When you’re a business professional, you’re constantly on the go. Whether you’re involved in business travel, lunch meetings, conferences, pitches, or personal activities, you’re continually being pulled in different directions.
It’s simply not practical for you to be tethered to your desk all the time. But if your productivity wanes when you leave the office, you aren’t going to get much accomplished. What you really need is the ability to be productive while you’re on the go.
Mobility Should Equal Productivity
There was once a time when the best practice for young employees who were looking to climb the ladder was to be the first to the office in the morning and the last one to leave at night. In some business arenas, there may still be valuable rewards from such diligence, but for most of us, you don’t have to be at your desk to be productive.
In fact, for many professionals, mobility equals productivity. According to Dan Kennedy, business coach and author, getting out of the office was the best thing he ever did for his productivity.
“When I was on the road and inaccessible, [my team] handled 80 percent of everything on their own, most of it satisfactorily,” he writes. “And they asked me about the other 20 percent quickly and efficiently.” Basic technology facilitated these exchanges.
Whether by choice or necessity, you need the ability to stay productive — or even increase your productivity — while you’re out of the office. If you didn’t already know it, this is now entirely possible.
Thanks to mobile devices, evolving technologies, and some stellar apps that can satisfy many traditional responsibilities that once called for complicated on-the-premises software, professionals can dramatically increase mobility without any compromising.
Six Apps for Increased Mobility
Assuming you have a smartphone, tablet, or similar device, mobile apps can empower you to handle just about any task you would normally tackle in the office. The tricky part for most people is understanding which apps are the best. There are literally thousands of different business and productivity apps available for use. The key is to identify the appropriate ones for your situation.
While there are many other apps of value — and some of this will depend on your particular circumstances and responsibilities — the following six are widely considered the best when it comes to increasing your mobility without hampering productivity. Check them out and see what you’ve been missing.
MeetingMogul
Love them or hate them, conference calls are a way of life in most industries. And though conference calls have historically required you to hang around the office phone or punch in a bunch of numbers to join the call, MeetingMogul does away with all that.
This progressive app reduces the stress involved with connecting to conference calls by giving one-touch connectivity to executives, remote teams, business travelers, and entrepreneurs. Other in-app features include collaborative note sharing, meeting summaries, and live note recording.
This streamlined approach is why executives at companies like AT&T, IBM, Microsoft, and UPS are using MeetingMogul. If you’re constantly bouncing around from conference call to conference call, you’ll definitely benefit from giving this one a try.
Azendoo
If companies like Netflix, Nike, MasterCard, and Coca-Cola are using something, then you have reason to suspect it’s pretty effective. This is certainly true in the case of Azendoo. This surprisingly powerful task management application enables users to invite other people into individual “workspaces” that can be later subdivided into other tasks and categories for simple collaboration and organization.
Each workspace can be customized and monitored by a number of individuals for real-time conversations and live updates. As an added bonus, users can add media from external services such as Google Drive, Evernote, and Dropbox.
Evernote
One of the most popular productivity apps on the market is Evernote. Once you start using it, you’ll realize why everyone has become so crazy about it. Evernote makes storing thoughts, pitches, ideas, and information totally effortless.
Whether you need to jot down the name of a person you just met, or you want to compile your lengthy research notes in a safe place for future reference, Evernote keeps you focused and organized. And because it’s been around for so long, Evernote benefits from a number of relevant updates and a massive user base that’s quick to provide tips and advice for new users.
Dropbox
Remember when you had to save files to floppy disks, or email documents to yourself, so you could get access to them on another computer? With Dropbox, you never have to do that again.
Dropbox stores files in the cloud and lets you share them, restrict access, and bring information with you while you’re on the go. Simply download Dropbox on your desktop, install the app on your mobile devices, and you’re ready to roll.
Any time you drop a file into the Dropbox folder on your desktop, it’ll automatically sync to your Dropbox account on your other devices. I’ve been a paying member for almost 5 years now and wouldn’t go back.
Clear
If you like making to-do lists, but never get around to prioritizing the tasks on them, then you need Clear. This app features a clutter-free interface that makes staying organized and productive a cinch.
When you employ Clear, you can input tasks, and organize them according to importance and deadline. Then the app keeps you up to date and on track with simple reminders.
Though other apps can do the same things, the minimalist design is what sets Clear apart. There are no superfluous features and everything is controlled by gestures. Frankly, this app is one of the most intuitive solutions around.
Workflow
As you’re well aware, the key to staying productive in a world of fragmented devices is being able to jump from one device to the next without having to log into an account, pull out a USB drive, or upload a file. Everybody needs solutions that allow us to move seamlessly between computers, phones, and tablets without any fuss.
Workflow is a powerful automation app that lets the user connect apps and actions for a simple solution to productivity. The app includes more than 200 different action features and has the ability to access other apps like Contacts, Calendar, Camera, Safari, Twitter, Evernote, iCloud, and more. It saves busy users a lot of the hassle involved in navigating between multiple apps and devices.
Mobility and Productivity Go Hand in Hand
Too many executives cling to the vestigial assumption that you have to be in the office, at your desk, or tucked away in a cubicle in order to maximize productivity and efficiency. But this is no longer true.
Thanks to modern technology and some subtle shifts in attitudes, working while on the go is entirely possible. At the heart of the transition is the growth of mobile devices and applications. Thanks to intuitive yet comprehensive apps like the ones listed above, anyone can handle conference calls with the touch of a button, share documents almost effortlessly, collaborate on projects over long stretches of space and time, and much more.
Once you’ve tapped into these apps and technologies, you’ll understand how mobility and productivity currently go hand in hand. Whether you’re in the office, at the airport, or watching your daughter’s soccer match, you never have to miss a beat.
Source Article:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnrampton/2016/03/01/these-6-apps-help-untether-business-professionals-from-their-desks/#22a8b379241c
