Online Tools and Apps to Make You More Organized and More Productive
Look up. Put it down.
We all have heard the messages that our mobiles and computers are occupying more space than they should in our lives. However, another way to look at this is to recognize the amazing time saving and increased productivity apps and tools on our digital devices and desktops that give us the ability to dedicate portions of our day to non-digital time.
Here are a few favorite tools and apps that are smart, intuitive and great workhorses, whether you are kicking off a new team project, filling out forms for your new 401K program, building your career network, or making plans for Friday night with your significant other. Take a look and see which ones might help you take your productivity to the next level.
If printing, signing, scanning and faxing sounds like a four-step process you could live without, check out HelloSign. The app allows you to store a digital signature and place it on digital document files, in one step. Cost: Free-$15/mo.
Ever-expanding through acquisitions, Evernote started out as basically a way to have lots of digital lists. At its core service, Evernote presents itself in a tiled format and allows you to create and manage notes in the form of copy, images, photos, even your own handwriting. Its business offering includes 4GB of storage per user per month, more collaboration tools, tech support and business and personal delineation options for data. And the growing Evernote Market offers hip messenger bags, along with notebooks and stylus to kick your “EverNotaking” up a notch. Cost: Individual Free-$45/year, Business $10/month.
Oftentimes being organized means starting out with the right format for your work. Smartsheet offers templates for a myriad of areas, including human resources, finances, project management, IT/Operations, Sales, Marketing and Management. The templates are intuitive, flexible and scalable – a great help for independent workers as well as those who need to collaborate with others. Cost: Free trial & $14/mo-$39/mo.
Developed for small to medium-sized companies, Small Improvements is a web-based performance review system that simplifies 360-degree feedback, performance reviews, and setting goals. It aims to be simple and easy to use. Cost: Free Trial, $4/user/mo-$6/user/mo.
Got a stack of business cards with crumpled corners on your desk? Have a to do list line of ‘input business cards into contacts’? CamCard is an app that digitizes business cards for you and stores the contact information in your address book. Snap a pic of the card and the app ‘reads’ it and files the data. Voila! Cost: Free.
If, along with your work life, you have a personal life, too, you should give consideration to Cozi. A free app and website, Cozi helps you manage calendars, shopping lists, to do lists and more, and coordinate all of this with family and friends as you grant them accessibility. Cost: Free.
And finally, Organizing Your Organizing Tools
If you check out and start using more than a couple of these tools, and I highly recommend you do, don’t forget to take one or two minutes to organize your organizing tools. Whether as apps on your mobile or as links on your desktop, create a couple of folders that will help you easily locate them and file away.
Enjoy your increased productivity!
