Has productivity been a problem for you and your team lately?
Perhaps your struggles might revolve around:
- communicating effectively with team members and coordinating efforts,
- checking progress, making informed decisions, analyzing business performance,
- getting work done, and staying in touch while you are away
These and other factors have most likely impeded your ability to complete tasks. And, indeed, issues with being unproductive can affect you and your team.
But what if I told you that prioritizing and effectively addressing these challenges is possible?
If you want to know how you've come to the right place! Just keep reading, and you'll find tools and apps to help you finish and organize your tasks more quickly. You might as well identify what could work best for you and your growing team and business!
What are Productivity Apps and Tools?
Productivity apps and tools are software or online resources that help people and teams be more organized, efficient, and effective at work or in their personal lives. They aim to make your tasks easier, automate processes, and give structure to workflows, which will lead to more productivity and output in the long run.
They can be used on desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones, so you can work and collaborate on the go.
Productivity apps and tools are usually geared toward the following:
Task Management
Keeping track of tasks and projects and ensuring work gets done on time and within budget.
Collaboration
Helping you and your members work together despite being in different places. It aims to improve communication and make your team, as a whole, more effective.
Automation
It is a process of automating routine tasks so that people can work on other, more critical tasks.
Data Management
Built-in databases, spreadsheets, and reporting tools to make it easier to manage and analyze data. This helps you make good decisions and keep track of your progress.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Helping small businesses keep track of their sales and marketing efforts, manage customer relationships, and improve customer satisfaction
Mobile Accessibility
It can help people stay connected and productive, even on the go, making you much more productive and efficient.
20 Productive Apps and Tools and Their Best Uses
There are many apps and tools for increasing productivity, and the best one for you will depend on your needs and preferences.
Read on to learn more about the features of some of today's most well-liked productivity apps and software!
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Trello
Trello is a popular visual project management tool. It helps you and your team keep track of your progress, divide up tasks, and work well together. It lets you make various boards depending on your projects and tasks.
The mobile app makes it easy to keep track of your projects and tasks, even when you are away from your computer. Also, Trello offers several pricing plans, each with its features.
Take a tour and see why millions of users prefer Trello!
Best For: Task Management, Collaboration, Mobile Accessibility
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Asana
Asana helps you and your team better organize and manage your work. Users can build projects, give tasks to team members, establish due dates, and monitor real-time progress. Asana has a lot of different tools, i.e., task lists, calendars, file sharing, and tools for team communication.
Compare plans side by side to find the right one for you. See how your tasks, conversations, and teams work together in Asana!
Best For: Task Management, Collaboration, Mobile Accessibility
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Todoist
Todoist helps you stay on top of your to-do list and actually get things done. Users can create tasks, set due dates and priorities, and keep track of their progress with Todoist.
It is free for anyone to use. Although, you can always switch to the Pro or Business Plan if you need more project space and extra features.
If you take the Todoist quiz, it will provide you with personalized tips on reaching your goals and organizing your personal and professional lives.
Best For: Task Management, Mobile Accessibility
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Any.do
Any.do allows you to set due dates and reminders, and organize your tasks into categories and projects. It can work with other tools for getting things done, like Asana, Monday.com, ClikUp, Jira, and Todoist.
It has free and paid plans. Paid plans let you share unlimited tasks and projects and set reminders based on location.
Best For: Task Management
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ClickUp
ClickUp is a tool for managing your projects. It has several features that help users plan, organize, and keep track of their work, and it is made to be flexible and easy to change.
ClickUp can be used on the web, mobile devices, and desktop computers. It works with other productivity tools like Google Drive, Trello, and Slack.
For ClickUp, the paid plans have more features like Gantt charts, time estimates, custom branding, and many more!
Best For: Task Management
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Microsoft To Do
Microsoft To Do is a task management app that tracks your tasks and to-do lists. Although Microsoft made it, it still works on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and the web.
Microsoft To Do allows users to set reminders and due dates, collaborate on lists that others can access, and do various other things. Coupled with the “My Day” feature, it can help you focus on your most important tasks for the day.
Microsoft To Do is a free app for keeping track of tasks. Still, users who pay for Microsoft 365 can get access to more features, like the ability to share lists and add files to tasks.
Best For: Task Management
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Google Tasks
Google Tasks is an app that helps you keep track of your tasks and to-do lists. It works with other Google services like Google Calendar and Gmail. You can also make tasks from your email or add them as events to your calendar.
You can get it on the web, Android, and iOS!
Best For: Task Management
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Evernote
Evernote is a digital note-taking and productivity app. It lets you save and organize your notes, web pages, images, and other content in various formats. You can sync with tools and services like Google Drive, Microsoft Teams, and Slack.
At the same time, you can also make to-do lists, set reminders, and add voice memos, photos, and other multimedia. Evernote can be used on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and web platforms.
Try a free or personal, or professional paid plan with more features.
Best For: Task Management, Mobile Accessibility
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Slack
Slack is a cloud-based tool for you and your teams to work together. It lets people talk to each other in real-time. You can share files and information and organize your conversations into channels and threads.
With Slack, users can create channels for different projects or topics and invite team members to join those channels. You can send direct messages to your member and connect to other services like Google Drive, Trello, and Zoom.
The paid plans have more features, like more storage, integrations, and advanced security and compliance features.
Best For: Collaborations, Mobile Accessibility
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Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a tool in the Microsoft Office 365 suite that lets people work together and discuss. It is made to help your teams work better, no matter where you are.
