Top 10 Collaboration Tools for the Enterprise

Wrike is a collaboration and time-management tool in one. You get all the file-sharing and instantaneous communication solutions you need to keep your team working smoothly together, along with the Gantt charts and scheduling tools you need to stay on top of projects.

From interactive timelines to integrations with third-party applications like IBM connections, Gmail, Apple Mail, and Dropbox, Wrike is a great way to bring your staff together and boost productivity on your latest project. Finally, there’s even a free trial that you can sign up for here. Features include:

• Timelines and Gantt charts
• Custom workflows
• Real-time messaging
• Analytics and reporting
• Scheduling

Teamwork is explicitly designed to suit the needs of larger enterprises – so if you’re running a big company, this could be the tool for you. It’s already relied upon by rather well-known brands like Disney, eBay, PayPal, and even Forbes.

A diverse project management suite with collaboration tools like time tracking, group chat, and even a client portal, Teamwork is a great piece of tech, complete with an easy-to-use dashboard interface. Just keep in mind that this tool can take a little time to get used to if you’re not familiar with high-level collaboration tools. Features include:

• Report creation
• Time tracking and milestones
• Group chat
• Client portal
• Gantt charts

Podio is a particularly interesting option in our list of collaboration tools for the enterprise. Although it covers a range of project management functions like file sharing and task management and gives you plenty of options for instant communication, it’s also designed for workflow automation.

You can use the scheduling tool to automatically assign different tasks and roles to people in your team for an upcoming project, and like most collaboration apps, there are also Gantt charts to visualize your progress. Furthermore, Podio allows you to create custom “apps,” with a drag and drop tool that can do things like, send automated emails, or set up meetings. Features include:

• Custom app creation
• File sharing
• Instant chat
• Activity Stream
• Gantt Chart

If you’re looking for all the essential elements for better collaboration in the enterprise, organized into a neat package, then you can’t go wrong with Basecamp. It comes with deadlines, email notifications, live chat, file sharing, and so much more. This tool is particularly good for companies that work with clients on day-to-day projects because you can also show your customers what you’re doing with limited-access links.

In addition to the standard collaboration tools that you would expect from most of the options on this list, Basecamp also comes with automated “check-in” questions that you can send to your team to make sure they’re making progress with their tasks. Features include:

• Automated check-in
• Live Chat
• File sharing
• Integrations with other apps
• Notifications and deadlines

Another option on our list of collaboration tools that aims to combine project management with easier communication, Asana is a highly flexible web-based software system that delivers a range of fantastic features. Though designed specifically for workflow management, Asana also gives employees a place to work together on challenging projects, with annotatable-documents, and real-time conversations. There are integrations available with apps like Slack, Google Drive, and Dropbox too.

There’s both a paid and free version of Asana available today. While the free version will give you a few fundamental features, the paid package is where you get the most value, with centralized admin tools, unlimited data dashboards and more. Features include:

• Customizable dashboards
• Scheduling and task assignments
• Real-time messaging
• File and attachment sharing

Trello has to be one of the top collaboration tools for people who rely on visuals to guide them through their projects and plans. Over the years, Trello has become rather popular with agile software development teams, but it has something to offer virtually any enterprise.

With drag-and-drop lists of tasks that make it easier to assign the right jobs to the correct people and an easy-to-follow format, Trello gives you more control over your day-to-day workflow. You can even track the amount of time that each person spends on their projects. Furthermore, there’s a free version of Trello available so you can “try before you buy,” and it’s hard to argue with this tool. Features include:

• Time tracking
• Drag and drop task assignments
• Gantt Charts
• Scheduling

It’s hard to write a list of must-have collaboration tools for the Enterprise, without mentioning Slack. Whether you’re looking for way to improve communication among various teams in your business, or you need a way to keep remote employees engaged, Slack is ideal for you.

Designed to keep everyone in your company on the same page – regardless of where they are, Slack makes it easier to keep any project running smoothly. Furthermore, you can share files, invite people to meetings, and even integrate with other tools like Trello to fold project management into the mix. Features include:

• Group and one-on-one messaging
• Searchable conversations
• High-level security
• File sharing

Based on the cloud, Scoro offers quick and easy business management solutions specifically for mid-sized enterprise companies. It’s well-suited to those in the IT, consulting and advertising space, although Scoro can benefit any organization that needs additional help with things like work tracking, project management, customer relations and more.

Scoro comes with one of the most comprehensive feature lists on the market today, which makes it an excellent option for people who want to control all aspects of their business from one place, rather than having to switch between multiple apps. Features include:

• Time management
• Milestones
• Reporting and dashboards
• Project and task assigning
• Instant messaging and real-time collaboration

The “Zoho” brand offers a wide selection of tools for enterprises in search of better business management, tracking, and performance. One of the most popular solutions is Zoho Projects, a project management system that allows you to record and track the challenges that your business faces every day.

Zoho Projects is designed to help organizations get more done in a shorter amount of time, with milestones, deadlines, task lists and more. It also helps bigger projects to seem more achievable by dividing large jobs into smaller chunks, displayed through easy-to-understand graphs. Features include:

• Task lists and milestones
• Gantt charts
• Collaboration Tools (file sharing and messaging)
• Time-tracking
• Document management

JIRA is a simple but effective workflow management tools that help enterprise companies to define tasks, assign them, and set priorities for different teams throughout the business. One of the features that make JIRA unique is its ability to show you how much progress each of your groups has made over a particular time. Consequently, you can even reward the people in your enterprise that deliver the best results.

Designed by Atlassian, JIRA comes with logs to help business leaders dive into employee productivity statistics, flexible Kanban boards for assigning tasks and deadlines, and the option to integrate with other useful business tools. Features include:

• Scrum and Kanban boards
• Agile reporting
• Project mapping