The 3 Best Cloud Collaboration Apps for Business
Cloud collaboration with remote team members has become much easier since the advent of cloud-based file storing and sharing. A study by Cisco found that 64 percent of respondents felt cloud-based collaboration helped them to work more intelligently and quickly. Cloud collaboration isn't just a buzzword anymore—it's the future of business and teamwork. Below are several indispensable cloud collaboration applications for the modern business person.
Google Drive
Nothing beats Google Drive when it comes to cloud collaboration on documents and spreadsheets in real time. Drive comes with built-in tools that support more than 30 file types, enabling you to view things such as video or Adobe Illustrator files even if you lack the program on your own computer. Drive also maintains excellent revision histories on documents that go back as far a month, so you can restore a file to its original or a logged state at the press of a button.Google Drive does have its limitations. For one, only 50 people can view or edit documents at the same time. For truly huge projects, some team members may have to temporarily stop viewing files so others can step in. Additionally, documents be shared with only 200 people, including commenters, editors and viewers. For large organizations or exceedingly complicated documents, this can be a frustration. However, it is easy enough to simply make a file in Google Docs “public.”Google Drive is available for all types of operating systems, even iOS. It's free and comes with 15GB of storage.
NetSuite POS Software
NetSuite POS software makes it easy to create a unified experience for shoppers at various points of sale across the world. Netsuite cloud collaboration software enables retailers and their employees to quickly locate items that are out of stock, offer promotions across the company instantly and collect information on customer purchases for targeted ad campaigns. A study conducted by Zogby Analytics found that more than 40 percent of shoppers preferred advertisements that targeted their specific interests to random ads.Netsuite enables transactions to be performed in many languages and in many currencies, making it an excellent tool for companies that do business around the world. It also maintains a back-office system that unifies operations across many stores simultaneously and can consolidate e-commerce business activities across many devices.
Skitch
For graphic design businesses, Skitch can be an eye-opening experience. Offered by Evernote, Skitch enables users to collaborate on editing photos and images in real time, adding arrows, text or shapes quickly. Users can add captions, draw on maps and add annotations to PDFs effortlessly. Skitch can also take screenshots of desktops, and it is compatible with Evernote for sharing across multiple apps.Since being bought by collab-software giant Evernote, downloading and using Skitch is free. Evernote is a leader in app-based collaboration software, and TechCrunch reports that Evernote products have more than 12.5 million subscribed users. If you find you like Skitch, the Evernote Premium packages adds many other collaboration and note-taking features, and is available through a monthly subscription for $5, or through an annual subscription for $45.