Our Must-Have Business Tools
You’ve heard it plenty of times: you’ve got to have the right tool for the job. So here are our picks for the 7 must-have tools for businesses today – we use them here at It Crowd!
1. Podio
Podio includes a host of features that allow you to “consolidate content and communications into one easily searchable tool that’s available anywhere.” It provides an environment of collaboration and empowerment that includes file sharing, task management, mobile apps, Podio API, and more. Here at It Crowd, we do everything in Podio- keeping track of projects, updating tasks, and communicating internally and externally.
2. LastPass
LastPass is a password management tool that offers both security and automation for speed and ease. We use it to keep all of our passwords secure. LastPass keeps your information private, secure, and hidden (even from them) and puts your passwords on autopilot for fast and easy logging in.
3. Slack
Offering communication channels, voice and video calls, and integrated file sharing, Slack is a great platform for bringing all your communication together to save time and promote collaboration. It’s a collaboration hub we use for communication with clients and co-workers.
4. Notes (Apple/iCloud)
Notes allows you capture a quick thought or to save something that may be important/interesting for consideration at a later time. The Notes iCloud app allows quick and easy creation of new notes and review of existing notes. This is our go to for team meetings, client outings and to-do lists!
5. MailChimp
With email marketing yielding an ROI of greater than 4,000% and 40 times more effective for customer acquisition than social media marketing, you’ve got to have a good email marketing automation platform. We recommend and use MailChimp for our email marketing campaigns, especially for the selection of features and great reporting.
6. Drop Box
This one you know, of course: it’s where you’ve been safely storing your documents and pictures. But the benefits go beyond mere security because Drop Box also promotes efficiency. It gives you a central place to securely store and share all of your files so that they can be synced across all your devices for easy access anytime and anywhere. We work with a lot of larger design files, so DropBox is a life saver!
7. Full Contact
Business cards may not be as popular as they once were, but they are far from dead. Since we still need a way to store all of that vital information from the cards we collect, we use Full Contact. It provides the most effective way to scan business cards, transcribe the information and offers cross-platform uploads and capability for integrating your business cards with 500+ apps. We integrate it with Podio!
Using the right tools for your business seems like a no-brainer, but more often than note, we have to start with the basics with our clients to ensure they are maximizing their time and efforts. If you’re not sure which tools are the right fit for your business, then give us a call!
