The old saying “time is money” is more true now than ever. The business world seems to never sleep and we are constantly connected to it through social media, email, and the countless other websites we “must” look at each day. With all of these new distractions that are endlessly updating, it seems almost impossible not to multitask; and staying productive seems to become harder and harder every day. However, these are some of my favorite tools for optimizing productivity that will allow you to spend more time focused on your business.
CardMunch
The days of entering piles of business cards into our contacts are behind us! CardMunch is a mobile application that allows you to quickly scan business cards and upload them into your contact list. Linkedin produced this app so that you can connect with new contacts instantly and add them to your personal network. Instead of worrying about losing someone’s business card after a meeting or networking event, you can scan the card and always have their information with you. This tool is great for growing your network, and allows you to capitalize on new connections.
Google Alerts
Do you ever wonder how to find the most important news about your industry? Are you tired of looking through many different websites only to find one or two articles that are relevant? Google Alerts is your solution. Once set up this service sends you emails (as often as you want) with the latest news about your industry. All you have to do is select a few key words and topic areas that you care about and the rest is done for you. Google Alerts will save you from spending countless hours searching for news while keeping you up to date on the latest industry changes, and boosting your productivity.
DropBox
Have you ever arrived a meeting only to realize that the presentation you are supposed to give is saved on another computer? Or are you tired of the email chains going back and forth with your team to edit a document? Thankfully DropBoxhas developed a solution to these problems! Their cloud based tool allows individuals and businesses to share and collaborate on files from any device, while keeping them synced. DropBox eliminates many problems associated with file sharing and will boost your business’ productivity.
Rapportive
Getting client information and developing warm leads is an important task for any sales person, but it is also very time consuming. Rapportive is a Gmail add-on that provides detailed contact information about the person you are emailing. It allows you to connect with them on a number of different social media sites, and makes updated information about them available to you. With this information it is much easier to send warm personal emails that will drive better results. Additionally Rapportive can be used to find emails or confirm that the email you have for someone is correct by displaying the information associated with the address.
Any.do
To do lists have been around for years, and are a great tool for keeping track of your tasks, butAny.do made them even better. This web/mobile application allows you to manage tasks in all new ways, from any of your devices. Its priority system lets you arrange tasks in order of importance and work through your list in the most productive way possible. You can also share your lists with anyone, so team members can collaborate on tasks, and get more done.
Trello
Organizing and managing a project can be very difficult, but with the help of Trello it can be a much more enjoyable experience. This website allows teams to collaborate on tasks and assign different activities to members so that everyone can work together to make a project come to life. It is very easy to use and will greatly improve productivity, within your company, by organizing all the tasks in one location.
Evernote
Have you ever taken notes from a meeting on a sticky note or napkin only to lose them later? Evernote is a web and mobile application that allows you to take, sync, and share notes from any of your devices. It is great for both your professional and personal life because we are always receiving information from people that we want to write down. Evernote’s quick and easy to use design makes it a big time saver that can be easily implemented today.
Boomerang
If you are at all like me you have to empty out your inbox at the end of every day or else you can’t sleep at night. This isn’t always possible however because some emails are not very important so you want to respond to them on another day when you have more time.Boomerang is a Gmail add-on that solves this problem by allowing you to have emails resent to you in the future. You decide when you want to respond to the email and it removes the message from your inbox and sends it back to you at the selected time. So for example, if you receive an email about a conference that you are interested in attending, but don’t have time to make travel plans at the moment you can have it sent to you again closer to the conference. This helps you to manage your time and not waste time responding to emails that can wait to be resolved on another day.
Doodle
Scheduling a group meeting can be a nightmare and cause your inbox to fill up with tons of unnecessary emails trying to find a time that works for everyone. Doodle eliminates this problem by allowing everyone in the group to pick the times that they are available. The Doodle creator then receives an email with the times that work for everyone and can schedule the meeting in a much more efficient way.
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The post originally appeared on Spinnakr under a slightly different title.
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