Future of Work: What to Look For in a Remote Worker

Future of Work: What to Look For in a Remote Worker

We are almost at the end of the year and there is no doubt that the future of work is from anywhere, at any time. Ever since the declaration of the pandemic and the mandatory lockdowns worldwide, office-based employees have been asked to work from home. Looking at the world after the pandemic, we are seeing that the new normal would be working from anywhere.

We have seen the importance of technology and connectivity in our everyday lives. Our smartphones and social media activities have kept us sane amidst the uncertainties. It has even become the holy grail to those who have started working from home. Though working remotely is not something new, it gained traction because of the need for businesses to continue their operations despite the lockdowns. In fact, long-time remote workers and freelancers are rejoicing because their working setup is now being recognised and adapted.

The earlier months of 2020 have been a series of trial and error for most office-based companies and businesses as they go about this abrupt change of work setup. It’s good that there are technologies that support remote working and help make global collaboration easier. Most of all, having the perfect team of remote workers will make everything run smoothly.

Here are some of the important qualities you should look for when building your remote team of experts:

Disciplined

Look for someone who already knows or has an idea how this setup works. It would mean he or she is already familiar and has adjusted to the needs of remote working. They should know how to manage their time wisely, deal with distractions, set deadlines and follow throughs, and respect the time of their colleagues.

Motivated

Motivation is a challenge for remote workers, especially to those who have come from office-based jobs. Being self-motivated or having that can-do attitude helps in ensuring that a person can and will do the job independently. He or she should be able to stay on track and accomplish tasks even when colleagues and superiors are not around.

Skilled in communication

Despite the lack of physically present colleagues, communicating is one of the most important skills in a remote work setup. Though there is no need for face-to-face interaction, being a good communicator using email and other messaging platforms is essential. It doesn’t just mean good in composing clear and concise thoughts, but also in understanding the relay between people.

Responsive

In connection with being a good communicator, everyone should also know the importance of being responsive. Since this is a remote setup using high technology platforms, quick responses are expected. Make sure the team is reachable via any messaging platform of your choice. When it comes to global teams, take note of the time difference in every location so that you would know when to expect the other person to respond.

Tech-savvy

Another challenge for companies and businesses transitioning to remote work is introducing the use of technology to their team. It is important to gather people that are already familiar with working with gadgets, softwares, and apps. In this way, tasks are efficiently done without having the need to orient them with step-by-step instructions and to avoid misuse.

Final Thoughts

Working from anywhere at any time is the new normal. This is a huge shift in our work culture at a global scale. The future is in the hands of the remote workforce and by next year, companies and businesses will have a better understanding of how this setup works. This does not only mean keeping safe against the coronavirus, but also gaining other benefits such as improved productivity, greater retention of talent, and more effective recruitment. Companies and businesses can save a lot from hiring worldwide talents. Everyone can enjoy working from anywhere in the world during any time they want.

The only secret lies in forming the right team with the perfect members. Not everyone is fit for a remote environment. Make sure each individual is capable and ready to embrace the future of work.

Working Separately Together: Tips on How to Brainstorm With Your Remote Team

Working Separately Together: Tips on How to Brainstorm With Your Remote Team

After forming your team of remote workers, the next question is how to collaborate productively. While it is easy to have a brainstorming session in an office environment, the new normal calls for group meetings that have to be done remotely. With video conferencing technology, brainstorming anywhere in the world is just one click away.

To be able to conduct an efficient and effective brainstorm session, here are some tips to help you conduct a successful collaboration.

Gather the participants

When inviting the participants, you must take note of their involvement in the session. You might not need everyone in the team to be present. You also need to consider their time zones, internet connection speed, availability, and how comfortable they are working with others in this remote setup. If they are not yet formally introduced with each other, it is best to have separate introduction sessions with them before inviting them to a bigger group. Knowing other participants in the brainstorming will lessen the awkwardness and shyness of talking to each other.

Specify the purpose

It is important to have an agenda and stick with it. In this way, goals will be set and the time allotment will be strictly for the topics to be discussed. If you already have an objective before the session starts, you can end it by achieving its purpose. If you think that a one-time gathering is not enough to get the answers you seek, then let everybody know that it will be a recurring session and set a fixed schedule for the next ones.

Lead and facilitate

Remote brainstorming is harder than it looks because the participants may seem distant or can have the tendency to disconnect with the rest of the group. There are unseen distractions and disturbances. Video conferencing has options to mute or turn off cameras. Problems with connectivity in their respective locations can sometimes create delays and dead air. The importance of leading and facilitating the session will ensure that everyone is still onboard and on the same page. If no one wants to talk first, take the lead and keep the ball rolling. Make sure to avoid awkward silences and give others a chance to speak.

