What tool or app are you using for each mode?
  • Is it clear to your team members which app to use for what modes and topics? Do you have a handbook, or do you need to create one to make this clear?

Synchronous Communication

  • How much face-to-face time do you have scheduled for your team?
  • Will you do in-person company retreats? If so, how many times per year?
  • What tool or apps are you using for chat, audio and video calling, note taking, and task tracking?
  • What is your approximate public vs. private message ratio in your chat app? Is it working well, or do you need to adjust?
  • What is your current video to voice call ratio? Is it working well, or do you need to adjust?
  • Have you provided clear guidelines to team members about chat and video/voice calling?

Other

  • What are your core working hours (hours each workday when everyone is required to be online and available)?
  • Are all of your team members meeting or exceeding expectations when it comes to communication and collaboration? Or do you need to adjust with training or hiring?
  • Do you have a clear set of written communication policies available to your team?

Conclusion

As a result of technological advances and global events, remote work is becoming a permanent reality for many people. The ability to effectively communicate and collaborate is the most important factor for a successful team, and the tools and skills needed for communication in remote work are different than those of an in-office environment.

We hope that this guide will help you and your team find the right communication tools and policies for you to thrive as a remote work, distributed company.

If you missed Part 1 or Part 2, you can click the links below to read them.

Part I: Your Guide to Asynchronous Communication in Remote Work

Part II: Your Guide to Synchronous Communication in Remote Work

Part II: Your Guide to Synchronous Communication in Remote Work

Meeting with someone instantly feels more personal than sending an email. That is why certain scenarios require synchronous communication over asynchronous communication.

What is synchronous communication?

As mentioned before, synchronous communication is communication that happens in real time. Like a face-to-face meeting, a company meeting on Zoom, or an active chat room. Synchronous communication happens when you send a message and the recipient processes the information and provides an immediate response.

Common examples of synchronous communication include: 

  • In-person Meetings – In-person meetings are the most direct form of synchronous communication. You’re meeting face-to-face, interacting in real-time, and immediate responses are both expected and given, whether those responses are verbal or non-verbal (body language).
  • Video Conferencing / Screen-sharing – When working remotely, online video meetings may be more common than in-person meetings. Video conferencing enables synchronous communication for the same reasons that in-person meetings facilitate synchronous communication.
  • Voice Conferencing – Just like in-person meetings or video conferencing, voice conferencing is synchronous because you are having a conversation in real-time with immediate responses, just without the visual element.
  • Chat – This can be synchronous or asynchronous depending on company culture, but chat communication is often synchronous because, as the term “instant messaging” implies, people expect and provide instant messages or responses.

Why is synchronous communication important for remote teams?

As mentioned before, the best remote teams implement a balanced combination of synchronous and asynchronous communication.

When used correctly and at the right ratios, synchronous communication offers the following benefits:

Easier Collaboration – Synchronous communication is necessary for work that requires close collaboration. This is because team members can provide immediate feedback, which smooths the collaboration process. Other activities that synchronous communication is well-suited for are brainstorming sessions and coordinating meetings or other events. If you’ve ever experienced the frustration of trying to coordinate a meeting through email, you’ll know what we mean.

Synchronous communication is necessary for work that requires close collaboration. It is also important in situations where important feedback is being provided or situations where the goal is to increase team member closeness.

Increased Camaraderie – Synchronous communication is also better for building relationships. Meeting with someone instantly feels more personal than sending an email. That is why certain scenarios require synchronous communication over asynchronous communication, such as situations where important feedback is being provided or situations where the goal is to increase team member closeness and morale.

Now that we’ve talked about the benefits of synchronous communication, let’s discuss the dangers of requiring too much of it.

If your remote team culture requires members be available and connected the entire work day, you reduce their ability to do good work and increase the possibility of burnout. This is because too much of an emphasis on synchronous communication prioritizes connection over productivity and speed over quality.

