Quite often when a business engages with a marketing firm to support their business objectives, it’s either because they acknowledge the fact that they lack resources in house or they simply do not have the expertise or time to execute on a comprehensive marketing strategy. And while outsourcing work to a marketing firm can help on both accounts, there are also some great apps to help with the time, business productivity and efficiency constraints that can challenge employees, teams and businesses at some time or another.
All business owners know that productivity has a direct impact on your ability to be competitive. However, most people aren’t aware of all the tools they can use to maximize the productivity of their business. For example, did you know how many apps are aimed specifically at improving business productivity? 9.81% of all App Store apps are business-related, with an additional 2.62% devoted to productivity. With more than 2.2 million apps in the App Store alone, that means there are hundreds of thousands of apps you could use for such purposes.
Of course, you probably don’t have time to try out hundreds of thousands of different apps, so in the spirit of productivity we’ve saved you some time by narrowing down the list. The following are 6 new apps you can use to improve your business’ productivity, so that you can accomplish more and find greater success.
Use These 6 Apps for Improved Business Productivity:
- Basecamp 3: Basecamp has been around for quite a while, but the latest iteration of their mobile software is particularly convenient. This state-of-the-art project management program allows you to chat with your staff, assign tasks and deadlines, create reminders for them, share documents, and receive feedback. If you have a team of mobile professionals, a program like this can help you keep them all on the same page and make sure they are properly coordinated.
- Peakon: Peakon aims to help you answer a question that has haunted business owners from time immemorial: just how engaged are your employees when they’re at work? The app works by asking your employees questions about how they feel while working, and provides you with automated feedback so that you can adjust your policies. The idea is to make it easier for you to create an environment where everyone is happy and focused.
- Scoro: Scoro has a wide range of applications, and includes a few features found in other apps on this list, like calendar-based task management. However, Scoro also includes some very useful tools to help you track financial information, like quoting, billing, and accounts overdue. If you are considering a business loan, and want real-time information on your accounts payable versus your accounts receivable, Scoro can help you gain that information.
- Harvest: think of Harvest like an accountant you can carry around in your pocket. If you’re the kind of business owner who has great leadership instincts but trouble keeping certain records organized, Harvest can help. This app lets you track your time and expenses from anywhere, and makes it easy to create and save invoices.
- RescueTime: have you ever wondered about the amount of time you (or your employees) waste staring at social media and other online distractions instead of accomplishing critical tasks? Try RescueTime, which analyzes the apps and sites you spend most of your time on so that you can change your habits. The pro version of this app even lets you block certain sites and create notifications to put you and your team back on track.
- Konsus for Slack: if you happen to be a freelancer, Konsus can help you save time in one of the most frustrating areas of your work: finding new clients. This app is an add-on for the popular team-messaging app Slack, which only didn’t make this list itself because it’s already been out for several years. Konsus, on the other hand, is quite new. It’s platform helps connect clients with talented sole proprietorship businesses in related fields.
