Productivity is without a doubt one of the more popular technology buzzwords nowadays. Business owners, managers and employees all seem to be striving to increase their productivity but may not know the best way to go about doing so. One way could be leveraging technology, more specifically, apps, to help improve efficiency.

Here are four productivity apps that could help make you more efficient.

1. Doodle

A common hindrance to productivity are meetings. Everyone has to take time out of their day to attend, and it can be even harder to schedule a time to actually meet, especially when your colleagues are so busy. Doodle is an app that helps users find a time and date to meet.

It works by the meeting leader setting a number of dates and times for a potential meeting. Doodle then creates a calendar with these times and dates, allowing users to click on. The app aggregates the feedback and then suggests a time and date that works for all invitees.

The Doodle app also integrates with Outlook, Google Calendar, Yahoo and iCal, which means you can schedule meetings and send invites directly from the calendar. The basic app is free, but you can also sign up for the Premium version which gives you more functionality, such as being able to send reminders and mobile support. Click here to learn more.

2. Any.do

As a business owner or manager, you are likely busy and have a never ending to-do list which may get out of hand from time-to-time. Any.do is a beautifully designed and simple to use task manager for your mobile device and Web browser. When you enter a task on your mobile device it will seamlessly sync with other versions, meaning lists will be the same wherever you view them.

An interesting feature that sets this app apart from many similar apps is that you can share lists and tasks with people to ensure that everyone is on the same page and knows what needs to be done today, tomorrow or later. It's free and available for most browsers, Apple and Android devices. Visit the Any.do website to learn more and download.

3. Due

Sometimes being productive means you actually have to be proactive. You may need a little nudge or reminder to get an email written, or file your tax return if you can't ever seem to find the motivation, best time to start, or even to remember.

Due is an app for the iPhone whereby you set reminders for yourself. A flashing a message on your screen acts as a reminder and continues to alert until you have completed the task and marked it as such in the app. It could be annoying, but just the right prompt you need to get important tasks started. You can download the app from iTunes for USD$4.99

4. HootSuite

There's a good chance that you, or someone you work closely with, spends a seemingly inordinate amount of time each day on social media. Maybe it's maintaining your company's profile or finding interesting content and physically posting this. If you have more than one social media account this could prove unproductive.

HootSuite is a social media dashboard that brings all of your social media platforms into one app. You can schedule posts for all of your networks at once, and easily view each service from one screen. This cuts down the amount of time you spend on social media and allows you to focus on running your business. The app is free for up to five social media accounts and one user, and USD$8.99 a month for the Pro version. Check out the HootSuite website, to learn more.

There are countless apps available that can help improve your productivity, or at the very least make you work in a more efficient manner. What are your favorites? Let us know.

It's safe to say that email has become the primary communication tool for businesses all over the world. Its instant nature has also made communication infinitely easier. Despite all of the benefits of email, there are some drawbacks, with the sheer amount of emails we get on a daily basis being the biggest of them. If you inbox is a little unruly, there are steps you can take to reign it in.

Here are five tips on how you can better manage your inbox.

1. Address last Most people start an email by typing in the address of the recipient(s). While there is nothing wrong with this practice, it can lead to emails being sent before they are finished, which could mean more emails in your inbox asking for clarifications or you having to send a correction email.

To stop this, try writing the body of the email first and when you have finished, put the addresses of the recipients.

2. Merge social with email Sometimes it can be hard to know who you are writing or replying to in your email. Using an app like Rapportive, which brings social information into Gmail can help. This app puts a bar to the right-side of an email with information about the sender, including their social profiles, recent tweets and even links to their LinkedIn profile. You can look up your recipients and connect with them directly from the email.

3. Use links, not attachments With the increasing number of cloud storage and productivity apps like Microsoft SkyDrive and Google Drive which allow you to share files by sending people links, there's no need to attach files to an email. This is incredibly useful if you find yourself sending document versions back and forth on a regular basis and struggle to keep everything up to date.

These services use one version of the document that users you share it with have access to. Everyone sees the same document, which will cut down on the number of emails and confusion when it comes to version control of important documents.