Too much synchronous communication has the following consequences:

Lower Productivity Because of Too Many Interruptions – We’ve all experienced this at one point whether it be in an office environment or in a remote work situation. In the office, it’s dealing with that coworker who talks to you every time they pass by your desk for a coffee break, and who takes three coffee breaks every hour. In a remote work situation, it’s being bombarded with chat messages every minute. Either way, the interruptions make it harder to focus on the work at hand and decrease your overall productivity.

Unnecessary Stress Leading to Burnout – Lower productivity leads to the need to work longer hours or work faster. And the need to work for longer to complete work in a speedier manner creates stress, which can lead to burnout.

Lower Quality Discussions and Work – The final downside to an overabundance of synchronous communication is that the pressure to respond quickly results in lower quality discussions because there is no time to refine ideas. And lower quality discussions become lower quality work in the long run.

As you can see, too much synchronous communication results in a negative cascade of cause and effect. That is why we recommend you find the right balance between synchronous and asynchronous communication instead of favoring one over the other.

How to Best Implement Synchronous Communication In a Remote Team

Now that we’ve established what synchronous communication is as well as its benefits and pitfalls. Now it’s time to talk about how to best implement it in your team. The next part of this section consists of best practices to follow when it comes to balancing synchronous and asynchronous communication and using synchronous communication with your remote team.

Have Face-to-Face Time

Including face-to-face time in your remote work communication routine is important for team cohesion and morale. It’s easy to feel disconnected when you’re not going to the office every day, and video calls and company or department-wide retreats will help combat the sense of isolation that team members might feel. Meeting people face-to-face or, better yet, in person forms healthy bonds between team members and helps people put faces to names in the largely digital environment of a remote workplace.

The amount of video calling and retreats that you do will depend on your company culture and capabilities, but having at least one video call every week and organizing a retreat once or twice per year is a good baseline.

It’s also important to have 1-1 calls between team leaders and team members every week. This  helps the team feel more personally connected and keeps everyone on the same page in terms of work tasks and progress.

Including face-to-face time in your remote work communication routine is important for team cohesion . Having at least one video call every week and organizing a retreat once or twice per year is a good baseline.

Encourage Chat Best Practices

In a remote work environment, chat makes up the majority of the communication, so it’s important that your team understands chat best practices to reduce noise and confusion and increase productivity.

As mentioned before in the Asynchronous Communication section of this guide, grouping communication by context is essential. This applies whether chat is sync or async for you (as mentioned before, this depends on company culture).

Some chat best practices for grouping communication by context are as follows:

Post in the correct channels or chat rooms to maintain communication traffic. – Too much private, 1-1 messaging can be a sign of cliques, which are roadblocks to productivity. Your team ends up lacking context if most discussions happen privately, and catching people up takes additional time and effort. On the other hand, too much public, large group messaging can be distracting and prevent the completion of deep work. Finding a good balance here is an art and may take some experimentation, but a typical ratio to keep in mind is 30% private conversation and 70% public discussion.

Use tags to notify importance and use them judiciously and maintain context with quotes. – Once you’re in the right channel or chat room, using tags such as @name and quoting other people when you are responding directly to them helps to maintain and strengthen context. This is only necessary in group messaging and not necessary for 1-1 chats.

Consolidate messages for efficient communication. – Another best practice for strengthening context and reducing confusion is putting everything that you want to say on a given topic into a single paragraph of text instead of sending several one-line messages in a row.

Minimize extensive conversations with voice or video calls. – Finally, if something feels too long to communicate over chat, use a voice or video call instead.

Establish Audio and Video Call Guidelines

Although chat will make up the majority of your remote work communication, some things are difficult or too tedious to explain in a text conversation. That is when it’s good to have an audio or video call.

Audio-only or Video and Audio?

A frequent conundrum during remote work is whether or not a call should include video or be audio-only. Here are some good questions to ask to resolve any confusion.

