Collaboration tools
New educational modules for social entrepreneurs are available
The social economy is a business model that works for the future of Europe. Within the RevitaLESE project, we have developed several educational models to strengthen European social enterprises, offer inspiration to the next generation of social entrepreneurs and educate about the necessary steps needed to ensure a more sustainable society.
Closing the RevitaLese project (https://revitalese.eu/), we would like to share developed training modules for the promotion of social entrepreneurship, which are available in several EU languages and video instructions for their use https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= OPkolu_KR54
A short two-year summary of the project is available here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hHc6MNTJwA
Share, use, and learn!
WEBINAR
What is the role of civil society in making sustainability transition?
Local authorities have a crucial role in driving resilience – societal ability to adapt and react – but due to complexity of the challenges, they need to mobilise all levels of society to co-create solutions that enable a needed change in our traditional ways of doing things. Various civil society actors have an important role in helping society to cope with external disturbances.
The first WMT! webinar provides an outlook on different dimensions of transition management and role of civil society actors in eco-social sustainability.
The webinar is part of the We make transition! – project that aims to engage a number of regional and local authorities, civil society and other innovation actors from the Baltic Sea region to learn about transition management and role of various civil society actors in fostering eco-social sustainability. The project will utilise the Transition Arena method as a tool to co-create new solutions with actors representing different levels of society.
PRESENTATION “Sustainability transitions and civil society?“
Presentation
Comment to presentation
CASE STUDIES
Svartlamon
Experimental sustainable housing district
Rebuilders
Cooperative facilitating transition
Please note also the following webinar dates during this spring:
- Transition Arena as a tool of participatory governance for sustainability transition 9 May (13-15.30 EEST)
- How to adopt alternative economy models in cities to develop a wellbeing society? 25 May (13-15.30 EEST)
COLLABORATION TOOL
Canva.com
It is not unlikely to consider Canva.com as a tool for graphic design. Because it is! But being efficient in your work and co-work with colleagues and other stakeholders often includes also creative pathways and a pinch of lateral thinking. With that said – in this article we will give a few ideas how to use Canva.com to make your collabs run more professionally, and simultaneously support your efforts for great design.
What is Canva.com?
Canva is by far the best free browser-based creativity tool out there. It lets you create all sorts of designs, from infographics to flyers, ebooks and social media posts. And even if you have almost no clue about graphic design, it is made in a very intuitive way and will make you seem like the next best designer. The thousands of templates you can find in Canva make it easy for any non-arts-and-craftsy person to create professional-looking designs from scratch. They also have a large portfolio of graphic elements and stock photography that you can spruce up your creations with.
What are the main features?
Surely, each of us will be interested in their own visual outcomes, but here are a few that will be especially useful for a new enterprise or a social impact organization. Here’s what you can create in Canva.com:
- logos
- social media post designs and header images
- newsletters for Mailchimp
- restaurant menus
- flyers
- art for your merch
- presentations and much more!
Let me tell you one secret. Many would be slightly put off by the limitations that non-pro version poses.
But if you are a non-profit (an NGO, a social impact entity) then Canva will generously gift you a free Pro version with no time limitations. Just check their Nonprofits section and follow their instructions.
How to use Canva.com in collaborative settings?
I mentioned already that it is full of amazing templates, didn’t I? Which is why the first suggestion for fostering a collaboration through this platform is pretty simple. Just dig through the vast amount of pre-made templates and see if there is something that catches your eye. For example, a Kanban template to help organize your team’s work!
The second feature that can make your collaborations and workflow smoother is the possibility to store all the designs in one place. It ensures that any of your colleagues or collaborators can access the created content and use the company templates any time without the need to ask the creator to share it. Imagine it like a shared Google drive storage, but just for design files and a possibility to directly copy and edit these files.
The third, but the most amazing feature is connected to collaborating in live time. Any of designs can be accessed by the whole team and edited simultaneously on the go. Imagine colleagues putting together a presentation where each person writes down information about their field of expertise. All at the same time. Or commenting on design options created by someone while the person directly adjusts the necessary changes. Or even better – creating a design and assigning parts of the document to be filled or changed by someone on your team.
Hopefully, these ideas will help to develop a sustainable and efficient workflow, may it be for collaborating with your fellow colleagues or with external stakeholders and experts!
This publication has been prepared within SENBS project No. 2020- 1-EE01-KA204-077999. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
Check the Social Economy Talks podcasts!
“Social Economy Talks” is a Podcast series from Social Economy Europe about the most relevant upcoming issues in the social economy sphere. It will follow a journey of discovery (narrated by team member Nicholas Clark) aimed at elucidating social economy success stories and roles regarding the green transition, diversity and migrant entrepreneurship, digitalisation, COVID recovery and promoting human capital, among many other things. Interviews with important organisations on the ground as well as relevant policy players will give a digestible introduction to the social economy in practice.
In this very first episode of 2022, Laura Almirante (Communications Coordinator at SEE) and Sara Bombardieri (Policy and Communications Assistant) talk about the implementation of the Social Economy Action Plan and the steps that have been taken in the first quarter of this new year.
The Social Economy Action Plan, one of a kind, was presented last December by the EU Commission. This meant a great celebration for the social economy community, who has worked hard and constantly for 14 years to achieve the publication of this Action Plan. Despite being a great milestone, this is only the beginning as the plan has now to be transformed into concrete actions.
Some of the main events taken place in the first quarter of 2022 were the GECES meeting concerning the implementation of the SEAP, the EU Industry Days 2022, the launching of the EU Commission Survey on transition pathways, the event on the social economy and the future of Europe celebrated in Paris, the Accessibilitech event, the Civil Society Days, the visit to Madrid of a 10 MEP’s delegation and the SEIG hearing towards a Council Recommendation on Social Economy.
As you can see (and hear) 2022 is the time to scale up for the European Social Economy Community and all the events and milestones this podcast is about, are just the beginning of an amazing year for the Social Economy and the future of Europe.
LISTEN HERE:
https://soundcloud.com/user-704418876/episode-16-see-activities-during-first-quarter-of-2022?utm_source=clipboard&utm_campaign=wtshare&utm_medium=widget&utm_content=https%253A%252F%252Fsoundcloud.com%252Fuser-704418876%252Fepisode-16-see-activities-during-first-quarter-of-2022
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
Social Enterprise Series 2022
The Social Enterprise Series is a 10-week in-depth learning program designed to educate future global changemakers about the practical components of establishing or growing a thriving social enterprise. It is completely free of charge and invites everyone willing to learn more to join all or selected workshops from 13th April to 15th June online.
Designated industry experts will walk you through the key components of building an enterprise that has a positive social impact, and citizens residing in Australia can put their new skills to work by crafting a video pitch for the chance to win the Social Enterprise Award: $10,000 to kickstart their project.
The following workshops will take place from 9AM – 11AM EET (4PM – 6PM AEST):
- The change you seek, April 13th
- Understanding the issues, April 20th
- Ideation for impact, April 27th
- Designing your business, May 4th
- Building your tribe, May 11th
- Pitching, May 18th
- Show me the money, May 25th
- Legal considerations for social entrepreneurs, June 1st
- The road is long, June 8th
- Crowdfunding for social enterprises, June 15th
The Social Enterprise Series is organized by Start Some Good in collaboration with Australian Catholic University. The cost is fully subsidized and open to university students, staff and the broader community. Topics are delivered via livestream to a national audience.
More information about the course available HERE.
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
Optimy: ALL-IN-ONE SOCIAL IMPACT PLATFORM
Empower your impact
A simple, flexible and customizable social impact platform. Designed to help you save time, be more efficient and drastically improve your social impact projects.
Thanks to more than 10 years of research and developments based on the needs of our users, we have developed the CSR platform Optimy to improve your social impact projects’ efficiency and performance. Our purpose is to equip you with the most flexible and intuitive online software, with features that match your needs and a dedicated support to reach your goals.
How Optimy works
It starts with collecting valuable and relevant data to selecting projects and applicants to match your values and CSR goals. Then you need to manage all these activities, the participants, budgets, and administrative tasks. But how would you know how effective your missions were if you don’t report on them? Optimy helps you to do it all.
Gather data through an easy application process
Review and select the best social impact projects quickly
Get an overview of your projects’ status and collaborate efficiently
Create meaningful reports about your CSR and social impact activities
Find out more: here
European social entrepreneur and ESE – Operational course for social innovation
The European Social Entrepreneur -ESE project coordinated by CO-LABORY
During its implementation, project’s participants produced a high-quality materials and provided the best possible education for trainers, staff of participating organizations, and young people in disadvantaged situations.
ESE – Operational course for social innovation
As the project results an online platform was developed containing training material on SE, the role of the social entrepreneur, how the funds are obtained, and which concrete tools can be used to launch a social enterprise.
“Operational course for Social Innovation” is a course aiming at the inclusion of diasadvantaged groups in society by acquiring skills and tools that wil assist them and make them valuable members, will gain more ingormation on social entrepreurship and will be able to create their own businesses. These results will be achieved through the developed materials of the course. Each module contains a theoretical and methodological part, to check and ensure the acquisition of knowledge on learners in a more practical way.
The project website also was developed with newsletters, videos, articles, information material, and the Manual on Social Entrepreneurship. Also projects results included the following:
- The live Facebook “An opportunity towards (y) our future” to raise public awareness through the use of social media, on social entrepreneurship issues by answering questions and curiosities of the participants.
- The virtual tour on social entrepreneurship that consists of video interviews with representatives of successful social enterprises in each partner country of the project.
Enrol now and start learning more on Social innovation: online platform
Below a brief summary of the e-course content:
Module 1 – “WHAT IS SOCIAL ENTERPRENEURSHIP” is an introduction on the basic concept of social entrepreneurship that will be followed by an interactive workshop for better understanding of the term.
Module 2 -“WHERE TO FIND FUNDINGS FOR A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE” focuses on the financial aspect of a social business, and provides information on all the funding opportunities assisting learners in their path of creating their own business.
Module 3 -“LAUNCH A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE PLAN” launches the idea of a business plan, points out the significance of a business plan and provides useful guidance on how to prepare one. This effort is strengthened with a practical workshoip for personal reflection.
Module 4 – “BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS”- In addition to the business plan in this section another useful tool is explained, business model canvas.
Module 5 – “WHO IS THE SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR”. In this module more information ad tools are shared for better understanding of the term social entrepreneur.
Module 6 – “IMPACT OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISES”-In this module the impact of social entreprises is measured by studying succesful examples of sustainable social enterprises.
All the above modules are focusing on essential topics that will enhance learners’ skills and prepare them better for the business world achieving social inclusion and personal growth
Learn more on project development via the following link:https://socialentrepreneur.eu/
Systems innovation
Systems innovation (SI) is an eLearning and collaborative platform that empowers users to do systems level innovation.
The portal provides users with a large range of tools and bring them together to so they can cocreate the systems change.
Systems innovation is a new approach to innovation, that uses system thinking and new technologies to tackle complex systemic challenges.
Rather than symptom treatment the approach aims to change the underlying structure of a system rather than just any of its individual parts.
A bit like Einstein said: “We can not change the problems, we face using the same mindset that created the problems in the first place”.
SI builds on a vision envision of a world where systems work, and work the best way possible for everyone. To make that vison come true we need to change the way we innovate and to learn how to innovate in systems so they serves the sustainable development that the world needs now.
The platform offers a large range of academic ebooks, courses, paper and downloads on system change, system thinking, systems design and other other related issues around systems innovation.
The tools available on the platform consists of guides, canvasses, toolkits and shareables.
The SI platform have around 10.000 members and have 50-100 hub team and 20 hub representatives.
The community of the platform consists of both designers, academic, innovators and entrepreneurs, change makers and management.
And the educational material of the platform is used by over 1 million people every year all over the world.
You can join the SI community that has a number of Groups that is both build around geography and different themes.
The community also offers different events mostly Zoom meetings.
You can learn more about the SI platform on: https://www.systemsinnovation.io
Photo: John Schnobrich Unsplash
This publication has been prepared within SENBS project No. 2020- 1-EE01-KA204-077999. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
Ownership and equity in business is a crucial question for social enterprises. Cake, supporting businesses.
Again a promising start-up supporting businesses. Ownership and equity in business is a crucial question for start-ups and social enterprises, too. Cake. is also a start-up that makes equity easy for you. They offer template designed ESOPs, which can be individually altered to suit your specific needs – in minutes.
An Employee Share Option Plan (ESOP) is a method of granting equity in a business to an employee over a period of time.
It really is as simple as it sounds – the employee receives options (or rights) to be granted real shares in the business, as long as they comply with the rules of the ESOP (Plan Rules).
What are the benefits of an Employee Share Option Plan?
– Incentivse your team with equity so they feel they also benefit from the growth of the company and become more invested in your vision.
– Retain your best employees with ‘time-based vesting options’ which means they need to stay for a certain amount of time so they can earn their options
– Recruit the best talent to your company by giving them skin in the game and allows you to compete with larger companies able to pay big salaries.
– Your ESOP can be customised to your companies needs.
Find out more information on the Employee Share Option Plan and many more useful services of Cake. :
Website: https://cakeequity.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CakeEquity
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cakeequity
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cakeequity
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cake-equity/
Source: seconsultation.com
Too Good To Go app with great social impact!
From now on, all the hungry, who are not indifferent to the fate of our planet, can fight against wasting and throwing away food – the Too Good To Go application is now available in Warsaw. Its users can save products and dishes from their favorite restaurants, shops or bakeries from throwing away. Surprise packages with a meal that has not been sold on a given day at a very attractive price, you can order over 60 places in Warsaw. Soon Too Good To Go will also start cooperation with Novotel Warszawa Airport hotels or other Accor and Orbis hotels in Poland, as well as with the Polish chain of Etno Café cafés.
From planting a carrot to putting it on the table, not only the produce itself is wasted in food production, but also a lot of water, soil and human labor. Food waste is responsible for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, which, as is well known, has a fatal impact on the planet!
Among the European Union countries where Too Good To Go operates, Poland ranks third in terms of the amount of food wasted – 9 million tons of food are thrown away annually, or 236 kg per person per year! So there is no better time for the application to enter Poland.
Too Good To Go is an application originating in Denmark, thanks to which the food that is not sold on a given day, instead of ending up in the basket, becomes a wonderful meal surprise. Shops and restaurants offer fresh products every day, such as bread, fruit, fresh sandwiches, salads and full meals. Although each enterprise tries to sell all its portions or pieces, it is not always successful. Thus, completely fresh and good food can end up in the basket. Thanks to the Too Good To Go application, users have a chance to save by throwing away wholesome products or meals by buying them at very attractive prices! This small step and a change in human thinking can have a great impact on the planet.
Too Good To Go’s global CEO is Mette Lykke, who manages a team of over 300. Its mission is to inspire people to fight food waste and to live a more sustainable lifestyle. She is the founder of Endomondo, the hit app for sports fans with over 30 million users worldwide.
The picture comes from the TooGoodToGo Polish website: https://toogoodtogo.pl/pl where you can find all the details and link to download the App directly to your mobile.
This publication has been prepared within SENBS project No. 2020- 1-EE01-KA204-077999. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
Social Enterprises and the Future of Public Services – An Interview with Scott Darraugh, CEO of Social adVentures
The Social Enterprise UK invites us to a great webinar to be carried out next week, on July 15th 12:00 (London), where Scott Darraugh, CEO of Social adVentures, will be talking about transforming the delivery of care services.
In Salford, Greater Manchester, one social enterprise is radically changing how a community can address health inequalities through redefining what is possible when it comes to the delivery of care. How? Through genuinely placing communities at the heart of their work, thinking outside the box, setting up businesses to create a sustainable source of income and genuine employee ownership.
Social adVentures is set up with the mission of enabling people to live healthy lives, running a range of health and care services complemented by a variety of different social enterprises. It’s innovative, dynamic and owned by both staff and the communities it serves, offering a blueprint as to what the future of public services could look like.
In this webinar with Chief Executive Scott Darraugh, we will hear more about their story, their incredible work over the pandemic (including transforming a café into a social supermarket tackling food poverty) and what the future has in store for social enterprises working in health and social care.
Social enterprises like Social adVentures are changing how we view public services and will be vital if we’re to reduce the inequalities of health, wealth and opportunity which characterise COVID Britain.
Do join us on the 15th for what promises to be an insightful and inspiring interview!
Registration site: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Fe5xgUIhQGCjR2-u26DFLA
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
Workplace by Facebook
Workplace: internal social network for business.
Facebook at Work supports collaboration; allows you to effectively create work or project groups, colleagues can also create:
- RSS information feeds in order to be notified of all relevant information
- Events for all colleagues or private events
What has it got to offer?
- Team messaging and communication app using more up-to-date tools than email.
- Free version- Standard- you do not get any features that are classed as ‘enterprise’ or
- Premium membership which allows you to integrate with third-party storage software (Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.)
- Nonprofit organizations and educational institutions can get the Premium version for free.
- Low pricing spectrum
- Everyone has a profile and a newsfeed, the ability to join groups
- You can comment on posts
- Live video streaming
- Audio and video calls
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stceCK8MJhg[/embedyt]
Workplace connects everyone in an organization using familiar Facebook features like chat, video calling, posts and groups. It works alongside the business tools you already use, providing a simple and secure way for people to share knowledge, work together and build connected communities. Learn more: https://www.workplace.com/ Workplace is a collaboration platform that connects everyone in your organization and enables them to turn ideas into action. Through voice and video calling, groups, personalized news feeds and more, you can work together and get more done. https://www.workplace.com/
MIRO – where teams get works done
The online collaborative whiteboard platform to bring teams together, anytime, anywhere.
For a while, we’ve been hearing that remote work and therefore remote jobs are the trend of the future. However, in 2020 there are enough people working across different offices, satellite hubs, coworking spaces, cafes, home offices, and backyard sheds on a given day that it’s clear: “remote work” describes the way so many of us are already working every day.
Even if you’re physically located in the same office, you may send your coworker an instant message instead of walking over to their desk. Update a project’s status in a spreadsheet. Give feedback in a comment. Put your ideas on a virtual sticky note. You’re practicing “remote collaboration.”
Despite this growing trend, many still view being part of a successful remote or distribute teams as having a Herculean challenge. At Miro, we disagree. We believe employees don’t need to be in the same location to produce their best work together, and we live our truth every day with our own internationally distributed teams. Like it or not, virtual work is here to stay—which is why we’re sharing our secret sauce so you can help your remote teams thrive, just like ours.
Mori information is available HERE.
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
Knowledge capital in social and commercial entrepreneurship: Investigating the role of informal institutions
Abstract
This paper utilizes the lenses of knowledge capital and institutional theories to examine the role knowledge capital plays in the context of entry into social versus commercial entrepreneurship. We also investigate the moderating role of national culture in the relationship between knowledge capital and entrepreneurship. Using data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, we find that social capital is relatively more important in social entrepreneurship than commercial entrepreneurship. We also find that national culture moderates this relationship such that in high individualism cultures, specific human capital is directed towards commercial entrepreneurship compared to social entrepreneurship. However, in high uncertainty avoidance cultures, social capital is directed towards social entrepreneurship rather than commercial entrepreneurship. Our findings uncover the nature of the contingent effects of informal institutions on the relationship between knowledge capital and entrepreneurship, leading to important implications for theory and development policy.
By: Sreevas sahasranamam, M.K. Nandakumar, Vijay Pereira, Yama Temouri
Download the full article here.
Source: Science Direct
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
37 ICT tools for youth workers, trainers and project managers
The term of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) generally means all devices, networking components, applications and systems that combined allow people and organisations (i.e., companies, non-profit agencies, governments and institutions) to interact in the digital world.
If you are a trainer, a youth worker, a project manager or only a user interested in ICT tools, let’s check the list that I have prepared for you below. You can also access our Wiki to see the full list at the end of our blog.
Here, I have listed 12 specific areas and you can find brief descriptions of 37 different ICT Tools.
Easy Linking Tools
1-QR Code, abbreviated from Quick Response Code, allows you to create a link between the information that you would like to share to the user with a scanner or a camera. Basically, you can code the URL, free text, phone, SMS or contact details. If you like to share any link to the mobile devices of your team or participants, you can create your QR Code and share it with them. You can try with the QR code on the image above. You can create your own QR Code via https://www.the-qrcode-generator.com/
2-QR Code Scanner/Reader; Although some mobile devices have features to read QR Codes by the camera, you may need to download it from Google Play or App Store.
3-Bitly: Some of the links are too long, right? Moreover, sometimes we don’t trust the link and we don’t click. Via Bitly, you can shorten, create and share trusted links according to your work. You can change the link from https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B4h-RTaWq7DkwSxYLOKS8Vllpv7dZqPYla_fxh2UeOM/edit#gid=0. to bit.ly/wiki4ict
Design Tools
4-Canva is a graphic design platform that allows you to create social media graphics, presentations, posters and other visual content. It is available on web and mobile and integrates millions of images, fonts, templates and illustrations. You do not need to download any software, Canva is a browser-based tool and you can reach your designs online.
