3 Best Productivity Tools to Boost Workplace Productivity – The best part about the newer business models like the work-from-anywhere scheme are the tools that are being developed to maximise productivity. In fact, the common adage, “there is an app for everything” rings true because there is literally an app you can download to help you with schedules, notes, delegating tasks, and management operations. Not to mention, these online tools promote accountability, which helps cultivate a culture that allows employees to communicate clearly with each other and be responsible for themselves and their colleagues.
So if you want to take advantage of these benefits, here are a couple of online tools you can use to increase productivity and efficiency at work.
Slack
3 Best Productivity Tools to Boost Workplace Productivity – Having a chat group has become an integral part of a business. With it, you can check up on different employees and talk about their progress easily. You can even ask to have access to their cloud documents just to double check their updates. While there are a lot of chat apps available to use, Slack makes it feel more casual. You can still create chat groups there that includes only a specific number of people, but there is also a chat group called #townhall (yes, the groups have pound signs on them making it look like a hashtag) where everyone in the company is a member of.
Here, they can post company-wide announcements, and even post memes if that is the sort of thing they all enjoy. The best part is all its capabilities are available for both the desktop app and the phone app. So while you are uploading documents in a chat group from your laptop, you can chat your office management to get you a new, faster laptop (if you are looking for industry recommended high-speed laptops that buy your laptop here).
Trello
If organising tasks is a problem for some of your employees, then Trello might be the solution. It makes use of boards and cards; each board can be assigned to different departments, and under it are the task cards assigned to specific people. Whenever a card is updated, you will get a notification. All cards can be moved from one board to another. So let us say that a task from the Writing board is done and ready for quality check, you can move the card to the Quality Check board and assign a lead writer for editing.
It is such an intuitive tool to use so do not worry about getting confused. It has both desktop and mobile capabilities.
Evernote
Think of Evernote as your own digital planner, It allows you to centralise, organise, and access all files across all your devices. You can use to take notes during the meeting, or if you want, you can record the meeting so you can listen back to it later. Files you can attach and collect on Evernote include documents and clips which you can also access offline.
This is the perfect app if inspiration suddenly hits you because you can create inspiration and mood boards on Evernote. Especially if you are part of an advertising or any creative team, Evernote should be your go-to app.
Go on and test these tools for your team and see how productivity and efficiency has increased. At the same time, note how attitudes and general work ethics changes when you have tools that can help organise work as well as bring the team closer together.
Ingrid Maldine is a business writer, editor and management consultant with extensive experience writing and consulting for both start-ups and long established companies. She has ten years management and leadership experience gained at BSkyB in London and Viva Travel Guides in Quito, Ecuador, giving her a depth of insight into innovation in international business. With an MBA from the University of Hull and many years of experience running her own business consultancy, Ingrid’s background allows her to connect with a diverse range of clients, including cutting edge technology and web-based start-ups but also multinationals in need of assistance. Ingrid has played a defining role in shaping organizational strategy for a wide range of different organizations, including for-profit, NGOs and charities. Ingrid has also served on the Board of Directors for the South American Explorers Club in Quito, Ecuador.