4. Don't use email for everything Email is so quick and easy that we tend to rely on it for everything. However, there are certain situations when email is not the best form of communication. For example, if you have a tough problem, need to reprimand an employee, etc. it would not be a good idea to do so in email, it's just too impersonal.

As a rule of thumb: If there's any chance of human emotions entering into a response or being affected by an email, it may be a better idea to communicate face-to-face.

5. Cook all your bacn at once Bacn (pronounced Bacon) is solicited email; email you want, just not right now. Social media updates, newsletters, website update notifications, etc. are all forms of bacn. Checking these takes time and can be a distraction if you have work to get done. It would be a good idea to schedule a set amount of time where you focus on reading, deleting or archiving these emails.

Alternatively, you can unsubscribe from these alerts or set up a new email account that is just for this type of emails.

There are thousands of things you can do to make your email easier to manage. What do you do? Let us know. If you are looking for even more ways to manage your inbox, contact us today.

Think back to the last time you received an important email, only to be confused or unsure of what exactly the sender wanted. Emails like these have become near commonplace, and can negatively influence our productivity. There are a number of things you can do to mitigate this however, the most important revolves around writing good emails.

Here's six tips that can help ensure that the emails you send get your message across. By writing quality emails, you could see your productivity increase as you will have more time to do your work instead of clarifying sloppy emails.

1. Have a clear decision or action 99% of the emails you send are to ask someone to take an action, make a decision, reply etc. So, before you write any email pause for a minute and ask yourself: Why am I writing this and what do I want the recipient to do with this email?

If you can't provide a clear answer to these two questions, you may want to try contacting the recipient through another medium, or take some time to think and come up with an answer.

2. Write it backwards Once you know why you are writing your email, the actual writing becomes a lot easier. Because you will most likely be asking the recipient to do something, why not start with the request. Simply write down, in clear English, what you want done.

It's important to be as clear and direct as possible to avoid any confusion and potential follow up emails that will distract you. Once you have stated what you want, then you can provide justification to your request, or background information.

The reason this works is because many business owners/managers/employees are busy, they don't have time to read a whole report's worth of information that ends with a request. Most of the time they will just skip to the end anyways, so why not put the most important part - the action that you want them to take - at the beginning.

3. Use lists Many poorly written emails aren't actually poorly written. They are just formatted in an inefficient manner. In most English classes, students are taught to develop their ideas or arguments through logical paragraphs, while having only one point to each paragraph. Pause for a minute and think: If you get an email asking you to make a decision on what product to buy with five paragraphs each talking about a benefit or reason, would you actually read the whole email? Chances are the answer is no.

To be more efficient, break your ideas/reasons/arguments into a list. You can usually summarize the majority of main ideas of each paragraph into a single sentence. This makes them easier for you and the recipient to read.

4. KISS We don't mean you should kiss your monitor. In this context, KISS stands for Keep It Simple and Straightforward. You shouldn't have long essays or arguments with lots of padding. Get to the point immediately and provide the essential information.

If you find yourself writing an essay or long report, email is not the medium you should be using. Instead put your thoughts into a word document that you attach to the email. In the email itself put a brief overview along with the most important points and tell your recipient to check the attachment for more information.

5. Have a relevant subject line The subject of your email is like the title of a report or news article. Without a solid subject, the chances of your email being opened and read are low. It would be a good idea to write your whole email first, then the subject.

A good subject line can A) Interest the recipient enough to get them to open it and B) Provide enough insight so the reader can infer what you want. If you look over a subject line of an email you are about to send and see that it doesn't make sense or reference the email itself, it would be a good idea to re-write it.

6. Proofread everything This may make sense now, but we are all guilty of writing an email and pressing send without reading the content over. Once you hit send, the damage is done, you won't be able to get the email back. That's why it's a good idea to read over your email after you finish.

You should look for any obvious spelling and grammar errors along with ensuring that the content makes sense. If you think it's ok, then you can probably go ahead and send it. If you are the least bit hesitant, walk away from it for a few minutes then come back and read over it again. You will likely be able to see a couple of changes.