5- Piktochart is a web-based infographic application which allows you without intensive experience as a graphic designer to easily create infographics and visuals using themed templates. The target group would prefer to see infographics instead of long reports. You can also catch the trend of visualization of information.
6-Data Wrapper allows you to create wonderful beautiful charts, maps, data images and tables. Instead of presenting your data in a Microsoft Excel table, try Data Wrapper.
Editing Tools
7-Unscreen allows you to remove the background of any video – 100% automatically, online and free! You do not need to download any software.
8-RemoveBG works like Unscreen, you can easily remove the background of any image automatically, online and free of charge, without downloading any programme. Professional designers spend at least 5 min to remove the background of images. Below, you can find a sample, it took only 10 seconds!
Online Meeting and Webinar Tools
9-GoToMeeting is an online meeting and web conferencing tool that enables businesses to collaborate with customers, clients or colleagues via the Internet in real-time. You can share your video or screen.
10-Zoom is a tool for video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars. You can have your meeting and create break-out rooms as well.
11-AdobeConnect is a software used to create information and general presentations, online training materials, web conferencing, learning modules, webinars, and user screen sharing. All meeting rooms are organized into ‘pods’, with each pod performing a specific role (i.e. chat, whiteboard, note etc.).
Online Broadcasting Tools
11-Social Media Platforms allow you and your mobile to broadcast live. Well-known social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Youtube have features for online broadcasting.
12-Be Live is an easy web software for live streaming. You can enrich your online streaming by adding other screens. You can invite up to 10 guests with your permanent link and show up to four people on screen at the same time during your broadcasting.
Interactive Presentation Tools
13-Slido is the ultimate Q&A and polling platform for meetings and events. It offers interactive Q&A, live polls and insights about your audience. You can project the responses live.
14-Mentimeter; you can make your audience feel involved by enabling them to contribute to presentations with their smartphones and show the results live.
15-Kahoot! is a game-based learning platform that makes it easy to create, share and play learning games or trivia quizzes in minutes. Unleash the fun in classrooms, offices and living rooms!
Teamwork and Communication Tools
16-Slack is an easy-to-use messaging app for teams that brings all your communication into one place and integrates with your existing tools. I prefer to call Slack – the Work-Whatsapp. You can create different teams and different channels inside the teams. Also, it is possible to send a direct message and mention the person. You can share the images and other types of documents without losing any quality. When you start using Slack, be sure that you will decrease the number of e-mails you send to your team.
17-Fuze is a cloud communication and contact-centre platform, the all-in-one platform enables a seamless transition between calling, meeting, chatting, and sharing, powered by the industry-leading intelligent cloud architecture. Fuze modernises the communications experience and empowers the digital and distributed workforce to communicate anywhere, anytime, and across any device.
18-Basecamp, lets you break up your work into separate projects. Each project contains everything related to the work at hand; all the people involved, every discussion, every document, file, task, important date, etc.
19-MeisterTask offers large teams a simple, intuitive task management solution that can be customized to suit your specific needs. With features distinctly designed for enterprise use, such as: user roles, project access rights, time tracking, automations and more. Find out how exactly MeisterTask can help you and your team get more done together.
And much more […]
All listed 37 ICT tools can be found HERE.
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
Free online course on social entrepreneurship by Acumen Academy
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Price: Completely free
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Start Date: Tuesday, January 19th
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Duration: 9 weeks
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Time Commitment: 4 hours/week
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Location: Online
“Unravel Tomorrow” MOOC Available for Social Entrepreneurs and Innovators
The “Unravel Tomorrow Learning Journey” offers learning resources to support educators, empowering new social entrepreneurs and social innovators to think about and learn from the experiences of changemakers, strengthen skills and develop ideas to take action. This digital course invites Learners to investigate new perspectives, think about what is emerging, be inspired by and learn from the pioneers to imagine and unravel a flourishing and inclusive tomorrow. The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) follows six modules each gathering a set of related ideas, challenges, and dreams collected from social innovation pioneers’ experiences:
- Systemic sustainability: what is systemic sustainability and what kind of skills refer to it?
- Parallel Perspectives: how to perceive parallel perspectives and how to support communities?
- Community Power. When community power is revealed and what social capital is?
- Simple Joys. What simple joys really mean and what do these bring to us?
- Digital Darwinism. What Digital Darwinism is and how it goes together with Sustainable Development Goals?
- Treasured trash. What makes trash a treasure and what are the best cases to follow?
At the end of the course assessment test and certificate is provided, so do not miss the opportunity to challenge yourself!
Join the MOOC on social innovation and social entrepreneurship in English, Latvian and Italian
MOOC introduction videos
For Learners
Thinking of starting a NEW social community project or an enterprise – visit our FREE online course and explore the “Unravel Tomorrow” regions to investigate new perspectives, think about what is emerging, be inspired by and learn from inspiring pioneers and their social actions. Packed with Videos, blogs, research, case studies and resources and challenges to help you learn new skills.
For educators:
Are you helping aspiring social entrepreneurs? Why not add our resources to your social enterprise training? The Unravel Tomorrow Learning Journey is a framework and learning resources to support educators empowering new social entrepreneurs in a collaborative economic environment. Download our Journal to investigate perspectives of tomorrow and meet our fantastic case studies in the Gallery:
Other “Unravel Tomorrow” project materials:
- About MOOC
- About training in Copenhagen
- Video from “Unravel Tomorrow” conference in Liverpool
- About “Unravel Tomorrow” Bootcamp
- About “Unravel Tomorrow” workshops and materials.
Learning journey has been produced within the “Unravel Tomorrow” project with the financial support of Erasmus+ programme. The project is based on previous cooperation and constitutes the continuation of the “Tomorrow’s Land” project. More about “Tomorrow’s Land” can be found on http://www.tomorrowsland.eu/.
Have you tried Ryver?
In 2014, the team behind Ryver set out to solve the world’s “email problem” – the outdated way many teams collaborate, which is slow, difficult to manage, and filled with time-wasting junk mail.
Ryver was the result – the best platform for teams to communicate, manage tasks, and automate business processes all in one app.
Ryver’s goal is to help teams get more done through seamless collaboration. This software features custom conversation channels including forums, private teams, and a “people” feature for one-on-one collaboration. Some other features that Ryver offers include:
- Single sign-on (SSO) through various apps, reducing password resets and lockouts
- Integration with thousands of apps via plug-ins or API
- News streaming for social media posts, RSS feeds, and more
In addition to these features, Ryver offers unlimited chat, video and voice calls, and forums. It also includes unlimited file sharing, searching, and integration for more value.
Ryver’s starter plan is just $49 per month for up to 12 users, and the enterprise plan is $149 per month. The most popular plan is $79 per month for unlimited users, and it also offers a free 14-day trial.
https://ryver.com/
Guide to Social Entrepreneurship and Cultural Events – Youth in Focus
The project “Prosoa Rural – Promoting Social Awareness in Rural Area” aims to develop materials that support educators in rural training centers so that they can transmit these values to young people. The materials prepared are based on a methodology focused on the promotion of active participation and social entrepreneurship linked to the conservation of Cultural Heritage and Traditions at local, regional, national and European level.
The project partners have developed training module that aims to promote the initiative and social entrepreneurship of young people based on Cultural Heritage and Traditions Through this module, young people can be trained in and develop entrepreneurial skills, with the aim that they can be people with a greater social initiative, capable of generating activities and / or businesses related to Cultural Heritage, and their conservation. In addition to generating greater high-quality skills for young people, it contributes to a greater possibility of initiatives arising in rural environments that conserve the cultural heritage of small rural municipalities.
The main objectives of this training module:
- Raise social awareness among young people in rural areas.
- Improve the entrepreneurship skills of young people.
- Promote social entrepreneurship among young people in rural areas.
- Create a greater commitment and awareness about the necessity of conserving the Cultural Heritage and the Traditions.
Source: https://capacitybuildingecocs.eu/news/guide-social-entrepreneurship-and-cultural-events
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
Microsoft Global – Social Entrepreneurship
Are you an innovator impacting our world for the better? Whether you’re addressing skills development, sustainability or accessibility, we’re passionate about supporting your social venture with technology, connections and community to help your team thrive.
What is the Microsoft Global Social Entrepreneurship Program?
The Microsoft Global Social Entrepreneurship Program supports social impact startups with technology, connections and grants so you can focus on bringing your big vision to life and making the world a better place.
Once approved, you will be eligible for:
- Microsoft Philanthropies grants for select ventures innovating in skills development, sustainability and accessibility.
- Connect with large commercial, public sector and nongovernmental organizations as well as other startups in the social impact space.
Startups will also be extended membership into the premium offer from Microsoft for Startups which provides:
- Free access to Microsoft techologies including $120,000 USD of free Azure cloud and $1,000/month of GitHub Enterprise.
- Dedicated Go-To-Market resources to help startups sell alongside our global sales team and partner channel.
More information is available HERE.
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
Hubro Education – Business simulations
Simulations are the ultimate way to tie theory and practice together. Hubro Education allows students to run virtual companies with their award-winning online business simulation game.
Hubro Education offers three online business simulation games:
- Business simulation: Run a production company in a group, in direct competition with other students. Manage production, investments, pricing and financing of a virtual company to get hands on experience.
- Marketing simulation: Analyze the market segments, develop your marketing mix and create a product that fits customer needs. Compete directly with other companies to grab the attention of the customers.
- Finance simulation: Find the best way to finance company investments, make impactful, long term decisions and develp the most valuable company while creating value for your shareholders.
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
Social Leaders’ Business Events in Klaipeda Encourage Regional Initiatives
Last week (16 October, 2020), the Lithuanian Social Business Association together with Entrepreneurial Lithuania (Marijampolė and Klaipėda agency “Spiečius”), LAG “Pajūrio kraštas”, Gerinorai.lt and local partners brought together Klaipėda, Marijampolė and Gargždai social business communities and decision makers for joint discussions and individual consultations on social business. opportunities, definition. Examples of good practice were shared, and opportunities for specific municipalities to cooperate with the non-governmental sector were discussed.
And although social business in Europe creates high added value: there are about 2 million social businesses (10% of all EU companies) employing more than 11 million people (about 6% of EU employees), the social business ecosystem is still developing in Lithuania.
“I was pleasantly surprised by the sincerity, activity and unique ideas of social business in the people of Marijampolė and Klaipėda regions”, – Viktorija Bražiūnaitė, Head of the Lithuanian Social Business Association, shares her impressions.
Meanwhile, Jurgita Ribinskaite-Glatzer, head of “Geri norai”, noted and welcomed the enthusiasm of Klaipėda city and district, the sensitivity of responsible people and great potential in delivering public services: “There are many niches for social business: “It’s inspiring when the municipality, local communities and civic organizations sit at the same table and look for solutions to problems effectively and innovatively”.
According to Rasa Viederytė, associate professor of the Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities in Klaipėda University, the development of social entrepreneurship skills is very important among young people, from adolescence: “It is important to learn to think about the meaning of a business idea not only for yourself, but also become able to notice and formulate its need for the whole regional community.”
These discussions are part of the Lithuanian Social Business Association’s ongoing initiative to introduce Lithuanian regions with social business perspectives and opportunities.
Please join to the newly created FB group on Social entrepereneurship in Klaipeda – here.
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
Institute of Entrepreneurship Development – Ready to Accelerate Your Social Business
Established in 2005, Institute of Entrepreneurship Development (IED) is a fast-growing Center of Excellence in European Entrepreneurship. As a state-of-the-art international organization, iED promotes change for the better, through entrepreneurial and innovative actions and supports every entrepreneurial venture across Europe.
With the use of our EU partner network and our experience in diverse EU funded research programmes focused on entrepreneurship, we have created a Knowledge Hub tailor-made to cover the need of the entrepreneurial world, in the European area.
Our Mission
Here in IED, we recognize the importance of Entrepreneurship and its crucial role as a stakeholder for the development and cohesion of societies. Our mission is a simple yet important one. We:
- Promote Innovation
- Enhance the Entrepreneurial Spirit
- Promote Entrepreneurial Culture
- Enhance the Effectiveness and Viability of Enterprises
- Bridge the gap between research and business market
Services
We offer guidance, training, and coaching and through IED Academy we bring the knowledge to those that need it. From EU project management and project proposal writing all the way to running a business effectively, Academy is the perfect tool to help us achieve our goal of connecting research with innovation in business.
We take things a step further with our platform EUcalls. We work to make your introduction and journey to EU projects easy.
More information is available here: https://ied.eu/
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
Clariti App for Smart Multitasking
Clariti is an individual productivity tool that combines different channels of communications – Email, Chat, Document Storage, and Social Media. The tool provides automatic indexing (called ‘Threads’) for all communications that are taking place inside the system. Without threads, information is spread all over the system and it becomes extremely complicated and stressful when it comes to retrieval and reporting. In Clariti, all the “connected” communication history is displayed in an easy-to-navigate “overlay” view, which acts as a table of content for easy navigation.
Clariti handles information storage and retrieval by automatically tagging every communication that is taking place within the tool. When we try to manually tag the files, folders, emails, chat transcripts etc through a third-party tool, there are chances for more errors. The files can go into wrong folders and it may become difficult to locate the right folder when we have hundreds of folders.
In Clariti, all your communications get stored automatically, without you having to make any extra effort. When you get an email from your colleague or client in your Outlook, you can only choose to reply or forward the mail to others. You cannot use Outlook for chatting as it is only a mail management system. In Clariti, when you receive an email, you can immediately start chatting from the email and the recipient can understand the context that you are talking about – without you having to forward the email! Later, both the email and chat transcripts will be saved automatically in a thread.
Alternatively, the user can initiate a group chat with the same subject line instead of sending an email. This powerful feature prevents multiple emails. You can combine any number of items like email, chat, files, social feeds under one single related Thread. So, each context becomes a separate Thread. When you click a particular Thread, all information pertaining to that ‘work thread’ will be displayed in one single view. There is no need to refer to multiple applications to gather all information related to one particular context.
By simplifying the ability to search, retrieve, process and archive documents, Clariti makes you more organized, agile and productive. Our ultimate goal is to make any information available to the user in less than 10 seconds. Since 75% of the workforce will be millennial by 2020, they wouldn’t tolerate a tool that lacks quick search features.
Functionality:
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Email supports multiple email boxes – private and public – with standard functionality: compose, forward, reply, reply all functions.
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Clarity app allows to send direct, private one-to-one messages, create subject-based chats with unlimited participants and reach them through email. Additionally sharing of desktop and cloud storage files is enabled. Different modes for chat messages
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To-DOs allow to structure tasks to be done, link them to the calendar, email, chats and social feeds. Setting allow to set alerts with snooze.
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Calendar with scheduled events and ToDos.
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OrbitChat – fully secure feature that allows chatting with anyone with an email address, even those outside the company. Recipients will not be required to have Clariti account.
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Threads connect emails, chats and To-Dos on the same subject as a topic-based Thread, which maintains chronological order, can be renamed or restructured.
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Storage Integrations can be done with Dropbox, G Drive, OneDrive, Box, pCloud, Mega and others.
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Feeds include social media integration and hubs for 3rd party integrations. Additionally, project management platforms’ as Trello, Basecamp and Asana integrations are planned soon.
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Built-in Document Folder ensures storage of unlimited size, smart versioning, automatic backup and global data access.
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Search allows system-wide search, preserves context and saves searches.
Check more of Clarity and try it for free here: clariti.app
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
Invest in Meaningful Innovation: Join Us in Partnering with Social Ventures Started by Young People
For over 20 years, IYF has nurtured young leaders as they tackle urgent social challenges in their communities. Today we are thrilled to announce the Strategic Alliance Initiative, through which IYF will partner with a consortium of social ventures from our network to drive impact and innovation on issues affecting people and the planet. This collaboration will increase visibility for youth-led global development solutions, while also working to test market viability for deepening and expanding innovative models in new contexts and populations.
The Alliance is seeking external investment and support to advance this work, specifically through cluster funding for thematic areas. Working in a broad array of issue areas, from health to environmental sustainability and social inclusion to education, the 37 Strategic Alliance Initiative ventures selected for the first phase represent 20 countries across every global region and epitomize development that is led by and with the people it serves.
Prior to joining the Alliance, the ventures deepened their work as members of IYF’s YouthActionNet® global network of more than 2,000 youth-led initiatives. They received leadership and capacity-building training, access to networks, and connections to a like-minded community of peers—all key ingredients for growing their early-stage social change ventures into impactful, sustainable forces for good.
“The Strategic Alliance Initiative is founded on our belief that meaningful solutions to the world’s toughest challenges must come from the ground up, involve collaboration and partnership, and be innovative—maybe even audacious,” says IYF President and CEO Susan Reichle.
Often working in resource-constrained environments, Alliance ventures prioritize innovative models, creative partnerships, and community engagement to make their work successful. Here are just 3 examples of selected ventures:
- Portafolio Verde, Colombia: Portafolio Verde designs strategies to maximize the impact of governments, organizations, and individuals in contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals. The consulting company is certified as a “B Corporation,” an international label awarded to companies meeting rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.
- Make a Difference, India: By recruiting university students to serve as volunteers in children’s shelter homes across India, Make a Difference works to break the cycle of poverty and abandonment, providing at-risk youth with opportunities to learn, connect, and design their own futures. Currently active in 60 shelters across 23 cities, the organization annually engages more than 3,000 student volunteers to reach more than 3,400 young people.
- World Faith, United States: World Faith mobilizes religiously diverse young adults to participate in service-learning projects, engage in interfaith dialogue, and utilize the media to counter religious extremism. The organization has mobilized 5,000 volunteers across 15 countries, directly impacting the lives of 500,000 people.
Partnering with ventures from our network is a vital opportunity for IYF to ‘walk our talk’ when it comes to our belief in development led by young people. Together with these high-achieving organizations and models, we will write the next story in the global movement for justice, peace, and opportunity—led by and for all, especially young people.
To learn more, consult the full list of 37 Strategic Alliance Initiative ventures.
To invest in the Strategic Alliance Initiative and advancing solutions to global challenges, contact Ashok Regmi, Director of Social Innovation & Citizenship, and Laura Rosen, Director of Corporate & Foundation Partnerships.
Full article is available here.
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
Milanote: for Brainstorming and Ideation
You know that the most inspiring ideas come to your mind when working with like-minded, trustful teammates in a light room with the walls full of colorful stickers, painted arrows, inspiring pictures and a buzzy atmosphere. Working from home cannot substitute this climate, however…
there is one idea of how to organize (or disorganize) your ideation in a different manner!
Milanote is a tool for organizing creative projects into beautiful visual boards. By design, it feels a lot like working on the wall in a creative studio – visual, tactile and sometimes a bit messy. Milanote is a great fit for designers who work in teams remotely. The key features of Milanote include:
– writing notes & to-do lists, uploading images & files and saving things found on the web;
– organizing visually using flexible drag and drop interface;
– boards that by default are private places to think, but with a single click can be created into a shared workspace for collaboration with your team;
– hundreds of built-in templates to get started with a variety of different projects, from creating a mood board to writing that perfect creative brief.
Pricing:
Free version available with no time limit, PRO version – $9.99 per month (monthly and annual plans)
More info and inspirations on https://milanote.com/.
Reviews and comparisons with other brands can be found here.
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
Design a Striking SWOT Analysis with Canva. SWOT analysis templates
SWOT is the leading online SWOT Analysis tool, template, and platform to help you build and execute a winning strategy.
When it comes to building a strategic vision, a SWOT analysis is a crucial first step. It’s an important step for businesses and organizations to gain insights into their internal and external core strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
Create an amazing SWOT analysis in just minutes
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Create a new Canva account to get started with your own SWOT analysis designs.
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Choose from our library of professionally created templates.
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Upload your own photos or choose from over 1 million stock images.
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Fix your images, add stunning filters and edit text.
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Save and share.
The SWOT analysis tool is available here.
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
How to be a social entrepreneur?
For all those of you who think about becomming a social entrepreneur , we highly recommend watching a very inspiring speach by Andy Stoll at TEDx UIowa:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8LVa9pb-n8[/embedyt]
Andy Stoll – a Senior Program Officer at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which is one of the largest entrepeneurship & education – support foundations in the world. A storyteller and connector-at-heart. He committed to social entrepreneurial work where his main focus is innovation, creativity, community-building, cities and most of all turning ideas into reality. He is a co-founder of a community-building creativity- and social entrepreneurial-incubator The James Gang and Seed Here Studio.
During his 4 year long trip around the world he explored entrepreneurial opportunities and had a chance to study communities, economies, different education systems, cultures, media industries and of course people.
For his public service and social entrepreneurial work Stoll has been nationally recognized by such organizations as Rotary International, The American Institute of Public Service and The Harry S. Truman Foundation.
Stoll is also a global facilitator for an initiative called Startup Weekend, which is a 54-hour event organized in more than 500+ cities worldwide, to give anyone that chance to try entrepreneurship.
22 Awesome Social Enterprise Ideas and Examples
There are several ways you can go about searching for social enterprise ideas. Seeing examples of social enterprise in action is one of these best ways to get inspired for what you might want to create!
Social enterprise ideas, unlike conventional business ideas, typically result from a desire to solve a social need; similar to how many non-profit and charity organizations find their beginning.
