{"id":942,"date":"2014-07-09T13:59:33","date_gmt":"2014-07-09T18:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/?p=942"},"modified":"2014-07-09T14:01:14","modified_gmt":"2014-07-09T19:01:14","slug":"top-tech-tools-to-get-organized-boost-productivity-improve-business-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/top-tech-tools-to-get-organized-boost-productivity-improve-business-operations\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Tech Tools to Get Organized, Boost Productivity &#038; Improve Business Operations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-943\" alt=\"shutterstock_195849002 (1)\" src=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/shutterstock_195849002-1.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/shutterstock_195849002-1.jpg 500w, https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/shutterstock_195849002-1-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/shutterstock_195849002-1-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/>Digital devices and tools enable business owners and entrepreneurs to do things better, faster and cheaper, in our personal and at-work lives. But don&#8217;t let &#8220;shiny object syndrome&#8221;\u2014the state of distraction caused by every cool gadget and tech trend that comes down the pike\u2014keep you from using the\u00a0<em>best<\/em>\u00a0digital tools. These tools should be carefully curated before we adopt them into our daily routines. Most everybody knows about Evernote, LinkedIn Pulse and HipChat, but what else is out there that&#8217;s worth your time and money? Keep reading to see which ones made our list:<\/p>\n<h2>Tablets &amp; Apps to Better Serve the Customer<\/h2>\n<p>Along with smartphones, tablets are increasingly being used to take care of customers and enhance services. Besides using tablets on the sales floor in conjunction with a point-of-sales system, think about using them in these other innovative ways:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Provide interactive menus with\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/incentient.com\/\">Incentient<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Use them as virtual guides with\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/conciergeinteractive.com\/\">Concierge Interactive<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Offer a mobile photo booth with\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/boothify.me\/\">Boothify<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To further enhance the customer experience, offer customers access to a<a href=\"http:\/\/www.t-mobile.com\/internet-devices\/apple-ipad-mini-with-retina-display.html\">device with ultra-high definition<\/a>\u00a0like the Apple iPad Mini with Retina display. These feature more than 3.1 million pixels, a million more than an HDTV.<\/p>\n<h2>Boost Your Productivity<\/h2>\n<p>Business productivity apps help you get the most quality work done in the least amount of time. Have you ever wished you could play back that meeting or record your thoughts about a big project?\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/audio-memos-voice-recorder\/id338550388?mt=8\">Audio Memos<\/a>\u00a0lets you do so. You then send the notes to your email or Dropbox account, and you don\u2019t miss any details.<\/p>\n<p>And if you do everything in Microsoft Office, why not use Microsoft Office on your mobile device? You can, for free, with\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cloudon.com\/\">CloudOn<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Communication<\/h2>\n<p>You already know the importance and value of good communication. Improve and enhance business communications with an app that lets you log on to your PC remotely, like\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/secure.logmein.com\/\">LogMeIn<\/a>, or hold a video conference with multiple people, like\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.skype.com\/en\/\">Skype<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Calendar &amp; To-Do<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/landing\/now\/\">Google Now<\/a>\u00a0is Google\u2019s interactive organizer, and it&#8217;s similar to a personal assistant who keeps you on track. And if you\u2019re tired of typing every appointment and event into your smartphone calendar, use\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/flexibits.com\/fantastical\">Fantastical<\/a>\u00a0and just speak your calendar entry to get it into your schedule.<\/p>\n<h2>Finances<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.expensify.com\/\">Expensify<\/a>\u00a0helps you keep track of money coming in and out, logs your travel and expense receipts and reminds you to send out important invoices. Use\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.dynamicg.timerecording&amp;hl=en\">Time Recording<\/a>\u00a0to keep receipt images, manage reports and log expenses with your smartphone.<\/p>\n<h2>Scanning and Printing on the Go<\/h2>\n<p>If your position involves a lot of business travel, you probably miss having access to regular office equipment like copiers, printers and scanners. Business apps like\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.camscanner.net\/\">CamScanner<\/a>\u00a0and HP&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/h30495.www3.hp.com\/c\/46557\/US\/en\/?jumpid=in_R11549%2Feprintcenter\">ePrint<\/a>\u00a0enable you to scan important documents and send print jobs to the office when you\u2019re not there.<\/p>\n<p>Improve your productivity and communication and organize your calendar, lists, and finances with the following.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Digital devices and tools enable business owners and entrepreneurs to do things better, faster and cheaper, in our personal and at-work lives. But don&#8217;t let &#8220;shiny object syndrome&#8221;\u2014the state of distraction caused by every cool gadget and tech trend that comes down the pike\u2014keep you from using the\u00a0best\u00a0digital tools. These tools should be carefully curated&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/top-tech-tools-to-get-organized-boost-productivity-improve-business-operations\/\" rel=\"bookmark\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Top Tech Tools to Get Organized, Boost Productivity &#038; Improve Business Operations<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[441,443,442,444,440],"class_list":["post-942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-information-technology","tag-evernote","tag-hipchat","tag-linkedin-pulse","tag-productivity-apps","tag-work-productivity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=942"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":947,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942\/revisions\/947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}