11 Great Tools for Working across Time Zones

As we all know, when the Australians are sitting down for a well-earned meal at the end of the day, many of us are still fast asleep in our beds and haven’t even begun.

In terms of work and those in the export and import business know this better than anyone – communicating, organising and working with people in different time zones can make for issues. Fortunately, thanks to the web and more particularly the tools we can avail of, it’s a lot easier to communicate and work than it used to be.

 

Image – www.infoplease.com

We’ve compiled a list of great software that no self-respecting person who travels and deals with businesses abroad should be without.

Skype

We’re going to mention Skype first and foremost. You may already have it downloaded, but if you haven’t, make sure to. The VoIP calling service is fantastic for anything from instant messaging, to phone and video calls and can even be used for group calling. It’s cheap, cheerful and a must have.

Lycamobile

Lycamobile is changing the way people communicate between countries with its service. The company offers low cost calls abroad as well as free international calls between phones using the service. It’s well worth utilising if you have people working across timezones and can save bunch.

Google Calendar

Google Calendar has a whole raft of great tools and features that make managing your work a lot easier. From the Gmail to Calendar Event Add option to Event Flair which allows you to add icons to events – there are loads. This list from Make Use Of is well worth a look.

GetResponse

Email marketing is often overlooked; however it can be a great way for businesses to get messages out there and communicate with customers and suppliers alike. GetResponse is a simple, easy to use email marketing tool that allows you to build, automate and send your mass correspondence with ease. Whether you want simple or advanced functionality it has you covered.

Time Zones

Planning things can be extremely hard when people are in different time zones. Time is a funny thing and even harder to grasp due to the fact we have factors such as daylight savings time and others altering time zones even more so.

Every Time Zone is a great tool that makes it a lot easier to see the daylight hours for different cities across the globe. It facilitates easier communication and ensures that it’s simpler to find the sweet spot when your people across the globe can talk.

Trello

If you want to organise documents and work processes there are a number of tools out there. Trello is one such tool and offers a simple interface that makes it very easy to organise, see the progress of and manage projects as they go from the initial stages to completion.

Asana

Similar to Trello, new kid on the block Asana makes it easy to keep your team organised and focused. It’s a very well laid out platform that makes team communication a lot easier for those working with a team across the globe.

Hootsuite

Travelling can take its toll on a person’s social media interaction. Tweeting live from an airplane or a business meeting just isn’t practical. Hootsuite’s social media tools allow you to schedule social media posts, meaning you can be ever present online even if you’re not available.

Oktopost

Oktopost is a social media management platform which is specifically oriented to B2B marketing and Social Media B2B. You could schedule your social media campaigns and post on the behalf of other people who give you access to their social accounts.

Google Drive

There are loads of great options in the cloud storage field, but we’re going to choose Google Drive as its large free allowance and integration with other Google services is brilliant. It’s easy to use, well laid out and also good for planning, tracking, reporting and collaboration.

Google Hangouts

For online group meetings, Google Hangouts is the best free solution there is online. It’s quite functional, well laid out and works with other Google apps as well as a wide array of third party ones too.

These are just some of the great apps that those working and dealing with businesses abroad can utilise to increase productivity, improve communication and stay in touch.

Sectors: Business Services
Countries: United Kingdom and United States
Topics: Sales & Marketing
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