Home working is becoming an increasingly popular practice, giving people the flexibility of fitting work commitments around family life while allowing employers to create a happy and productive workforce. It can make a company an attractive place to work – and there may even be the option of doing away with the office all together.

While the government has recognised how flexible working is helping develop a more agile workforce across the UK, what has really made home working ‘work’ in recent years is the development of apps that allow companies to collaborate easily, wherever individuals are. These apps will ensure remotely based employees can get the job done and still feel part of a team.

The collaborative cloud: Cloud-based technology has been the real remote working game changer, allowing companies to create a virtual office space where people can easily share documents and conversations with fellow workers or clients.

Accessible anywhere on any internet enabled device, the cloud has quickly become an essential tool for any business that uses home-based workers, even allowing businesses to maintain their company culture.

Face time: Human interaction is always going to be vital in business and Skype and other VOiP (Voice over Internet Protocol) platforms have ensured this interaction can be maintained.

I would urge people to get into the habit of stopping to consider if a face-to-face meeting is always necessary, as often sharing screens via a platform like Skype can achieve the same result more efficiently while still being a truly interactive (but still personal) conversation.

Time management tools: Managing time is one of the challenges everyone has to learn to deal with in business. This can particularly be a problem for sole traders who can easily fall into the trap of over-servicing clients, especially when they’re just starting out and keen to impress.

There are loads of ways you can get your business moving faster

Thanks to a range of time management apps (some of which are free) this important task has become easier than ever before. Examples like Freckle and Toggle help calculate exactly how long things take; while RescueTime even tracks less useful activity, like Facebook, so you can keep check on your own productivity.

Admin apps: Nobody likes admin, but thanks to apps like Check, Fanurio and Invoice2go, bill paying, invoicing and keeping track of time can be made a bit easier. Getting paid is essential, so using these tools should be a must for any home worker.

Email essentials: Email was invented over 40 years ago, and aside from a few cosmetic changes on the front end, it really hasn’t changed much in all that time. Of course email is such as universal communication tool that most of us are tied to it, but that doesn’t mean we should allow the ping of our inbox to rule our day and stifle our productivity – we just need to learn how to use email more effectively.

Tools like the Gmail app and Boomerang enable things like notifications if someone hasn’t replied to your email within a specified amount of time and push important messages to the top of your inbox, but it is time get smarter on how we manage email conversations and address the annoyances an inefficiencies of email that we have just learned to live with.

The home working revolution is gathering pace and is transforming what the “office” of the future is going to look like.

If you have ever considered working remotely or if you already do, make sure you take time to consider your working practices – there are countless new tools that will make your everyday processes easier, more efficient and effective.