There are many options at your disposal that allow you to enhance your and your company's productivity. Contact us today to see how our systems can help.

Technology has reached a point where you don't necessarily have to be in the office in order to work. Many companies have remote employees and have had success with this idea. With the right hires, and defined roles, many telecommuters are just as productive as their office-bound contemporaries. However, one big company doesn't agree.

In late February, an internal memo from Yahoo was leaked. The memo contained a statement indicating that all remote and telecommuting employees will lose their jobs if they continue to work from home after June 2013.

To many in the tech industry, and indeed others who work successfully with remote employees, this might seem like a giant step backwards. There has been a fair amount of backlash on this decision from news outlets, tech experts and employees alike, especially since working from home has proven to increase productivity among certain employees.

According to the memo, "To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices." The two key points here are 'collaboration' and 'communication'. If these are both executed successfully, you have generally productive employees and increased profits.

On the other hand, technology is at a point where employees can log in to their work systems from anywhere. Combine this with video conferencing and cloud solutions such as Google Drive and Microsoft Office 365, which allow real-time collaboration, face-time in an office could be seen as somewhat of a redundant idea. If remote working is executed efficiently, you might save money, see productivity increase more than it might in a physically present team, and profits potentially rise too.

It's certainly an interesting debate. Does physical face-time or telecommuting equal greater productivity? What we can say, is that it depends on the company and the industry to a large extent. Obviously, restaurants couldn't operate using remote employees. But, if your business can support it, this may be a viable way to boost productivity, keep employees happy and cut expensive overhead costs such as rents for office premises.

We'd like to hear that you think. Would you rather work from home, or do you benefit from the structure and face-to-face dealings in an office? Where and when are you most productive?

We'd love to get your feedback. Let us know what your opinion is.

A common trend of office software developers - those who make programs that allow users to create documents, spreadsheets, etc. - is to focus on tools that make the user more productive. Two such tools are email and the calendar, both of which are heavily used by nearly all business owners and employees. The problem is, for Google users at least, that the calendar is separate from email which is a bit of a hassle when you need to access it. There is an app that makes this easier however.

You may be familiar with the app Boomerang which allows you to schedule emails to be sent later. Well, the developers of Boomerang also offer Boomerang Calendar for Google Calendar. This app brings three great productivity enhancing features.

One-click scheduling of meetings Gmail users know that when you are reading an email and need to look up a date, you can't easily do so directly from your email. Boomerang Calendar adds an option to 'suggest meeting times' directly in the email draft window. Pressing suggest meeting times will bring up a pop-up window of Google Calendar with lets you select different potential meeting times.

You can then generate a template in the email which will contain the suggested times. This is a lot easier than switching back and forth between tabs and sending more than one email to figure out a time and date.

Smart email scanning Another cool feature of this app is that it scans your emails for dates and will give you the option to create meetings or events directly from your email. Alternatively, clicking on the time will open your calendar in a pop-up window to the date and time to show you if you have any conflicting appointments. You can also suggest alternative times if there is a schedule conflict.

Better group planning Collaboration and teamwork are crucial these days, but it can be a chore to get employees from different departments together at the same time. This app allows you to create a group event right from Gmail with the press of a button. Pressing the Plan Group Event button will open a pop-up where you can invite team members, name the event and propose dates and times.

When you send the email, recipients will be able to sign up for the time they like, allowing you to keep track of it. This helps the group pick a time that works, and reduces the number of emails that go back and forth, which means you can spend more time on managing your business.

Boomerang Calendar is currently only available for Gmail users, and is in Open Beta testing, meaning it's free. There is no word on when, or if, this will be released for Outlook users, however the chances are high that there will be an app coming soon. If you would like to install this app, check out the website here. And if you would like to learn how our tech products and services can help you be more productive at work, please contact us today.

