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COVID-19: Tools to communicate effectively in a crisis

The COVID-19 outbreak is changing the way teams communicate with each other and making everyday communication ever more challenging. Despite the government implementing travel-bans, social distancing and quarantine measures – businesses are leveraging new forms of technology to stay connected and better serve their clients.

In accordance with recent government advice, Dthree has recently implemented a ‘work from anywhere’ policy in order to best protect the health and wellbeing of our employees, customers and key stakeholders. Our staff have adapted quickly to their ‘home office’, and continue to work efficiently and diligently for clients on design and build projects.

Despite our usual workspaces now being empty, the importance of being able to communicate and set meetings with both colleagues and clients remains incredibly important. Despite the current challenges we face, there are a number of tools on the market that enable efficient home working.

 

In this piece, we share Dthree’s top tips to help organisations maintain productivity and morale at this challenging time.

Instant Messaging platforms: As a result of new technology, teams can connect and communicate both remotely and effectively to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 virus. However, it is important for companies to make sure that channels of communication stay open, and that employees and clients are comfortable in using them.

We have listed some of the go-to platforms for group communication, planning and direct / instant messaging within the workplace. These tools are also useful for employees to facilitate one-to-one communication which would otherwise be easier in the office.

Microsoft Teams
Google Hangouts
Basecamp
Slack

 

Video Messaging tools : The importance of video messaging and visual communication cannot be emphasised enough during this crisis. Video calls help to compensate for a lack of facetime with colleagues. It also helps to keep the team stay connected and see the live challenges of working from home, especially for parents with younger children. Indeed, when speaking to current and prospective clients, visual communication allows for a more connected engagement than one might have just over the phone.

Dthree has listed some of the remote video conferencing tools that can help your team stay better connected:

Skype for business
StarLeaf
Join.me
Zoom
Microsoft Teams
Google Hangouts
Cisco WebEx

 

Project Management: Although one of the more basic functions, ensuring that staff members are able to schedule meetings and manage tasks with ease should not be overlooked. With the physical form of the office space guaranteeing that the basics of organisation and daily structure remain intact, working from home may be a challenge for some employees requiring a longer adaptation period, thereby imposing otherwise avoidable project delays.

The below project management tools can bring structure to projects, not only when working from home:

Asana
Google Calendar
Monday.com
Microsoft Teams
Teamup
Toggl Plan

It remains to be seen if the COVID-19 crisis has a long-lasting impact on design requirements of the physical office space. In these unprecedented times, while your team copes with juggling their personal well-being and their professional lives, we hope that these tools will take some of the pressure off their shoulders. We are in this together and we, at Dthree, believe that we will only come out stronger.

As we prepare for life after the Coronavirus, if Dthree can support you in the process of designing an office that you can call home, an environment that compliments work life but also enhances how you live – get in touch. We’re here to help.

 

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