The pandemic conditions have forced more companies to implement remote working for some, even all of their employees. To support work from home (WFH) adaptation, tools or platforms are needed that support team coordination to be efficient and effective.
Among these many applications, one of them is Lark which claims to be an all-in-one digital collaboration platform that is easy to use, to help users easily work and coordinate, wherever they are.
Last year, the Singapore-based platform announced that their service was available for free in Southeast Asia including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
Lark also invited us to try this application. Due to time constraints and the large number of functions in Lark, some of the experiences of using this application may be missed. However, at least through testing for about two weeks, it has tried to cover the main features and uniqueness.
Meet Lark
At first glance, Lark is similar to a collaboration platform in general. But Lark defines it as "a tool to change the way people work".
Suryanto, as Lark Senior Professional Service Consultant for Indonesia, confidently says Lark is a super app for a collaboration platform that can be used for remote work needs.
"On the Lark platform, users can access Calendar, Docs, Messenger, Meetings, Cloud Storage, Email and other features in one place, no need for many applications, all in one place. This is the super app for the collaboration platform," said Suryanto in a virtual meeting introduced Lark some time ago.
Instead of having to navigate out and about between apps, Lark integrates everything into a single platform, eliminating the need to switch apps or tabs.
Lark can be used for free. The benefits that paid users get are access to unlimited storage and priority support. However, even the free version seems to be sufficient for daily needs.
In the free version of Lark, users can still have unlimited video conferencing of up to 100 participants, 200GB shared cloud storage, and 500GB email storage between the entire company.
Like most collaboration platforms, Lark can also be used on different devices. Lark is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. If you don't want to download an application, you can use it on the desktop.
Lark Messenger
When you open Lark, the first feature that will appear is Lark Messenger. Not just a chat feature, Lark provides access to various tools that are generally needed when we coordinate at work.
No wonder Lark calls it an integrated chat feature, because here, while chatting, users can do many things such as organizing meetings, checking co-workers' calendars, marking important messages, setting announcements, searching for messages, and so on.
This feature is very important to coordinate, communicate, or update jobs quickly. To note, the messenger group on Lark can accommodate up to 5 thousand people. There is also an unlimited chat history search, so you don't have to worry about messages being lost or drowned, and you don't have to bother scrolling through old chats.
Lark Messenger is also equipped with an automatic chat translation feature into more than 100 languages. In each chat, we can activate the setting to automatically translate all incoming messages into the language used. This is beneficial for users who work with foreign-speaking people, thereby removing language barriers.
There's more, when chatting with friends, there is an option to create a Secret Chat. This function is very useful for example to be used when sending one-time passwords for certain company access. There will be a timer in the message that can be set in minutes, hours, days or weeks. The message will automatically disappear after the specified time.
Lark Docs
Lark Docs has the function of editing Lark Documents directly from the chat without the need to go to a different tab. For example, if normally you can only edit documents individually and offline, in Lark we only need to create one file and then share it with the team working on the related project. Furthermore, everyone can edit documents directly and in real time from any device while still coordinating via chat or directly in the document.
When conducting an online meeting, we can also while creating a meeting agenda directly into a video call, and edit it directly using Magic Share. Documents remain in Lark chat even after the video conference ends, and are easily accessible again without switching platforms. The search function in chat can also be used to search for documents.
Lark Calendar
Lark allows users to sync their Google Calendar to Lark. Since we use Google Calendar most of the time for schedules and various jobs, having this function is very helpful. Moreover, the process of transferring schedules in Google Calendar to Lark is quite easy.
For some devices, this sync may have a slight problem with the permissions that the Calendar feature requests. But after changing a few settings, Calendar should work fine. Video conferencing can also be accessed through Calendar, we can even view meeting notes here.
In addition, the Calendar feature makes it easy for us to schedule meetings because it will automatically match the schedules of all members. Just click the calendar in the group, the schedule will immediately appear available for all members.
Lark Meetings
Conducting online meetings, virtual conferences, have become common things since the pandemic occurred. At Lark, we can hold video conferences for up to 100 participants without a time limit.
The video conferencing feature on Lark also has added value with the presence of Magic Share. With Magic Share, we can share the screen we want to display, as well as edit documents together in real time, while still doing video conferences. Again, Lark allows users to collaborate on a single document without the need to leave video conferencing and switch between applications.
Lark Mail
The presence of Lark Mail completes the way to communicate using the Lark platform. The function of Lark Mail is the same as email in general, but because it is on the Lark platform, this feature makes it easier to coordinate because users don't need to leave Lark to access email. We can also integrate our personal email, such as Gmail, into the Lark application, making it more time-saving and efficient. This feature includes 500GB of email storage capacity.
Aplikasi Pihak Ketiga
Pengguna juga bisa menambahkan tools lain untuk melancarkan alur kerja. Di Lark, kita bisa terkoneksi dengan aplikasi lain seperti Google Drive, Trello, Asana dan lain-lain.
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Tips Aman Kerja Dari Rumah Saat PPKM
Misalnya, jika kita menggunakan Google Drive untuk bekerja, kita bisa tautkan Google Drive ke Lark. Ini memudahkan kita mengedit atau menambahkan pekerjaan yang ditaruh di Google Drive. Sejauh ini, aplikasi pihak ketiga yang diintegrasikan ke Lark berjalan smooth dan tidak membebani platform tersebut.
Kesimpulan
Sesuai dengan klaimnya, super app di mana semua kebutuhan untuk bekerja ada di satu tempat (all in one), Lark memang super lengkap. Platform ini punya daya tarik unik dan akan mudah disukai orang.
Jika kalian baru pertama kali menggunakannya, jangan khawatir kebingungan, karena ada Lark Assistant yang akan memandu bagaimana menggunakan setiap fitur yang ditawarkan, termasuk tips dan triknya.
Berdasarkan pengalaman detikINET, Lark berjalan mulus, cepat, dan stabil, terutama ketika digunakan untuk video conference, bahkan ketika koneksi WiFi sedang lambat. Saat pengujian dilakukan, memang disayangkan belum banyak yang menggunakan platform ini. Padahal jika satu tim kerja saja menggunakan Lark, penggunaan platform ini akan optimal.
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Ini tentu saja jadi PR Lark bagaimana menggaet lebih banyak orang menggunakan layanannya. Selain itu, masih banyak juga fitur yang belum detikINET jelajahi sendiri.
Tapi yang jelas, Lark layak jadi platform yang direkomendasikan untuk perusahaan atau organisasi, baik yang berskala kecil maupun besar. Tak hanya meningkatkan produktivitas, Lark juga membuat kolaborasi menjadi lebih menyenangkan, dan simpel karena tidak perlu kebanyakan aplikasi.
Baca artikel detikinet, "Lark, Super App Buat WFH Makin Produktif" selengkapnya https://inet.detik.com/mobile-apps/d-5831140/lark-super-app-buat-wfh-makin-produktif.
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