Encourage individual teamwork

As a remote team located in different parts of the world with no one to physically collaborate with, it is important to learn the art of individual teamwork. This means working on your own to look for solutions to the challenges presented, then the output is collected and combined with those from the others. Use collaborative platforms where you can easily share individual ideas and learn more even after the session has ended.

Ask for feedback

The best way to improve is to be open to suggestions from others. Find out what worked and what didn’t work by asking the participants what they can say about the session. Learning from each other opens more opportunities for comfortable collaboration. It also creates a connection with everybody in the group. In this way, participants also know that their opinions matter and their thoughts are being heard.

Final Thoughts

Brainstorming encourages the freedom to express and exchange ideas. It is important to adjust to remote setup as the new normal and transition to working together but separately. Though it is a bit challenging compared to having it in person, doing it online via video conferencing should be no different. Remote collaboration does not end with the video call. With these tips, you should be able to work together with your team from anywhere and any time without any worry.

6 Technologies That Make Us Productive While Working From Home

6 Technologies That Make Us Productive While Working From Home

The Digiters have been working from home since the team was established years ago. Each one of us is located strategically around the world at the comfort of our own homes. This year’s global pandemic made us realise that our working setup will soon become the new normal. Most companies and businesses had no choice but to oblige their employees to work from home unprepared.

Remote working has been effective for us and because it will be the future of work in the post-COVID-19 world, we are here to share our knowledge in this working environment. Here are six technologies that we use on a regular basis.

1. Zoom and Google Meet for video meetings

We use Zoom and Google Meet for meetings and conferences, either in groups or one-on-one. The good thing about these conferencing platforms is the capability to create breakout rooms where the meeting host can split the meeting participants into separate smaller sessions. In this way, you can communicate faster with everyone at the same time. We defined usual daily rooms for different teams and projects. So based on what project you are working on, you can enter into that particular room to be virtually together with your project team in one place. This work setup improved our efficiency, communication, and team spirit.

Lear more about Zoom and Google Meet.

2. G Suite for emails and file storage

Aside from using Gmail as our business email provider, we also use other Google tools to make our collaboration easier. We have Google Drive for storage. For the actual file creation, we have Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. We also use Google Hangouts for quick audio/video chats and Google Calendar for meeting invites and scheduling. The best thing about having G Suite is that everyone can easily access anything.

Learn more about the Google Suite.

3. Slack for team communication

We use Slack for professional messaging and team communication. It is a quick and easy to use app for computers or mobile phones. You can send a direct message to anyone or create public and private channels where your team can discuss work matters instantly. 

Learn more about Slack.

4. Asana for project management

For managing and tracking progress of ongoing projects, we use Asana. In this tool, everyone in the team can see what tasks are being done and to whom they are assigned. Each task on the board can be transferred to a different column depending on their status such as to-do, doing, and done. You can add more columns to easily track everyone’s assigned task. You can add teams and create projects. This is a more organised way of collaborating especially if team members are all working remotely.

Learn more about Asana.

5. Clockify for tracking work hours

Compared to an office environment, you cannot check the attendance of each team member when you all work remotely. For this reason, we use Clockify to track the working time of our team members. Aside from this, you can also view what tasks they are working on. Checking how long a person has worked is good if your team works full-time or on an hourly basis. The team can set hourly rates, billable time, breaks, and send a report of how they have spent their day. By using time trackers, you can have enough proof that the team is performing even while working from home. This is also a proof of how much you have worked and the time you invested.

Learn more about Clockify.

6. Revolut for salary disbursement 

Of course, what better way to appreciate the team’s hard work than to send them their salaries in a timely manner. This is why we use Revolut. With this financial tech, we can easily send or receive money in any currency, either directly to our personal bank accounts in our respective countries or within the Revolut app.

Learn more about Revolut.

There are a lot of other technologies made available for use to improve the productivity of everyone working from home. These are just some of the platforms that the Digiters are using. We are sharing them to you to help you get an idea of how effective remote working can be and how it can be beneficial especially in the new normal.

Digiters 2019: The Year That Was

Digiters 2019: The Year That Was

Twenty nineteen. The end of the decade for everyone, but a year of breakthroughs and leaps of faith for us. It has been a whole twelve months of aiming for bigger things, targeting better goals, making wiser decisions and becoming stronger than ever.

It would not be possible without our loyal clients and mentors. Thank you for choosing us and staying with us. Your trust in the Digiters to be your partner in your digital journey means a lot. We are happy and grateful for the opportunity to showcase our talents and skills by providing services that help you to advance towards your goals.