While being an entrepreneur can be a rewarding experience, it's also a time consuming one. Work-life balance to many business owners is non-existent because they spend all of their time focusing on so many different aspects of their business. An entrepreneur's attention is often pulled in 100 different directions at once, which often leads to poor productivity and a non existent work-life balance. However, it doesn't have to be this way.

Here are three tips to help small business owners or managers be more productive and from that achieve a more desirable work-life balance.

Learn how you spend your time To be productive, you need to know how you spend your time. The easiest way to do this is to keep a log, or journal, of what you do each day. You should include everything you do in relation to work, including: travel time, Facebook breaks, time spent checking emails, meetings, etc.

The goal here is twofold. Firstly, you get a solid glimpse of how you spend each day; secondly, you can see if there is anything you do that takes up way too much time. Some experts suggest you do this for a week at least. To get the best results though, it would be better to do this for at least two weeks to a month.

There are a number of different ways you can go about journaling your activities. For the old-fashioned among us, go buy a day-timer that has at least one page per each day. For the more technical, your email programs like Outlook or Gmail have powerful calendars that you can record activities on. For the mobile crowd, mobile versions of Outlook, Google Calendar or even your phone's native calendar app will work great.

When you have your day timer/calendar app, it's time to start recording your activities. Record when you start one, and when you finish. From there, clearly label the activity. Over a few weeks, or even days, you will begin to see a clear picture of how you spend your time.

Plan to be more productive After you have figured out where you spend your time, you can begin to schedule around your strengths and weaknesses. The key here is to schedule time that is uninterrupted so you can focus on one task. If you find that you are checking your email every five minutes, it may be a good idea to schedule time in the morning and just after lunch for checking and replying to emails. When you aren't in that time period, you can work in a focused way on something else.

By sticking to a more rigid schedule you will find your productivity starts to rise. If you are having a tough time keeping to a set schedule, try using the pomodoro technique. This is where you set a certain amount of time for one task, and gradually increase the amount of time you focus on that task.

Play off your strengths If you are a small business owner, chances are you wear lots of hats. One minute you're wearing a spiffy salesperson hat while the next you're wearing an HR hat. This constant switching of roles, or doing everything yourself, is not good business practice.

If you are aware that you are constantly spending time on bookkeeping and yet hardly get anything done because you lack the necessary accounting skills, it may be a good idea to look into hiring a part-time accountant.

Many business owners struggle with delegation, as they feel the need to control everything. One way to challenge this idea is by looking at your hourly rate. If you charge $100 an hour and an accountant is $50 an hour, it makes sense to hire the accountant instead.

By outsourcing, you will find that you have more time to focus on what you're good at. As a result your productivity will rise and a better work-life balance will soon follow. If you'd like to learn more about how our IT systems can help make you even more productive, please contact us.

When it comes to technology, nothing is better than a new computer or system. The problem many small businesses face is that they often can't afford new tech, and normally wait to replace items. The end of the year, and first few months of the new one is historically the best time to purchase new technology, especially tech that depreciates in value quickly. An issue faced by many owners is that there's so many different types of devices out there it can be overwhelming trying to pick the right kind.

When shopping for new technology it's beneficial to know what types of devices are out there and what circumstances they are ideal for. Below is a list of the major categories of technical devices available.

Thin clients Thin clients are a type of computer where the computing power is stored on a server. On an employee's desk there will usually be a monitor, mouse and keyboard that they use to access the system - hosted on the server. These systems are typically low power, but are generally cheap to run and maintain. Any updates are done on the server and are instantly accessible to all users. The beauty of thin clients is that the servers don't have to be in your office. They can be in another location, managed by another company - where everything runs in the cloud. Because of this, thin clients are becoming an increasingly popular option.

Due to shared resources, thin clients are ideal for positions that only require minimal computing power. For example: retail operations, restaurants, sales departments, finance departments, etc. For positions that rely on computer processing power, use programs like CAD, or use legacy systems thin clients aren't a good choice.

Desktops Desktops are the standard in the majority of offices mainly because they offer solid computing power and systems meet the needs of a wide variety of budgets and needs. Desktops can take up space and businesses usually require a solid management plan to ensure every desktop is secure and using the same software.

