Seamless synchronisation: Our top three tools for your scattered squad

Google Workspace is a centralised asset management tool that helps you collaborate from anywhere there is internet (and even when there’s not). It gives you professional email, online storage where your team can access all shared files, shared calendars where you can check your team’s availability, video meetings, online chat and many more features that make team collaboration effective.

At Magnia, we have come to love working on Google Workspace as an essential tool for our day-to-day work. It has a seamless integration which allows our team to effortlessly navigate between various applications without disrupting our workflow. Whether it’s transitioning from a video call on Google Meet to collaborating on a Google Doc or managing our schedules on Google Calendar, everything flows smoothly.

One of the standout features of Google Workspace is its real-time collaboration capability. This functionality has greatly enhanced our team’s productivity and cooperation. We can now work on documents simultaneously, sharing thoughts, providing instant feedback, and making collective decisions without the hassle of endless email trades which truly transformed the way we work together.

Lastly, Google’s top-notch security protocols have instilled a sense of confidence in us. With features like two-factor authentication and advanced phishing protection, we can be assured that our data and communication are well safeguarded.

The Google Workspace provides a professional custom email for your nonprofit and includes collaboration tools like Gmail, Calendar, Meet, Chat, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, and more. This team work management software is user friendly and suitable for all types of organisation, therefore your nonprofit organisation can also benefit from this to increase productivity and work smoothly with your team.

1. Efficient File Sharing: Google workspace has a feature that enables you to easily share and collaborate on files. Instead of attaching large files to your emails, instead you can upload them to Google Drive and share the link with your recipients. This not only saves storage space but also allows multiple users to access and edit the same file simultaneously, promoting seamless collaboration.
2. Real-time Collaboration: Utilise Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides for real-time collaboration with your team. Multiple users can work on the same document simultaneously, making it easier to brainstorm ideas, edit content, and provide feedback in real-time. This feature fosters efficient teamwork, especially when working remotely or across different locations.
3. Revisit history: The version history feature in Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets helps to keep a record of all the changes made to a document. This feature allows you to easily revert to any previous version without losing any data, which is useful when collaborating with multiple people.

Although we swear by Google Workspace, it’s important to note that Microsoft 365 and Zoho Workplace are also alternatives worth exploring. These platforms provide comparable features, but they differ in their user interface and specific functionalities.

Slack is our favourite platform for instant communication and is one of the most effective collaboration tools. It has many features like direct message or group message, file sharing, audio calls and a tool integration option for other apps like google calendar, Asana, notion and many more.

Slack has become a popular choice for our team, offering a user-friendly interface, powerful collaboration features, and extensive integration capabilities. We love how it makes internal communications easy and effective.

Slack is a great tool to use for any organisation to enhance internal communication. It’s also a useful platform for nonprofit organisations as many of them have teams in different locations all around the world. By utilising slack, it’s easier to strengthen collaboration, improve internal communication and streamline their operations to further their impact.

1. Channels: Slack organises conversations into channels, which can be created for specific teams, projects, or topics. This allows for focused discussions and easy navigation, ensuring that relevant information is easily accessible.
2. Messaging and Collaboration: Slack offers real-time messaging that allows team members to communicate quickly and efficiently. It supports direct messaging, group conversations, and the ability to share files, images, and documents within the platform.
3. Integration: Slack integrates with numerous external apps and services, allowing you to bring all your tools into one place.

When looking for alternatives to Slack, Microsoft Teams is a similar choice, offering a comprehensive platform with seamless integration with Microsoft 365. It provides team collaboration features, file sharing, video conferencing, and more. Another alternative is Discord, a tool that also offers a versatile communication platform for teams, including voice and video calling, chat channels, and community creation.

Notion is a versatile collaboration tool that allows individuals and teams to organise, plan, and manage their work. It offers a wide range of features like the ability to create and organise content in a flexible manner, create pages, databases, and tables to structure their information, leave comments, mention teammates, and assign tasks within the platform.

At Magnia, we love Notion for several reasons. Firstly, Notion’s project management feature has greatly enhanced our workflow. We can easily handle tasks, set deadlines, and track milestones, giving us a clear overview of our projects. We have found its unique features and intuitive interface make it a powerful and user-friendly tool.

As notion is a great tool for small teams, Notion can be a valuable tool for nonprofits in several ways as well. Its flexible workspace allows nonprofits to create and organise project boards, assign tasks, set deadlines, and collaborate with team members. These organisations can also utilise this tool as a centralised knowledge base to store important information, documents, and resources. This makes it easy for team members to access and share information, ensuring everyone has the latest updates.

Notion’s calendar and project management features can be utilised by nonprofits to plan and organise events, such as fundraisers or community outreach programs. It helps in coordinating logistics, setting reminders, and tracking progress.

Additionally, Notion can be used to track and manage donor information, including contact details, donation history, and communication records. It helps nonprofits maintain strong relationships with donors and streamline fundraising efforts. It also enables nonprofits to create databases in Notion to manage volunteer information, availability, and assigned tasks. This simplifies the process of coordinating and communicating with volunteers.

1. Customizable templates: make the most of Notion’s customizable templates to get a head start on your pages. Whether you need a simple to-do list or a complex project management board, these templates offer comprehensive solutions for your needs.
2. Mentions and tags: Enhance navigation and collaboration using the @mention and #tag functionality. Use @mentions to get feedback from team members or tag your pages for easy categorization and retrieval.
3. The wiki feature: This can help you create a well-structured knowledge base. It’s a great way to onboard new team members or create a centralised resource hub that everyone can access.

While Notion still remains our choice, there are alternative tools that have fairly similar features. Evernote, a versatile note-taking app; Trello, a visual project management tool and Asana, a comprehensive project management platform are some of the alternatives of notion.