  • Is it a company-wide or department-wide call? If yes, using video is good to gain the benefits of face-to-face time such as increased team cohesion and moral.
  • Is the call pre-scheduled or impromptu? Generally speaking, you only want to use video for pre-scheduled calls. That way team members do not feel the need to make themselves visually presentable every day when it may not be necessary.
  • What is your audio to video call ratio? How many of your calls are audio and how many are video? A good rule of thumb is to have 80% audio calls and 20% video calls for maximum productivity and bonding.

A good rule of thumb is to have 80% audio calls and 20% video calls for maximum productivity and bonding.

Some other audio and video call tips include:

Don’t be afraid to share your screen. – Screen sharing is very helpful when collaborating on projects and discussing ideas. Encourage your team to use this function frequently to add a helpful visual element to your audio-only calls.

Audio is more important than video. – Blurry video is tolerable as long as your audio quality is good (clear, lag-free, and continuous). However, it’s still good to invest in the right technology for improved video quality once your internet connection and audio set-up are good to go.

Use headphones. – The easiest way to get great audio quality is to use headphones with a microphone that’s near your mouth. Wire-connected headphones are best because bluetooth headsets introduce latency, but at minimum you should use something like AirPods. When you use headphones, the audio plays into your ear, so your mic won’t pick up other peoples’ voices. And a microphone near your mouth will pick up your voice so that you get heard as well.

A wire-connected headphone is best because Bluetooth headsets introduce latency, but at minimum you should use something like AirPods.

Use the Right Technology

As we mentioned before, having the right technology infrastructure in place is essential for success as a remote, distributed team. For synchronous communication, you will need a way to conduct audio and video calls, chat, and take and save meeting notes. You may also want to include a task management app so that you can review and assign tasks in an organized way during meetings.

There are a lot of apps out there, but here are our favorites for synchronous communication:

  • AirSend – AirSend is an all-in-one app that allows you to send messages, share and organize files, complete tasks, have video or screen sharing calls, and keep notes in a built-in wiki. The messaging, voice and video calling and screen-sharing capabilities fully satisfy your team’s synchronous communication needs. And the built-in wiki and task management functions provide everything you need to take notes and organize tasks during meetings. We use AirSend for almost all of our team’s communication.
  • Zoom – Zoom is the golden standard when it comes to audio and video calling. In our experience, it’s best for large conference calls with more people (we use it for our bi-weekly company-wide video conferences). It’s also a good way to conduct team building activities remotely like playing Jackbox games. Because the Zoom client pops up every time you join a meeting and is slower than other options, we don’t like it for impromptu 1-1 meetings as the time wasted waiting for the client to load can be irritating.
  • Skype – Unlike Zoom, Skype is great for 1-1 meetings. It’s also nice because you can use it to call phones if you need to, and the chat is permanently connected to your contacts and available. The only negative about Skype is that its audio and video quality can be lacking compared to AirSend and Zoom.

Now that we’ve talked about asynchronous and synchronous communication in remote work, it’s time for some general remote work communication best practices which we will discuss in Part 3 of this guide.

Part III: General Best Practices for Remote Work Communication

Part I: Your Guide to Asynchronous Communication in Remote Work

Introduction

Remote work is a growing trend that has become a permanent reality for many due to improvements in technology and global events. In May 2020, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced that employees would be able to continue to work from home even after coronavirus restrictions were lifted. And many other companies — Facebook, Upwork, Shopify, Coinbase — are following suit by transitioning from an in-office work environment to one that is digital and geographically distributed.

There are two major reasons for this shift. The first is that remote work is good for business. Studies have shown that remote work increases employee productivity, improves retention rates, and reduces costs (avg. $10,000 on real estate expenses). The second is that people want to work from home. Therefore, companies that provide remote work options are able to attract better talent.

According to Global Workplace Analytics, 77% of people want to continue to work from home after the coronavirus pandemic is over, and 25 – 30% of people will be working remotely multiple days per week by the end of 2021. But whether or not remote work is the future of business has yet to be seen.