Desktops are ideal for employees that need computing power, or who have resource intensive roles e.g., engineers who use CAD, designers who use Photoshop Suite, etc. Desktops are not a good solution for employees who are out of the office extended periods of time, or if you have limited physical space.

Laptops Laptops are portable, relatively cheap and can do nearly everything a desktop can. Their size means they are popular with mobile employees, e.g., salespeople, franchise owners, board members, etc. While laptops can handle many of the same tasks as their larger cousins, they do struggle with multi-tasking. If you need to have more than one window or program open it can be annoying having to constantly switch.

Tablets The iPad has shown that the tablet is here to stay, with some companies even being able to do away with the laptop. Like the bigger laptop, tablets are designed to be mobile and are ideal for keeping in touch with the office while on the road. They are perfect for employees who give lots of presentations or need to multi-task. Where they lack is in document creation and editing. While this can be done on tablets, it just takes time and a whole lot of patience.

If you have a mobile workforce that doesn't need to change documents on a regular basis e.g., salespeople at trade shows, tablets are a great choice.

Smartphones It's pretty clear that the smartphone is ideal for nearly every company. Users can check and reply to email, look at most files and many have even started to use it as their main phone. If you have employees that need to be connected to the office e.g., doctors or support staff, the smartphone is a great way for them to stay in touch while not having to be in the office.

With the sheer number of devices and uses, you can guarantee that different positions will require/benefit from different tools, and you should take this into account when looking to buy new devices. The other thing that works well is to adopt a multiple device scheme where users have complementary devices. For example, you can have one desktop for two sales staff who also have a tablet. They can use the tablet while out of the office and the desktop for heavier tasks when in the office.

The key here is to pick devices that will best complement your employees, and allow them to be productive wherever they may be. If you're looking to purchase new devices for your office this holiday season, why not contact us? We may have the perfect solution for you.

For smaller companies and businesses who are constantly on the lookout for great free finds on the web: here are a few nifty and free online tools that might potentially help you, both in saving costs and boosting your productivity and efficiency.

It is a constant challenge for small businesses to meet ever-changing and ever-evolving IT requirements while balancing a budget and keeping costs reasonable. And with software applications being one of the major factors that contribute to IT maintenance costs, it is always welcome news to come across free tools that work well and efficiently despite the lack of a price tag.

ThinkFree Online Office One of these applications is ThinkFree Online Office, which is a cloud application that enables you to create and edit documents in common formats. It also comes with free 1GB of storage and allows you to work from anywhere, since the documents are stored online. And with its own app for Android users, ThinkFree is particularly advantageous to people who need to work on the go.

ReqMan Another free cloud-based application that can prove useful is ReqMan, an online project management tool. You can use this to manage and track your different projects using various templates the service provides. And since it's in the cloud, mobile personnel and staff who are given access to your ReqMan account can work even when they're out of the office.

Gliffy Gliffy is a free tool that you can use to create all sorts of technical illustrations – diagrams, floor plans, flowcharts, and more. The basic plan is free, but you also have the option to subscribe to their more fully featured plans for a minimal fee.

ScheduleOnce For managing schedules, calendars, and the like, ScheduleOnce allows you to keep better track of all your appointments, meetings, and deadlines through a single tool. It integrates with your calendar on Google, and then allows other people to see your open times when they can schedule a meeting with you. Think of it as a one-stop-shop for your scheduling needs.

If you want to know more about these tools and how you can best utilize them, please feel free to contact us. We’ll be happy to guide you and help you make the most out of these types of applications to improve your efficiency and bottom line.

The word ‘instant’ can be defined as happening immediately, and is a catchword of the modern world, all around us, from instant rice to instant noodles and instant printing, the list goes on. This concept, while not new, has arguably been taken to extremes thanks to the abundance of technology. This is a two-faced issue, for while it's great to see the results of the latest election without delay, this expectation has changed how we interact.

