As technology advances at an unprecedented rate, more and higher quality work has become the norm in offices across the globe. Faster turnaround times, a greater number of tasks to be managed and accomplished, and more complex work are common by-products of rapid technological development. It’s no wonder that employees are finding technology-enabled ways to meet more stringent demands.

Gartner’s Digital Experience Survey revealed that almost 80% of workers utilized collaboration tools to carry out their roles and responsibilities in 2021. This is a 44% increase in adoption from 2019.

Workers also reported using more storage, sharing, and messaging tools (as detailed below) to become more productive.

As organisations gear up for digital transformation, workers must have the proper digital tools to help them handle their tasks and manage their time. This is particularly useful for workplace setups where flexibility and collaboration across distances are required.

Remote work, for instance, has made it challenging for teams to track productivity, maintain communication, and manage work-life balance. Using the right productivity tools can address these challenges. With a variety of options in the market, which one best suits your team? Let’s find out.

Project Management tools to boost productivity

1. Taiga.io

The Taiga.io project management tool allows team members to easily carry out tasks. It has a brilliant interface and an app that can be seamlessly integrated with GIT and Slack for added productivity, communication, and collaboration. Here’s a tutorial to help you find out more about it.

2. Trello

Trello is perhaps one of the most popular and widely used project management tools. This tool encourages collaborative work management with its intuitive graphical interface. Project managers can easily organise activities and budgets with one platform.

It is way easier to use than Asana, and their recent update allows project managers to create workspaces to manage their tasks better. Users who need to upgrade to unlimited boards, advanced checklists, admin and security features, and unlimited automation can take advantage of the 14-day free trial before availing of the paid subscription.

Scheduling tools to boost productivity

3. Calendly

Calendly allows teams to schedule meetings without the need for back and forth emails. Managers can easily let people know their availability by sending their Calendly. It also eliminates double-booking.

The software offers a 14-day free trial that lets you enjoy full functionality. After the trial, users can upgrade to a subscription plan which allows them to schedule more than one event type.

4. Google Calendar

Google Calendar is an innovative online calendar that allows users to manage weekly personal and team schedules. What’s nice about this scheduling tool is its integration with Google accounts. This allows teams to schedule events with ease. It also prevents double booking since team members can see their coworker’s availability.

Google Calendar also syncs events, meetings, and Google Meet video calls. In short, it gives an overview of the day’s tasks, allowing for maximum productivity.

Communication tools to boost productivity

5. Slack

Slack is a communication platform used by 10 million people. This tool is ideal for monitoring productivity and streamlining communication. Team members can centralize all tasks in the platform while enjoying its instant messaging and file-sharing functionalities.

Using Slack is simple. Even non-tech-savvy users can quickly learn the ropes of this “online office.” What’s particularly notable about this tool is it allows project managers to develop separate groups and channels.
Because of these functionalities, it becomes easier to handle different teams and projects without any downtime. Slack is a free to use tool so teams can enjoy basic features without paying for anything. More advanced features can be unlocked with a paid plan.

6. Skype

Skype is another excellent communication tool. Most businesses have been using Skype even before Zoom became popular so it may be the better option if your teams do frequent business-to-business (B2B) communications. Teams can send messages, make local and international calls, and share documents, including large files.

Its Skype for Business integration with Microsoft Teams allows teams to enjoy features similar to Slack. This partnership can be a game-changer for groups using Microsoft products since it allows easy integration between the two applications.

Collaboration tools to boost productivity

7. Google Drive

A definite must-have is Google Drive. By creating files within its cloud-based drive, you can create Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides. These can do what MS Word, MS PowerPoint, and MS Excel can without the hefty license fee.

Since much of its interface is similar to its Microsoft counterparts, the learning curve is practically nil for professionals who have spent most of their lives working in a Microsoft environment.
Additionally, this tool is perfect for collaborative work since users can share files with anyone on the team and documents are updated in real-time.

To use it, all you have to do is log in to your Google account. You then get instant access to all its exciting features, from offline work to PDF file conversions.

8. Bit.ai

Like Google Docs, Bit.ai is an innovative collaboration tool that allows teams to track, share, collaborate, and manage work files without shifting from one tab to another. Documents can be used to share and track insights.
Bit.ai also gives users the freedom to store all sorts of files.

From videos, logos, infographics and PDFs — everything can be placed in one central, easy-to-access platform.

Time tracking tools to boost productivity

9. Toggl

When it comes to time trackers, Toggl is the software that managers swear by. Aside from being user-friendly, its free version offers enough functionalities for most projects.

It has all the features that one needs to track time spent on ongoing projects. Users can monitor work hours, billable hours, and even personal projects. The only downside is the tool isn’t available for offline use.

The biggest enemy of productivity is a distraction. When workers multitask, they waste valuable time by failing to focus. A University of California Irvine study confirms this by sharing that it can take up to 23 minutes to regain focus when a task has been interrupted.

10. The Freedom app

Imagine the time you lose when you check emails, reply to a message, or look at a notification. The Freedom app comes to the rescue by blocking distracting websites, time-wasting apps, and even the entire internet on selected devices for a specified period. This way, you can focus on getting things done.

In today’s fast-paced world, productivity tools can significantly boost your teams’ output. They make the work go faster, collaboration easier, and complex projects more manageable.

Now that you know about ten of the best productivity tools, all you have to do is pick the ones that you need most and give them a try.

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