🏔️ Remote Collaboration Software

Hey there,

Welcome to the SaaS Hill, a weekly newsletter that tries to predict the future of SaaS.

Let's discuss Remote Collaboration Software 💻.

⭐️️ Intro

They still debate about remote work:

1. Apple CEO Tim Cook called remote work ‘the mother of all experiments.

2. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman say the remote work ‘experiment’ was a mistake—and ‘it’s over’.

3. On the other hand, Airbnb announced live and work anywhere policy.

4. Thousands of other companies like Zapier and Reply embraced remote work from day 1.

Here is what we will discuss today:

• 9 predictions about Remote Collaboration Software

• 33 products across 7 categories

• 10 stats about Remote work

• 55+ job boards to find a remote job

• 2 trend charts

• 6 experts to follow

• 11 useful links

• 2 Twitter threads

• 2 related trend reports

🤔 Predictions

1. Remote work will continue to grow, even though some big companies like Apple and Twitter are against becoming fully-remote companies and are requiring their employees to work from the office at least three days per week. They believe that in-person collaboration makes these companies outstanding. For example, Apple has announced that employees will be required to work at the office three times per week starting in September 2022.

2. Other trends, such as the 4-day work week, asynchronous work, and the rise of digital nomads, will strengthen the remote work meta-trend. As a result, we will see a variety of remote work models emerge:

   1. fully remote (e.g. Reply.io and Zapier)

   2. hybrid (e.g. Apple and Google)

   3. remote friendly

3. Remote work will create a demand for alternative work schedules that support better work-life balance:

   1. 4-day work week (e.g. Qwick and Close)

   2. part-time work

   3. digital-nomad friendly

   4. gig-economy (freelancers, contractors, consultants)

   5. cloud departments

4. Remote work will drive a continued shift towards SaaS-based software solutions. For example, remote teams may use Donut for virtual coffee sessions.

5. We will see increased adoption of asynchronous communication tools to support remote collaboration across different time zones and schedules.

6. As a result, there are numerous opportunities to develop software that replaces physical offices and enables remote collaboration:

   1. Work Chats > Slack and Beam

   2. Digital HQs > tandem and Allo

   3. Video Calls > Butter and switchboard

   4. Virtual Offices > Gather and WorkAdventure

   5. Real-time Collaboration > RemoteHQ and Pop

   6. Async Videos > Claap and bubbles

   7. Digital Whiteboards > Miro and Mural

   8. Virtual Sales Floots > Teamflow and nooks

7. If companies want to benefit from accessing global talent, they have to offer remote work.

8. Remote work will also offer benefits to individuals for whom going into an office can be difficult, leading to more inclusive workplaces.

9. We will see the emergence of remote collaboration tools designed specifically for traditional industries and use cases, such as remote healthcare and education.

🏢 Products

💬 Chats and Digital HQs

1. Slack > Made for people. Built for productivity

2. Roam > Your whole company in one HQ

3. Range > Because team communication shouldn’t be all over the place

4. threads > Modern teams need more than just chat

5. tandem > The virtual office for remote and hybrid teams

6. Beam > Work chat redefined with AI

7. Filo > The simplest way to work with others

8. Allo > Allo integrates your app ecosystem into one dashboard and one feed

9. Mem > The self-organizing workspace

📹 Video Calls and Virtual Collaboration

1. Butter > Run more engaging sessions. Get better outcomes

2. switchboard > Remote collaboration that’s as good as in person

3. mmhmm > Make every virtual meeting better by being on screen with your presentation

4. jumpon > Your remote team's always-on video channel

👋 Virtual Offices

1. Gather > Virtual HQ for Remote Teams

2. WorkAdventure > A virtual place to empower your people all around the world

3. Spot > Remote work doesn't have to feel remote

4. Cosmos > Where the next generation goes to work

5. Orbital > Experience virtual work that feels more natural, more productive, more human

6. Todayly > Office simulation for remote teams

⚡️ Real-time Collaboration

1. RemoteHQ > Instantly collaborate on any website

2. Remotion > Video calls for doing, not presenting

3. deskfirst > Online collaboration spaces that look & feel like your desktop, on the web.

4. Pop > Work together, remotely

⭕️ Async Videos

1. Loom > One video is worth a thousand word

2. Claap > All-in-one video workspace: screen recording, meeting recording, video wiki

3. bubbles > Let’s NOT hop on a call

4. tape > Get work done without meetings

5. meetquo > Asynchronous meetings for remote teams

📝 Digital Whiteboards

1. Miro > Your team's visual platform to connect, collaborate, and create

2. Mural > Digital whiteboard built for teams to do their best work together

3. Whimsical > Collaborative visual workspace for teams

📞 Virtual Sales Floors

1. Teamflow > Lead winning teams with a virtual sales floor

2. nooks > Boost pipeline together in an AI-powered salesfloor

📈 Trend Chart

72% of US company executives aim to prioritize tools for virtual collaboration (Source: PwC, 2021)

Number of digital nomads in the United States from 2019 to 2022 (Source: Statista)

📊 Statistics

1. More than 31 hours per month are spent in unproductive meetings (Source: Atlassian)

2. Almost 50% of employees will continue to work remotely post COVID-19 (Source: Gartner)

3. 79% of workers think video conferencing is at the same level or more productive than in-person meetings (Source: Owl Labs)

4. 71% of professionals say the information on some video calls would be better sent in a chat or email (Source: Zoom)

5. 24 billion hours are wasted each year as the result of unproductive meetings (Source: Zippia)

6. The average employee participates in at least 8 meetings per week (Source: Zippia)

7. 82% of remote workers reported lower stress levels (Source: build remote)

8. 22% of American workforce will be remote by 2025 (Source: Upwork)

9. We spend $2,000 to $5,000 commuting per year (Source: FlexJobs)

10. Remote workers earned more, with median earnings of $42,442 in 2018 (Source: Legal Jobs)

👔 Services

💼 Job Boards

1. remote.io

2. remoteok.io

3. remote.co

Get access to SaaS Hill’s curated list of 50+ remote job boards here

📖 Experts to Follow

1. Chris Herd > Founder & CEO @ Firstbase

2. Phil McParlane > Founder @ 4dayweek.io

3. Wade Foster > CEO at Zapier

4. Aaron Levie > CEO at Box

5. Oleg Bilozor > CEO and Founder at Reply.io

6. Sahil Lavingia > Founder @ Gumroad

🖼️ Pitch Deck

Check out a pitch deck of a Digital Whiteboard tool called Mural.

🔗 Useful Links

1. Workspaces > Explore the workspaces of creative individuals

2. Why Zapier has always been 100% remote

3. Loom, Zoom, boom: How Rippling raised $250 million with a demo video and a memo

4. How Did Claap Raise $3M Pre-product… With a Simple Slide Deck?

5. You waste a lot of time at work by Atlassian

6. State of Remote Work 2022 by Buffer

7. State of Remote Work 2021 by Owl Labs

8. Asynchronous Work Statistics 2022

9. 27 Incredible Meeting Statistics

10. 62 Must-Know Remote Work Statistics for 2022

11. 105 Tips For Working Remotely

🐦️ Twitter Thread

Brian Chesky announced live and work anywhere policy at Airbnb

Sahil Lavingia about remote and async at Gumroad

🤝 Related SaaS Trends

1. 🏔️ Virtual Office Software > or ready player one

2. 🏔 Async > embrace asynchronous communication for remote work

Thanks for reading. See you next time 👋

💡 Help me get better and suggest new ideas here
📈 Suggest new SaaS trend reports here
💻️ Check out our list of 18.000 SaaS companies here
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