Collaboration software for small businesses enables teams to communicate quickly and share resources.
As a project manager or a sales head, do you need to collaborate with team members to generate new ideas, concepts, and solutions to problems? In between, do you also have to assign tasks and review work more than often while moving pieces of your project or sales pipeline? If you answer yes to these questions, you are not alone. Fortunately, collaboration software can help simplify these tasks for you.
Collaboration software enables users to communicate and share resources, such as images, files, audio clips, and documents. The software features file and communication management to facilitate remote collaboration. With so many collaboration products available on the market, finding the best tool for your specific needs can help you enhance productivity and communicate more effectively with your team.
This article highlights, in alphabetical order, the top four collaboration software for small businesses based on user reviews. For each product, we include overall user ratings along with the highest-rated parameter, review excerpts from industry professionals, and product pricing. Read more.
1. Avaza
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Highest-rated parameter
Commonly used by
Starting price
Device compatibility
Screenshots
Task views in Avaza (Source)
Here are some review excerpts from small businesses professionals who have used Avaza for collaboration:
"Avaza makes it easy to collaborate on projects and tasks with clients and teammates.Especially, I appreciate the fact that notifications and messages are sent directly to my email.I like how easy it is to use.Our clients learn it quickly and enjoy working with it, so we can complete projects faster.The free plan is great as you can test out the service before buying and the pricing is also very reasonable. "
"Amazing, I thought I would need days and hours with the technical support team the first day that I used it but it's very easy and friendly, I don't use any part that includes Billing or money but I think it's overall easy t use and you can benefit greatly from it!"
"Avaza is the perfect platform for managing any team's projects, with its competitive pricing and outstanding customer service.It offers a great deal of features which are easy to use and navigate, such as list view, financial reports, and project progress reports.Additionally, Avaza allows users to track their time and improve their time management skills.It also provides unlimited file storage, giving users the opportunity to store all of their files in one place."
2. Flowlu
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Highest-rated parameter
Commonly used by
Starting price
Device compatibility
Screenshots
Calendar management in Flowlu (Source)
Here are some review excerpts from small businesses professionals who have used Flowlu for collaboration:
"I love Flowlu, the true CRM tool that designed to help creative people manage project or task.I found Flowlu as a great option for me, it comes with a lot of features and lifetime price, no contender so far.Compare to the other similar tools, Flowlu in my opinion stand out with simple interface to easily track and review your progress, as well as warming clients with lively communication inside the tool."
"Go get Flowlu!I really like the project management features as well as the CRM features.The invoicing is also a very nice way for me to run my business end-to-end.The communication features really help my team get dialed into our outreach and sales.The pipeline feature is a really nice feature too.It is amazing that other apps just focus on one thing and Flowlu has most of them included."
"This is comprehensive and provides a lot of features that I would not have thought of, but found very useful.The product is easy to use and well accepted by my team.I highly recommend this product ...especially for the niche that I use it in (project management) where my team is spread across the country."
3. Notion
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Highest-rated parameter
Commonly used by
Starting price
Device compatibility
Here are some review excerpts from small businesses professionals who have used Notion for collaboration:
"Notion is one of the best software in my opinion.My experience is certainly excellent : I love the flexibility, the design, the intuitive interface, the way how it evolves quickly to integrate new useful features.Try and fall in love with it, I recommend 200% for personal use and 100% for design sensible team if you need a knowledge base and a collaborative platform."
"It's ease of use is relatively simple, once you understand how it all works, after an hour or two you can easily navigate through it and start working.It's project management suite is great, I can easily look at tasks not only for myself but the whole team.Knowledge base essentially lets you create an entire wiki for your company's processes, products and its awesome for training new hires and keeping info handy at all times."
"I started using Notion to manage my business and absolutely love it!The east-of-use and toggle dropdown lists are fantastic to keep all of your content organized in a very clean way.I love the built-in database similar to a spreadsheet in functionality, but very simple to see data at-a-glance.The two-minute quick-start videos are also amazing to get up and running in the software.Overall this software has helped me to plan and document everything I need for my business."
4. Slack
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Highest-rated parameter
Commonly used by
Starting price
Device compatibility
Screenshots
Messages and channels in Slack (Source)
Here are some review excerpts from small businesses professionals who have used Slack for collaboration:
"We use this to communicate with our team and the teams at our sister organizations and it's so easy and convenient.It's great to be able to chat with anyone (regardless of whether they have an Android, iPhone, etc) and not get lost in a sea of group texts.I also love that it's easy to use on my desktop as well as my phone.Being able to set notification time-frames is a great feature as well!"
"The first thing I liked is that you can customize this software to suit your individual needs.This makes it so easy to use.In addition, you get several tools and options at your disposal.These allow you to achieve various tasks quite easily.Finally, I loved that you can easily integrate the app with various other office tools.Because of that, it's so easy to work online and share your work with others.Oh, one more thing; the video and audio quality is top-notch during video conferencing!"
"Slack is a really good software to use for any team based work environment.It gives all the required tools to make your team function efficiently and work smoothly.The ability to make various channels for communication is really useful.I like the fact that it also supports private messaging.Another great feature is its ability to seamlessly integrate with 3rd party applications like Google calendar or Trello."
What features do collaboration tools offer?
The core features of online collaboration tools include:
Communication management: | Offers features, such as instant messaging, private chats, and audio and video conferencing to facilitate communication between team members. The system also offers capabilities to record and track all internal and external communications. |
File sharing: | Share different file types, including documents, presentations, and images with other users and offer the rights to access, edit, or modify the files. |
Document management: | Create, store, and manage documents in an organized manner. The platform also allows users to trace relevant documents using filters and collaborate on documents in real time. |
All products listed in this report include the features mentioned above.
Besides these core features, collaboration software for small businesses also commonly tends to offer:
Brainstorming
Calendar management
Contact management
Content management
Mobile access
Real-time editing
Task management
How to choose the right collaboration software for small business
Here are some factors that you can consider to choose the best collaboration software for your business:
Look at the data security features: Data protection and security are of extreme importance for businesses, especially while enabling communication and collaboration with online technology. Before you invest in the best collaboration app, make sure that the software offers necessary features, such as data encryption, logins and passwords, multi-factor authentication, access controls, and activity tracking to protect you from data thefts.
Evaluate the document management capabilities: While considering the best collaboration software for small business, look at the document management features provided by the system. An ideal collaboration tool should allow you to access and store online files with ease. You can also look for features such as autosave, commenting, versioning, and feedback options that can help you effectively collaborate on documents.
Consider the document search options: The best collaboration app offers basic and advanced search features to help you retrieve files, data, and communication. For example, an online collaboration tool may allow you to locate documents using the file name, metadata, date of creation, editing date, or keyword options. There are some online collaboration tools that also allow you to save your searches for later reference.
Common questions to ask software vendors before purchasing collaboration software
What are the available modes of collaboration?
An ideal team collaboration tool should help you connect with your team members in multiple ways, such as instant messaging, group chats, and audio/video calls. Additionally, the tool should enable you to share files via a link or live sharing, comment, tag, and mention stakeholders in documents to foster effective team collaboration.
Does the collaboration app allow screen sharing?
Check if your online collaboration tool lets you share your screen during an audio or video call. While sharing your screen, you should be able to use the system sound, switch between windows, set role-based restrictions, and share multiple screens simultaneously.
Does the tool allow attaching documents in chat?
Besides sharing documents live or via a link, your team collaboration software should allow you to attach documents directly from your computer system and send them to members over chat.