Every business, whether it is service-based or product-based, needs the team to come and work together as one unit to achieve the best results. The pandemic has forced employees to work remotely but what has stood out in this melee is the necessity of collaboration software for a team to simply communicate, share knowledge, and manage tasks. In between the rush to manage your e-commerce website, maybe create your own app, manage stocks, and sell products, you need to coordinate with a team of marketers, administrative staff, vendors, and many more to keep your business running. Any business, big or small, needs a collaboration tool or software to make working together simple and easy. Not only will it help in communicating with the internal team to stay organized but it will help you interact with the suppliers and other wholesale retailers to streamline your processes and increase productivity.

Here, at Swipecart, we have built powerful mobile app builder themes, layouts, and many more products as a team and the one thing we don’t compromise is when selecting the best collaboration tool to empower our employees, reduce misunderstanding, and keep the workflow processes continuous and smooth.

The days of collaborative working are far from over and in fact, it has become a must-have tool now to make the most of the team. So, here are our picks of the best team collaboration tools for 2022.

1.Microsoft 365

Microsoft’s cloud-based office suite, Microsoft 365, is the heart of many businesses. From Excel spreadsheets to presentation PowerPoint, from client reports in Word to chats in Teams, Microsoft 365 is easy to use and offers a wide range of seamless integration and collaboration. Microsoft Teams is an online collaboration tool that allows businesses to add project members and even freelancers, consultants, or clients as guest users to the team.

Pricing:

Microsoft 365 offers a free plan but with limited features. Businesses have to shell out $5 per month for the paid version and Microsoft Teams is a part of the package.

Microsoft 365 Pros & Cons

✅ Pros

  • Microsoft 365 has an extensive suite of cloud-based business tools to improve overall productivity even when the team members are working remotely.

  • It offers 1 Terabyte of space for sharing files and collaboration

  • Microsoft Teams provides for the integration of all tools in one single place. So, you can schedule a meeting, share a task, make a video or audio call, or work on files without leaving the chat.

❌ Cons

  • The disadvantage is that this sophisticated software may not be compatible with your old system.

  • Since Office 365 is a cloud-based system, you need the internet to access the files stored on it.

2.Google’s Workspace (formerly G-Suite)

During the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, Zoom became the most downloaded video conferencing software owing to the rise of remote work culture. Google was quick to realize this and made changes to its G-Suite enterprise platform integrating Rooms, Meet, and Chat into the unified package that was renamed as Google Workspace. Gmail, Google Drive, Google Slides, Google Docs, Google Meet, Google Chat, and Google Search, Google’s Workspace is everything neatly combined into one package for seamless collaboration and teamwork.

Pricing:

The free version offers 15GB of free storage limit. The Starter plan at $6 per month provides a storage limit of 30GB and a video conference limit of 100 persons. The Standard plan is $12 with storage of 200 GB and a video limit of 150 persons. The Plus plan offers 5TB storage space and a 250 person video conference limit.

Google Workspace Pros & Cons

✅ Pros

  • One of the greatest pros of using Google workspace is its familiarity. Employees already use Gmail or Google Docs and learning other Google tools becomes easy.

  • Google is known for its best security measures and is trusted by some of the biggest companies worldwide.

❌ Cons

  • Google Workspace built on top of Google Cloud Platform is entirely cloud-based and its free version offers limited storage space.

  • If you are using Microsoft Office tools, you will find that Google Workspace tools offer lesser features than Microsoft 365. For example, Microsoft Word is more powerful than Google Doc.

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3.Slack

Slack is a collaborative messaging tool owned by Salesforce designed for workplaces. It can be used across multiple platforms and devices to upload and share files.

What is different in Slack? When it was launched, it stood out from its competitors because it provided the company an option to control who can use it through the email invitation system. Of course, now, every collaboration tool has this feature but back then when it was launched in 2013, this was something that provided it an edge over Microsoft and Apple. Even today, Slack is simple to use because it was designed by understanding the users’ needs. It is easy for non-technical users to pick up when compared to other chat tools like Microsoft Teams or Basecamp.

Pricing:

onth while the Plus is priced at $12.50 and Enterprise Grid is for large businesses at a customized price.

Slack Pros & Cons

✅ Pros

  • Easily integrates with Google Drive, Microsoft 365, and Dropbox

  • You can create “channels” for each client or project to include relevant co-workers in it. The channels can be public, private, shared, or multi-workspace. The team leader sends invitations to co-workers working on the respective sub-projects. It is easy to share topics in real-time and get an immediate response about a deadline.

  • It can be downloaded to the desktop and has a mobile app version as well.

  • The free version, although has limited features, is still viable for small businesses

  • It has a user-friendly and intuitive interface

  • The pricing plans are not heavy on the pockets

❌ Cons

  • The disadvantage with Slack is that it lacks the cloud storage functionality

4.Zoom

Zoom remains one of the most attractive video collaboration tools since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. This cloud-based video communication app allows you to set up video and audio conferencing, webinars, live chats, and other collaborative capabilities.

Pricing:

The Basic plan is free and allows for up to 40 minutes of video conferencing in one go. The Pro plan allows 24 hours meeting length and we can create IDs for recurring meetings. The recorded meetings can also be stored in the cloud. The Zoom Business plan and the Enterprise plan are good for large businesses and they get dedicated customer support and the best features.

Zoom Pros & Cons

✅ Pros

  • It is very easy to use and has the ability to host large online conferences and webinars.

  • It allows streaming any meeting or webinar on Facebook.

  • It is compatible with third-party software like Google Calendar and Facebook

  • Zoom is scalable and allows businesses to scale up their subscription

❌ Cons

  • Due to exposed passwords, unwanted individuals crash important conferences that result in Zoombombing.

  • You need to download the app for your browser to attend Zoom meetings.

5.Zoho Workplace

Zoho Workplace like Google Workspace is a suite of collaboration and communication tools for teamwork. It has Zoho Mail, Zoho Chat, Zoho Sites, and Zoho Docs, and some other tools to empower employees to do their work more seamlessly and easily.

Pricing:

It is available for free with 10GB of storage. The Standard plan is at $3 per user per month whereas the Pro is for $6 and the Enterprise is at $10.

Zoho Workplace Pros & Cons

✅ Pros

  • It is the best tool and allows businesses to go paperless. Files can be shared, employees can communicate in real-time, leaders can create, store, and access documents or build proposals in the cloud.

  • Zoho Workplace has a lot of mobile apps that increase remote work productivity

  • The Zoho tools easily integrate with one another, so there is no need for third-party integrations.

❌ Cons

  • Some people find it difficult to use when compared to the more familiar Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace.

  • The app is suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises and not for big complex businesses.

  • It doesn’t allow importing contacts from social media sites.

Conclusion

Collaboration and communication tools have become a necessity in 2021 and will continue to remain so in 2022 and beyond.

Here at Swipecart, we use the best collaboration tools for teamwork and to streamline processes. These tools have helped us build powerful mobile app builder tools, themes, and complete projects on time. If you are able to create your own app using Swipecart, remember, we have been able to achieve this because we have used good collaboration and communication tools in-house and with the clients to get our tasks completed successfully.