As the message of merging business acumen and innovation with the task of building lasting social change spreads, and along with increasing numbers of powerful examples of positive change manifesting around the world, the social enterprise movement continues to gain traction. With this entrepreneurial approach to diversifying funding streams, an organization can be freed from “strings-attached” grant funding and often unreliable corporate or individual donations.
More information is available here.
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
Am I a Social Entrepreneur?
Jason Aviles
Are you a social entrepreneur? Jason Aviles, born and raised in The Bronx, tells his inspiring story of working professionally with youth and what lead him to adopting a Yoga lifestyle and transforming his life. While on his journey of service and self discovery, he takes a moment to reflect on the topic of what it means to be a social entrepreneur.
Jason Aviles is CEO of FLYOGI LLC, Executive Director of Wilmington Placemakers Inc., Program Director of Wilmington Green Box and Co-Founder of Artist Ave Station. Jason graduated from consciousness-based institution, Maharishi University of Management (MUM), where he developed an original interdisciplinary course of study in Youth Development and Social Change. While attending MUM, Jason was introduced to Yoga and lost over 60 pounds. Jason later obtained his Yoga instructor certification and after graduating transitioned back to Wilmington, Delaware to launch his Yoga company, FLYOGI, which offers Yoga classes and outreach to schools, community spaces, and corporate workplaces. Since being back in Delaware he has lead several social impact ventures in Wilmington to support the arts and culture under his NPO, Wilmington Placemakers Inc., including programs like Artist Avenue Station and Wilmington Green Box. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.
Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
Wistia for commercial videos – a perfect software for starting entrepreneurship online
Wistia is a video marketing software that allows entrepreneurs to upgrade their webpages with professional videos in binge-watchable format to encourage viewers to spend more time with their brands. It allows to set up an automatic video SEO, track the audience, experiment with the content and analyse the interaction with potential customers.
Wistia offers free membership for those who just have started the business, including use of all standard features – fully customizable player, basic integration, embedding and sharing, interactive video tools, access to unlimited users and video analytics – free of charge. On the stage of video design, collaborative work is possible over the video.
Free version offers embedding of 3 videos, 1 free channel for the created videos to be transmitted on your business webpage by providing with the embed code to be easily worked-in without additional development resources. Also, the feature for email collection is available to get in touch with subscribers more regularly (even within free membership). Free version of the software includes Wisia branding visible on the video player, but with the paid version ($ 99/month) own branding elements can be placed on it. Aid version allows you to embed up to 10 and more videos with in-build interactions.
Except the product itself, Wistia also produces educational content to be 
successful with video and in business. The Learning Centre of Wistia offers extensive collection of resources in categories of Marketing, Production, Product Updating, including articles, explanatory videos, events, podcasts and many more.
More on the Wistia website.
There are more popular tools like Vimeo and YouTube to use, so what is the difference? Why Wistia?
First of all, different purposes, features and audiences are served by those softwares.
YouTube is the most popular video hosting platform, but it is a search engine with social media elements. YouTube videos can also be embedded into the website, however it will show the recommended videos at the end of each video, which make you lose the audience due to the moving from the platform. When hosting videos on YouTube platform, it only offers the data on reach and likes, but can’t track interactions effectively. The best content to be placed on YouTube is: vlogs, how-tos and searchable content, as it has the largest audience (fully integrated into Google search).
Vimeo is the most popular among creatives and it has customizable embedding in the websites, however, it has limited search and smaller audience than YouTube. The free version of Vimeo has limited functionality, compared to Wistia or Youtube. Vimeo is more suitable for the products with limited audiences and even has the option to collect payment for watching a video.
Wistia in turn serve specifically companies using “on-site” videos on their webpages for marketing, support and sales. Wistia is accompanied with in-depth analytics to see how the audience consumes and interacts with videos. Similar to Vimeo, it serves “warm” audience, which has already expressed the interest in the brand. Wistia is the best for sharing website videos, training videos and campaigns. On the other side, paid versions of Wistia (that allow the embed more than just 3 videos) is quite pricey compared to the more flexible pricing of Vimeo or free-of-charge YouTube.
The choice fully depends on the purpose you envisage your videos to serve. The best option is to combine several softwares for marketing purposes:
“Many companies choose to use Wistia for videos embedded on their websites in order to benefit from the advanced tools and analytics, but then also upload videos to YouTube in order to benefit from the social reach that a presence on YouTube provides.”
There are some more videos explaining which of the platform is more suitable for your business or projects:
Wistia vs. YouTube: What’s the Difference?
YouTube vs. Vimeo vs. Wistia – Video Hosting Options
Remember about social media!
Uploading the video to the social media channel allows you to reach and track the audience more effectively than just sharing a link to other platforms. Also, video on social media requires to be short and have subtitles. Depending on the channel, consider if your video makes sense to a broader audience and if the issue explained by the video is understandable with no additional context.
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
Corporate Impact Analysis Tool by UNEP FI
Picture taken from Corporate Impact Measurement tool
Initially Corporate Impact Analysis Tool was developed for banks and investors to gain a cross-cutting view of the impact status and possibilities of their clients and investee companies. Based on the Positive Impact Initiative’s unique approach, it provides a holistic analysis of companies’ impacts across different sectors and countries.
The tool may be used by corporates themselves as a contribution to strategic planning and business development. The tool is intended to help organisations manage their portfolios, set and meet impact targets, and ultimately become more effective at managing impact-related risks and opportunities in close collaboration with their clients and investee companies. It allows to monitor the progress towards the targets of creating positive impact and reducing any harmful consequences as a result of the business activities.
To complete the assessment, collection of significant amounts of data from both internal and external sources should be done. The Stories For Impact team has developed comprehensive Manual explaining on how to use the data in a proposed tool. It guides through the investigation and learning process, that allows organisations to answer 3 significant questions for impact measurement: “Where?” (Identification), “What?” (Assessment) and “How?” (Monitoring).
The first part of the analysis stands for identification of significant impact areas based on company typology, geography and sectors of activity. After entry of the related data, the tool will tell which geographical and impact areas (according to SDGs) the company influences the most, taking into consideration countries of activity, their income level, generated assets, unemployment rates, other social and environmental challenges (based on rankings and statistics), impact areas associations etc.
The second part assesses the company’s impact performance and impact management capabilities, demonstrating the company’s actual impacts in defined impact areas. The precise metrics need to be chosen by yourself, for instance, with the support of the IRIS catalog of metrics. The methodology and applied classifications are based on The Impact Radar (2018) analysis tool.
Based on entered data, Corporate Impact Analysis Tool demonstrates the status of the company according to the worked-out criteria: “PI” (Positive impact), “PI transition” or “Not PI”. The criteria for receiving “PI” status are the following:
- No activities in any exclusion list sectors;
- >50% of revenue generated in low-income countries;
- good impact performance;
- good impact management capabilities;
- >50% of revenue generated in sectors that fall under a recognized taxonomy (e.g. EU taxonomy).
All relations between the social and environmental challenges and the impact company has on their improvement are visualized in Excel spreadsheets, making the analysis as simple and comprehensive as possible.
The Corporate Impact Analysis Tool is open source and freely available – for direct use or for adaptation and integration into proprietary systems.
The Manual: https://storiesforimpact.com/user-manual-of-the-new-corporate-impact-analysis-tool-by-unep-fi/
More about the tool: https://www.unepfi.org/publications/positive-impact-publications/corporate-impact-tool/
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
15 collaboration tools for productive teams
In these time during the COVID-19 epidemic alot of social enterprise teams are working from home. To stay on top of their game they’re looking to enhance, now more than ever, ways to collaborate online. Here is a list of some collaborations tools to help your teams.
Communicate with your team: Flowdock, GoToMeeting, Slack, WebEx to keep the communication channels open with your teams from instant messaging to video calls.
Managing your projects and tasks: Asana, Dapulse, ProofHub, Redbooth, Trello, Wimi, Mialnote are critical project management tools to help coordinate effectively and monitor task progress or keep track of objectives.
Create together: CodingTeam, Igloo, Google Doc, Quip assist where at times a task requires more than one person and collaboration is needed.
How do you choose between the different online tools available? Read the full article for details and tips.
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
Di you try Flock as alternative to Slack while collaborating with your peers online?
Flock is a communication-focused Slack alternative
Flock is another application very similar to Slack but is arguably a little less daunting to use and offers more comprehensive communication tools.
There’s also integrations with third party applications like Google Drive and Twitter, with notifications appearing directly in channels.
Flock is free to use, but searches are limited to 10,000 messages, there is a 5GB storage limit and only five third party integrations are permitted. A Pro plan adds unlimited search, 10GB of storage per user, and admin controls, while the Enterprise plan ads 20GB of storage per user, more admin controls and dedicated support.
New kid on the block – Monday.com from Israel changes team work
Today we are going to review Monday.com, a work collaboration tool and project management software for all kinds of teams. I have used Monday.com earlier to manage projects, and have seen teams grow comfortable as they use the platform to collaborate.
Formerly known as DaPulse, Monday.com rebranded itself in 2017 to give the platform a new look and experience.
I guess it serves right that we do a review of Monday.Com. Especially for any company that just rebranded its major product, a re-review is always due.
Once upon a time, an entrepreneur witnessed a major problem: as companies scaled rapidly, they struggled to keep employees engaged, productive, and happy. The existing tools were not getting the job done. An effective, transparent platform for managing everything was desperately needed.
The idea? Create a team management platform to connect people to workplace processes and existing tools, for companies of all sizes, across any industry. But don’t just make something that works –make a platform that people love to use. Today, monday.com is the go-to Work OS for more than 100,000 teams around the world who are now more engaged, more collaborative, and more on top of their work than ever before.
monday.com was founded on the belief that transparency and collaboration create a culture of ownership and empowerment; more empowered teams are more productive. And we’re only scratching the surface of what we can accomplish together.
Online free meeting tools
For any social entrepreneur or startup founder there will be times that you will need to have online meetings with co-workers, partners and potential stakeholders. Our team on the Social Enterprise Development in the Baltic Sea Region network meet up online frequently and we rely on such free online tools for our meeting purposes. With that said here is a list of some known and unknown free online meeting tools
Skype
One of the olderst and most popular tools is the option of free calls between Skype subscription holders. Skype Meetings is Skype’s free video conferencing service. It offers most of the same tools as most other online tools, including screen sharing, file uploads, and HD audio and video. There are also options for real-time translation, SMS texting, and landline phone calls.
Zoom
Zoom, also a very popular option, is a web conferencing tool that offers free and paid plans. The free account with Zoom has some pretty robust features, including conferences that allow up to 100 participants, unlimited one-on-one conferences, video and audio conferencing, and group collaboration features such as
Uberconference
Uberconference is a useful web conferencing tool that hosts video conferences. Uberconference also includes some great features in their free plan including call recording, voice transcription, hold music, screen sharing, and up to 10 participants per call. (The paid version allows for up to 100 participants.)
AnyMeeting
Previously known as Freebinar. AnyMeeting is a paid web conferencing tool with a free 14-day trial period. (It used to offer a ad-based freebinar service but has since moved to tiered subscription plans.)
Mikogo
Mikogo is another great web conferencing tool with a free 14-day trial period. With an unlimited number of meeting participants at a time (with a paid subscription), Mikogo has all of the essential features that make for a useful online meeting tool.
Review the full article for further details
Social collaboration software (SCS) – new collaboration tool
Read about the newest collaboration tool from the https://technologyadvice.com/social-collaboration-software/
Introduction
Social collaboration software (SCS) is a vast marketplace of platforms designed to handle everything from knowledge management to enterprise application development. Businesses looking for an enterprise collaboration solution are faced with a daunting task: they must compare innumerable vendors and products, but also decide what social collaboration software means.
This buyer’s guide to social collaboration tools will arm you with the information necessary to navigate the marketplace and begin narrowing your search.
First, we’ll attempt to define social collaboration software, including some analogous terms and common features. We’ll provide an outline of major categories for social collaboration and example solutions within each. Finally, we’ll discuss social collaboration software market trends and provide a case study of a leading vendor.
What Is Social Collaboration Software?
Defining social collaboration is like battling the mythic hydra; as one category is defined, two more grow in its place. Enterprise social networking, business collaboration, enterprise collaboration, enterprise messaging, social intranet, enterprise social and on — you get the picture. We’ve not even mentioned the sheer redundancy of the using both “social” and “collaboration” to describe a software platform.
According to Wikipedia, social collaboration “refers to processes that help multiple people or groups interact and share information to achieve common goals.” They further qualify social collaboration by saying its “natural” environment is on the Internet, and that it is “group-centric.”1
By that definition, any community working online towards a common goal is engaging in social collaboration. For the purposes of this guide, we’ll define social collaboration software as web-based tools that encourage the sharing of ideas, division of effort, and group-wide accountability.
Companies can even use social collaboration tools to communicate one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-one, when threaded, forum-style discussions or wikis are used. They can be project or process-focused, customer-focused, messaging-focused, or any combination of these.
Social collaboration software can be a single platform that serves an entire enterprise, department, or team, or it may be an amalgamation of solutions that together form a collaborative, virtual work environment.
Despite the many-headed nature of the social collaboration beast, for the purposes of this guide, we’ll use four main subcategories:
I. Enterprise Communication
Probably the most recognized social collaboration category, enterprise communication platforms are essential in a world where widely-distributed, remote teams are becoming more common than co-located teams.
Whether it’s via an internal social network with threaded discussions and newsfeeds, such as Yammer or Jive, or through an instant messaging-centered platform like Slack, this category of social collaboration tools focuses on the exchange of knowledge, usually in an indexed, searchable database with unique user logins and options to communicate one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-one.
Of course, these solutions are not necessarily limited to the above functions. Many have a file sharing component, employee engagement tools such as pulse surveys, a public calendar, video conferencing, wiki/knowledgebase, etc. Some even offer telephony, either built-in, or via integrations with VoIP providers.
In some cases, enterprise social tools can be used to communicate with external users as well as within your own company. One example would be a product knowledgebase where employees collaborate with customer “power users” to ask and answer support questions, or elicit consumer feedback for product design.
**Leading Vendors: **Slack, Zinc, Jabber
Read More:
- 6 Slack Alternatives to Try Before You Commit
- 4 Brilliant Ways HR Managers Can Solve Internal Communication Problems
Note: Some may classify mobile device management (MDM) or bring-your-own-device (BYOD) tools under the umbrella of enterprise communication, however, for the purposes of this guide, we’ll focus instead on instant messaging or social network-style platforms. If you’re looking for these types of solutions, we invite you to visit our MDM/BYOD Product Selection Tool and Guide.
II. Enterprise Content Management
Another common type of social collaboration platform, enterprise content management systems are quickly gaining traction among business users. This is especially true for sales and marketing teams, as content marketing and sales enablement become increasingly important functions.
Of course, collaborative content management platforms are important to departments beyond sales and marketing. IT may rely on a collaborative content management solution to distribute reports, warehouse data for ETL, or provide the backbone of an internal helpdesk system or corporate intranet. HR can utilize enterprise content management platforms to distribute and collect new hire documents.
Solutions in this subcategory provide a collaborative sandbox where employees can work together on documents or multimedia. They may also include a development environment for platform-hosted systems (such as Microsoft SharePoint), a text editor and publishing platform (such as WordPress), an automatic backup component (such as Box or Dropbox), and other collaborative, content-centered functionality.
Irrespective of type, most content-focused collaboration solutions will offer user and/or role-based permissions, a search function, file versioning, synchronization, audit control, and a method of commenting/reviewing individual pieces of content.
**Leading Vendors: **Box, Dropbox, SharePoint
Read More:
III. Embedded Social Collaboration
Collaborative functions are being embedded into an ever-increasing number of software solutions. Whether project management software, customer relationship management platforms, service management tools, HR systems, or the never-ending parade of new marketing tools — nearly all of these categories were conceived to reduce reliance on communication via third-party platforms and provide a single version-of-truth.
Most of the categories on TechnologyAdvice.com contain solutions that offer some form of embedded social collaboration. In the interest of brevity and clarity, we won’t delve further into embedded social collaboration tools, save to direct you to the various Product Selection Tools we offer for solutions in these categories.
- Project Management Software
- Customer Relationship Management Software
- Business Process Management Software
- Customer Service Software
- Human Resources Software
IV. Social Collaboration Suites
Last but certainly not least, the rise of collaboration suites — platforms with functionality from all three categories we’ve outlined — is not to be ignored.
Google for Work (Hangouts, Docs, Sheets, Drive, Slides, etc.), Microsoft Office 365 (Word, Excel, OneDrive, Lync, PowerPoint, etc.), and similar solutions offer an end-to-end solution with ubiquitous access for the whole enterprise. You can implement communication, sharing, productivity, networking, and collaboration solutions as part of a single platform, at an affordable, per-user price.
**Leading Vendors: **Google for Work, Office365, IBM Connections
Social Collaboration Trends
Businesses are turning to collaborative tools for myriad reasons — to consolidate and distribute knowledge from veteran employees to new hires, to improve workflows across departments, or simply to reduce the number of “Reply All” emails. Collaborative software systems can increase operational efficiency, decrease errors, and improve consistency in communications and delivery.
As workforces become more widely distributed, and as your employees interact with one another across different geographies, the necessity of social collaboration software will only increase.
With the best social collaboration tools, your headquarters can be located in New York, your customer support team can be in the Midwest, and your development team can be located overseas. All the while, you maintain an accessible location for your clients and enjoy the benefits of lower cost-of-living for the rest of your business.
The social collaboration software market is still relatively young, and some major players have yet to make their debut. I.e. the oft-delayed Facebook for Work. Mergers and acquisitions, product consolidation, and the rise of middleware such as Zapier and IFTTT are other factors that should speed development and adoption.
Will social collaboration tools replace your corporate intranet, email, or telephone? Yes and no — some businesses are better suited for these solutions than others.
Read More:
- The New Workplace: Why Flexible Working and Telecommuting are Taking Over (Infographic)
- What Workplace Collaboration Will Mean in the Future
- Why Office Collaboration is Essential in the Modern Workplace
Social Collaboration Case Study
Organization: Rural Health Network of Oklahoma2
Solution: Zinc
Established in 2008 through a grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Rural Health Network (RHN) of Oklahoma focuses on improving quality access to healthcare for people living in rural Oklahoma. With 16 member healthcare organizations, spanning thousands of employees, Rural Health Network provides timely support and consultation to ensure continuous, high-quality care delivery across each location.
The Problem: How Can We Communicate Quickly While Staying HIPAA-Compliant?
With members spread across a dispersed geographic region — some working at desks, on the move in hospitals, and others on the go between locations — fast and efficient communication was essential to keeping everyone on the same page.
The RHN team identified the need for a mobile communication solution to keep their partners and providers connected.
“Given the nature of our work, having a secure, HIPAA-compliant communication channel is critical. We were interested in finding a solution that was faster than email, works across devices, and meets the security needs of the healthcare environment.”
— Josh Braziel, Health Technology Coordinator, RHN
Josh and his team are constantly exploring new tools and solutions that could improve communication, collaboration, and efficiency. He started exploring a variety of HIPAA-compliant messaging solutions and then discovered Zinc.
He began to introduce Zinc to an initial portion of the staff and providers and encourage coordination through the app.
“Our staff liked that Zinc combined the familiar experience of texting with additional features to enhance their workflow such as voice memos, location sharing, and the ability to stay connected regardless if they were using a smartphone or desktop,” Braziel said. Based on their initial successes, RHN decided to expand usage across their network.
The Results: Faster Coordination and Cohesion Across the Network
- Personal and work messages naturally separated between apps
- Secure, HIPAA-compliant communication for a dispersed workforce
- Give network members faster, easier access to each other
- On-demand support and coordination throughout care operations
“We chose Zinc because it was clear this tool was built for teams like ours. We could securely collaborate no matter where we are, enabling us [to] deliver quality service to our network,” Braziel said.
Since introducing Zinc, Josh and his team have noticed they have been able to get things done faster. Whether they’re resolving a hospital IT issue, consulting a member on electronic health records (EHR), or putting together a network-wide educational workshop, it’s simple to coordinate on Zinc. Josh and team are continuing to expand Zinc to additional use cases and members across the network.
Choosing the Best Social Collaboration Software
You’re probably reading this guide because you need to know how to select the best social collaboration tool for your business. We’ve assembled user reviews, product comparisons, review videos and guides (like this one) to help with your decision.
To narrow your options and get a custom software recommendation based on your needs, use our Product Selection Tool. If you’d prefer human assistance, our unbiased Technology Advisors are available for a free consultation. Call, click, or email.
Have Questions?
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Sources
- “Social Collaboration,” _Wikipedia, _https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Social_collaboration&oldid=733505164. Accessed August 15, 2016.
- “Case Study: Rural Health Network,” Zinc, http://content.zinc.it/CaseStudy_RuralHealthNetwork.pdf. Accessed August 15, 2016.
Padlet – Visual tool for collaborative learning
Padlet is an interesting visual collaboration tool which can be used for example to create discussion or collaborative learning around a certain topic.
