Err – who was responsible for that again? Which email was that attachment in? Who approved that? Deadline, what deadline?? Sounds like you need some serious collaboration and productivity software.

Red Cloud’s favourite three words are GET. STUFF. DONE. But to do that you need the right set of tools to ensure your projects have a communication, delegation and document storage framework so they stay on time (and on budget). Could your project tools and framework do with a review?

Here’s a guide to some of the best online collaboration and productivity software that can help your team stay on the same page: schedule or assign tasks, combine files, discussions, and calendars, and essentially manage projects efficiently – ultimately resulting in better communication, increased accountability, and improved workflow.

The problem is, with so many great options now available to choose from, it can be overwhelming knowing where to start.

Here’s a round-up of some of the programs at the tip of the iceberg…

G Suite – Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Forms, Hangouts and more

With its custom professional email, shareable Calendar, Docs, and Sheets, and video conferencing/chat with Google Hangouts, Google’s G Suite is pretty much a one-stop cloud-computing shop. And in addition to Google’s set of productivity and collaboration tools, there’s a whole bunch of apps that integrate to G Suite, to really help you customise to your workflow needs (think DeskDrop, LumApps, LumWork, CloudCom, etc).

Slack

Slack organises team conversations about projects into transparent and searchable ‘channels’, with file sharing functionality – not to mention plug-ins to a multitude of other commonly-used programs like MailChimp and Google Drive. Goodbye, email.

Collavate

This collaborative workflow program is brilliant for managing document approval processes. Create workflows and set deadlines, tag documents for easy tracking and retrieval; and control who sees a document, what level of permissions they have, and whether or not they’ve approved it – all on the one screen.

Trello

A mobile pinboard covered in ‘cards’ that are moved along from phase to phase of a project, conveyor-belt-style, as each person completes their task. You can add colleagues, comments, files, hyperlinks, labels and due dates to the cards; and view in calendar mode.

Basecamp

Create projects, increase accountability by assigning ‘to-do’ lists, share calendars and files, and reduce communication gaps by keeping the whole team’s communication in Basecamp (rather than using email, although you still can do that, too).

Airtable

This souped-up spreadsheet streamlines project management into a flexible and visually pleasing interface. Add files; view projects by calendar, grid, or as notecards; and automate workflows with plug-ins to programs like Slack, Dropbox and Zapier.

Teamwork Projects

Many would peg this as the ultimate in project management software… create projects and milestones; assign tasks; add discussions or comments; share documents in Teamwork Projects or link them to Dropbox or Google Drive; switch to Gantt view function.

Asana

With a list of integrations as long as your arm, Asana is a versatile project management tool. Customise fields to track information in your workflow, check project progress in one view, turn conversations into actionable tasks, and report directly into Google Sheets.

ClickUp

View projects from Box View, List View or Board View; use the simple checklist or customize statuses for a detailed workflow summary; assign actions to comments; and easily adjust hierarchy. Plugs in to Zapier for access to hundreds of automations.

Dropbox

An oldie, but definitely still a goodie. This cloud file storage and sharing system is the preferred way to manage documents in the cloud for millions of users – and with integrations to G Suite pegged to launch in the coming months, it could soon get even better.

Some of the rest of the productivity software iceberg:

• Microsoft Teams

• Workplace by Facebook

• Kanban Tool

• TeamViewer

• Todoist

• PivotalTracker

• Wrike

• Jira Software

• ProofHub

• Brightpod

• Taskworld

• LiquidPlanner

• Sharepoint

• Sococo

• Nutcache

• Glip

• Postwire

• Dayviewer

• Evernote

• Favro

• Zapty

• Telegram Messenger

• Scoro

• Bitrix 24

• Telegram Messenger

• Avaza

• Monday.com

• Yammer

• I Done This

If you’re after Video conferencing, there’s also:

• Uber conferencing

• Skype

• Zoom

• Join.Me

• Go.To.Meeting

• Web.Ex

• Loom

• Google meet

• Appear.In

For the record at Red Cloud we’re big fans of:

• G Suite

• Slack

• Trello

• Uber conferencing

• Asana, and

• Harvest

These work seamlessly for us to make sure we get your projects done for you, on time and on budget. If you need our help get in touch.