Communication plays an integral part in staff satisfaction, productivity and the prevention of avoidable mistakes. We recommend that you regularly keep in contact with your remote staff, as you would a local team. Fortunately, fast speed internet and modern technologies make staying in touch easy and distance obsolete.
Here are our top five recommendations:

Skype

Did you know Skype used a team of outsourced developers to help turn it into the billion-dollar business it is today? Now it is being used by companies across the globe to interview and stay in touch with their outsourcing team. Deployed uses Skype during the hiring process and we recommend it as an ongoing method of communication. Schedule weekly meetings with your team, as you would your domestic office, only these will be performed virtually. Emails and phone calls are a great means for an immediate response but virtual face to face is great for team culture.

Slack

Another company which relied on outsourcing developers to refine its product in the early stages. Slack is a great way for the whole office to stay in touch. You can create individual channels, dedicated to different projects so employees have regular updates on the work in progress. It is also a great way to share files. The team can also create personal conversations, so it’s a great way for your domestic team to learn about and stay in touch with your remote team. This breaks down all distance and communication barriers and increases team culture between teams.

Google apps

Google Drive, Calendar and Sheets are a great way of allowing employees to have clarity over others’ workload and completed tasks. They are great to stay organised and allow employees to edit tasks when completed and include suggestions.

Trello

This is more of a project management tool than a means of communication, but it is a great way for the whole team to have transparency over a project, no matter where they are in the world. All members involved can have access and move and allocate tasks as needed.

Email

Email is the most used form of business communication. Emails can also quickly build up and slow down productivity and motivation. Deployed recommends using emails as a form of work-related communication and channels like slack for casual back and forth conversation. An overload of emails and varying information will leave staff confused.

The good old-fashioned phone call

Email is a great means of communication, but a problem could be sorted out in minutes with a phone call. Remember your team will be working different business hours to your local team so agree on the hours in which you can call.
Communication does not have to be problematic over distance, but they do need to be regular and provide clarity of instruction.