To this day, we improved and launched numerous websites, enhanced graphic and digital designs, developed web and mobile apps, and helped companies undergoing brand and digital transformation in partnership with us.

This year, we also expanded our existing roster of experts and digital masters with the addition of Grace for marketing and social media, Sitanshu for video editing, Maia for graphics and animation, Marionne for content writing, Dennis for software development, Alessandro and Michele for our Italian network, and Luthando for tech management.

Aside from work-related projects, we are proud to be socially responsible citizens of the world by making sure all our efforts are put into good use. The Digiters continuously support orphanage associations, native tribes, community churches, non-government organizations and poor families in the Philippines and in Africa.

Together, as we grow our team of talented people with humble hearts, we are dedicated to overcoming challenges and embarking on new projects. As the year ends, we look forward to partner with more organizations to help them shape their next digital decade.

Five principles we practice when executing strategies

Five principles we practice when executing strategies

Execution is our business. And as we remain committed to action and performance and follow through to deliver results, we implement five principles that help us through the whole execution process.

1. We evaluate the strategy. We make sure we understand the what and the why. Evaluating the strategy is not only important for monitoring progress and for comparing strategy with your competitors, but critical to assessing the return to your investment to determine if it is profitable to continue or sustain current efforts. We recognise that businesses are always growing and evolving and that continuous evaluation is necessary to ensure your business meets its objectives, promotes its brand, achieves its targets while meeting customers’ needs and remaining profitable.

2. We set clear goals and priorities because they provide the focus for our work and ensure that time, energy and resources are not wasted aimlessly.  Setting clear goals and priorities allows us to hit our target every time! Setting clear goals and priorities allows us to measure our progress and stay motivated to complete the tasks.

3. We collect and analyse data. To achieve the goals and priorities established for us by our clients, we must collect and analyse data.  Data collection and analysis provide valuable insights into our clients work and their customer base. We are able to align our clients needs with their customers expectations.  We are able to solve problems, create innovative solutions and evaluate our performance.

4. We improve. Remaining relevant in a dynamic and competitive business environment is important to every business.  Therefore, we are constantly improving our work to meet the changing needs of our clients. When we change for the better, you change for the better. As we improve in our approaches, you get greater value for your money. We believe that if you don’t change before you have to or if you continually hang on to old ways of doing things, you will be left behind. Therefore, we support a process of continuous improvement to give businesses  the confidence they need to succeed.

5. We communicate. We make sure the strategist is up to date on the ongoing project. Effective and ongoing communication is crucial to our work and is an integral part of the process. It acts as a source of information and helps us in the decision making process and helps us in identifying the alternative course of action.

Everyone needs the strategy to succeed.  Therefore, the infrastructure for success must be established in the the initial stages.

Learn more about us and our services.

Our letter of commitment to you

Our letter of commitment to you

Dear marketing manager, communication director, digital strategist…,

We admit. You are the one we admire. We think about you everyday. Everything that rotates around your activity – your joy and your delusions, your needs, your frustrations and hopes – attracts us.

So when we deliver projects, every detail – from the design to each code or pixel – needs to justify you. Is it functional? Does it follow your style? Does it add any value?

Our mission is to empower you to achieve more. We know that if you could, you would do more, reach more objectives to help your company. But two things are always preventing you. Budget and time. This is why we exist: to create solutions that allow you to experiment, to design, to deliver, to test, to adjust and be flexible when your business objectives change. We know that we live in a rapid changing society and it’s not what happens to you that matters but how you react to it.

We know you admire good design. That’s why we selected creative people from different culture to help you not just design good looking websites or brands, but that can create the desired mood and craft the entire user experience from how it looks to how it feels.

We know technology scares you. We completely understand you don’t have much time to focus on these. But don’t worry, we’re here for you. We stay on top of the latest technology trends to be your advisor.

Yes, you are boss. You’re the mind. Don’t worry, we know our role. We’re here to serve and simplify your life.

Don’t get us wrong, we are not perfect. We will make mistakes, but we promise ourselves not to repeat the same mistake but rather to learn from them. So that everyday, good or bad, we accumulate experiences to give you a constant improving service.

At the end of the day, like you, we want to succeed. But ours depends on you. That’s why we work hard to satisfy you. We thrive to provide you good quality solutions.

We want to be part of you. Your helping hands in times of need and clapping hands in times of your success.

We strive to go the extra mile to give you what you need and what you want. Because you are the Why we exist.

Yours truly,
The Digiters.