Example Padlet
Easy, intuitive, inclusive
Creating content to padlet (“posting”) is very easy- just click, copy-paste or drag and drop – and there’s no limit to how many people can do it at the same time. As a padlet board is created, people with access to it can add different types of content and they all appear in the same view which can easily be browsed through to get an overview. Changes are autosaved. Posts can be dragged to different parts of the board, and edited in many ways.
Images, documents, videos, music, and files from Photoshop, Illustrator, Autocad, and more can be uploaded, and in every post there’s possibility to comment – making discussions visible and intuitive to follow.
Sign-up is not compulsory – if someone invites you to a board, you can access it without signing up.
Check the features here.
Available in 29 languages and many devices
Unlike many collaboration tools which only are available in the most common languages, Padlet is available in almost 30 – adding another level to collaboration accessibility. It’s available on iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch), Android, and Kindle devices
Padlet includes a clear FAQ section in their website as well. Support available also via e-mail, Twitter and Facebook.
It’s free – unless you want more features
Access the free version of Padlet at https://padlet.com. They also separate plans for for example schools and companies. Payment is per organization or user.
Creative ways to use Padlet
Via these links you can find a few creative ways to use Padlet:
30 creative ways to use Padlet for teachers and students
A new player in the digital collaboration tool field – Ryver
Let us introduce you to another highly effective digital collaboration tool that will make the every-day life of your team or organization much easier. Ryver is similar to Slack, however, there are some notable differences. As sated on the Ryver’s website – it is one step ahead of Slack because it offers to turn your conversations into trackable tasks, other than by expensive integration with other apps that have limited functionality. It also allows you to automate mass notifications and task assignments for predictable business processes. What makes Ryver special is the fact that you can create as many teams as you want within the app, and, as is the case with also other digital collaboration apps, you can also use the platform to set up chats with groups and individuals. What is more, Ryver is equipped with some interesting filters – for example, you can choose who can see the things that you post and say on the app and you can join the teams that are most relevant for you. All the public conversations are displayed in a similar style as the Facebook feed and there is also an option to mark some conversations, engagements and news in this feed to come back to them later.
Another reason why Ryver is unique is because it integrates team communication tools, team task management and workflow automation. No other digital collaboration app has yet been able to combine all these three substantial functions into one platform. This integration allows the users to : 1)Collaborate via Chat, Topic-threaded Chat (Topics), and Voice & Video Calls (including screen sharing); 2) Turn conversations into trackable Tasks in a powerful task manager; 3) Automate business processes like notifying teammates, assigning tasks, and delivering information to other apps lightning-fast using Workflow.
Ryver is available for 49$ per month for up to 12 team users and for 99$ per month for unlimited amount of users. Visit https://ryver.com/ to find out more.
Zoho Connect: More than a collaboration app an enterprise social network that fosters company-wide collaboration!
Zoho Connect as a team collaboration app, helps you to unify your team, resources, and the online tools you need.
Your team can share ideas, hold real-time discussions, contact anyone in the network, create their own apps, build their knowledge base, manage their work plans, and also access apps designed to make team work easy and quick.
With Zoho Connect, faster communication and better collaboration is guaranteed.
Zoho Connect an enterprise social network
Now you can build your organization’s very own social network, designed to make team communication, knowledge sharing, and work management simpler.
The place in which Social Media channels meet productivity and your team can have real-time discussions, anytime!
Connect’s social-network-themed Feeds let your team members post company announcements, share updates and keep everyone in the workplace up to date. Helping you to organize teams by creating groups as well as run polls when you need to reach a quick consensus using the channels to create your team chats speeding up decision making processes.
Yours, truly
Make your enterprise social network truly yours, by letting your members access it from your domain. Add your logo and create your own custom CSS to ensure your brand makes an impression.
Wondering if Zoho Connect’s enterprise social network is a good fit for your business? It is time to try it out and take a closer look at Zoho site: here
The Role of Stakeholders in Development of Social Economy Organizations in Poland: An Integrative Approach
We recommend the article by Norbert Laurisz, Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Public Economy and Administration, University of Economics in Krakow, 27 Rakowicka St., 31-510 Krakow, Poland; norbert.laurisz@uek.krakow.pl
The Role of Stakeholders in Development of Social Economy Organizations in Poland: An Integrative Approach
Abstract:
The aim of this article is to explore key changes in the mode of operation of Polish social economy organizations (SEOs) that result from a social policy targeted at strengthening their independence and sustainability. The activities of SEOs are largely supported by public institutions, but their opportunities for assistance of capacity building are considered insufficient. Owing to the current policy, not only an economic independence, but also the structure and behavior of supported social organizations, especially in their relations with other stakeholders, can be strengthened. Based on the exploratory analysis on how SOEs change their independence and sustainability as a result of implementation of the public policy, a conceptual model of value co-creation will be used. The model enables analyzing the scope and scale of stakeholder engagement in the development of SEOs. The empirical research was conducted using a survey among 112 Polish social economy organizations. The results of the study show that the market-oriented approach not only reduces the scale of relations between SEOs and their stakeholders but also affects the way SEOs work, transforming them to be more like traditional businesses.
Read the full text here: The Role of Stakeholders in Development of Social
APMĀCĪBU MODULIS Sociālā uzņēmēja prasmes un domāšanas veids
Uzņēmējdarbība, pielietojot inovācijas ar mērķi veicināt ekonomisko izaugsmi, darbojas kā pasaules dzinējspēks. Iepretim sociālie uzņēmēji, atpazīstot sociālu problēmu un tās risināšanai pielietojot uzņēmējdarbības principus, tiecas radīt, organizēt un pārvaldīt pārmaiņas sabiedrībā. Tomēr bez atbilstošām spējām un prasmēm tiem, kas vēlas kļūt par sociālajiem uzņēmējiem, ir apgrūtinoši risnāt sociālas problēmas un sasniegt savus mērķus.
Šis mācību modulis, galvenokārt, paredzēts pieaaugušo apmācību vadītājiem, sociālajiem uzņēmējiem un personām, kuras par tādiem vēlas kļūt. Modulis ar efektīvu pieaaugušo apmācības tehniku sniedz iespēju izvērtēt un noteikt personīgās prasmes, kuras nepieciešamas sociālu problēmu risināšanai.
Apmācību modulis izveidots, sadarbojoties pieaugušo izglītības jomā starptautiski pieredzējušām organizācijām no Latvijas, Lietuvas un Zviedrijas.
Tas tapis NORDPLUS programas projektā “Sociālās uzņēmējdarbības izaugsmei būtiska domāšanas veida stiprināšana”, iesaistoties trīs partnerorganizācijām – Sociālās inovācijas centrs (Latvija), Nordic Association for Social Innovation (Zviedrija) un Skudutiskis academy (Lietuva).
MODUĻA Sociālā uzņēmēja prasmes un domāšanas veids APRAKSTS
Apmācību programmā jānodrošina: Lai nodrošinātu veiksmīgu sociālā uzņēmēja prasmju novērtēšanu, pieaugušo apmācību vadītājiem jāpiemīt atbilstošām spējām, lai mācību laikā varētu atbalstīt un asistēt rezultātu apkopošanā, kā arī, ja nepieciešams, to izvērtēšanā.
Mācīšanās filozofija: Balstoties vērtībās:
1. Sadarbība un koleģialitāte;
2. Vienlīdzība, kompetence un iekļaušana mācību aktivitātes;
3. Dalībnieka individualitāte, autonomija, uzsverot mācību aktivitātes;
4. Dalībnieks ir reflektējošs praktizētājs;
5. Uzsvars uz dalībnieku zināšanu uzlabošanu, kā arī prasmju un spēju attīstību.
Ilgums: 12 stundas
Mērķis: Nodrošināt pieaugušo izglītotājiem papildu zināšanas un līdzekļus, kas palīdzētu novērtēt un attīstīt sociālajiem uzņēmējiem vajadzīgās prasmes.
Mērķauditorija:
– Pieaugušo apmācību vadītāji, kuri var novērtēt kādas personas prasmes vai var palīdzēt to vērtēšanas procesā;
– Cilvēki, kuri saskata sociālas problēmas un vēlas tās risināt, pielietojot uzņēmējdarbības modeli;
– Sociālie uzņēmēji, kuri laiku pa laikam vēlas pārbaudīt savas prasmes.
Prasības apmācību vadītājiem:
Augstākā izglītība; Zināšanas par attiecīgo jomu; Pieredze, zināšanas un prasmes pieaugušo izglītošanā; Atbilstošas prasmes, attieksme un vērtības, kas balstītas uz cilvēka pašnoteikšanos, savstarpēju cieņu, kā arī atbildību par savu rīcību.
Apmācībām nepieciešamie resursi: Telpām jābūt dalībnieku skaitam atbilstošām un jāpieļauj iespēja strādāt grupās. Dators, projektors, tāfele vai molberts ar papīra lapām, katram dalībniekam nepieciešamie kancelejas materiāli, kā arī iespēja atskaņot mūziku, piekļuve spēcīgam interneta savienojumam.
Mācību metodes: PowerPoint prezentācijas, individuāls darbs un uzdevumi, kā arī darbs grupās, novērtēšana, t.sk. dažādu veidu aptaujas.
Dalībnieku attīstītās prasmes: Prasmju novērtēšana, pašnovērtējums – spēja novērtēt personas, kuras vēlas uzsāks sociālo uzņēmējdarbību vai novērtēt sociālā uzņēmēja prasmes.
Izvērtējums: Apmācību laikā gūtās zināšanas ļaus dalībniekiem pašiem novērtēt savas prasmes. Pieaugušo apmācību vadītājiem jāspēj noteikt, cik labi dalībnieki izprot tematu, novērtēt to aktivitāti mācību laikā, kā arī iesaistīt grupu diskusijās un sekmēt līdzdalību praktiskajos semināros.
TEMATISKAIS CEĻVEDIS
| Nodaļa | Teorija | Prakse | |
| 1. | Iepazīšanās ar apmācību moduli | 1 | |
| 1.1. | Mācību atmosfēras radīšana, prezentācijas, sasniedzamais rezultāts, noteikumi, saliedēšanās | ||
| 1.2. | Apmācību programmas tematiskais ceļvedis | ||
| 2. | Sociālā uzņēmēja aktivitāšu un prasmju koncepts | 1 | 2 |
| 2.1. | Sociālā uzņēmēja lomas analīze | ||
| 2.2. | Sociālā uzņēmēja vajadzības un to nozīmīgums | ||
| 3. | Sociālā uzņēmēja prasmju novērtējums/ pašnovērtējums | 1 | 3 |
| 3.1. | Sociālā uzņēmēja SVID | ||
| 3.2. | SVID analīzes kopsavilkums | ||
| 3.3. | SVID un sociālās ietekmes korelācija | ||
| 4. | Personīgo prasmju pašnovērtējums un personīgās izaugsmes plāna izstrāde | 1 | 2 |
| 4.1. | Sociālo uzņēmēju prasmes novērtēšanas/ pašnovērtēšanas metode. | ||
| 4.2. | Sociālā uzņēmēja personīgā attīstības plāna sagatavošana. | ||
| 5. | Apmācību moduļa kopsavlikums | 1 | |
| 5.1. | Atgriezeniskā saite “Zelta izteicieni par sociālo uzņēmēju“ | ||
| 5.2. | Apmācību kopsavilkums, sertifikāts, atvadīšanās. | ||
|
KOPĀ |
3 | 9 | |
| 12 | |||
Katra tematiskā ceļveža sadaļa aizved uz atsevišķu sadaļu, kurā pieejams sadaļas satura izklāsts un izmantojamie materiāli
1.2.Apmācību programmas tematiskais ceļvedis
2.Sociālā uzņēmēja aktivitāšu un prasmju koncepts
2.1.Sociālā uzņēmēja lomas analīze
2.2.Sociālā uzņēmēja vajadzības un to nozīmīgums
3.Sociālā uzņēmēja prasmju novērtējums/ pašnovērtējums
3.2.SVID analīzes kopsavilkums
3.3.SVID un sociālās ietekmes korelācija
4.Personīgo prasmju pašnovērtējums un personīgās izaugsmes plāna izstrāde
4.1.Sociālo uzņēmēju prasmes novērtēšanas/ pašnovērtēšanas metode
4.2.Sociālā uzņēmēja personīgā attīstības plāna sagatavošana
5.Apmācību moduļa kopsavilkums
5.1.Atgriezeniskā saite “Zelta izteicieni par sociālo uzņēmēju“
5.2.Apmācību kopsavilkums, sertifikāts, atvadīšanās
6.Pielikumi, veidlapas, prezentācijas
Pilnu apmācību moduļa aprakstu PDF formātā variet lejupielādēt šeit
Šis materiāls tapis projekta “Sociālās uzņēmējdarbības izaugsmei būtiska domāšanas veida stiprināšana” NPAD -2017/10203 ietvaros ar Nordplus Adult programmas finansiālu atbalstu. Par publikācijas saturu atbild projekta vadītājs un tas ne vienmēr atspoguļo Nordplus vai citu finansiāla atbalsta sniedzēju un ieinteresēto pušu viedokli.
UTBILDNINGS MODUL Kompetenser och tänkesätt för sociala företagare
Företagare i näringslivet fungerar som motorer för tillväxt, genom att utnyttja innovation som bränsle för deras ekonomiska tillväxt. Sociala entreprenörer däremot är individer som känner igen ett socialt problem och använder sina entreprenöriella principer till att organisera, skapa och hantera en satsning för att göra social förändring. Utan färdigigheter och relevanta kompetenser är det dock svårt för dem som vill bli en social entreprenör att uppnå sina mål för att kunna lösa sociala problem.
Denna utbildningsmodul riktar sig främst till vuxna utbildare, sociala entreprenörer och personer som vill tillhöra den sociala sektorn. Modulen „utbildning av effektiva tekniker“ är en vuxenutbildning som presenterar möjligheten till att testa förmågan samt utvärdera personlig kompetens vilken behövs för att kunna fastställa de mål som krävs för att kunna lösa sociala problem.
I detta projekt så ingår tre stycken projekt partners – tre organisationer (LV,LT, SE) som alla har transnationell erfarenhet, alla är erfarna att arbeta med utbildningar inom vuxenutbildning och har ett stort nätverk inom området för vuxenutbildning genom att samla resurser samt är en viktig arena för utbyten i vuxnas lärande.
Denna ubildningsmodul för vuxna har tagits fram I samråd mellan dessa tre partners ((Social innovation center -LV, Skudutiskis academy (SkA)- LT, Nordic Association for Social Innovation (SE-NordicASI)-SE) inom ramverket för NORDPLUS projektet “Framgångsrik utveckling av sociala företag.
Beskrivning av utbildningsprogrammet Kompetenser och tänkesätt för sociala företagare
Kravbild utbildnings program: För att kunna säkerställa och framgångsrikt bedöma kompetensen hos sociala företagare så måste vuxen utbildaren ha lämpliga färdigheter för att kunna stödja metoder som bedömningar, resultat och kunna betygsätta dem på rätt sätt om det behövs.
Utbildning/ inlärnings filosofi: Baserat på värderingar:
- samarbete och kollegialitet;
- jämställdhet, kompetens och delaktighet i lärande;
- deltagares individualitet, autonomi och betoning på lärande;
- deltagare är en reflekterande praktiker;
- Betoning av deltagarnas kunskaper, förmågor, kunskaper, förbättring och utveckling.
Tidsåtgång: 12 timmar
Mål: Att kunna erbjuda vuxna utbildare med ytterligare kunskaper och färdigheter som gör det möjligt för att bedöma sociala entreprenörers kompetenser.
Grupp mål:
- Vuxna utbildare som kan bedöma någons kompetenser eller kan hjälpa i bedömningsprocessen;
- Människor som ser sociala problem och använda affärskompetens till att lösa detta problem;
- Sociala entreprenörer som emellanåt vill kontrollera deras kompetenser.
Krav på utbildare:
- Utbildaren skall ha högre utbildning.
- Utbildaren skall ha kunskaper som motsvarar det relevanta ämnet;
- Dokumenterad erfarenhet som visar kunskap, kompetens och vana i att arbeta med vuxenutbildning.
- Lämpliga personliga färdigheter, attityder och värderingar, baserat på respekt för mänsklig värdighet och självbestämmande, ansvar för sina handlingar.
Resurser, verktyg som behövs för att nå resultat i utbildningsprocessen: Lokaler måste kunna matcha antalet elever samt ha möjligheter för elever till att kunna arbeta i grupper. Datorer, bildspel projektor, skrivare eller ha tillgång till stora pappersark, anteckningsblock och penna för varje elever, möjlighet att använda musik, bra tillgång till internet.
Utbildnings metodik: Power-point presentationer, uppgifter för grupparbete, uppgifter för individuellt arbete, utvärdering av inlämningsuppgifter, olika frågeformulär.
Kompetens utveckling hos deltagare: Kompetensutvärdering, självutvärdering, möjlighet att kunna bedöma kompetens av personer som vill påbörja en socialt engagerad rörelse eller utveckla andra sociala entrepenörers kompetens.
Utvärdering: Den kunskap som erhållits under utbildningen hjälper eleverna till att kunna utvärdera och själva bedöma behövlig kompetens. Vuxen utbildaren skall kunna bedöma hur eleverna förstår motivet, elevens medverkan i aktiviteterna under kursens hela inlärningsprocess samt elevens deltagande i gruppdiskussioner och praktiska uppgifter.
Tematisk plan
| Ämne | Teori | Praktik | |
| 1. | Introduktion till utbildningsmodul | 1 | |
| 1.1. | Skapande av presentationer ibland deltagarna, regler, förväntningar, känslomässig miljö, „isbrytare“ | ||
| 1.2. | Presentation av utbildnings program | ||
| 2. | Utveckling av sociala entreprenörers verksamheter och kompetenser | 1 | 2 |
| 2.1. | Sociala företagares rollanalys | ||
| 2.2. | Sociala entreprenörers behov och behovs betydelse | ||
| 3. | Bedömning / självutvärdering av sociala företagares kompetenser | 1 | 3 |
| 3.1. | Socialt företagande SWOT | ||
| 3.2. | Summering av SWOT analys | ||
| 3.3. | SWOT analysens relation/korrelation med sociala konsekvenser | ||
| 4. | Självutvärdering av personliga kompetenser och utvecklingen av personlig förbättrings plan | 1 | 2 |
| 4.1. | Bedömning/självutvärderings metod för sociala företagarens kompetenser | ||
| 4.2. | Beredning av sociala företagares personliga utvecklingsplan | ||
| 5. | Summering av utbildnings modul | 1 | |
| 5.1. | Reflektioner runt ‘Färgade tankar om inlärning av en social entreprenör’ | ||
| 5.2. | Sammanfattning av utbildning, certifiering, kursavslutning | ||
|
TOTAL |
3 | 9 | |
| 12 | |||
varje avsnitt i den tematiska guiden tar dig till ett separat avsnitt som innehåller avsnittets innehåll och material att använda
1.Introduktion till utbildningsmodul
1.2.Presentation av utbildnings program
2.Utveckling av sociala entreprenörers verksamheter och kompetenser
2.1.Sociala företagares rollanalys
2.2.Sociala entreprenörers behov och behovs betydelse
3.Bedömning / självutvärdering av sociala företagares kompetenser
3.3.SWOT analysens relation/korrelation med sociala konsekvenser
4.Självutvärdering av personliga kompetenser och utvecklingen av personlig förbättrings plan
4.1.Bedömning/självutvärderings metod för sociala företagarens kompetenser
4.2.Beredning av sociala företagares personliga utvecklingsplan
5.Summering av utbildnings modul
5.1.Reflektioner runt ‘Färgade tankar om inlärning av en social entreprenör’
5.2.Sammanfattning av utbildning, certifiering, kursavslutning
6. Bilagor, formulär, presentationer
Den fullständiga PDF-beskrivningen av utbildningsmodulen kan laddas ner här
Detta projekt har finansierats med hjälp ifrån Nordplus programmet. Projektet återger endast projektmedarbetarnas åsikter. Nordplus programmet kan inte hållas ansvarigt för hur innehållet i denna information används eller tolkas. Projekt ID NPAD -2017/10203.
MOKYMO MODULIS Socialinių verslininkų kompetencija ir mąstysena
Verslininkai biznio pasaulyje veikia kaip varikliai, panaudodami inovacijas, kurios skatina ekonominę pažangą. Nors socialiniai verslininkai yra asmenys, kurie pripažįsta socialinę problemą ir naudojasi verslumo principais, kurdami ir valdydami socialinius pokyčius, tačiau be įgūdžių ir atitinkamų kompetencijų tiems, kurie nori tapti socialiniu verslininku, sunku pasiekti savo tikslus sprendžiant socialinę problemą.
Šis mokymo modulis skirtas daugiausia suaugusiųjų mokytojams, socialiniams verslininkams ir asmenims, norintiems tapti tokiais. Mokymo modulis, skirtas efektyviam suaugusiųjų mokymo metodui, suteikia galimybę išbandyti gebėjimą įvertinti asmenines kompetencijas, kurios reikalingos sprendžiant socialines problemas.
