Great partnerships aren’t born, they’re made. See how organizations big and small use shared channels to connect teams at different companies

Whether the flexibility of working from anywhere has always been appealing or you’re trying to figure out how to navigate a remote work schedule as a way for your team to stay healthy, remote work can seem challenging at first. The best way to succeed as a remote worker is to make sure you have all the tools and information you need to do the job well.

At Asana, we’re on a mission to help the world’s teams work together effortlessly. And to us, that means reducing work about work so teams have visibility and clarity into who’s doing what by when. The same is true even when team members are working remotely. From globally distributed organizations to teams that are thinking about remote work as a way to remain healthy, Asana can help you and your teammates stay connected, collaborate, and continue to hit your goals.

Remote work: let’s talk about it. Maybe you’re thinking about a work from home plan to keep you and your team healthy, or maybe you’re one of the 98% of employees who report wanting to work from home at least some of the time. But no matter where your team is located, you can work together effortlessly with the right tools and mutual trust.

If you’ve ever watched The Office, you might remember the episode when Dwight and Jim discover that their customers have been giving them terrible reviews. They’re in total and utter denial — “The reason that I got bad customer reviews is because I didn’t! There is a massive conspiracy going on here!” Dwight protests.

Thousands of Windows users have been asking the same question and wondering why Microsoft teams won’t uninstall. They delete Microsoft teams from their computers, but MS Teams, much like an uninvited guest launches itself back at boot. This is creepy and incredibly annoying because the app constantly pops up when a user turns their computer on. And, this brings us back to our question: why do Microsoft Teams keep installing itself?

When Birchbox, a personalized beauty subscription service, was founded in 2010, they had just a few people answering customer emails. Eight years later, they had a team of 54 support agents managing a monthly volume of nearly 38,000 tickets across multiple channels. With the efficiencies gained from implementing a robust customer support software, they actually reduced their cost per contact and achieved their fastest resolution time ever, despite the company’s rapid growth.

Slack and Mattermost need no introduction as two of the most popular workplace communication apps. Slack, which stepped into the SaaS world as a platform for gamers to communicate, reported 10 million daily active users. Mattermost, an open-source Slack competitor, recently closed a $20 million funding to create new integrations and plugins.

As a customer, hearing the answer “go read this self-service article” from a support agent can be a frustrating experience. So many companies do self-service poorly that this type of response can feel like the agent is brushing the customer aside to focus on another issue. However, a great self-service experience can change this feeling of being ignored to one of feeling satisfied and empowered.

Businesses tend to primarily associate customer acquisition with marketing and sales. They often leave customer service out of the equation because they forget that customer acquisition includes the ability to convert prospects that are already in contact with your business. Prospects often subscribe to email newsletters, follow your business on social media, or read your blog, demonstrating a level of interest and familiarity that hasn’t turned into monthly recurring revenue—yet.