Three Pillars of Solid Virtual office: Online Communication, Project Management and Shared Docs

The speed of managing any kinds of business is increasing every day. Due to multiple benefits of online communication it's widely spread that meetings are held, tasks assigned and implemented distantly. In attempts to accelerate work processes within one project, team or firm yet even more modern corporate world generates considerable demand for web-based project management tools.

The collaboration platforms market segment has already obtained its leaders while many start-ups are still emerging and competing to find their niche and customers. One of the most promising young PM projects that is gaining more and more popularity is TeamLab that comprises all the standard project management features. It has three deployment solutions - SAAS, open source and AMI- that are provided completely free of charge. Quite recently the platform has added the Documents module to its toolset so now TeamLab can be a single and convenient virtual office for any company.

Needless to say that other IT tools developers have also spotted such a vital component of every business process as document flow and management. Business apps leaders like Google Docs, Zoho, Box.net allow users to create and share work online and access their documents from anywhere. But if a company or team manages projects, tracks tasks and holds discussions in its corporate portal it will be undoubtedly easier and faster to have files created, edited, shared and stored in the same place.

The new TeamLab module is a combination of a file repository, document management tools and a word-processor. The storage and flow control options enable employees not only to organize their private files, but also share documents with their colleagues and publish corporate data for all team members.

Basic editing features are represented in the module by the built-i
Open Office application that offers a much wider array of necessary options tha
Google Docs with its quite a limited toolset. Users can create and edit their documents, spreadsheets or presentations and save all the changes in a file stored right in TeamLab. The document processor launches directly from the portal interface with no additional software installation required. The Open Office operation is maintained by Ascensio System Plug-in that users are requested to install only once when using TeamLab Docs for the first time.

In case TeamLab users already have their documents stored in similar file management systems, the module provides them with a possibility to relocate their database to TeamLab Docs with the Import option that allows for importing files from the three most popular document management systems: Google Docs, Zoho, Box.net.

While the implementation of particular PM and collaboration software depends on particular preferences and needs, one fact is evident: TeamLab ability to integrate and unify various business processes in one place may have a significant positive influence on team's work productivity and expenses optimization. But as they say “A picture paints a thousand words” - you'd better create your own free company portal and see TeamLab in practice.