77% of people want to continue to work from home after the coronavirus pandemic is over, and 25 – 30% of people will be working remotely multiple days per week by the end of 2021.

Global Workplace Analytics

There are definite challenges to working remotely. The biggest challenge is the loss of human connection. Are people able to work away from their peers for a prolonged period of time and still remain healthy and productive? We don’t know.

As we run a global experiment on whether or not remote work can become the new norm, the focus sharpens on how to improve processes to increase the productivity and efficiency of remote, distributed teams. And effective communication is at the forefront of these discussions.

The ability to communicate effectively makes or breaks the success of a team. Every business must have a strong communication infrastructure in place to grow and prosper. But the communication needs of a geographically distributed, digitally connected team are very different from that of a team in an in-office work environment.

This is why we created this guide with practical knowledge and wisdom on digital communication for remote teams based on our own experience as an internationally distributed, remote working team of 50+ employees.

Who is this guide for?

This guide is for organizations and team members who are or are planning to work remotely as a distributed team. It is a complete guide to digital communication for remote teams divided into two parts: asynchronous communication and synchronous communication. The first part which you are about to read focuses on asynchronous communication — what it is, its benefits and challenges, and how to best implement it in your team for positive results.

After reading this guide, you will have a clear and practical understanding of communication best practices for remote teams to better navigate the wonders and pitfalls of working remotely as a distributed team.

Part I: Your Guide to Asynchronous Communication in Remote Work

What is asynchronous communication?

Asynchronous communication is communication that does not happen in real time. It is email, or notes posted to an online bulletin. This is different from synchronous communication, or communication that does happen in real time like a face-to-face meeting, company meeting on Zoom, or an active chat room.

In other words, asynchronous communication happens when you send a message with no expectations for an immediate response. Synchronous communication happens when you send a message and the recipient processes the information and provides an immediate response.

There is a time and a place for everything, including synchronous and asynchronous communication while working remotely.

Common examples of asynchronous communication include: 

  • Email – You send an email but may not get a response until hours or days later.
  • Wiki – You create articles in a wiki which are accessed by others at a later date.
  • Discussion Forums – You write posts and / or comments in a discussion forum that others respond to on their own time.
  • Task Management Systems – You create action items with details provided on what needs to be accomplished, which team members may discuss with you if desired.
  • Chat – This can be synchronous or asynchronous depending on company culture, but you may leave messages in a chat room with no expectations for an immediate response.

Why is asynchronous communication important for remote teams?

There is a time and a place for everything, including synchronous and asynchronous communication while working remotely. The truth is – the best remote working teams implement a balanced combination of synchronous and asynchronous communication. This is because what doesn’t need to be synchronous is better accomplished asynchronously.

When used correctly and at the right ratios, asynchronous communication’s benefits include:

Benefits of Time Flexibility

Being flexible about when responses are expected of others is essential for a geographically distributed team (people working in different time zones). Not only that, having more control over work hours results in happier and more productive people. Asynchronous communication allows employees to structure workdays to fit their lifestyles and responsibilities.

Higher Quality Communication

Because it is slower, asynchronous communication provides the time and space necessary to think through and provide high quality responses. For example, more time and thought are put into writing an email consisting of a couple of paragraphs than a one-line chat message.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos takes this one step further in his staff meetings, in which he combines both asynchronous and synchronous communication. No PowerPoints are used in Amazon meetings. Instead, people must prepare multi-page, narratively structured memos which go through a thorough revision process with co-workers before the actual meeting. Then, the first part of the meeting is spent in silence reading through each memo. Only after this asynchronous communication process is complete does the synchronous part of the meeting begin.

Encouragement of Diversity

Some people are better at synchronous communication while others are better at asynchronous communication. And a team composed of people of people with varying skill sets is better than a team where everyone only knows how to do the same thing.

