Software Essentials for New Workplace Norms

JoshuaHow has the use of technology and software changed how you work? In 2016 a survey was taken, and 53% of companies use collaborative software within their organization. The survey was taken four years ago, and with the speed of society, that number keeps increasing. Collaborative software or groupware is application software designed to help people working on a common task to attain their goals. You might use collaborative software at your job, and not even realize it.

During these trying times, companies have had to make abrupt adjustments on how they communicate and share work with colleagues. There are some applications where you can use video for virtual meetings, upload interactive documents for teammates, share calendars, and some do all three.


Collaborative software with video conference capability has become essential to some industries. Skype is a popular telecommunications application that gives you the ability to chat and video chat from any smartphone, tablet, or game console. Skype became popular for its international communication abilities, which makes virtual meetings that much easier no matter where you are. Other recommended video conference applications include Zoom, Google Hangouts, TeamViewer, Cisco WebEx, and GoToMeeting.

Some other capabilities of collaborative software are to share documents, data files, and calendars which has become very popular. This comes in-handy for team projects. Imagine being on a team of 10 people and everyone must have input on a project; before these types of software existed, one might have to email the project to all the teammates, let them edit, and then merge all of them. It would be much easier to upload a single document so that all the team can edit at any time. This software has become popular before social distancing, but now some might deem it an essential addition. Software such as Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and many more have made sharing documents so much easier.

" "Collaborative software covers a large majority of communication techniques, as apps and software have the same attributes that overlap in some way. The software listed above are all free initially and should be easy to practice. Other platforms/ applications that can do both, but have a cost are Asana, Slack, Flock, and Office365 which includes OneDrive, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams. We live in a society where interacting with technology is the norm. The world is undergoing something that we were not prepared for, and now technology is the only form of communication for some. Sometimes a lot of workplace practices and communication must change due to world issues. Be ahead of the curve! Maybe you can do some research, and suggest collaborative software to your boss. Do things that will increase your value at your job!

Joshua Allmon is a Regional Facilitator for Workforce Solutions in the Houston – Galveston Region. Prior to joining the team, Joshua served as a resource specialist helping customers get back into the workforce by reviewing current labor market information, job-readiness skills, and community resources. Joshua’s continued driving force is to help customers get a job, keep a job, or get a better job by conducting job skills seminars throughout the 13 counties of the Gulf Coast region. He holds a B.A. in Marketing and a Minor Business Management from Grambling State University.

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