By Francis Mansueto
With all the technology and innovations available at work today, it is easy to get overwhelmed and just feel lost while you’re on the job. If you find yourself staring at your screen because you don’t know what to do next, perhaps its best to get a tool that will help you boost your productivity. Most of these productivity tools are available online, and can be installed on your computer or even on your mobile devices. The key is to finding the right one that matches not only your needs, but also your budget.
Here are some of the best productivity apps available in the market today. See if it’s the right one to help you make the most out of your day in the office.
Todoist
Todoist is a task management program that will help you keep track of your projects, no matter where you are. You can access your tasks everywhere, all thanks to its reliable cloud connectivity. So, whether you’re at your desk, or you feel like staying at home and working remotely, you can still keep track of your to-dos for the day. What’s great about Todoist is that you can install and access the app almost anywhere, as it is available for 10+ platforms. You can have it on the go with your mobile device, at your desk on your work computer, or even as an extension on web browsers, and more. You can start with a free subscription, but you’ll be limited to just 80 projects and 5 people per project. For a Business subscription, you’ll need $28.99/user/year but you get 200 active projects and up to 50 participants per project.
I Done This
Now, if you’re working with a team of remote employees, you understand how hard it is to keep track of others progress. With the help of iDoneThis, you can have everybody update their status on a daily basis, all thanks to its easy and simple check-in system via email. This way, you’ll know the overall status of projects, and you can adjust accordingly to prioritize tasks, cross out accomplished goals, or re-evaluate problematic duties. At the end of the day, you can get reports for your whole group’s progress, so that you can make data-backed decisions for the projects that you’re managing. Standard subscription starts at $9/user/month for one year, and an enterprise account will set you back $35/user/month for one year.
Harvest
Harvest is probably one of the best tools available for time tracking. With this application, you can focus more time on your work, instead of worrying about your time logs on every task you’re working on. Harvest is available on your browser or as an app on your mobile device, so tracking your time is really not a problem, no matter where you are working. It has a simple, easy to use interface, so the learning curve for new users is relatively short. You’ll be able to convince your employees or coworkers to use Harvest in no time, simply because they’ll be able to understand how it works from the get go. Along with time tracking, you can also track your expenses just to be sure that you are on budget no matter how big or complicated a project is. What’s more, tracking your expenses is very easy with Harvest. Just snap a photo of your receipts and Harvest will take care of the rest. You can start with a free account, but it is limited to just one person and two projects. You can get a Solo paid account, which is just $12 dollars, but you can use it for unlimited projects.
Other options
If you have a modern communications system at work, it is possible that there’s a built-in productivity tool that you can explore. For example, RingCentral’s cloud phone system comes with a team messaging and collaboration platform called Glip. Glip may look like an ordinary corporate messaging platform, but upon further inspection, you’ll be surprised to find tools that you can use on a daily basis. It has its own calendar and task scheduler, and you can create groups and invite participants for specific projects. All you need is to explore and be familiarize with the features, so that you can make the most out of them at work.
Francis Mansueto has been writing for more than a decade now, focusing on Digital Marketing in the last couple of years. He is currently in charge of writing web-optimized content for RingCentral, an industry-leading cloud phone systems provider. Francis is also a voracious reader, spending most of his free time immersed on fictional worlds. You can reach him through Twitter.
