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Work from home: Apps to stay in touch

How apps are helping employees stay connected amidst social distancing

ATLANTA — Virtual workouts, book clubs and town halls: you name it, it's online right now.

But how is the 9 to 5 world dealing with social distancing? 

"I think of all the video conferencing services... Zoom just gets mentioned a lot more because it's easy to use, it's straightforward, it's got a mobile app," tech entrepreneur Sanjay Parekh explained. 

"Slack is another one," he said. "It's really kind of what you consider your water cooler talk. Different channels for a topic and people can subscribe and unsubscribe and pay attention to the conversations that make sense." 

For those who need to get creative, Anna Ruth Williams of ARPR lays out a few options. 

"Businesses are having to learn how to brainstorm with a whiteboard," Williams said. "Whiteboard Fox is the simplest… it doesn't require a white board and it's free, then there are other robust tools like Mural."

RELATED: Go-to apps that will help you stay connected amid the coronavirus crisis

Mural, a digital whiteboard application, allows users to add drawings and stickies for creative brainstorming. 

But it's more than the corporate world learning to adapt with apps in the midst of social distancing guidelines. 

"We're also seeing concerts on Instagram live," Parekh said. "I think a lot of these applications are starting to be used in ways they weren't intended originally, but they work fully fine in these cases. For a lot of companies, I think it's going to open up new arenas they've never thought of before.

A heads up as you work from home: According to CNBC, about half of large companies use some type of monitoring techniques to keep tabs on their employees.

But if you're off the clock and a budding entrepreneur, Parekh recommends looking at the extra time at home as an opportunity to bring your own vision to reality.

"You're at home, You've got nowhere to go," Parekh said. "You've got a great opportunity to launch a company right now."


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