The Age of Remote Work Is a Continued Tailwind for This Software Company

We are nowhere near a return to "normal" when it comes to in-office work.

Concerns over the COVID-19 Delta variant have convinced many people to remain home... at least for a while longer.

According to the security firm Kastle Systems, only about 30% of corporate workers are back in the office. That's nearly double the percentage recorded early in the pandemic, but it's still well below the pre-pandemic norm of almost 100%.

Kastle Systems tracks this data using keycard swipes and fob taps. It then indexes the data for 10 of the largest cities in the U.S. – including New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. This information helps companies get a pretty clear idea of worker trends across the country.

As recently as mid-July, nearly 40% of workers had returned to the office. But that number decreased, following the CDC's updated guidance by the end of the month. Many are back home again, with cases rising and mask requirements returning in many locations, even for folks who are fully vaccinated.

This continuing public-health saga is driving consistent demand for remote-work equipment in the coming months. And that is signaling a boom for today's company...

Established by one of Facebook's (FB) founders, Asana (NYSE: ASAN) makes software that helps teams organize and coordinate their work in one connected space. The company aims to get employees out of the constant interruptions of status meetings and e-mail responses and into a yoga-like concentration while at work. Asana – the Sanskrit term for "yoga pose" – calls this "flow."

In most offices around the world, finding and maintaining this flow is impossible. The "average knowledge worker" receives around 120 e-mails per day. And most are opened within six seconds. By reducing the number of meetings and e-mails – what Asana calls "work about work" – employees can be more productive and focus on real work. That means more time and mental space to develop new ideas and get things done faster.

Asana's productivity software helps employees do just that... It allows teams to work together and plan, manage, and monitor projects more efficiently. With so many people working remotely now, this is more important than ever.

Asana's software records multiple phases of the project life cycle. It shows completed tasks and a roadmap of future work, including project goals, milestones, and tasks. The heart of the software is a proprietary data model called a "work graph." It breaks projects down into individual tasks and shows how they relate to other project duties, as well as who is responsible for them and when they are due.

Traditional project-management software is typically geared for specific departments in a company, like IT, development, or marketing. It also tends to be complex and difficult to set up and use.

Asana's software is the opposite... It's user-friendly. And any employee can set it up... You don't need IT staff or project managers. It also can be used in any department and for any project... large or small. In fact, you don't need to download any software at all. Employees use Asana over the Internet to see the list of projects and assigned tasks.

And it's a one-stop-shop for workers...

You can communicate through Asana's software via e-mail or chat. And you can post and share documents and notes through various channels. Conveniently, Asana's software works with more than 100 third-party applications, including Microsoft's Teams and Outlook... Google's Gmail, Chrome, and Calendar tools... Slack instant messaging... and Salesforce, which provides customer relationship management services and enterprise applications.

Asana only offers its software in the "cloud" on a subscription basis, making it a pure Software as a Service (SaaS) company. It's also a true "flywheel" business, which means it tends to get better as it gets bigger. Flywheel business models work best when there's little friction – anything that discourages customers from buying products or services. And Asana minimizes that in several ways...

First, Asana removes the friction that comes with acquiring new customers. It does this through what's known as a "freemium" sales model.

The company gives away a basic version of its software for free. Anyone can log into Asana's website and start using the software right away, for no charge. That gets Asana's foot in the door.

Second, the software is easy to set up. It doesn't require any technical knowledge. You can immediately create a new project on the company's website with a few clicks. You also can invite others to join projects by entering their e-mail addresses. Just about anyone can do it.

Once people start using Asana's software, it quickly becomes critical to organizing, managing, and tracking their work. As a result, customers upgrade to more robust paid versions, including its "Premium" and "Business" options. Asana already has more than 100,000 paying customers, some of which are large enterprise companies. Asana is building momentum with those clients, which ensures its continued expansion and success.

Asana's software thrives in the remote-work environments we're seeing today. In the most recent quarter, the company grew sales 61% compared with the same period a year ago.

As more and more companies adjust to this reality, they'll need tools to help their remote staff remain productive. Work-management software will be a huge part of that. The increased reliance on Asana's software will continue boosting sales and, with them, the share price.

Sometimes investing is simple.