Projekto partneriai – trys tarptautinės patirties turinčios organizacijos (LV, LT, SE), dirbančios suaugusiųjų mokymo srityje, sutelkdamos išteklius, yra svarbi suaugusiųjų mokymo metodų kaitos platforma.
Šį bendrą suaugusiųjų mokymo modulį atliko trys partneriai ((Socialinių inovacijų centras -LV, Skudutiškio akademija (LT) – LT, Šiaurės šalių socialinės inovacijų asociacija (SE-NordicASI) -SE) pagal „NORDPUS“ projekto projektą „ Svarbiausių mąstysenos elementų skatinimas sėkmingam socialinio verslo vystymui “
MOKYMO MODULIO Socialinių verslininkų kompetencija ir mąstysena APRAŠYMAS
Poreikis: Siekiant užtikrinti sėkmingą socialinių verslininkų kompetencijų vertinimą, andragogai turi turėti reikiamų įgūdžių, kad sugebėtų padėti, ir jei reikia, gebėti rezultatus įvertinti teisingai.
Mokymo / mokymosi filosofija: Remiasi:
- Bendradarbiavimas ir kolegialumas;
- Lygybė, kompetencija ir įtrauktis į mokymosi veiklą;
- Dalyvio individualumas, savarankiškumas ir dėmesys mokymosi veiklai;
- Dalyvis yra reflektuojantis;
- Dalyvio įgūdžių, gebėjimų ir žinių tobulinimo akcentavimas.
Trukmė: 12 valandų
Tikslas: Suteikti andragogams papildomų žinių ir įgūdžių, kurie leistų įvertinti socialinių verslininkų kompetencijas.
Tikslinės grupės:
- andragogai, kurie gali įvertinti žmogaus kompetenciją arba gali padėti vertinti;
- žmonės, kurie mato socialines problemas ir naudodamiesi verslo įgūdžiais, nori išspręsti šias problemas;
- socialiniai verslininkai norintys pasitikrinti savo kompetencijas.
Reikalavimai mokytojams: Aukštasis išsilavinimas; Patirtis, žinios ir įgūdžiaisuaugusiųjų švietimo darbe, dalyko žinios. Tinkami asmeniniai įgūdžiai, nuostatos ir vertybės, grindžiamos pagarba žmogaus orumui ir apsisprendimui, atsakomybė už jų veiksmus.
Mokymo procesui reikalingi ištekliai: Patalpos turi atitikti klausytojų skaičių ir turėti galimybę dirbti grupėse. Kompiuteris, skaidrių demonstravimo projektorius, rašymo lenta su dideliais popieriaus lapais, rašimo reikmenys kiekvienam klausytojui, galimybė naudotis muzika, gera interneto prieiga.
Mokymo metodai: Medžiagos pristatymai, darbas grupėse, individualios užduotys, vertinimas, skirtingi klausimynai.
Dalyvio įgyti gebėjimai: Kompetencijų vertinimas/ savęs įsivertinimas – gebėjimas vertinti asmens, norinčio pradėti socialinį verslą ar įvertinti socialinio verslininko turimas kompetencijas.
Vertinimas: Mokymo metu įgytos žinios padės dalyviams įvertinti kompetencijas. Andragogai turėtų sugebėti įvertinti, kaip besimokantieji supranta dalyką, besimokančiojo veiklą visą mokymosi procesą.
TEMINIS PLANAS
Kiekviename teminio vadovo skyriuje pateksite į atskirą skyrių, kuriame yra skyriaus turinys ir medžiaga, kurią reikia naudoti
1.1.Emocinės aplinkos sukūrimas. Lūkesčiai, taisyklės
1.2.Mokymo modulio pristatymas
2.Socialinių verslininkų veiklos ir kompetencijų samprata
2.1.Socialinių verslininkų vaidmens analizė
2.2.Socialinio verslininko poreikiai ir jų svarba
3.Socialinių verslininkų kompetencijų vertinimas/įsivertinimas
3.2.SSGG analizės apibendrinimas
3.3.SSGG koreliacija su socialiniu poveikiu
4.Asmeninių kompetencijų vertinimas ir asmeninio tobulinimosi plano rengimas
4.1. Socialinio verslininko kompetencijų vertinimo/įsivertinimo metodas
4.2.Socialinio verslininko asmeninio tobulėjimo plano rengimas
5.Mokymo modulio apibendrinimas
5.1.Refleksija „Spalvingos mintys apie socialinio verslininko mokymąsi“
5.2.Mokymo apžvalga, sertifikatas, atsisveikinimas
6.Priedai, formos, pristatymai
Visą mokymo modulio aprašymą PDF formatu galite atsisiųsti čia
Šis projektas finansuojamas pagal „Nordplus“ programą. Projektas atspindi tik projekto partnerių požiūrį, o „Nordplus“ programa negali būti laikoma atsakinga už bet kokį jame pateiktos informacijos naudojimą. Prjektas ID NPAD -2017/10203.
Freedcamp – A free project management tool
Freedcamp is a great option for your collaborative project management. We use it, and here’s why – and how.
Free to use
Freedcamp basic features are free to use. Just register, and start creating your project flows and content. Of course paid plans with extra features are available. However, experience has shown that free tools are quite enough for most projects.
A nice variety of tools for an effective project flow
Freedcamp tells customer that they have “all the tools you need to be successful, in one place”. This is not far from the truth. Things get done with features such as task lists, subtasks lists, Kanban board and Gantt chart (Gantt is not available in the free version). And if you like, task lists or parts of them can be kept private for certain users. Important things are featured in your project homepage, from which it’s easy to navigate to different projects, and features of a certain project.
Picture: Freedcamp.com
Project managers are able to assign tasks to named people. The system also sends reminders to your e-mail if needed. An aspect that is very nice especially if you are working with multiple projects at the same time – as we often do.
Planning and discussion is possible with the calendar, milestones, discussions, wiki and other handy features that bring the more social and sharing aspect into projects. Recent activity -function let’s you see what has been done since you last time visited the project.
Picture: Freedcamp.com
There are also extra possiblities to make working more efficient and safe. You can for example set passwords, take backups, store files, create project templates and integrate 3rd party services (such as Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive).
How we use it – an example of a multi-national collaboration project
As we are – in the Social Enterprise Support Network of the Baltic Sea Region -project – working from many countries and organizations over a 3-year long period of time, it’s been necessary for project management and efficient follow-up of tasks to have a common tool / place for collaboration. Freedcamp was found to serve us very well.
This is how we use it currently:
- We keep files stored in the system – organized by country and theme. Project documents, travel documents, presentations, photos, meetings minutes etc.
- Project tasks are listed and assigned to respective employee, with e-mail reminders. As the tasks always have a due date, they can be seen also in the calendar. Progress on a certain task is used to monitor if the task is in progress, or ready. All previous tasks are also visible in the list after they’re done, which makes it very easy for a project manager to see the full picture of how things have been done, and if they’ve been done in time.
- Discussion tool is used for keeping discussion on important project decisions away from fully packed e-mails – so everyone can easily refer to the discussion also later on.
With already these basic features, the workflow can be nicely managed, and everyone kept informed of what’s going on right now, and what is there to be done the next. So we haven’t found it necessary to use any of the paid features.
Try it yourself – maybe it can work for you too, and your money is used for something else – preferably for creating some positive social impact !
Asana – project management tool with creative features
The project management process is complicated enough, therefore more and more businesses and teams are looking for PM tools that won’t be too complex or difficult to use. As we have already shown you in this section, there are a few good project management tools that are designed to be user-friendly, graphic and will not cause a headache when you want to add a new task or set a meeting. This time we want to bring the spotlight to another major player in the project management tool market – Asana.
Asana is a project management and collaboration software that provides endless options for anyone who takes part in teamwork. It helps you to organize tasks in a very easy and quick way, lets you create lists for elements of your project that are already done and the ones that are still in progress and allows for many more opportunities. This software does an excellent job of helping to manage all the details of your project, but that is only part of the reason why Asana is one of the most popular project management tools. The additional features and well-considered details are the factors that make Asana stand out in the growing crowd of PM software. One of these features is timeline which gives you the possibility to insert all your planned tasks, due dates, deadlines, meeting plans and everything else in a plan that helps you to see how the little pieces of your project fit together. Moreover, everything on the Timeline can also be shared in a calendar. This way you can keep your team members informed and avoid overlapping of important tasks and responsibilities. Shared calendar lets every team member know what the actual situation is and keeps everyone informed about shifting deadlines or any other changes in the plan.
Another feature that contributes to large numbers of Asana users is the possibility of the integration. There are more than 100 apps that can be integrated with Asana – you can get notified in Slack when any modifications are made for your tasks in Asana, you can choose and attach files from your DropBox, Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive account, all of your Google Calendar events can be synchronized with your Asana calendar and lots and lots of other useful integration possibilities. This feature helps to avoid fragmentation of projects as all the necessary information and data can be stored and viewed in one place. This leads us to another interesting feature of the Asana software – it is designed to reduce the need for any other external communication. This is a very useful option for teams who view emails as an ineffective form of communication. Asana provides the possibility to communicate and inform other team members in so many ways – by commenting on specific tasks, inviting to meetings, sharing information with only specific people to ensure the protection of sensitive data, creating custom dashboards and many other options. There is even a possibility to “tag” team members to draw their attention to specific aspects of the project. Although many organizations and teams would probably continue to use emails as a form of every-day communication, Asana has found a great way how to create an all-encompassing software that reduces the need for using many other tools.
Another very interesting option that Asana provides is the possibility to insert company goals and milestones within various categories, such as product, business, people, etc. Communicating overall priorities and goals for a certain time frame helps the team to see how their tasks and actions fit into the bigger picture.
Asana is available completely free if it is used by up to 15 team members. It also offers a Premium version which includes more advanced features and extras than the free version. There is also an Enterprise possibility – a good fit for big companies and enterprises with the focus of administration and security controls. Whichever version you choose, it seems that Asana will have something to offer for any project and any team.
Visit https://asana.com/ to find out more interesting features this software has to offer to your team.
Stormboard
With Stormboard‘s digital workspace users can generate more ideas – prioritize, organize, and refine those ideas and in that way make meetings, brainstorms, and projects more productive and effective.
The online platform tool allows users create a project, hold a meeting, assign tasks to a team and set deadlines and goals.
Stormboard makes it easy to track the progress of a project and to make sure that the plan is followed, no matter where in the world your team members are.
Stormboard also has lots of built-in templates for business processes among others Design Thinking, SWOT and Agile.
The tool also has a smart reporting function, that compiles the information on the users workspace, also called Storm, into a document in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or another format that can be edited and used as meeting minutes or presentations.
Stormboard has users in more than 181 countries all over the world.
See more at: stormboard.com
Podio
Podio is a flexible and customisable online platform where teams can work and communicate together. The platform give users a possibility to organize large amounts of work and at the same time to delegate tasks between employees or members of an organization.
Podio also gives users the tools to share files, view the status of ongoing projects and to get feedback on your work. All functionalities are combined into an easy-to-use interface.
The tool is equipped with quality mobile apps, that can be used when users are in the move, and need to use smartphone or tablet. Podio is very easy to intergrate with other services and apps like Google Drive, Dropbox, Zendesk and Evernote to mention a few.
As part of Citirix, Podio has very high security standards
See more about Podio at: podio.com
Online collaboration tool – Monday.com
This article is an excerpt from the full article on picksaa.com. To read the full article go here.
Business world changes along with technological progress. It’s inevitable as the two are closely correlated. Business stimulates innovation and innovation contributes to the reshaping of work. One drives the other.
And only over the last decades, the increase in the use of technology in the workplace has significantly increased. It’s visible in various areas and one of them is the implementation of business software. Project management software is one of them.
Using project management software is mandatory for most of the organizations. But it’s willingly used also by small businesses, non-profit organizations, startups or even individuals. No wonder since it helps to optimize and automize processes, make communication and collaboration easier, and increase employees’ efficiency.
In our article on best project management software we described 8 tools helpful in growing a business. One of them was monday.com. And in this article, I will show you and lead you through the software step by step to help you better understand it and how it can help you become a better project manager, no matter where and how you work. Let’s go!
What is monday and how to use it?
Monday was founded in 2012 and launched as an independent startup in February 2014. The company’s mission is “creating a workplace environment of transparency, ownership, and accountability, to empower managers and their teams.” Today the software is used by 350,000 people, from 76 countries, in 40,000 teams.
monday is categorized as a project management software that can be used by any type of team operating in any industry. There are no limits as to who and how can use it. Among organizations who use it you can find Discovery Channel, wix.com, or wework. It’s suitable for small and large teams. The pricing largely varies depending on the number of people in your team. You can choose from 4 variants:
- Basic, starting from $25/month
- Standard, starting from $39/month
- Pro, starting from $59/month
- Enterprise, starting from $118/month
You can upgrade, downgrade or cancel your plan any time you want without any consequences. And if you’re not sure which plan to choose, you can simply contact monday Support Team. And to get the most out of the tool, monday has a knowledge base full of helpful articles. You will find all information on the basics to the most advanced features offered by monday. You can also check their video tutorials if you prefer a guide in the visual form.
They even offer the assistance of their local partner to help you onboard your team (which in my opinion is not necessary, monday is really easy-in-use). You can choose from various locations in North America, South and Central America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. They allow you to get help all over the globe. That’s something not many software providers offer.
The software is a cloud-based platform which may concern some in terms of privacy. But monday assures that your data is safe with them. They are GDPR compliant, have ISO/IEC 27001:2013 and ISO/IEC 27018:2014 certifications, and SOC2 Type II security certification. Therefore, you can be sure that your data is protected on the highest level.
That’s monday, project management, collaboration, team management software. Let’s see what you can do with it.
How does it all work?
Setting up an account on monday is as easy as pie. You simply have to provide an email and a password. Then you receive a confirmation code (security on the highest level indeed!) and can begin the full process of creating an account. I’m going to show you what you can do with monday step by step.
I decided to choose a free trial to see how monday works and whether it meets my expectations. I am asked how large my team is (for now I am choosing ‘only me’) and what I want to manage. From the available options, I’m opting for ‘to-do’s & lists.’ You can also choose projects for clients, internal projects, sales & CRM, product roadmap & backlog, agile development, orders & production, HR & recruiting, and others which you can specify.
This is useful as it helps to orient you on what exactly you want to do with the software. However, at this stage, you cannot choose several options which is a slight disadvantage for those who want to use monday to manage a wide scope of areas in an organization.
Now that I have decided what I want to manage, I can invite team members. But I’ll do it later as I want to discover the secrets of monday and all its features before I onboard my team, simply to help them get accustomed to the app.
This article is an excerpt from the full article on picksaa.com. To read the full article go here.
Full credit and pictures for this excerpt of the article goes to picksaa.com
Did you check GoToMeeting? A new tool for conference calls
Recently I have come across the GoToMeeting collaboration tool. The best part of it is the ability to use your phone and get connected to multiple people from different countries into one conference call by dialing a dedicated local number and special code. Below is a short review of the app and the link.
Thanks to cheap bandwidth and a wide selection of video conferencing services, trying to coordinate meetings with clients in various geographic locations and interacting with remote workers is no longer the logistical and technical workplace challenge it used to be. GoToMeeting (which begins at $14 per month, billed annually) is one of the better-known video conferencing services (along with Cisco WebEx Meetings and Editors’ Choice service ClickMeeting). But GoToMeeting (which was acquired from Citrix by LogMeIn in January 2017) no longer dominates the space and might even be falling behind the competition in some areas.
If you’ve ever been part of an online demo or viewed a web presentation, then chances are you have used GoToMeeting (or Cisco WebEx Meetings, for that matter). Therefore, you already know a little bit about how this kind of software works. While the service is capable of screen sharing, demos, and even remote troubleshooting, this review focuses on GoToMeeting’s video conferencing capabilities.
GoToMeeting Packages
GoToMeeting offers three versions of its software: Starter, Pro, and Plus. GoToMeeting Starter (which, as stated earlier, begins at $14 per month, billed annually) supports up to 10 participants and GoToMeeting Pro (which begins at $29 per month, billed annually) supports up to 150 participants. GoToMeeting Plus (which begins at $39 per month, billed annually) can handle up to 250 participants on a call. There is also a free version of GoToMeeting, which offers limited features for up to 50 participants. GoToMeeting doesn’t require a credit card to sign up for the free 14-day trial, a practice I wish was more prevalent among business services. It also offers a 60-day refund, which is also unusual.
A big portion of the appeal for GoToMeeting is that it’s part of a larger “GoTo” line of products, including GoToWebinar and GoToTraining. There is no price break for purchasing multiple products, however, nor is there a bundled option to buy. But, if you are already using GoToWebinar for online events for up to 2,000 attendees, then it makes sense to just stay in the product family when looking for a more focused product for smaller audiences.
you can continue to the original page about the review here.
Here is a link to a general overview of handy video editing softaware:
https://www.avasam.com/best-video-editing-software/
WeTransfer: File Sharing Tool with a Heart of a Social Entrepreneur
WeTransfer is not only a very simple-to-use tool for sharing files, but as it turns out – it’s almost a social entrepreneur.
WeTransfer was founded in 2009 as the simplest way to send big files around the world. Today they have a set of nice tools which they call The WeTransfer Family with a motto – bring your ideas to life:
- WeTransfer – for sending ideas
- WeTransfer Plus – for sending bigger ideas
- WePresent – for sparking ideas
- Paste – for presenting ideas
- Collect – for grouping ideas
- Paper – for capturing ideas
WeTransfer interface is very simple, which makes transferring files incredibly easy. Since you don’t need to sign up if the size of your files doesn’t exceed 2 GB, you can just go to WeTransfer and start the transfer process – add files, enter a recipient’s e-mail address, your e-mail address and an optional message. As soon as the file gets uploaded, you can send it to the addressee. You receive two e-mails after sending data through WeTransfer. The first e-mail includes a confirmation that your file has been sent, and the second one comes when the recipient downloads the submitted file. If you want, you can choose an option to send files via download link instead of using an e-mail address.
If you need to transfer bigger files and want to explore other features, you might consider WeTransfer Plus. A Plus account lets you transfer up to 20 GB at a time, whether that’s lots of small files, or one massive one. With WeTransfer Plus, files are not deleted after a set period of time. It is simple to manage your transfers, see what you have sent and when, and easily forward, resend or delete transfers. WeTransfer Plus users have the option to protect their transfers with a password.
WeTransfer Paste syncs to the cloud, so you always have your team’s latest thinking at your fingertips. Browse, zoom in and download every image, file, and video in full resolution. When you’re ready, present your deck in a link, onscreen, or as a PDF.
WeTransfer Collect is the best way to organize your ideas. Save content from across your apps and bring it together for your friends, your team, or just for yourself. Organize your ideas as beautiful boards that are perfect for visual thinkers. Invite anyone to add to your board so you can collaborate and create together. Then share it with a simple link to send your ideas out into the world.
Since 2009, WeTransfer has given away 30% of its ad inventory to support artists, photographers, musicians and more. They’re committed to diversity in their storytelling to help spark different kinds of ideas for their readers. This is the part of WeTransfer where you can sense the spirit of a social entrepreneurship. WeTransfer supports many creative projects which raise awareness of different problems, for example, bringing together world-renowned photographers to highlight key issues in climate change.
Would you like to know more about WeTransfer or try it? Click here – https://wetransfer.com!
Files.fm: Store, Share and Sell files
Almost everyone knows such filesharing platforms as Google Drive and Dropbox, but how many of you have heard of Files.fm? Files.fm is an IT company founded in Latvia, that builds easy to use, modern and innovative software products for file storage applications since 2007.
The most popular feature of Files.fm is file storing and sharing. How it works? Pretty simple. Once a user uploads files to the server, they obtain a unique link, which then can be shared to all users who need access to the files. If you want to quickly upload up to 2 GB files and send them to someone without storing them more than 60 days, you don’t even need to be an authorized user – go to Files.fm, upload your files, obtain a link and share it!
After storing one or more files, the user receives a unique link. By opening this link, you will see a list of stored files. The user can see the file name, size, description and choose to download or view his or her files. Each individual file also has a unique download link. You can store documents, photos, video, audio or any other file type. You can simultaneously select and upload multiple files. Maximum upload size is 2GB at one time for free users. Pro and Business users can upload files without size limit.
File storing and sharing is not the only feature provided by Files.fm. They offer inserting a file upload form in your website even you don’t have any programming skills. You can use Files.fm as a virtual server hosting. Files.fm provides a handy file synchronization tool for content sharing and copying. There is even such an option as creating your public file catalogue and exchange channel. And, yes, Files.fm is a platform for selling digital downloads as well.
Are you intrigued enough and want to try Files.fm by yourself? Go for it – https://files.fm!
Four types of Impact
As social entrepreneurs we have become quite familiar with the term impact, as it’s the way we bring our mission vision statement to life and create change in society. Across all the different types of organizations and their relevant impact, there are 4 distinct types of impact that can be observed according to the MetaIntegral framework.
The MetaIntegral framework clarifies the 4 types of impact being
- Clear impact
- High impact
- Wide impact
- Deep impact
Clear Impact
“One of the most common forms of impact is Clear Impact, which measures change in stakeholder performance. Many businesses and organizations include various metrics to assess this area of impact (e.g., skill assessments, analytics, observation tools, and various KPIs). What all these metrics have in common is the focus on objective criteria to track behavior and performance.”
