‘While unsuccessful people are busy being busy, the successful ones are busy being productive.’
Fortunately, the rise of technology has given us plenty of options to do more in less time. And, productivity is the term that we use for achieving more in less time. However, what I would like to ask from you here is ‘are you making the most of your hours at work?’ Or in even simpler terms, are you productive at work?
If no, then here are some of my favourite tech tools that can prove to be of great help –
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Restore sanity in your inbox with Sanebox
According to a recent study workers spend 61% of their office time lost in emails. No wonder their productivity goes down the drain. This is where a tool that lets you sort out emails can be of great help. Ensuring that only important communications reach your inbox, Sanebox lets you automatically filter newsletters and other lower-priority email messages into a “Read Later” folder. There is a usage fee of $55 per annum, which comes out to be less than $5 per month, a meager value looking at the amount of time it saves you.
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Drive through the work using Google drive
Considering the multi-dimensional nature of projects, it is imperative to have a common workplace where your could perform all the important activities related to your work. And, this is where Google Drive comes across as a great tool. Often touted as the stalwart of productivity, file sharing and group communication, Google Drive is the go-to tool for every professional looking to give a boost to his/her productivity. In terms of free tools that are available out there, I don’t think there is any other one with more value and versatility than Google Drive.
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Seamless communication with Hipchat
Effective communication is one of the most important aspects for successful completion of projects. However, meetings, group discussions, work memos, and all other similar forms of formal communication require quite a lot of time and effort. And, the worst part is when someone important is left out. You have to indulge the resources again to get this person up to speed. HipChat is a tool that lets you create chat rooms, send private messages and even share files pertaining to the discussions going on. All these features come at a monthly cost of $2/user/month.
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Have all the documents available on the go with Evernote
Managing your content might seem too tough to handle when there’s so many things are happening in the projects, and you are constantly on the run. However, Evernote is a tool that lets you save notes (both audio as well as text), upload attachments, set reminders, and organise photos on your desktop and portable devices. Handy, versatile, useful, and many other adjectives have been used to describe Evernote, reflecting it’s worth as a productivity tool. The basic plan is available for free, and for advanced features you can choose from their Plus ($24.99/year) or Premium ($49.99/year) plans.
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Manage all your social media accounts in one go using HootSuite
It can be a challenge to monitor social media activities on multiple platforms. However, HootSuite is one tool that has been helping people manage their social media accounts for quite some time now. The tool lets you to schedule your posts, organise twitter lists as well as followers, measure performance using social analytics and at the same time save the all important time in content discovery. Available in Free, Pro and Enterprise plan options, the tool has got plenty of features for everyone, be it a business owner, a freelancer or a webmaster.
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Track your productive hours using Rescue Time
Wasting time on something irrelevant while scrolling through websites on the internet is a common scenario with almost all of us. However, with Rescue Time you eventually get to track your least productive hours on the web by tracking down the websites and programs on which you spend maximum time. The free version lets you know about your best and worst days of the week as well as month. And, at $72/year you can enjoy their premium plan that lets you block out distracting sites and offers as well.
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Connect your apps together using IFTTT
Ever thought how efficient it would be for you to work if you could get various apps and services to connect and work together? Well, IFTTT (If This Then That) is the tool that works on just the same concept and operates across more than 60 web platforms. Create a program, referred to as recipe in the tool, and you can upload Instagram pics directly to your Google Drive, or set alerts to receive a text message for every time your name is mentioned in Campfire, or even better, send starred emails as well.
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Make the most of your CRM and intranet using BitRix24
Managing important pieces of information can be a difficult task for teams when so much is going around in projects. However, BitRix24 can serve the purpose as a central program that lets you perform activities like contact tracking, messaging, activity planning, sales funnel management, calendars and lot more in just one go. A complete suite of social collaboration, communication and management, the tool is highly popular with more than 500,000 users from all across the globe. And, the best part is that it is available free of cost for teams with less than 12 members. And, for teams bigger than that, these guys have their paid plans.
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Keep your password safe with LastPass
5-star rating from PC Magazine, recommended by Lifehacker and CNet as well, and with many other such accolades to its name, LastPass is a must have app for every professional. It lets you to not just remember passwords, but also make them more secure by auditing them. The free version has more than handful options for you, and if you are interested in getting the best that LastPass can offer, then you can go for the paid version at $12 per hour.
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Capture images and videos from your computer screen using SnagIt
With SnagIt you can capture and edit images, record videos of your screen and send them to your computer, Google drive or any other storage app easily. There are plenty of other options to edit, add effects and even highlight important stuff in the captured images and videos as well. A perfect choice for people who find it tough to use different and complicated apps for taking screenshots and recording videos, SnagIt is available in options of personal, professional, government, and educational & non-profit plans.
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Do everything that’s required to make project a success with ProofHub
Being one of the best project management tools in the market, ProofHub lets you bring together your team and clients without any hassle. Inviting people, creating To-Do’s, starting discussions, reporting projects, Gantt charts, and there’s a lot that you can do with this tool. You can even assign custom roles to team members, and get things done in the easiest possible manner. ProofHub has different pricing plans for individuals, start-ups, businesses and enterprises, giving you the freedom to select according to your requirement. And, the best part is that you can try it for a period of 30-days absolutely free.
I have been implementing these tools for my office work, and have shared them with my team-members as well. I am sure they will prove to be of great help for anyone who is struggling to find a boost in productivity.