Top Business Tools to Increase Your Productivity
There was a time when people used to haul lumps of coal to the furnaces to keep the steam pumping. The conveyor belts needed to keep moving, hence the reason for the constant hauling. Today, productivity remains a top priority amidst growing demands. Any halt in the assembly line means financial losses, wasted opportunity, and an unnecessary win for the competition. In a way, modern business needs just as much steam to pump up the machinery. Rather than hauling coal, today we have advanced technology to keep us productive. Now the question to ask is, ‘what tools are best suited for you and your business?’ Fortunately, the answer to that comes in many forms.
Top Business Tools to Increase Your Productivity
Top Tools on the Shed to Pump Up Steam
Knowing the arsenal of tools will help you step up your productivity chase. Oftentimes, it isn’t enough for businesses to meet their personal deadlines, but also to be at least on par with everybody else in the competitive market. Take your pick of any of the following tools and watch your productivity skyrocket like never before.
Collaboration
Nothing beats constant collaboration and communication to achieve maximum workable efficiency. And as a business that aims at attaining productivity targets, then these following tools will help get the network up and running.
- Google Drive: There is no need to personally hand-carry any printed document to the next room by the corridor. With the help of Google Drive, storing data on the cloud and sharing them with your workmates, even those who are living afar, has never been so easy. Plus, your workmate’s easy access makes collaboration possible, even without moving an inch from your seats.
- Chanty: Keep updated with each other while in the middle of any projects through simple and quick chats. Team management is easy when you got everybody on board in a single platform. Plus, retracing chat history and file transfers are easy as pie with the Chanty’s assistance.
- Skype: Spare yourself the hassle of going from one venue to another with Skype’s help. Meetings have never been more convenient, even from a distance. Collaborate in top speed and relay crucial information through a simple click.
Time Trackers
Production has never been without beating the clock. Even though the production process is not a race, keeping a strong record of specific task duration will help with the pacing. Do remember that every business person was in a rush to buy a handy mechanical watch during the industrial revolution. Make every tick worth the sweat on the cheek.
- Calendar: Although the old paper calendar can still work wonders, Calendar can even do more. With this tool, you can set schedules, appointments, and deadlines without any problem. Moreover, you can set high priority tasks to help you across with loads of other jobs to do. There is nothing like having an organized system to manage your routines for optimal productivity.
- Everhour: Tracking your employees is necessary to get updates about work progress. Plus, this app allows you to input reports through multiple time formats while having a decent accent to stored data.
- Hubstaff: Monitoring is one essential task to see that the assembly line is running smoothly. No need for floor walks when you can track your employee’s moves through this app. This app allows you to manage people like a boss through clicks. And once you integrated time to the program, contacting and connecting to clients becomes convenient.
Notes and Scribbles
Jotting down critical information is part of the daily routine, and having the necessary programs that can help you make any document in top speed is helpful. Plus, speed is nothing without accuracy; thus, create those files fast and make them right.
- Hemingway: Keep your letters in the right tone, correct grammar, and readable through this app. Spotting errors and lapses with your language construction becomes easy. Plus, with distinguishable color friendly codes, editing and revising is an easy win when the program is your extra meticulous pair of eyes.
- Quickbooks: Quickbooks is accounting made easy. Deal with the cash flow through the click of the buttons. This app is helpful when income, expenses, profits, and losses are well within your mobile device’s reach. Plus, with a reasonably decent internet connection, you can manage to sip a cup of tea while doing the finances.
- Google Docs: Documents need immediate peer reviews, and what better way to make one than by having all papers accessible through a mouse point. Google Docs is convenient when your browser also has the critical extensions to make it more efficient. However, there is no need to pass around notes on paper when all you got to do is to type and let the autosave with the network do the rest.
Project Administration
Business can never be without projects and managing these tasks take a lot of ingenious management skills. You do need to meet the deadline and produce the much-needed output; thus, having a master plan with the right tools for the job can make the workloads easier, efficient, and effective.
- Proofhub: Achieving goals needs dedication, and when everybody is on the same page, then productivity is no question. Storing data and adjusting accessibility marks helps in task delegation while creating the optimal workflow to get things done. This app is an all in one organizer where communication, collaboration, creation, and creativity happens in a single platform.
- Ora.pm: Getting things done is the mantra for this application, as this will be the most convenient hub for any project administrator desires. Chain of commands and assignment delegation becomes easy when you have an online platform. Plus, things smoothly go when everybody is on the same page.
- Asana: Ramping up the collaborative network and amplifying project management capabilities are Asana’s primary task. Working together in a project needs team cohesion, and this app smoothens rough edges. Efficiency will be a sure goal when a tool such as this continuously keep everybody in touch and on pace.
- Front: When all is under one banner, snatching a win is easy as a walk in the park. Tying the loose knots and knitting everybody in unity through a smooth message relays is what Front wants every manager to achieve. Plus, talk about email management gone easy through this program.
Grease the Gears: How to Increase Productivity
Now that you’ve encountered a list of the top tools for productivity, you’ll want additional tips to make your usage of any of them much more effective. Take a look at the said list below and see how you can better meet your productivity goals.
Check the Work Flow
Increasing productivity means knowing the production lines well. For this reason, you’ll need to do an anatomy check of the process. Know the details more by having an organizational chart so that everything is clear.
Set Goals
Try having a productivity planner to set your goals straight. Even though you want to increase productivity, but the target can be manageable if you give the specifics. Set a daily routine that can work well with your weekly goals. Make sure everything is on the dot in your business calendar.
Upgrade
Companies should not shy away from investing for tech upgrades. Remember when the steam engine first came to the industry? The mechanism managed to ramp up the production. Your latest software and hard drives have the same effect. Even marketing stepped into a new game plan through social media management strategies. As you can see, getting the latest gear is sure to provide reasonably positive effects to your operations.
Manage the Resources
Resource allocation contributes to productivity, as you know which goes where and when to use specific equipment. Although ideally, work should be round over the clock, a twenty-four-hour work rate would be ambitious, costly, and even counterproductive. Thus, knowing when to stop, what to use, and when to do so takes a keen eye for efficiency.
Handle the People
Business can never be possible without the people as its backbone. Making sure that every laborer is in good condition and working with maximum efficiency needs employee monitoring strategies. Moreover, any business person or team leader would also enhance team communication skills and network either through technology or employing tactical human resource upkeep methods.
Keep Being on Time
Part of performance management is to keep everything on schedule. Thus, plotting the deadlines and doable working duration are plans that bind every management to fulfill its duties. Keep in mind that every minute wasted has a corresponding income loss. So clean your watches and see to it that no tick count is wasted by meeting the hourly demand.
Troubleshoot
No system is perfect, but there remains a longing for the most ideal and efficient. Assessing every action towards productivity will also lead to troubleshooting possible lapses. Always find the blind spots or trade-offs in every strategy upon implementation so that you can find ways to innovate.
Take a Rest
There is nothing more counterproductive than working without decent amount of rest. Machines have breaking points, and how much more people? Take the time to step back and have a shut-eye moment. Tackling problems and doing tasks with renewed spirits is better than being half alive.
Production can never be without critical pieces, such as the workers with their tools. Neither can any business compete without the much-needed arsenal to thrive in a stiff and competitive market. Knowing your tools well will provide you with massive advantages, as each one has a respective function. Using each tool’s potential with competence is a fine way to see a growth spike to the company’s productivity.
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