This insatiable need for the ‘instant’ has arguably led to a decrease in the overall attention span of many people. We no longer focus on one thing and are constantly multi-tasking. Think of the last time you went out for a team lunch, what was the conversation like? More than likely you were sat around a table, talking for about five minutes before almost everyone resorted to looking at their phones, while kind of listening. Beyond that, think of the last time you had to wait for something, anything. If you're like a lot of people, you probably mumbled some comment or question as to why it was taking so long.

This instant, multitasking, relatively impatient lifestyle has started to really affect many us in negative ways. For example, looking at a forum post with over three pages of entries, most people will read the first few visible posts and then skip to the end and read the last post. If the post contains lots of text, most people bust out the TL;DR (Too Long; Didn't Read) and skip most of the information, potentially missing the most important parts.

If this was on an important sales contract and you skipped over the section that detailed how your company would be compensated because you just didn't have the time or patience to read it, you could irreparably harm your business, simply because you didn't feel like reading a few extra paragraphs.

Before you go throwing the computer out the window - many businesses simply can't afford to get rid of it, or can't operate without it - you should take a step back and track how you utilize technology in your daily life. Look for gadgets, devices and even websites that distract you and take steps to decrease their use. Using a timer with a set amount of time during which you concentrate on work, and another with a smaller amount of time for breaks could be a real big help.

There are thousands of other ways you can increase your productivity, regardless of your reliance on technology. Which do you find work for you? Let us know.

Do you send large files on a regular basis and struggle to attach them to emails due to size limits placed by the email provider? While using email to send files is convenient, it can be a hassle to send large files. One way to do this, that simultaneously decreases the size of the file, is by using a program to compress the files.

File compression, or zipping, is the process of using a program that takes files or a folder on your computer and combines them into one file, then compresses this into a smaller package. It does this by taking redundant information that is prolific in data, and paring it down to one list that all files in the compression can use. For a brilliant, in-depth explanation on how zipping works, you can checkout this article on HowStuffWorks. As with most computer related programs, choice isn’t limited to a couple of programs, rather there are hundreds. Here are five of the best:

WinZip WinZip is the most popular compression/decompression program amongst PC users. The latest version of WinZip, WinZip 16.5, allows users to zip and send files via email - using YouSendIt, a program that uploads files to a server and sends a link over email that recipients click on to download the file. The program is easy to use, just open it up, select the files to zip and the program will help you to compress your files. Decompression is as easy as double clicking on the zipped file (.zip). WinZip also allows you to encrypt compressed files. The program has a free trial, but will cost around USD$30.00. Available for Mac and Windows.

WinRar The second most popular compression program for Windows is WinRar. RAR files are another popular form of compression container used by Windows users for archiving purposes. WinRar offers a higher compression ratio than WinZip which means files will be smaller, while also offering tools that can help repair damaged RAR archives along with strong file encryption. Like WinZip, the tool has a free trial, but then costs around USD$29.00 per user, with the price per user reducing the more users there are. WinRar is available for Windows.

PeaZip Looking for a free compression program that has an easy to navigate interface and supports a large number of compression formats? PeaZip is a good choice that has all these features. PeaZip also offers some of the strongest encryption features compared to other compression programs, including two-factor authentication. PeaZip is available for Windows and Unix.

Stuffit Stuffit is the go-to file compression and decompression program for Mac users who want more robust features than those offered by the built-in OS X compression program. This program is similar to other zip programs, it opens, compresses, encrypts and can share your files. It does all this through an incredibly user friendly interface, and costs from USD$29.99. Stuffit is available for Mac and Windows.

7-Zip If your compression needs go beyond simply compressing the odd file, and your budget doesn’t allow for extra licenses, 7-Zip is the program for you. It’s open-source, which means there is a solid base of experts working on constantly improving the program. As an added benefit, it’s free, while being fairly easy to use. You just have to get over the somewhat dated interface. Then again, retro is in style now isn’t it? 7-Zip is available for Mac, Windows, Linux, Ubuntu, Command Line Interfaces and Windows Phone.

These five programs should cover all your compression needs, while allowing you to send more files, or increase available storage space. If you have any questions about compression programs, please contact us.