High Impact
“The other main form of impact is High Impact, which measures change in stakeholder systems (e.g., supply chains, cash flow, customer engagement) . Many businesses and organizations include various metrics to assess this area of impact (e.g., environmental impact assessments, financial impact assessments, input indicators, and various KPIs). What all these metrics have in common is the focus on interobjective or systemic criteria to track organizational and market dynamics.”
Wide Impact
“Over the last decade it has become more common for organizations to include Wide Impact, which measures change in stakeholder relationships. With forms of network analysis and social mapping there have emerged various metrics to assess this area of impact (e.g., 360 Assessments, relationship mapping, interviews, and social impact assessments). What all these metrics have in common is the focus on intersubjective criteria to track the quality and quantity of relationships and their influence.”
Deep Impact
“Arguably, one of the most important forms of impact is Deep Impact, which measures change in stakeholder experience. There is a growing awareness among many businesses and organizations that this form of impact needs to be included. Various metrics are used to assess this area of impact (e.g., self-evaluations, psychometrics, satisfaction surveys, and happiness inventories). What all these metrics have in common is the focus on subjective criteria to track somatic, emotional, and psychological dimensions of experience.”
Knowing that there are different kinds of impacts and which your organization is most likely to focus on, enables your organization to be clearer on areas to develop with regards to growth practices as well as what measurements are best to use to track your impact in your given area.
For more information on the MetaIntegral framework and its applications, there are Youtube videos available as well as an online course.
Statements in “ “ are direct quotes from the MetaIntegral website as well as the included images.
Руководство по социальному предпринимательству
Образовательный модуль для социальных предпринимателей
Добро пожаловать в Руководство по социальному предпринимательству – образовательный модуль для социальных предпринимателей.
«Будь тем изменением, которое ты хочешь увидеть в мире»/Ганди
Об учебном модуле
Целевая аудитория:
- Те, кто интересуется предпринимательством, особенно таким, которое создает социальный эффект.
- Опытные предприниматели, которые хотят расширить свои навыки, чтобы достигать изменений в обществе.
- Любой человек, который хочет использовать бизнес-навыки для создания социального эффекта.
Требуемый уровень предшествующих знаний: никаких конкретных предварительных знаний не требуется, но базовые знания в бизнесе облегчат получение новых компетенций.
Язык обучения: русский
Требования к обучению:
- Формальные требования для прохождения учебного курса отсутствуют.
- Курс предоставляется бесплатно.
Разработка и использование учебного модуля:
Учебный курс призван обеспечить поэтапное понимание принципов и инструментов создания и развития социального бизнеса. Каждый раздел содержит:
- Введение
- Навигатор освоения (перечень ключевых вопросов, отраженные в разделе)
- Учебные видеоматериалы
- Дополнительные учебные материалы в виде видеороликов, статей или презентаций
- Контрольный список вопросов для более глубокого понимания
- Материалы для более углубленного изучения темы
Вы можете просматривать все разделы друг за другом или по отдельноси – каждый раздел независим, изучение предыдущих разделов не требуется для доступа к последующим.
Вы можете загрузить полное описание модуля в документе на латышском / русском / польском языках.
Используя материал или его части в других публикациях, вам необходимо указать ссылку на источник.
Здесь вы можете загрузить полное описание модуля на русском языке.
Образовательный модуль для социальных предпринимателей
Содержание
- Вступление в социальное предпринимательство
1.1. Общее введение в социальное предпринимательство
1.2 Цели устойчивого развития ООН (SDGs)
1.3 Как видеть в социальных проблемах возможности для социального бизнеса
1.4. Социальное предпринимательство в странах Балтийского моря
- Основной отдел
2.1. Создание общественной организации при помощи социального бизнес-плана
2.2. Разработка продукта
2.3. Финансирование и сбор средств в Балтийском регионе
2.4. Измерение социального воздействия
2.5. Маркетинг, коммуникации и технологии
2.6. Лидерство и тимбилдинг в социальных предприятиях
2.7. Сеть, партнерство и сотрудничество
2.8. Найм людей и использование волонтеров в России
2.9. Нормативные аспекты социального предпринимательства в России
Коллектив авторов
Baltic Institute for Regional and European Concern (BISER), Польша:
Magda Leszczyna-Rzucidło
Pawel Jacewicz
Anna Fornalska-Skurczyńska
Bartosz Atroszko
COBUCE, Россия:
Maxim Mikhaylov
Sociālās inovācijas centrs, Латвия:
http://socialinnovation.lv/en/
Anita Stirāne
Jevgenija Kondurova
Renāte Lukjanska
Social Entrepreneurs in Denmark, Дания:
http://www.socialeentreprenorer.dk
Gitte Kirkeby
Per Bach
2018
Это издание было создано в рамках проекта «Развитие социального бизнеса в регионе Балтийского моря», совместно финансируемого программой Nordic Council of Ministers. Идентификационный номер проекта: 17055.
За содержание публикации отвечает руководител проекта и оно не обязательно отражает мнение Nordic Council of Ministers или других поставщиков финансовой поддержки и заинтересованных сторон.
Przewodnik po Przedsiębiorczości Społecznej
Przewodnik po Przedsiębiorczości Społecznej
Kurs edukacyjny dla przedsiębiorców społecznych
Witamy!
Witamy w Przewodniku po Przedsiębiorczości Społecznej – kursie edukacyjnym dla przedsiębiorców społecznych!
O module szkoleniowym:
Grupa docelowa:
1. Osoby, które są zainteresowane przedsiębiorczością, a szczególnie tworzeniem wpływu społecznego;
2. Doświadczeni przedsiębiorcy, którzy chcą poszerzyć swoje umiejętności w celu zmiany społeczeństwa;
3. Każdy, kto chce wykorzystać umiejętności biznesowe, aby stworzyć wpływ społeczny
Wymagany poziom wcześniejszej wiedzy: nie jest wymagana żadna konkretna wiedza, ale podstawowa wiedza biznesowa ułatwi zdobycie konkretnej wiedzy.
Język nauczania: polski
Wymagania szkoleniowe:
1. Nie ma formalnych wymagań ,aby nabyć kurs szkoleniowy
2. Kurs szkoleniowy jest bezpłatny
Projektowanie i wykorzystanie modułu szkoleniowego:
Moduł szkoleniowy został zaprojektowany w celu zapewnienia krok po kroku wglądu w biznes społeczny. Każda sekcja zawiera:
1. Wstęp
2. Przewodnik poznawczy (kluczowe zagadnienia objaśnione przez jednostkę)
3. Filmowy materiał szkoleniowy
4. Dodatkowe materiały szkoleniowe w postaci filmów, artykułów lub prezentacji
5. Lista kontrolna dla lepszego zrozumienia
6. Materiały służące głębszej analizie tematu
Możesz przeglądać wszystkie sekcje w serii lub pojedynczo – każda sekcja jest indywidualna, poprzednie sekcje nie są wymagane, aby uzyskać dostęp do następnych sekcji.
Możesz pobrać pełny opis modułu w dokumencie w języku polskim do ściągnięcia tutaj: Social_Business_edu_module_PL (1)
Spis treści
1.Wstęp
1.1. Przedsiębiorczość społeczna – wprowadzenie
1.2. Cele Zrównoważonego Rozwoju (SDG’s)
1.3. Jak rozpoznać w problemach społecznych szansę na biznes prospołeczny
1.4. Przedsiębiorczość społeczna w Polsce
2. Zagadnienia
2.1. Tworzenie przedsiębiorstwa społecznego – opracowanie biznesplanu
2.2. Tworzenie produktu
2.3. Finansowanie i zbieranie funduszy w Polsce
2.4. Pomiar wpływu społecznego
2.5. Marketing, komunikacja i technologie
2.6. Budowanie zespołu i zarządzanie nim w przedsiębiorstwach społecznych
2.7. Sieć, partnerstwo i wzajemna współpraca
2.8. Zatrudnienie i wolontariat
2.9. Aspekty prawne przedsiębiorczości społecznej w sektorze polskiej ekonomii społecznej
Wykorzystując materiał lub jego części w innych publikacjach, należy umieścić odniesienie do źródła.
Podziękowanie
Kurs edukacyjny dla przedsiębiorców społecznych opracowali:
Bałtycki Instytut Spraw Europejskich i Regionalnych (BISER): Polska http://biser.org.pl/
Autorzy projektu:
dr Magda Leszczyna-Rzucidło
Anna Fornalska-Skurczyńska
dr hab. Witold Toczyski
Bartosz Atroszko
COBUCE: Rosja- http://www.krauslab.ru/
Autor:
Maxim Mikhaylov
Centrum Innowacji Społecznych: Łotwa http://socialinnovation.lv/en/
Autorzy:
Anita Stirāne
Jevgenija Kondurova
Renate Lukjanska
Przedsiębiorcy społeczni w Danii: Dania http://www.socialeentreprenorer.dk
Autorzy:
Gitte Kirkeby
Per Bach
Luty 2018
Publikacja jest częścią projektu “Rozwój przedsiębiorczości społecznej w regionie Morza Bałtyckiego”, współfinansowanego przez program Nordyckiej Rady Ministrów, o numerze identyfikacyjnym: 17055.
Odpowiedzialność za treść ponosi wyłącznie wydawca/autorzy; nie reprezentuje ona punktu widzenia Nordyckiej Rady Ministrów i żadnych powiązanych z nią organów finansowych. Instytucje te nie są odpowiedzialne za informacje przekazane w powyższym materiale.
Rokasgrāmata sociālajiem uzņēmējiem
Izglītojošs materiāls sociālās uzņēmējdarbības uzsācējiem
Laipni lūdzam!
Laipni lūdzam sociālās uzņēmējdarbības rokasgrāmatā “Rokasgrāmta sociālajiem uzņēmējiem”.
Sociālos uzņēmējus motivē vēlme īstenot pozitīvas pārmaiņas. Šis fenomens piesaista arvien vairāk nacionālās un starptaustiskās sabiedrības uzmanību.
Ja jūs vēlaties mainīt pasauli, jums ir jārīkojas!
“Esi pārmaiņas, kuras Tu vēlies redzēt pasaulē” (Mohandass Gandijs)
Par apmācību moduli:
Mērķauditorija:
- cilvēki, kuri ir ieinteresēti uzņēmējdarbībā un īpaši sociālās ietekmes radīšanā;
- pieredzējuši uzņēmēji, kuri vēlas paplašināt savas prasmes, lai mainītu sabiedrību
- ikviens, kurš vēlas izmantot uzņēmējdarbības prasmes, lai radītu sociālu ietekmi
Nepieciešamais priekšzināšanu līmenis: specifiskas priekšzināšanas nav nepieciešamas, tomēr pamatzināšanas uzņēmējdarbībā ļaus vieglāk apgūt specifiskās zināšanas
Apmācību valoda: latviešu
Apmācību prasības:
- apmācību kursa apgūšanai nav formālu prasību
- apmācību kurss ir bezmaksas
Apmācību moduļa uzbūve un lietošana:
Apmācību modulis ir veidots, lai soli pa solim sniegtu ieskatu sociālajā uzņēmējdarbībā. Katra sadaļa satur:
- ievadu
- izziņas ceļvedi (būtiskākos jautājumus, ko nodaļa izskaidro)
- apmācību video materiālus
- papildus apmācību materiālus video, rakstu vai prezentāciju formātā
- kontroljautājumus dziļākas izpratnes veidošanai
- materiālus tēmas padziļinātākai izpētei
Jūs variet caurskatīt visas sadaļas pēc kartās vai brīvā izlases veidā – katra sadaļa ir individuāla, iepriekšējo sadaļu apguve nav obligāta prasība piekļuvei nākošajām sadaļām.
Video “Ievads sociālās uzņēmējdarbības apmācību modulī“
Pilnu moduļa aprakstu dokumenta veidā latviešu valodā variet lejupielādēt šeit.
APMĀCĪBU MODULIS “ROKASGRĀMATA SOCIĀLAJIEM UZŅĒMĒJIEM”
Saturs
1.Ievads sociālajā uzņēmējdarbībā
1.1. Sociālās uzņēmējdarbības raksturojums
1.2. AIM – ANO ilgtspējīgas attīstības mērķi
1.3.Uzzini, kā sociālas problēmas var kļūt par sociālās uzņēmējdarbības iespējām
1.4. Sociālā uzņēmējdarbība Latvijā
2.Tematiskais ceļvedis
2.1. Sociālā uzņēmuma veidošana, attīstot sociālā biznesa plānu
2.2. Produkta attīstība
2.4. Sociālās ietekmes mērīšana
2.5. Mārketings, komunikācija un tehnoloģijas
2.6. Vadība un komandas saliedēšana sociālajos uzņēmumos
2.7. Tīklošanās, partnerība un sadarbība
2.8 Cilvēku nodarbināšana un brīvprātīgo piesaiste Latvijā
2.9. Sociālās uzņēmējdarbības juridiskais regulējums
3.Materiāli padziļinātākai izziņai
Autoru kolektīvs
Izglītojošā materiāla sociālajiem uzņēmējiem autoru kolektīvs:
Baltic Institute for Regional and European Concern (BISER), Polija http://biser.org.pl/
Autori:
Magda Leszczyna-Rzucidło
Pawel jacewicz
Anna Fornalska-Skurczyńska
Bartosz Atroszko
COBUCE, Krievija
Autors:
Maxim Mikhaylov
Sociālās inovācijas centrs, Latvija
http://socialinnovation.lv/en/
Autori:
Anita Stirāne
Jevgenija Kondurova
Renāte Lukjanska
Social Entrepreneurs in Denmark, Dānija
http://www.socialeentreprenorer.dk
Autori:
Gitte Kirkeby
Per Bach
2018
Šis materiāls ir tapis projektā “Sociālās uzņēmējdarbības attīstīšana Baltijas jūras reģionā”, un tas līdzfinansēts ar programmas Nordic Concil of Ministers atbalstu. Projekta identifikācijas numurs: 17055.
Par publikācijas saturu atbild projekta vadītājs un tas ne vienmēr atspoguļo Nordic Council of Ministers vai citu finansiālā atbalsta sniedzēju un ieinteresēto pušu viedokli.
Izmantojot materiālu vai tā daļas citās publikācijās, nepieciešams izvietot atsauci uz avotu.
Messengers with Features for Business
Three effective messaging tools are presented this time for you to try and make communication within your teams faster, more interactive and effective. Less known than Slack or Trello, however not less effective and to some even more attractive – these are Chanty, Cisco Webex Teams and Fleep, which keep distant teams together, integrate and share.
Chanty is a business messenger, positioned as an alternative to Slack, one of the most known project management and communication tools. Similarly to its main competitor, Chanty integrates with common devices and let one to connect to multiple sources from one place. With this tool it possible to monitor activity from services like Google Drive, Twitter, Salesforce, Jira, Stripe and others, as well as receive notifications and structure the information.
For now beta version of Chanty is available for free, offering workflow and team collaboration features. It is possible to make collective decisions, create polls, transform discussions into workflows, store files and coordinate tasks by assigning team members.
Extremely useful features of the software are team audio and video calls, which can be made directly from the chat. Voice messages can also be sent with voice transcripts, providing with text version of the message and therefore allowing to increase the efficiency of communication. Chanty is able to save one’s time on predicting responses by offering relevant answers to choose from.
Moreover, the app has unlimited message history, which is searchable in case one misses the information. Filesharing supports documents, images, PDFs, spreadsheets and other file formats, using drag & drop function. The presence of emojis makes it more attractive, but “@mentions” allow to stress out significant information related to concrete persons and send them notifications. Through the settings notifications can be managed by each individual user.
Read more about Chanty here.
Cisco Webex Teams is an app for continuous teamwork with group messaging, video meetings, file sharing and white boarding. It allows to share the content, multimedia, presentations and entire screen with remote attendees in real-time. Shared files can be easily found right alongside the conversation stored in a cloud. Instant messaging is easy to follow up in Cisco Webex Teams, as the messages can be responded right away of flagged for follow up later. Also, information security can be managed, allowing moderators to lock the spaces. Additional features integrate Webex with other popular digital tools, for instance, Box, Google Drive, Twitter, Trello, Zendesk etc.
Integrated with Arkadin audio conferencing, Webex Teams is an ultimate online solution for audio, web and video collaboration. Team members can join the meeting with one click, without waiting for hosts to start the meeting. Additionally Webex offers sets of devices, like Webex whiteboards or video systems for rooms and desktops, for those, who value the quality of meetings.
Depending on the number of people involved in a team work, Webex offers different price plans for groups of up to 8, 25 or 100 people. More info can be found on the website.
Fleep is a web-based messaging tool, created by former “Skypers” to fill in the gap between email and instant messaging applications. It integrates with email and allows receive emails within this app even from those, who are not registered in Fleep. The advantage of this app hides in an opportunity to communicate across organisations and regardless of team set up, so the user can be part of different teams. Even those, who are not user of fleep can participate.
Fleep also offers to store files in a cloud, share and use them from any device. Different to-do tasks can be created and managed within Fleep in order to keep people on track, as well as important messages can be pin to know where to find relevant message or what task to do. Admins functions are also available, as business communication needs to be managed. Fleep is not just another instant messaging app, as it is positioned as a viable alternative to email conversations. Fleep ID of a person looks like email address, however it is just email compatible.
Read more about Fleep here.
Visual collaboration tools for creative teams
Mural is a visual collaboration tool for teams working online on a distance. It supports the implementation of design thinking concept and provides shared digital whiteboards, where teams visually explore complex challenges and organize flexible processes across any device. Drawing tools, Sticky notes, icons, pictures, comments, discussions and more features can be added there to visualize the decision making process.
Mural helps a to save finances related to gathering teams together for workshop sessions, allowing to facilitate brainstormings online and involving all team member equally. It allows to avoid travel and in-persons workshop costs as it works in a cloud. Therefore productivity of the project development can be increased within teams.
Mural offers online workshops for up to 50 persons, which costs only 12$/month with possible trial period.
More about Mural to be found here.
Conceptboard is a flexible canvas for brainstorming, capturing ideas, creating moodboards, plans and strategies that expand when new content is being added and easily can be used by teams online. It allows to work in real time and use video conferencing to discuss details, for instance, when prototyping some design. It is possible to transfer files from emails to conceptboards, so commenting and discussions become faster and more effective. For bigger convenience and centralization Conceptboard can integrate other digital tools the team uses, like Trello, Dropbox, TokBox, Google Drive etc.
One can create unlimited number of boards within Conceptboard for free, however more complex features, including larger storage, unlimited object per board etc., are available starting from 28.50 $/month per 3 users.
More about Conceptboard to be found here.
Additionally, one more simple digital tool can be used during the workshops and brainstorming sessions: TimeTimer is visual full-screen time tracker, that disappears as time elapses. TimeTimer is completely free of charge, which is nice considering quite expensive conventional time trackers.
Most of you have probably noticed the advantages of fast design creation with Canva tool, which brings relief to those not familiar with complex and expensive Photoshop-like design programmes. A poster, invitation, presentation, newsletter, flyer, social media header, collage, book cover or any other graphic material can de designed and shared with team mates in order to make collaborative improvements free of charge. It offers various templates and additional elements to operate with.
One of the feature it offers is creation of mind maps, which can be used as collage of ideas in brainstorming process or the final design of mind map, which is also sharable with others. A number of customizable templates, colours, icons and shapes are available for free and even more to upgraded users.
More about Mind Map from Canva to be found here.
Concept inbox is an online software created specifically for designers, which need to collaborate with their team and customers. It allows to improve the models and test those using prototypes without special knowledge on coding. Concept inbox automatically archives all project activities (changes), so it is easy to review the process of design. Concept inbox offers prototyping of apps, feedback collection (with notification system), real-time collaboration, apps and integration, like inbox for a desktop for easy access etc.
There are different pricing plans of Concept inbox starting from 14$/month: for design freelancers, small and mid-size companies. Single person can try out work on the project for free with certain limitation.
More about Concept Inbox to be found here.
Organising Webinars: Tools and Use
Digital collaboration tools in general are characterised with huge variety of uses that helps enterprises, NGOs and public bodies, as well as teams to communicate effectively. Another part of success hides in ability to connect to the audience of entity, and the biggest challenge on the market of literary everything is choosing the right way to do so. Unfortunately, there is no formula for success, the only thing clear is that one must search, innovate, use creativity, diversity and follow the trends in effective communication with customers and stakeholders, which in particular have to be convenient for recipients.
In a time when every minute matters, webinars have become extremely popular, as they save money on travel, catering and venues by transforming informative events into online sessions – live or/and recorded. Webinars are web-based seminars that usually include over 30 participants and are used to conduct presentations, trainings, workshops, lectures and large-scale meetings that are cost effective comparing to face-to-face events. The biggest advantage of webinars is accessibility, and depending on the size and purpose of the event – different features are now available for organisers and users to make an event more representable, as well as convenient, accessible and cheaper for stakeholders and customers.
