In 2018, Microsoft conducted a study to determine an average person’s attention span. Surprisingly, we are easily distracted. Our attention only lasts for about 8 seconds. This is too short as compared to the previous studies in the past. There are multiple factors that contributed to the short attention span of humans.
As a result, we become so overwhelmed with our tasks, and sometimes we end up not accomplishing it. We become unproductive with all the distractions we see around us.
Whether we like to accept this fact or not, the digital world has also contributed to human’s short attention span. We are busy doing something, but once we scroll through social media, time flies away, and we are stuck with our unfinished work.
However, the online world shouldn’t be blamed all the time because there are also benefits that it offers to users. There are tools like software and apps that help people concentrate on their work. Technology has also helped business owners monitor the progress of their employees, and if they are monitored they’ll be able to use their time wisely.
A productive employee can make a business grow. It will generate more income for the business, and at the end of the day, both the employer and employee will benefit from it.
If you want to make your employees concentrate more on their work and become productive, give them tools that will help them focus more on their task.
Top 10 Tools to Boost Productivity
Toggl
Time is precious, and if you don’t use it wisely it’s something you can’t get back. Therefore, if you want to monitor where you and your employees spend most of your time, Toggl is the right tool for you.
This almost 15-year-old tool proves to be effective for users to manage their time wisely. You can keep track of the amount of time you spend on a particular task. Aside from tracking time, it can be integrated with other apps, and you can bring it wherever you go.
Toggl can be used in any device, and you can sync your data easily.
Their paid plans start at $9 per user/ month.
Mobile: Free, Android and iOS
Evernote
This tool has been known for a long time. It has established itself as one of the best productivity tools in the market. Evernote is known for its easy to navigate feature, and it helps users easily jot down their ideas.
Evernote allows users to collaborate with their team members by sharing reports, notes, and to-do lists wherever they go. You can use the business plan to execute this teamwork feature.
Other features of this tool are the following:
- Paste images, websites, and voice recording
- Use to manage deadlines and projects
- Can use the app even offline
- It has a presentation mode
- Unlimited storage space
Their premium version begins at $2.58/ month.
Mobile: Free, Android and iOS
Trello
If you prefer a more visual way to manage your team or finish a task, Trello can be the tool for you. This web-based app uses the known Kanban-style of managing workflow. A Kanban method is a visual method used to monitor workflow where each work task is placed in a column. If a work is on the process, the task is under that column. If it’s done, the task is noted on the accomplished column.
Users can customize the look of the board. Furthermore, the app allows users to bring along their side the work they have wherever they go. It enables the auto-sync of data to any device.
Paid plans start at $9.99 per user/ month.
Mobile: Free, Android and iOS
CoSchedule
If your business is all about marketing, or if you manage a team of digital marketing professionals, CoSchedule is the perfect tool for you. As the name implies, CoSchedule allows users to arrange schedules of content they need to produce, edit, and publish.
Users can integrate social media and other tools to this platform.
CoSchesule offers a lot of paid plans, and each of its plans also has three different prices. The lowest price starts at $60 per month.
Mobile: Free, Android and iOS
IFTTT
Are you looking for a software or app that will not only work for one platform but also trigger all of it? IFTTT works in that way. Its full name, If This Then That, suggests that the software works in a way of multitasking.
It can be integrated with numerous web apps, automatically performs a task, schedules meetings, and reminds users to accomplish a project.
Their premium plan starts at $199 per year.
Mobile: Free, Android and iOS
MailChimp
If your main marketing strategy or if email marketing is part of your digital marketing techniques, then using MailChimp will be a big help for you. You don’t have to manually send out emails or send it all to customers or potential customers that are not interested in a certain product. MailChimp will do this all for you. It will sort out which email goes to the right reader.
Other features that MailChimp has are the following:
- A/B Testing
- Social Sharing
- Gathering of analytics
- Provides email templates
- Customizable signup forms
You can try their free plan or jump to their paid plan, which starts at $9.99 per month.
Mobile: Free, Android and iOS
Slack
We couldn’t thank enough the digital world because communicating with one another has never become easier. There is no need to go through shifting emails to look for a message sent to you by your employer, or you don’t have to miss out on a project because of piled messages.
Slack is a software designed for team members to smoothly communicate with one another. There are different channels assigned for different projects, and if you want to only focus on one project, you can easily do it.
Users of this software can also choose not to join a certain conversation or channel if they think that they don’t need to.
You can try it for free and have access to 10,00 messages from your team. Or you can opt for one of their paid plans, which begin at $6.67 per month.
Mobile: Free, Android and iOS
Hubstaff
This tool enables businesses to track their employees’ work productivity. It can track any activity on a user’s phone, desktop, or even on the web. Employers can also easily check the workers’ work percentage if they have been achieving the amount of workload assigned to them.
It also includes GPS tracking and payroll features.
Their premium plans start at $7 per user/month with unlimited screenshots.
Mobile: Free, Android and iOS
ProofHub
This is not similar to Hubstaff. ProofHub is an all-in-one management software that allows you to manage your whole team smoothly. This software has everything you need, from managing a project, communicating with employees and clients, sharing of documents, and scheduling of tasks or deadlines of projects.
You can also integrate apps like Dropbox, Google Drive, and more.
Price starts at $50 per month.
Mobile: Free, Android and iOS
Skype
One of the most important productivity tools that must be included in the list is Skype. Everyone knows and uses Skype. It is one of the most popular software used to communicate around the world. This is often used as it offers unlimited free calls.
Users can also use Skype to call a phone number with lower rates, share screen, and use split-screen to multitasks.
Other notable features of Skype you might find useful:
- Allow sending of files
- Enables translator
- Forward calls to your phone
- Voicemail
- Skype for Outlook
Mobile: Free, Android, iOS, and Windows 10
Besides all these tools mentioned above, there are a few more in the market. You can grab one to ensure that you are spending your time or your employees are using their time wisely. If we focus on using our work time efficiently, we can finish more tasks and have more time to create more ideas. Productivity will bring success to a business.