10 network services that increase productivity

Regardless of whether you are involved in project management or accounting, online applications from this list will save your time and money .

The image of productivity in business has changed dramatically over the past 5 years. Many client and client-server applications that our work once depended on are gone. Now the success of the enterprise is determined by the network. It performs a myriad of business tasks. In connection with this transition from locally installed client applications to Internet applications, you need to upgrade the database through which your users do their work. Therefore, it is necessary to study the network tools that increase productivity.
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Believe it or not, many of these services are much more cost-effective than the ones you used before. In addition, due to high reliability, you can create an environment in which your employees become much more efficient . What tools should be taken into account? Here are 10 worthy resources that can be built into your business model.

1: Zoho

Zoho is a powerful platform that can do almost anything. Once you have created an account, you can add yourself:

• sales and marketing tools (CRM, campaigns, polls, websites and IQ sales);
• interactions (e-mail, documents, projects, bug tracker, meetings);
• customer support (support and assistance);
• financial management (account books, requisites, subscriptions),
• HR spheres (hiring people),
• commercial activities (reports and database applications) and much more.

In practice, Zoho was used to perform a large number of tasks, in particular, to create marketing campaigns. The tools really work great and seamlessly integrate with each other. The only warning: you can not physically manage the platform. It works only as an outsourcing service. Zoho also has mobile apps that interact with some of the components, for example, Zoho CRM.

2: Asana

Asana is a free and flexible cloud project management service. It allows you to create structural units, projects, processes and intermediate tasks, as well as easily synchronize them with each other. Asana also gives you the opportunity to set repetitive tasks for yourself or your team.

Your Asana account is a real-time alert center. After receiving the project notification, Asana will let you decide when to respond to the message . And an intuitive control panel will open the opportunity to take a quick look at each of the projects and the tasks you are facing.

3: OTRS

The OTRS application processing system is a powerful open-source tool that can be applied to a company of almost any size with an arbitrary number of operating engineers or internal IT staff.

Each ticket created by the system stores a history, and it is ready to automatically send an alarming email to a predetermined technical specialist if necessary. OTRS also offers a multifunctional system of plug-ins, in which you can find modules for almost everything, starting with the quick closing of tickets, and ending with the application of a bar code on them. There are two versions of OTRS: OTRS Free and OTRS Business Solution. Using the second option, you can choose between physical and hosting versions.

4: FreshBooks

FreshBooks is an “accounting” solution that can be the best option for you to invoice at no extra cost. Although FreshBooks positions itself as a cloud-based accounting service, it lacks many of the features necessary for this sector. It does not have double-entry bookkeeping, a chart of accounts, contractual obligations and a general ledger.

If you see FreshBooks as an advanced billing solution, it suddenly becomes powerful and useful enough. This tool is more suitable for small contractors and / or individual freelancers / contractors.



FreshBooks prices start at $ 19.95 per month for private users (with a limit of 25 customers). The free version is designed for one client, but can serve as a prototype to determine whether this service is suitable for you.

5: Collabtive

Collabtive is an open source project management platform. It allows you to plan an action plan, set goals and guidelines, as well as manage files and record / evaluate work time. The service offers plug-ins for mobile applications, templates, designation of priority of projects, Gantt graphics, etc.

If you need a tool for organizing personal or team activities and distributing tasks, allowing you to share documents within the team, choose Collabtive and you will not go wrong. The platform is free. It can be downloaded and installed on a physical server with PHP 5.2 and MySQL 4.1 or 5.x.

6: Cyn.in

The Cyn.in collaboration platform is an open-source, enterprise-level tool built around the Plone content management system. Cyn.in offers wiki markup, blogs, file storage, event calendars, bookmark directories, discussion clubs, media galleries, etc. Here you can customize everything for a specific user, and various applications are fixed in arbitrary sectors (work areas). Each section also contains a structured subspace, which also increases the degree of detail of the activity.

Cyn.in has a social component: users can create statuses, interact using contextual dialogs, vote, evaluate, and view other people's profiles. Three versions of the service are available.

7: eXo Platform

eXo is a corporate-level social interaction tool that allows users to work together on wikis, forums, calendars and documents integrated into the activity feed and social network. The custom design of the platform literally encourages participants to communicate with each other .



Since almost everyone is familiar with services in social networks, the introduction of eXo will not cause difficulties for either companies or users.

8: Comapping

Comapping is a great way for employees to meet and solve tasks. It allows you to create notes and files for your team, attach documents and interact in real time. All ideas are placed in a flowchart, which facilitates the extrapolation of data. Each note is available to 20 participants simultaneously.

You can purchase a license for 5 users for $ 92 a year or go further: buy a version for 100 participants for 612 dollars a year.

9: Genbook

Genbook makes it easy to control the company's online booking services. You can optimize the distribution of your customers, increase the likelihood of their returning to you, and even work with proven customer feedback - which is extremely important in an era when fake reviews can doom a company or product to failure. Genbook offers a simple method of scheduling and redistributing meetings 24/7. You can also place the service button on your company's Facebook page.

10: Clockspot

Clockspot is a work time recording tool that allows employees to mark the beginning and end of a work day from anywhere. He is able to take into account holidays, periods spent on sick leave or on vacation, and also automatically accrue vacation pay.



Clockspot includes a minimum set of functions related to wages (for calculating payroll, cost of work, overtime allowances, etc.). Among the users of this service are McDonalds, Coca Cola and Starbucks.

Bonus

Google Apps is rightfully considered a mandatory participant in the list of network services that improve performance. It is a universal online store offering applications that meet all business needs. With e-mail, cloud storage, video and text messenger, calendar, documents, collaboration tools and many others, Google Docs meets all the needs of entrepreneurs and does it well.

Yes, and the price for adding additional space is lower here than anywhere else ($ 1.99 per month for 100 GB of cloud storage). Google Docs is one of the best real-time interaction services you have ever used. For $ 5 from the user, you can get limited storage, and for $ 10 - no restrictions and server-safe.

More apps?

When you look for quality online services that improve performance, their list may seem endless. But the applications / tools mentioned here should provide you with everything you need to maximize productivity - and do it using cloud reliability.

What network tools would you add to this list? Share your recommendations!

PS We recommend another article on the topic - “False vanity: how permanent employment reduces productivity . ”

Translated by Vyacheslav Davidenko, founder of MBA Consult