“How to Organize and Host a Webinar”, publication written by Gabriela Warrent, gives you some tips on how to organise and host a web-based event, as well as help you to check if you are doing well if you have already started to practice webinars. Some more assumptions are covered in “12 Webinar Statistics You Need to Know” article that provides more specific guidelines on what to follow and what to avoid.
Those articles cover necessary information to take into account before planning the webinar, while this specific article is dedicated to present some handy digital tools to broadcast the event and thereby get more engaged stakeholders. The most functional and therefore popular tools are considered to be Google+ Hangouts, YouTube Live, Webinars OnAir, Skype and GoToWebinar.
Google+ Hangouts and YouTube Live
To use Google+ Hangouts for free one must hold a Google account. Video calling/chat feature has been integrated into Google Chat, Gmail and the standard Google+ Profile to use it with up to 9 persons in a single video (or audio) call, which can be private or public. Screen sharing and chat messaging (including emojis and files) are also possible, however this is still a video-conferencing tool that cannot be broadcasted and recorded within the software.
Therefore Google+ Hangouts on Air has been launched as an alternative for those, who only host webinars occasionally. Now this feature is moved to YouTube Live and allows to broadcast live video presentations (webinars, lectures, seminars etc.) from your computer to a public audience through YouTube channel. It can be public (anyone can access the event), unlisted (everyone with the link can join, the same as it was with Hangouts on Air) or private event (only invited people can join). YouTube Live has built-in events scheduling that lets to schedule the event for a future date and time. The content can also be recorded and saved for stakeholders, what will be able to watch the webinar after it has finished – on YouTube, own website, blog or other platform. To know how to activate YouTube Live streaming, follow the relevant page.
Business Hangouts
No special software has to be downloaded by users. Business Hangouts works on all devices and platforms, which makes it most convenient and simple-to-use tool for barely everyone. Webinar can be accessed in various ways: through Gmail, desktop app, browser plugin, the mobile app, Hangouts website or social media network Google+. Additional service includes the Hangouts on Air service for live-streaming and recording video meetings. More about the settings and offers can be found in video and here.
Webinars OnAir
Webinars OnAir is also a product offered by Google+, which outstands with its special focus on webinars, comparing to the previous options. The platform is built on the basis of Google+ Hangout and improved to deliver the most advanced webinar features on the market. Platform offers such features, as webinar recording, desktop sharing, Google calendars, building personal lists, switching between up to 10 moderators, private labelling, e-mail interactions, attendee tracking etc.
With this digital tool participants can also be charged for joining organised webinar, which is another distinction of Webinars OnAir. Additionally registration page is available to create the webinar as attractive and accessible as possible, as presented on the webpage. Webinars OnAir is the option for private businesses, as long as participants are directed straight to the seller’s website.
To make user experience even better, the platform runs an improvements, so joining is not impossible at the moment. To follow the updates, leave your email on the website.)
Skype Business Meeting Broadcast
While Skype remains being the most popular online communication tool in the world with its group voice and video calls, screen sharing, filesharing, as well as contact sending, even more features and plans are present in Skype Business Meeting Broadcast for more advanced business options. It is a feature of Skype for Business Online and Office 365 that enables to schedule, produce, broadcast and record meetings or events to online audiences with up to 10 000 attendees. Collaborative work during the meeting in turn is enabled for up to 250 people, using whiteboards, polls, Q&A, instant messaging, screensharing and other tools. Participants can be invited to “listed” or “public” webinar, but the tracking option allows to follow participants during the webinar. Search for more on the website.
GoToWebinar
Similar to GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar offers to interact with partners, customers and other stakeholders via video-conferencing and screen sharing application. GoToWebinar are specifically developed for webinar organisers and participants, offering full service attendee registration, HD Video recording, Polls and Surveys, Handouts, Q&A, reporting and analytics, archive of recordings, automated emails, custom branding, channel pages and many more. This basic set of features cost only 89$ per year and can host up to 100 participants, however more advanced plans offer webinars for 500 and 2000 participants with video sharing option during the webinar, pre-recorded webinars and more options. More to explore on the website.
More webinar tools like WebinarJam, Everwebinar, Zoom, Getresponse and others can be explored on “The Best Webinar Software For Every Business: Top 12 Webinars”.
P.S. If you use the software, that does not include recording options, you can also download and run screen recording softwares on your computer separately. There are some free video recorders and screen captures like Ekiga, Open Meetings, Mikogo, as well as more professional paid tools described here.
Digital filesharing tools for collaboration
If you have ever searched for an effective way of publishing your files for closed group of colleagues or friends, you may probably discover some filesharing tools, which meet your needs. But have you ever thought about regular use of some file storing and sharing systems in your work?
Basic filesharing tools are an online cloud-based file syncing and sharing services that support collaborative work by storing commonly used files and providing an access to them from any place and device. All you need for work with them is necessary internet and software support, as well as account in filesharing programme. The files can be used by several people at the time and keep team members updated. It really helps people working from distant places, saving their time on information gathering and memory space of their devices. Moreover, keeping files in computer or smart-phone is not that reliable, because they may be lost if something happens with device. Different online filesharing tools have different capacity of memory space and additional features that help to share, modify, discuss and improve work process of the team. There are free of charge tools, paid upgraded versions of free tools, as well as paid ones. Considering, for instance social entrepreneurs or young start-ups, free ones are worth to mention. They can be used both – for business and private purposes.
Dropbox is not only the storage to back up all files, but also a central hub for content every team member can use. Even unregistered persons can be invited to upload relevant files into Dropbox storage. Important documents and files can be accessed through different kinds of devices, supported by internet. This filesharing tool provides advanced security settings. While the free version is useful for individuals, the business plans provide more space and support more sharing. Check for more about Dropbox here.
Box, as one of the most recognized cloud content management and file sharing service provider, offers file storing, sharing and document collaboration options for teams, so the work can be effectively managed remotedly. Also, file editing can be done directly within the program without downloading and uploading it again. The software delivers different types of services – for Enterprise, Business and Personal and those can be used with any of the operating system on the computer, phone or tablet from anywhere. Check for more about Box here.
One of the most used collaboration tool is also previously described Google Drive system that stores and shares files and information within the teams around the globe.The advantage of Google Drive is not only the storage feature, but also its compatibility with most popular Microsoft softwares, that allows to co-create, edit and comment on stored Word, Excel, Power Point and other files online. Google Drive makes every team member updated about changes in documents, as folders and files can be reached from any device any time. Sharing options can be public or private, giving access to specific people by sending them an email invitation. Google Drive is only a small part of what Google softwares offer, so click here for more.
These are the free of charge tools specifically meant for storing and sharing files, which are regularily used by Social Entrepreneuship Support Network in the Baltic States members. Hovewer, there are much more useful tools to try, as multifunctional project management tools also offer file storage, editing and sharing features. Check our E-Collaboration-tools section to read more about functionality and advantages of project management tools, communication support tools and many more.
Freedcamp, Trello and Google Drive for productivity and effective collaboration
Technological development of 21st century is based on the needs, including those of communication and interaction. People innovate to create helpful tools and these tools, in fact, support new processes of innovation. The innovation is what moves people towards digital collaboration, and innovations is what is created in collaborative way, making lives easier.
This may not refer only to large companies focusing on technology, where the need to synchronize processes of several big departments and deliver product on time exists. All companies need that! Besides, no company nowadays is managed without digital technology. Collaboration improvements makes lives easier in any company or project, if only it is people oriented –caring not solely about customers, but also valuing the employees. The combination of processes, people and technology is the point where the need for effective collaboration tool appears.
On the one side modern digital collaboration tools differ a lot, and it may not be that easy to get used to them to some point. However, free of charge or advanced paid tools – they all have advantages. With different functionalities, these tools can:
• Save time and money,
• Increase quality and frequency of interactions and collaborative work,
• Support innovation and decisionmaking process,
• Ease access to experts and help in interacting with them,
• Improve engagement and inspire,
• Speed up the processes and ensure optimization,
• Enhance teams’ and projects’ performance and competitiveness,
• Bring creativity and variety in information delivery and exchange processes etc.
Digital collaboration tools have become necessity. If we analyse simple emailing as collaborative tool, we can state that nowadays (which is necessity of necessities) it is not functional enough, speaking about multitasking and work in teams . We can never be sure about proper process, when more than 5 people work on the same document. However, if we change from simple emailing to the solution, which allows status change, notifications, clouds with documents, shared screens and documents, commenting, video conferencing, discussions and many more, we can track the process without sending hundreds of emails to all team members.
There are different kinds of tools available for different purposes. Some are meant for the same time usage at the same places (e.g. video conferencing, shared screens), some are appropriate for use on the same station, but different time (e.g. accessible softwares/databases for shift workers, Kanban-type management platforms) and some are meant constant distant workers, that work on different projects, at different timings and places. The information shared between partners can be easily accessed from any device and any time, allowing to follow own working style. It gives kind of freedom for employee, as long the deadlines are not behind already. For this purpose all kind of project management tools are implementing calendars, task settings with set deadlines and notification systems. It helps to organize work of those, who are in constant run and stress about forgetting something. Now sticker notes are not that easy to lose (or ignore), because they will remind about themselves getting in your e-mail as notifications (and yes, email is still in use even with modern project management software).
There are plenty, plenty of digital collaboration tools that can be found just by typing into Google “digital collaboration”, including solely chatting apps, video conferencing tools, mobile app prototyping tools or complex project management tools with different functions at one place. The most popular and free of charge options for project collaboration are described below, allowing reader to evaluate the needs and opportunities, created by modern technology era professionals. Let’s see if Freedcamp, Trello or Google Drive can meet your needs!
Freedcamp is a web-based collaboration and project management tool, which helps to organize and collaborate effectively without charges. It is a platform for unlimited number of users and projects, which provides with tools of task setting, scheduling, discussion, time tracking and many more. Notifications on project tasks, discussions and shared files come straight to the email, reminding about projects and keeping updated.
This project management and collaboration software can be used by individuals or multitasking project managers in order to stay in control of their projects, resources, budget, setting and receiving notifications on “to do” tasks. Team members can participate in projects as active editors, as well as “read-only” guests. All projects can be organized into separate sections and relevant people can be added to set tasks, provide information on task accomplishment or simply monitor progress. Every task can be divided into subtasks, for example, by setting individual tasks for team members inside one main task.
Freedcamp has user-friendly design that is one of the most significant characteristics for project managers. If employees or partners simply cannot understand processes, one can just risk on task accomplishment. Set tasks and events can also be seen in a Calendar, which can be synchronized with Google Calendar. Views can be also switched from daily, weekly and monthly. File sharing works just as in other cloud applications, where all members can download them any time from any device.
There is also paid version of Freedcamp available for reasonable price, including more advanced features, like Project Templates, Wikis, Invoice management, and issue tracking .
Whole Youtube channel has been created to introduce interface and features of Freedcamp, so check it here.
Trello is extremely popular project management tool that allows to quickly build Kanban boards so the project implementation can be visualized, breaking it down into task cards, standing for different project implementation areas, stages or participants. The work is easy to structure within categories, separating into more concrete tasks, which contain text messages, file sharing and commenting options, activity log, appointed responsibles, uploaded pictures, and even visual settings can be customized according to the preferences of user. Each user can manage own projects and add new people to them.
Trello is a collaboration tool that uses boards (representing projects) and cards (representing tasks within projects). Trello outstands with its design, using Kanban concept to make projects and tasks more visual, allowing also to personalize individual workspace. Reasonably priced and well-integrated, it is one of the most attractive project management and collaboration systems on the market. It is easy to use, have drag and drop function, allows in-line editing, as well as to assign categories.
Trello allows users to discuss the project and separate tasks in a real time, organizing all discussions and file sharing according to related topics or tasks. It is possible to add labels, checklists and due dates to the cards. Comments section allows even to mention a member of the team to make sure he/she gets informed. It keeps everybody informed through task assignments, activity log and email notifications. Voting option has also been foreseen, if the team needs to make a decision on something. It also offers integrated Calendar features, search, labeling and filter options.
Software uses advanced notification system, which allows receiving important updates inside the app, via email or mobille push, which are synced across all used devices. Creation of cards, file adding and commenting is also possible through email without opening Trello. It offers customized apps for iPad/iPhone, Android phones, watches, tablets, Kindle Fire tablets and work at any screen size. It uses SSL/HTTPS encription technology used by banks to keep all data secure.
It can be used for free, but even more attractive features, like extra stickers, larger attachments uploads or board backgrounds, can be implemented for extra fee.
To overview all advantages of Trello, use its Youtube channel.
Probably the most popular collaboration tool in the world is Google Drive system that stores and shares files and information within the teams around the globe. It incorporates online office apps, which are comparable with Microsoft Office, making Google Drive an easy to use tool for everybody. Google Docs (the word processor), Google Sheets (the spreadsheet app) and Google Slides (the presentation app) can import and export Microsoft Office files and work with colleagues in real time. Commenting and review of changes is also possible. Google offers storage of many file formats and even opportunity to create and share questionnaires (Google Forms) completely for free.
All projects can simply be divided into separate folders just like on own computer and additionally adding people as viewers and editors is possible to make work faster and more collaborative. Opposite to sending the same file to several persons by email and receiving feedbacks about it, Google Drive makes every team member updated about changes in documents, as folders and files can be reached from any device any time. Sharing options can be public or private, giving access to specific people by sending them an email invitation.
Google Drive is also extremely convenient as it can be installed and shared using simple actions, available for all operating systems.
A plenty of tutorial videos have been created to explain functionality of Google Drive, so you can start checking them here.
If Google Drive is not enough for project management, there is also G Suite available for monthly fee, so not only document storing and sharing functions can draw the success of team collaboration, but also calendar, chat, video calls, data security system, email (Gmail) and many more.
Collaboration tools are no more perceived as „nice to have”, but rather as essential tools for effective project management and time saving. They ensure effective collaboration between more than 2 persons, just like in social media and informal group chats. By becoming less formal, communication between team members thanks to digital collaboration tools becomes faster, trust level between them and engagement increases and overall atmosphere inside the project improves.
Isn’t it what makes us love out job more?
Dapulse – a different project management tool
In general, project management software has struggled to be beautiful and useable. Most end up looking like arcane spreadsheets, understood only by high tech manager mages. But the unfortunately named Dapulse (starting at $29 per month for five users) adds a breath of fresh, high-design air to the world of business. It’s simple and colorful, and lets you easily organize your work. But for the same price, or less, you can get far more powerful—if uglier and more complicated—tools for managing your work. Check the case studies of companies, like WIX.com using Dapulse.
Many project management services offer licenses on a per-user per-month model, but Dapulse charges for groups of five licenses. This makes comparing prices across services tricky. Thankfully, Dapulse also offers a 30-day free trial of the service, and won’t ask you for a credit card. Note also that you can save 18 percent if you opt for yearly billing, or 32 percent if you pay for two years at a time.
Dapulse Plus costs $48 per month for five users, and gives you access to private boards, sharable boards (which are visible to users outside your company), priority customer support, and 50GB of storage among other features.
The Pro level account will cost you $72 per month for five users. This tier adds single sign-on using Google, and the ability to restrict access to certain boards. This tier also offers 24-hour customer support, though this feature is apparently not yet fully operational. Dapulse also lists a top-level Enterprise package for $144 a month for five users, but that tier is not yet available. That’s not too unusual in this space; PureCloud Collaborate is also rolling out new features and pricing options.
Like Basecamp, Dapulse does not offer an entirely free option. You can look to several other services like Zoho Projects, AsanaFree at Asana, or LeanKit for a limited but permanently free experience.
Features and Interface
Dapulse is beautiful. I’ve tried to think of other ways to describe its highly responsive interface, which uses pops of bold color against ample white space, but I have completely failed. Everything on the screen responds to a click or mouseover, and the system is among the quickest I’ve encountered. Flourishes like little crowns to denote the owner of a task are as cute as they are useful. If your single criterion for a project manager is beauty, then look no further than Dapulse.
The top of Dapulse houses your search, which covers entries and people, along with shortcuts to alerts and a directory of other users. The right rail has spots for your main boards, private boards, shared boards, and items you want to track.
Dapulse is built around rows of items, which are called Pulses. Each Pulse can represent anything, but usually an item of responsibility like a project or a specific task. Pulses are stacked into different, customizable sections on each board. So you might have a stack of Pulses for tasks to accomplish this week, and another for next week’s tasks. If you don’t complete a Pulse right away, you can click and drag it to the next stack. Easy.
You add context to each Pulse by adding columns to the stack. Columns can show status, who’s responsible for a Pulse, a date, or text. For example, you can add a column to show who is in charge of a Pulse representing a task for the week. You can add another column to show the exact due date. You can then add several status columns to show the different stages that the Pulse will have to pass through.
Status columns are the most important part of Dapulse. As a Pulse progresses, you select a different block of color and text to reflect the, well, status. Green is default for complete, but you can select any color to represent a particular issue, and enter custom text as well. You can also click the corner of each status box to open a threaded conversation, providing even more context about a particular stage.
Clicking on a Pulse opens a new page where collaborators can share information about that pulse. There are spaces at the top to upload files, host question and answer sessions, and leave notes. Below is a Facebook-esque update feed, recording activity and comments on a pulse. Throughout the Pulse, you can use Twitter-style @ replies to highlight a particular user, pulse, or board. Neat.
But for all Dapulse’s glitz (and there is a lot) and focus on simplicity (there’s a lot of that, too), I felt that there simply weren’t enough features. For example, you can subscribe to boards or pulses, and you can assign responsibility for a pulse, but there’s no easy place to see what each individual is responsible for. You can search for this information or see a disorganized list of links on each user’s profile, but that’s it. ProWorkflow is a far more complex (and uglier) service, but it offers both high-level project management and easy task management so everyone can see what they have to do and how it fits into the larger picture.
Dapulse also frustrated me because there wasn’t a good way to link day-to-day work with high-level projects. Let’s say you have a board for your company’s monthly goals. And then you create another board for your team that breaks down how they’ll accomplish one of those goals. Though you can add text indicating that individual tasks are part of a larger project, there’s no direct link between the two.
Asana is more focused on task management that makes clear connections between tasks, sub-tasks, projects, teams, and individuals. LeanKit uses kanban, a system for project management that displays tasks as cards moving across a board, and does a great job of linking individual tasks to larger projects. You can open up a LeanKit card to see an internal board of sub-task cards, or tie a card directly to another card on a different board. Dapulse can’t do any of this.
On the extreme other end from Dapulse is Smartsheet, which is about as beautiful as a spreadsheet. In fact, it is an enormously powerful spreadsheet, capable of linking between tasks and even performing the arithmetic common on spreadsheet software. It’s ugly and intimidating, compared to Dapulse, but it’s also endlessly powerful.
Basecamp – a daddy of project management solutions
The daddy of project management, Basecamp was created when 37Signals couldn’t find a project management app that wasn’t insanely complicated, and so decided to build its own. It worked so well that clients wanted to use it, too, and things grew from there.
Featuring a whole suite of collaborative tools including to-do lists, wiki-style documents, file sharing and messaging, it packs just about everything you need to keep any project running smoothly. You can use it via the web or with iOS and Android apps, and if you want to get a feel for it you can sign up for a 60-day free trial.
A Basecamp is a private, secure space online where people working together can organize and discuss everything they need to get a project done. See it, track it, discuss it, act on it. Tasks, discussions, deadlines, and files – everything’s predictably organized in Basecamp.
Every time a new project or initiative comes up, spin up a new Basecamp in your account, name it (“Q3 Marketing Pitches”), invite the people involved, and keep everything related to that project neatly organized inside that Basecamp.
Now everyone knows where everything is, they know what they need to do, and nothing slips through the cracks. Basecamp even works over email – people who prefer email can simply reply to discussions via any email app without ever having to log into Basecamp.
Creators of the Basecamp: We’ve been studying highly productive groups for 16 years. We’ve discovered there are six core things every group needs to do their best work together.Basecamp 3 is the only product specifically designed around this bundle of six tools and methods. And they are…
- Message boards and comment threads. Basecamp’s threads keep discussions on-topic and in-context so the whole story stays together in a way that’s easy to follow and reference for the record later. You can comment directly on anything in Basecamp. Comments are designed in a way that people can respond over time as their busy schedules permit.
- Real-time chat/pings. Basecamp’s real-time Campfire chats and Pings let you hash something out quickly, show work and get fast feedback, or just ask a question out loud when you don’t know who to ask.
- Automatic check-ins. Basecamp’s automatic check-ins surface what’s on people’s minds, what they’ve been working on, and what they plan on doing next. And it happens automatically on a recurring daily/weekly schedule so you don’t have to personally nag anyone for answers.
- To-do lists. Basecamp’s to-do lists let you organize and divvy up work to be done. To-do lists let you break down big chunks of work into easily digestable small lists that are simpler to attack, track, and complete.
- Docs & file storage. Basecamp’s docs & files section lets you visually organize PDFs, Google Docs, images, or other files into folders so everyone on your team can find what they need on their own without having to ask anyone.
- A centralized schedule. Basecamp’s schedule keeps track of all major milestones, deadlines, upcoming events, and to-dos with due dates. Dates are clearly posted so everyone can find out what’s due when. You can add Basecamp’s schedule to your Google, iCal, or Outlook calendar.
