During the COVID-19 pandemic, the cofounders of oral care company SURI navigated remote work by literally leaving their cameras on all day while they worked separately. This allowed them to casually chat as if they were in the same room.
“We were on Zoom 24/7, and it was almost like we had a portal in our house,” co-founder Gyve Safavi recalls on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast. “We’d just walk in and out of the room and be like, ’Oh, hey, you’re eating lunch now? All right, I’m gonna go get a coffee, and I’ll be right back.’”
“We’d be sort of chatting and working away and making sort of like little breakthroughs and negotiating with suppliers, et cetera,” adds Gyve’s cofounder, Mark Rushmore, “but all on camera.”
As SURI grew its team, it incorporated Slack channels to keep everyone aligned. For example, they started piping their Trustpilot reviews directly into a Slack channel so the whole team could read customer feedback together.
Managing a remote team worked for Gyve and Mark because they embraced digital tools to replace some of the everyday activities that occur in a physical office. Read on to learn about the different types of remote team management tools that you can use to make working together easier.
What is remote team management?
Remote team management is the process of overseeing a workforce that operates outside of a centralized physical office. As the manager of remote employees, you may find yourself leading and supporting workers in multiple states and time zones. Global teams span out even further, across national boundaries and continents.
For ecommerce businesses, remote management often is the secret to sustainable growth. It allows you to source specialized talent. You can have a developer in Berlin, a graphic designer in Atlanta, and a customer support specialist in Manila aid your business vision without the overhead of a New York office.
Considerations for managing remote teams
Remote teams may be spread across multiple time zones. Effective management means knowing when it’s crucial to sync up and discuss matters in real time and when to use documentation and collaboration tools to handle tasks asynchronously.
Being spread across time zones “is very much our biggest challenge,” Mustard Made cofounder Jess Gray says on an episode of Shopify Masters. “We come across issues daily.” Jess is based in the UK, and her cofounder (and sister) Becca Stern lives in Australia.
“There’s definitely lots of bending in terms of working hours in Australia.”
To make things work, the team holds early morning and late evening meetings so they work for both time zones, adjusting as necessary. They also use team management tools like Trello and Google Drive, backing up their work in the cloud so the team in one time zone can pick up where the other left off.
Decentralized operations come with benefits as well. For Becca and Jess, having a regional presence in two countries meant they were able to expand quickly in both markets.
“Having the two of us able to lead our teams on opposite sides of the world has enabled us to grow at a speed that we wouldn’t have otherwise,” Becca says
Types of remote team management tools
- Project and task management tools
- Communication and collaboration tools
- Customer support and help desk tools
- Time tracking and productivity tools
- File sharing and documentation tools
- Marketing and content management tools
To successfully oversee a virtual workforce and manage projects from afar, you need the right supporting infrastructure. When it comes to remote work, the right tool can be a game-changer, boosting productivity while keeping teams aligned toward clear priorities and company values. Here are some common types of team management tools that you can use for remote work:
Project and task management tools
Remote project management tools allow team leaders to create projects, assign tasks, set due dates, and maintain clear to-do lists. Project planning tools like Asana and Trello have features like boards, timelines, and to-do lists that provide visibility into project progress, making it easier to track work across multiple company initiatives.
Communication and collaboration tools
Communication tools enable instant messaging, video calls, and all-hands video conferencing, so teams can conduct business meetings virtually. This facilitates real-time collaboration, so distributed teams can solve problems and develop ideas together.
Platforms such as Slack, Zoom, and Google Meet help teams stay connected while working remotely. You can use these tools for scheduling meetings, brainstorming with virtual whiteboards, and most of them have built-in AI notetakers that can take detailed minutes and summarize discussions.
Customer support and help desk tools
Tools like Zendesk and Gorgias are designed to manage customer service workflows. They centralize support tickets and enable teams to respond faster, no matter where they’re located. When properly leveraged, they can shorten response times and improve the overall customer experience.
Time tracking and productivity tools
Remote team managers need full visibility into what everyone is working on. Time management apps make work visible to all relevant stakeholders, which is especially valuable for client work or complex ecommerce initiatives.
Businesses use platforms like Toggl Track and Harvest for keeping track of work hours. This includes billable hours invoiced to a client. The tools also help managers assess the time spent on individual initiatives, which can improve resource allocation decisions.
File sharing and documentation tools
Remote teams rely heavily on cloud-based file sharing systems to share and store important documents and company data in a centralized location. Digital resource management platforms, like Google Workspace, update documents in real time, ensuring that teams work with the latest information.
Solutions like Google Drive and Dropbox enable secure file sharing. Rather than attach documents to emails, team members can share customized links that grant access to specific documents, including those with privileged company data. They’re also useful for creating large document databases on a single platform that all stakeholders can access.
Marketing and content management tools
Tools such as Hootsuite and Klaviyo help ecommerce teams coordinate campaigns, schedule posts, and manage content across channels. These tools support project planning for campaigns and enable performance tracking with customizable reports. This helps remote teams align messaging while managing ongoing marketing operations.
How to choose the right remote team management tools
- Establish the issues you’re trying to address
- Prioritize ease of use
- Ensure the tool fits into your broader tech stack
If you’re ready to try remote team management tools but aren’t sure where to dive in, use these guidelines to anchor you:
Establish the issues you’re trying to address
Identify the biggest challenges your team faces, whether it’s communication gaps, disorganized projects, or a lack of visibility. Choose tools designed to solve those specific problems.
Look for key features that align with your natural workflows. Whether you’re trying to prioritize top tasks, share real-time status updates, support team collaboration, or bolster employee engagement, start by identifying what your team needs most. Then choose tools that fit existing workflows and company culture. This will help your team incorporate them smoothly.
Prioritize ease of use
The best remote work tools make it easy to communicate, share files, and collaborate in real time. The faster that your team can get up and running on the tools, the easier it is to keep everyone aligned from their remote locations. Poll your team about which tools they’re most comfortable using and if they have prior experience with any of these tools.
Ensure the tool fits into your broader tech stack
The right platform should integrate smoothly with your existing software systems. In some cases, the tools may already exist within your ecommerce platform. For instance, Shopify offers many native tools that facilitate remote ecommerce work, including Shopify Inbox, point of sale (POS) staff management, and collaborator accounts for developers and third-party partners.
Remote team management tools FAQ
What are the best remote management tools?
Some popular remote management tools include Trello, Slack, and Basecamp for communication and project management, Hootsuite and Klayvio for marketing, and Google Drive and Dropbox for file sharing.
How do I choose collaboration tools for remote teams?
The best collaboration tools will depend on your specific workflows and business needs. Consider combining a strong communication tool like Slack with a file-sharing platform like Dropbox and a remote marketing app like Hootsuite.
How do I manage teams remotely?
From a cultural standpoint, manage a remote team like you would a team in a physical office. Emphasize transparency, accountability, and a strong work ethic. Add software tools that make it easy to send instant messages, host video chats, track work hours, and maintain to-do lists with project deadlines.