You can set up your team to stay more organized, talk to each other better, and get more done. You can also connect your Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android devices by downloading them to your computer and phone.
You can start for free, get more with Teams Essential, or get Teams as part of Microsoft 365.
Best for: Collaboration
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Google Workspace
Google Workspace is a collection of cloud-based tools. It has many apps, like Gmail, Google Drive, Google docs, Google sheets, Google Slides, Google Meet, and Google Calendar.
It is made for individuals, teams, and businesses wanting to work together faster and more effectively.
Google Workspace is not expensive, making it an excellent choice for businesses of all sizes. But it also offers a range of paid plans that provide additional features and benefits.
Best For: Collaboration, Mobile Accessibility
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Zoom
Zoom is a cloud-based video conferencing tool that lets people and groups talk and work together through virtual meetings. It is a reliable and easy-to-use video conferencing service!
The free plan, or “Basic” plan, has features like video conferencing with up to 100 people, screen sharing, virtual backgrounds, and the ability to schedule and host meetings. Although, its meetings can only last for 40 minutes.
Zoom has paid plans called “Pro,” “Business,” and “Enterprise.” These plans offer more features and more space for larger groups. In addition, paid plans have longer meeting times, user management, reporting and analytics, and more.
Best For: Collaboration
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Notion
Notion has many features, like building pages, tables, and databases, setting reminders and due dates, and working with team members in real-time.
It is an all-in-one productivity tool, from personal note-taking and organization to team collaboration and project management.
Notion lets its users choose between free and paid plans. If you want to use Notion to its fullest extent and need more advanced features, you can always switch to its paid plan.
Best For: Collaboration, Data Management
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Zapier
Zapier is a web-based automation tool that lets people connect and automate workflows between different apps. With Zapier, users can automate tasks like sending notifications, updating data across apps, and adding new database records.
For example, users could set up a Zap to email their team whenever a new task is added to their Trello board.
The free plan is great for small businesses or people who only need basic automation features. Paid plans, however, have more advanced automation features.
Best For: Automation
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IFTTT
IFTTT (If This Then That) is a web-based automation tool that lets users make “applets,” which are simple statements that tell different apps and devices what to do.
The applets are built with pre-built or customized “recipes” that connect two or more services or devices. For example, users could make an applet that saves photos from their Instagram feed to their Dropbox account.
With the free plan, you can make simple applets with only one trigger and one action. The paid plans, IFTTT Pro or IFTTT Pro+, let you make as many applets as possible and work with more services.
Best For: Automation
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Microsoft Power Automate
Microsoft Power Automate is a cloud-based automation platform that lets users create automated workflows between different apps and services, such as Office 365, Dynamics 365, Azure, etc.
It offers a variety of features, including triggers, actions, and conditions. It also has many pre-built templates for common situations, such as approvals, alerts, and data synchronization.
Power Automate offers a free plan and plans according to the user, flow plan, and organization needs.
Best For: Automation
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UiPath
UiPath is a platform for Robotic Process Automation (RPA) software that lets businesses automate repetitive and rule-based tasks. RPA software robots, or “bots,” are taught to act like people and do things like entering dates, validating data, making reports, and more.
The free version of UiPath has the same features as the paid version, including the ability to automate up to two robots that need to be watched and one that doesn't. The paid version of UiPath is made for enterprise-level automation and has more advanced security features.
Best For: Automation -
Google Sheets
Google Sheets is a cloud-based spreadsheet program that is part of Google Drive, a set of tools for getting work done. It also works with other Google services, like Google Forms, so that users can collect information into a spreadsheet.
It can also help you market via email by giving you customer information. Once you set up an integration, such as with AWeber, you can use your Google Sheet to easily track new subscribers to your email list and analyze subscriber data.
Users of the free version of Google Sheets can make and change spreadsheets, use formulas that come with the program, and collaborate with others in real time. The paid version of Google Sheets is part of the Google Workspace suite of productivity tools, which includes more features and storage space.
Best For: Data Management -
Hubspot
Hubspot is an all-in-one marketing, sales, and customer service platform. It gives businesses various tools to help them keep in touch with their leads, contacts, and customers.
The platform has tools for marketing, sales, and customer service, as well as tools for automation and ways to connect to other popular apps and software.
HubSpot is a marketing tool like Leadpages that can be used together to make a full system for getting and managing leads. Connecting HubSpot and Leadpages lets you send leads from Leadpages straight to your HubSpot CRM. This enables you to keep track of them in HubSpot and handle them.
There are both free and paid plans for HubSpot. The free plan only has the most basic features, but the paid plans have more features and support.
Best For: Customer Relationship Management -
Pipedrive
Pipedrive is cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software that helps businesses manage their sales pipelines and activities.
Pipedrive has a visual way to manage sales pipelines, which makes it easy for users to keep track. It also has tools for managing and organizing sales activities, such as tracking emails, keeping track of tasks, and making appointments.
Pipedrive has different pricing plans to meet the needs of different businesses. Different features, integrations, and levels of customer service come with each plan.
Best For: Customer Relationship Management
In a nutshell, productivity is vital to personal and professional success. Yet it's not always easy to pull off, given all the daily distractions we face.
However, investing in the right productivity software and tools can help you save time and effort when managing the workloads of your teams and yourself. We can even possibly spare ourselves from the stress and pressure of juggling too many tasks and commitments.
Do you have any recommendations for additional productivity apps and tools? Feel free to add and share your thoughts and tips about productivity in the comments section below!