Hungry for more? See the full feature list.
Yammer is a social network for business
A social network for business, Yammer provides a platform for you to communicate and collaborate privately with your colleagues. Employees sign in with a company email address and can use the platform via web, desktop or mobile to chat openly or privately, and share documents; you can even like somebody’s status if you so wish! With over 7 million users, it’s the most widely used enterprise network tool and, now owned by Microsoft, can be integrated with SharePoint.
Whether invited by a coworker, heeded a friend’s recommendation, or serendipitously discovered Yammer on your own — you’re here! Now what?
Yammer is about connections – connections between people, teams, offices, information and ideas. Just by logging in and sharing “what are you working on” you’re growing your company’s Yammer network and building a knowledge base of information that will benefit your coworkers. Yammer is as useful as you make it, and it’s up to everyone in your company to do this — including you! Yammer is like a bank — the more you contribute and deposit, the more you can withdraw.
Before you hop into your growing Yammer network to start connecting with other users, we want to make sure you’re set up for success. Getting started with Yammer is easy, just check out these simple steps:
Let’s start with the basics:
Complete your profile: A completed Yammer profile lets your colleagues know who you are, what your expertise is, explains your role in the company, and how they can contact you. Don’t forget a profile picture!
Introduce yourself: Once you complete your profile, it’s a good idea to introduce yourself to your coworkers. Make it easy for others to discover you and to want to connect with you. Need an example? Here is my introduction on my first day at Yammer:
Join groups, follow topics: Groups and topics ensure that the right information is delivered to you in real time. Join groups relevant to your job – department, projects, teams — as well as groups relevant to your life – interests, activities, location, etc. Make sure to set your notifications properly to deliver messages to you with the right priority. Topics are a great way to organize information and posts on Yammer. You can follow a topic to ensure that all conversations tagged with that topic are delivered to your feed. (See more on adding topics below):
Adjust your notifications: Yammer notifies you of each interaction you are a part of on your Yammer network via an email, SMS or IM. If you are wildly popular on Yammer (you Yammer superstar!) you may end up getting notifications, so take charge and tweak them to deliver maximum utility. You can set up your global notifications for an entire network (such as for each public @ mention, direct message, etc), as well as for each group you are a member of.
To change your notifications click your name in the upper right corner of Yammer. In the drop down menu, select “Edit Account”. From there, select “Notifications”, and follow the dialog to determine for what Yammer activities and groups you want to receive notifications.
Follow your coworkers and team: Follow members of your team and coworkers to get their updates delivered right to your feed in real time. To follow a user, go to their profile and click “follow.” There may be some members whom you will want to follow; however, we advise to rely on groups instead of individuals for delivery of topical content. People change jobs and positions, and depending on any one person for discovery of business-critical content may be risky. That being said, you should probably go ahead and follow your boss… And your boss’s boss…
You’ve followed the right content, changed your settings and updated your information. Now, let’s get to the good part -what you can do with Yammer. Using a new tool like Yammer may be daunting at first, but you will soon realize that there is no wrong way to use Yammer — it’s up to your business and your team to determine what you want out of it and how you will get there. That being said, here are the top 10 things that everyone should do:
The good stuff:
- Post a message: — a question, an update on your current project, an interesting article that others will benefit from. Don’t be afraid to share content from anywhere. If you see an interesting article on your company or a competitor – you can bet your colleagues will want to know. Post to a group if the content is specific; post to the wider network if you want others to serendipitously discover it. You can also @mention (public mention) colleagues to draw them into the conversation.
- Read what your colleagues post: Skimming your feed will give you a pulse of what’s happening in your organization. It will help you discover what your teammates are working on, as well as serendipitously discover what’s happening across the organization — for some of that cross-functional magic.
- Like something: If you like a message on Yammer, let your coworkers know! If you “like” a message, the colleague who posted it will get a notification — it’s a great way to let someone know you agree or acknowledge receipt of the message.
- Reply to messages: Take a step beyond a ‘like’ and share your thoughts on your colleague’s post. This helps individual thoughts become conversations, connects individuals and content and answers questions. Besides, interacting with a new joiner’s first post has been linked to engagement and consequent logins — especially when it comes from executives.
- View profiles: Get to know your coworkers by viewing their profiles and maybe you’ll learn something new about them. If everyone fills out a profile, it helps people connect. Fill out yours, check out others to start connecting with people throughout your organization.
- Create a group: Start a public or private group for your team, department, a project or a common interest. Don’t be afraid to get creative to rally coworkers behind a cause and stimulate discussions. Are you working on a project? Start a group — it’s all about ad-hoc collaboration! Are you part of a team? Start a group – structured collaboration is great too. Have interests outside of work or want to explore your city (or the world) together? You know what to do!
- Use topics: Topics can be used to track messages around a certain topic (go figure!) If a colleague is following a certain topic, but isn’t necessarily following you, adding a relevant topic allows for others to discover your post. To add a topic to a post, click “add topic” while composing the message or simply use a hashtag. You can also add topics to a published message by clicking “more”.
- Send a private message: Some messages are best kept private Collaborate privately with one or more colleagues using Yammer private messages.
- Search for information: Find what you’re looking for using search. Scan results for people, previous conversations, pages and files. Before you post your question on Yammer or dive into a new project- do a search! The information you need may be on Yammer.
- Install the desktop and mobile apps: Access Yammer right from your desktop all in real-time. Download the mobile and desktop apps to stay connected wherever you are.
By now, you should have (at least) ten items on your Yammer to-do list, but of course, there are always more to add. What tips would you add to help a new user getting started with Yammer?
Based on https://blogs.office.com/2012/02/09/getting-started-with-yammer-the-basics-and-beyond/
Trello is handy PM and collaboration tool
Trello is an awesome project management tool that makes collaboration easy and, dare I say, even fun. But this visual list tool can do so much more, whether you’re organizing work projects, family chores, travel plans, or just about anything else. Here are some ways to put Trello to use for managing your entire life.
A Trello board is basically a web page containing lists laid out horizontally on the page so you can get a bird’s eye view of your project. Items within the lists, called cards, can be dragged and dropped onto other lists or reordered within lists.
You can probably see how this comes in handy. Trello cards are like sticky notes you arrange on a cork board—that is, digital sticky notes that are searchable, shareable, and come with reminders. You can also create cards via email.
Trello works for me because I tend to think very visually, and images and colored labels register with my brain better than plain text. While I’m a big fan of Evernote for managing tons of information, in the past I found myself turning back to individual lists scrawled on paper and even index cards spread out everywhere to get that top-level overview of my days. Trello was a big upgrade; it’s one of those few apps that actually balances both a simple, elegant user interface and powerful, flexible features.
Based on http://lifehacker.com/how-to-use-trello-to-organize-your-entire-life-1683821040
Edcast
EdCast is an integrated personalized learning and live stream channel where one can get knowledge content from various thought-leaders, innovators and alike. One of its strengths is that the channel can easily be integrated into both twitter and Facebook by sharing or inviting people in your social network to join your “streams”. In addition, as Meerkat, you can set up and schedule webinars in advance and like Blab the video will be recorded.
Try it out: https://www.edcast.com/
Meerkat
Meerkat is a live streaming tool, a bit like Blab and Periscope, but focusing on groups. What also stands out in relation to the other two channels above is that Meerkat lets you schedule a livestream 24 hours before it begins. That means you will get a link that you can promote across and in your social channels with subscription possibilities. You can even share your stream to Facebook when it’s live, which isn’t possible with Periscope which is more functional with twitter. Unfortunately, once you have streamed, it will be deleted.
Try it out: https://meerkatapp.co/
Periscope
Periscope is a live streaming tool that is owned by Twitter and one can thereby access lots of information about other people on twitter who you follow and also you can invite into the video streams. The channel also has a function letting your Twitter followers know that you’re live streaming. Unlike Blab and the media channel Meerkat, presented below, you can also create private streams for a few selected followers to watch.
Try it out: https://www.periscope.tv/
Blab
Blab is a live steaming tool that enables you to join up to four-person video conversations. As a participant in a “Blab” you can request to join any chat that’s going on and switch place with one of the four participants taking part in the chat, if the moderator allows. As a moderator and organizer of the “Blab-event” you have the ability to mute any or all of the four video chatters. So for example if three people are interviewing someone, you can choose to mute the three interviewers and just listen to the answers from the interview subject. All Blabs can be recorded to watch later, which is one of its big strengths.
Try it out: https://blab.im/
Is Slack the best team collaboration tool? part 2
Couple days ago we published the first part of the post on Slack by Jame Carbary from Huffington Post. Is it really the best team collaboration software out there? Here is the continuation of the overview:
In addition to a channel for each major project (topic, department, etc), here are a few standard channels every team should use:
Resources. This serves as a repository for links, documents, photos, books, tools or whatever content can serve as a resource for helping your team get the work done well.
Random. If anyone on your team likes Dilbert, cat gifs, The Daily Show, or baby memes, this is the place to drop that stuff. A little humor goes a long way.
Brainstorm. Teams are rich with ideas. Provide an easy place to pitch ideas and ask for feedback. They won’t all be gems, but you’ll never find a diamond if you don’t start digging.
HighLow. Remember your team is made up of human beings, not machines. This channel gives people the chance to be vulnerable and highlight a weekly/daily win as well as share a struggle. We all need hugs and high fives.
Water Cooler. We can’t upload or download cold beverages just yet, but casual conversation and shooting the breeze improves team cohesion and can lead to new ideas. Give your team a place where everyone can relax and chat about weekend plans or favorite bands.
Questions. A team is a collective genius, but each individual is not an Einstein or Edison. No one knows everything and there are plenty of questions. Provide a safe place to ask questions without feeling dumb and praise people for taking the initiative to find answers and help each other.
These six channels create a solid foundation to start using Slack like a pro right out of the gate.
The remaining communication options are pretty self-explanatory.
Direct messages. Communication between two team members that only they can see. Kind of like an email or instant message with no cc or bcc option.
Private group. Think of this is an exclusive channel. It functions the same, but the content is only visible to those included by the admin. Warning: use this sparingly. The goal is open, effective communication.
Building Your Toolbox
Slack has a ton of features to facilitate communication, information sharing, and project management.
#hashtag. Just like Twitter, use hashtags within comments to tag a channel or specific topic. This helps organize search results and allows users to find relevant details easily. This comes in handy if a particular item has implications for multiple channels. Instead of posting the same content in 4 different places, just add the desired hashtag.
@mention. Most social media platforms allow you to @mention (or tag) someone in a post or photo. Within a Slack channel you can @mention a specific team member (@individual), the entire channel (@channel), or the whole team associated with a particular Slack account (@everyone). Using the @mention feature will specifically ping the applicable user via their personal notification settings (via email, mobile, or desktop).
star. much like a “favorite” on Twitter (“like” on Facebook, “+1” on Google+), Slack allows you to “star” comments. This can simply be a method of showing support or agreement with a comment or you can use it to mark something for reference later. Just like hashtags, stars are integrated with the search function.
upload. If you can attach it to an email, you can upload it to Slack. Graphics, images, spreadsheets, documents, etc. With dozens of app integrations you can even link Slack to your Google Drive or Dropbox folders for easy sharing and file management.
links. Whether sharing a resource, requesting feedback, or looking at a preview of a new website, you can post a link and Slack will load a preview (just like Facebook).
search. Data is only useful if you can find it. The same goes for communication. Looking for a file? Trying to remember what Bob said about that one proposal? Pop some simple terms in the native search bar at the top and the answers are at your fingertips.
archive. All projects eventually come to an end. Slack enables users to archive channels and private groups. This allows teams to keep communication clear of clutter while still having the content available for later reference.
cloud. Ever spilled coffee on your laptop? How about dropped your iPhone in the toilet? Or lost your iPad at the airport? No worries. Everything in Slack sits safely and securely in the cloud. You can access it from any platform or web browser.
Conclusion
Too often organizations young and old resign themselves to archaic communication tools and face the daily frustration with agony.
You don’t have time for that nonsense. Join Slack (for FREE) and discover the most dynamic, powerful, and user-friendly communication tool ever designed.
Did you use Slack already? Did you like it? What is your opinion and advice to new users? Thanks!
Is Slack the best team collaboration tool? part 1
Jame Carbary recently posted a nice overview of Slack on Huffington Post. Is it really the best team collaboration software out there? In Jame’s opinion, the foundation of every relationship is built on trust and communication. Communicating well builds trust. Trust opens the doors of communication.
But how can you emphasize trust and communication in your organization? What tools support a culture of transparency and results?
A New Definition for Team Communication
If you’re wondering what Slack is, the company website says it best:
Slack is a platform for team communication: everything in one place, instantly searchable, available wherever you go.
Put another way: Slack is the best of every communication medium combined in a beautiful design and intuitive interface that works across every major platform.
Because of the familiar features (hashtags, @mentions, emojis, links, favorites, etc) new users instantly feel at home and ramp up quickly.
Slack combines the core benefits of email, the reactive speed of text messaging, the accessibility of social networks, and the responsiveness of mobile to deliver a solution that looks simple on the surface while packing a powerful punch under the hood.
You get to make your individual Slack setup as complicated or clean as you want.
Essential Fundamentals
Communication within Slack is organized into 3 main categories:
Channels
Direct messages
Private Groups
Channels are the primary streams of communication.
Think of them as topics or projects. Channels are open to anyone within the Slack group to join or review. This provides open dialogue, enables cross functional communication, and helps a team identify where multiple bodies of work may intersect.
For teams of any size it’s important to manage the volume and scope of the channels.
A channel can get too crowded with overlapping dialogue. On the flip side, if a new channel is created for everything, it’s difficult to keep track of the right conversation. Not to mention your notifications will go haywire.
Top Collaboration Software products and how to choose them
What Exactly is Online Collaboration Software?
Collaboration software can take many forms, from simple instant messaging, to conferencing and telephony, to video conferencing. Some applications may focus on a specific element while others try to incorporate more than one capability.
Wikipedia defines Collaboration Software as: “An application software designed to help people involved in a common task to achieve goals.” And for benefits, it goes on to say: “A collaborative working environment supports people in both their individual and cooperative work thus evolving into a new class of professionals, e-professionals, who can work together irrespective of their geographical location.”
There are many tools that might fall in this category, but for the purposes of this article, we define Online Collaboration Software as a software application, platform or tool that is delivered as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), or cloud, and contains a number of capabilities within one platform, either built directly in, or integrated with other applications.
Choosing the Right Tool for You
Online collaboration software isn’t just for companies who have people working in different locations; it’s also a valuable tool for any business that wants to be more efficient and effective. But with so many choices, how do you choose the right collaboration tool for your organization?
To make it easier for you, we’ve created this list of five essential areas to evaluate when researching online collaboration tools. We hope it helps you narrow down your selection and choose the best option for your company or your team.
Business software database Capterra has aggregated data on most popular collaboration software that you can use on their website: http://www.capterra.com/collaboration-software/.
7 free collaborative tools you can use
Nowadays, more and more teams/companies are forced to work together remotely. But switching from a regular day-to-day work-flow to a complex and expensive project management software is very difficult to do.
Have you ever struggled to successfully collaborate online with your clients or suppliers?
Which Collaboration Tools Should You Use?
During the last 3+ years we have successfully managed to work on several projects using only free online collaboration software (we switched to some paid plans though over time). Some of these tools might be already familiar to you. But still, we want to share them with you.
1. Dropbox
Dropbox is probably one tool that we use most for collaboration. With this little software, we are able to have access to all our documents, files, articles and everything else.
As we are all tech junkies, we own quite a few pieces of technology, including multiple laptops, tablets and smartphones. And we can access our files from each gadget we own. Dropbox is compatible with all popular computer- and mobile platforms. There are native apps built for Windows, Mac, Ubuntu, Android, iOS and Blackberry. Also, you can access your Dropbox from the internet browser. Check out the Dropbox system requirements.
If you aren’t using Dropbox for teamwork, you should definitely consider doing it immediately. This tool allows you to create so-called “shared folders“, which will appear in every team member’s computer. Any file, which has been uploaded to those folders, can be accessed by every person with access to it.
It is as simple as creating a new folder on your computer, putting files in there and sharing a link with your friend or co-worker. Now, if this person accepts your invitation to the shared folder, all the stuff that you add to it on your end will magically appear on the other person’s computer!
Make sure to check out our post about unusual ways to use Dropbox and how to get more Dropbox space for free!
Dropbox is a must-have for everyone. Seriously.
2. Google Docs
Sometimes we need to work on one document together at the same time. With Google Docs you can do that very easily; This tool allows you to create online documents, presentations and spreadsheets. You don’t even need to have any office software installed – everything happens right in your browser or via the mobile app for iOS and Android.
Just create a document and share the link with other people. Now you can edit the document together at the same time in live-mode.
By now Google Docs is my go-to tool for all things content creation. The beauty of Google Docs is not only the fact that all your content is automatically saved and stored for remote access from any device, but it can also show you a history of changes made to a given document, it’s easily sharable and it’s absolutely free!
Of course, every document you create online can be exported and used offline.
3. Slack
FYI, I’m not getting paid for what I am about to say about this wonderful piece of software.
So yeah, we tried Slack… It is probably one of the best ways for teams to communicate with your team members. To put it simply, think of Slack as a chat client on steroids.
With this communication tool you can get all your different conversations sorted into different “channels”, you can integrate tons of services and so much more! For example, you can connect Slack with IFTTT for some awesome automated action! Here’s list of all the possible software tools you can integrate with Slack.
After switching from Skype to Hangouts, we have noticed that we are somewhat limited by our main communications channel, which is chat. We couldn’t put important conversations into places where they could be easily found for future reference, searching for past messages was a pain in the a** and the services that we use didn’t really seem to work hand in hand with tools that we’ve used before.
Need to integrate your favorite project management tool with your chat client? Getting updates on new customer support tickets? With Slack you can get all of that in-stream, so you can discuss with your team who will take over the latest bug or task. To fall in love with Slack you need to try it first. Lucky for all of us, small teams can use it for free and update when they need to. Not convinced? Check out this video:
4. Skype
Skype is my go-to tool for all things video chat. It offers the best quality among all the other free tools, doesn’t consume too much mobile data if you’re on the go, and is generally something that most people have already installed on their computers. So, if you schedule a remote video call, all you need to send over your Skype username and you’re good to go.
All internal communication within the trendblog.net team used to happen via Skype, either throughIM Messaging or video-calls. In spite of being separated by at least 1.500 miles (2.500 km) from each other it seems like we are sitting together in one room.
5. Google Hangouts
With Skype you can only video-chat with up to 10 people. And that’s the reason why we sometimes use Google Hangouts. This tool allows you to have a video-conference with up to 100 people for free.
The new Google Hangouts are great to keep all your communication in one place and synchronized. It’s still widely used as a chat client in the business world, mainly due to the fact that it integrates with Gmail for the search history and contacts import. The video quality can be bad at times, but I usually have a great experience when it comes to video conferences with Hangouts.
The quality issue was already addressed by Google in 2013, but only now the big G made an actual move to improve it. With the latest update people should see a significant increase in video conferencing quality, along with a simpler and cleaner interface for the web client.
6. Trello
Over the last few months we have tested pretty much every free team/project collaboration tool out there, including popular ones like Asana and Podio. After trying them we didn’t really feel that these tools were making our lives easier. Instead, managing our projects has become a complicated chore.
*Update: as the projects got more complex, we decided to switch over to Asana after all. More on that below.*
But there is one tool out there which is different. Trello uses a card-based system for keeping your project overview as simple as possible. You can create custom columns like “To-Do” or “In Progress” which you will use to organize individual tasks. The tasks will be then added as a small card to the column. For each card you can set a due date, write comments, assign people to it and many more.
Asana, Podio and alike are made for managers. Trello is made for people.
One especially great thing about Trello is the user experience. The interface is very simple to use. For example, you can drag every card from column to column (i.e. after completing a task) and assign people to the card by dragging their profile picture onto the card.
Also, Trello probably has the best mobile and tablet collaboration app out there. The experience is exactly what you would expect from an app, with many features taken from the system it runs on. For example, you can delete tasks on your iPad by swiping them to the left, which will reveal a red “delete” button. This looks very much like the native iOS deleting feature. All of these combined make sure that your learning curve is as smooth as possible and you won’t get a headache while using it.
Check out the video below for a demonstration of how Trello works.
7. Asana
As the projects got increasingly more complex, we decided to switch from Trello back to Asana. For me, personally, the amount of tasks and sub-tasks across 10+ different projects was difficult to keep track of with a card-based system, but that’s only my personal view.
Asana is a nifty task and project management tool, that works especially great for remote teams with a complex project setup. Right now I use Asana as my personal to-do list, because it consolidates all the tasks assigned to me personally across projects and teams, and sorts them by priority! And, as those who work on multiple projects at the same time know, one of the most difficult things is to prioritise.
The video below will demonstrate the basics of working with Asana. Don’t let the design of the user interface scare you away. It has recently been updates, and now looks much cleaner (especially on mobile).
What tools do you use to collaborate with your team?