The best remote working teams implement a balanced combination of synchronous and asynchronous communication.

How to Best Implement Asynchronous Communication in a Remote Team

Now that we’ve established what asynchronous communication is and why it is important, it’s time to talk about how to best implement it in your team. The next part of this section consists of best practices in using asynchronous communication in the remote workplace.

Group Communication by Context

In a face-to-face meeting, it’s easy to ask a question and get an immediate answer if you are confused or need more information to move forward with work. With async communication, that is not the case. That is why context and organization of information is even more important than usual. Properly organizing your async communications reduces confusion, increases productivity and efficiency, and creates a clear record of information.

The other benefit of organizing communication by context is that if you bring a new person into the company or project, it will be easy for them to read through the necessary materials and get caught up with less hand-holding. This makes work easier for everyone involved.

So how do you maximize organization of your team’s async communication? There are three main action steps to take.

First, make sure everyone is on the same page in terms of what app to use for which tasks. People need to know where things go. Team members should be clear on where to post status reports, task items, brainstorm sessions, work drafts etc.

Make sure everyone is one the same page in terms of what app to use for which tasks, and take, organize, and store information in a way that newcomers are able to easily access the information.

Second, make sure you take, organize, and store information in a way that newcomers are able to easily access the information and get a clear understanding of what’s going on in a single day. This means choosing the right modes of async communication for your team and the right technology to implement those modes.

Third, pay attention to the public vs. private message ratio of your chat groups. This applies whether chat is sync or async for you (as mentioned before, this depends on company culture). But finding a good balance here is important. Too much private, 1-1 messaging can be a sign of cliques, which are roadblocks to productivity. Too much public, large group messaging can be distracting and prevent the completion of deep work.

Pay attention to the public vs. private message ratio of your chat groups.

Decide on Your Asynchronous Communication Modes

First, consider the modes of communication you want to use. The basic async communication modes you want to consider for your team are as follows:

  • Wiki – A place to make and keep notes containing everything from full article drafts to async brainstorming sessions.
  • Task Management – A good tool for communicating async status updates, action assignments, and even in-progress notes.
  • Discussion Forum – A great place for teams to post status updates and share long-form ideas.
  • Email – Everyone has it; everyone uses it. So, we’re not going to say much about this one or even recommend apps for it. Whatever you’re already using probably works just fine.

Use the Right Technology

Having the right technology infrastructure in place is essential for success as a remote, distributed team.

If you think about it, since there is no physical office — the technology is the office. Your computer becomes your cubicle, your chat app becomes the hallway taking you to your team members’ desks to talk, your video conferencing app becomes the conference room.

So, a remote team having the right technology in place is as important as an in-office team having a functional, comfortable office to work in.

So how do you choose the right technology for you?

After you’ve decided on the modes, you can choose your apps accordingly. There are a lot of apps out there. Here are a few of our favorites for asynchronous communication:

  • AirSend – AirSend is an all-in-one app that allows you to send messages, share and organize files, complete tasks, have video or screen sharing calls, and keep notes in a built-in wiki. The wiki and task management sections provide everything you need for asynchronous communication. While the messaging and conferencing capabilities fulfill your team’s synchronous communication needs. We use AirSend for almost all of our team’s communication, sync and async.
  • Trello – Trello is a task management tool that is great for assigning and keeping track of tasks. Inspired by Kanban, Trello allows you to create unlimited boards, lists, and cards so that you can sort and customize your to-do lists any way you want. The app can be used to provide asynchronous status updates and to organize discussions during synchronous meetings.
  • Discourse – Discourse is an app that lets you create your own online discussion forum. Discussion forums are great because they allow you to write long-form content and organize that content by topic.

This brings us to our other option for remote communication which you can read about in Part II of our Complete Guide to Digital Communication for Remote Teams.

Part II: Your Guide to Synchronous Communication in Remote Work

Part III: General Best Practices for Remote Work Communication