Nowadays, the Internet offers self-employed people a wide range of opportunities for self-organization. Start-ups rely more and more on online tools that make everyday work easier and more efficient. These increase productivity in the company, provide clarity, and facilitate communication and self-organization in the team.
In addition, online tools have the advantage that they are available around the clock from anywhere, allowing you to work from anywhere. With many free apps and software, many founders find it difficult to find the right online tools for their company. That is why today we are introducing you to our top 10 online tools
Online Tools Provide These Advantages
Contents
Online tools can make your day-to-day work a lot easier. Tasks can be organized efficiently, discussed in a team, and completed more quickly with the right tools. We have compiled the most important advantages of online tools that contribute positively to your business organization.
Facilitated Communication In The Team
“Teamwork” is one of the most important terms in the modern world of work. To work effectively in a team, it is helpful to use modern working methods and technologies. Thanks to online tools, team members can now work together independently from anywhere in the world.
More and more people work in the home office and still have the opportunity to get in touch with their colleagues at any time to discuss tasks and work progress.
Modern communication tools are about to replace e-mail as the primary means of corporate communication. This has the advantage, for example, that no more messages are lost, and conversations can be restricted to the relevant communication partners, which means that annoying spam messages are avoided. Creating groups makes it possible to work together in an organized and effective way – no matter where you are.
Organize Projects Better
It is much easier to coordinate projects when you switch to online tools. If you save your data in a cloud, you always have an overview of all documents. Many online tools have tracking functions that allow team members to follow the development of projects and provide feedback – a meeting or phone call is no longer necessary.
You can check the current status of a project at any time, see which tasks are currently in progress, which have already been completed, and what still needs to be done. To-do tools replace confusing notes, and appointments are already organized online in most companies.
Availability And Security
Regardless of whether you are at home, on the go, or in the office – with the help of online tools, you can keep an eye on your company at all times. If you’re using a cloud, all documents are stored in one place. You no longer have to bring these with you on a USB stick or other storage media, and therefore you cannot forget or lose them. Updates and changes are immediately visible; there is no longer any need for different email versions of a document back and forth.
Security is another important consideration when it comes to online tools. Even if you lose your laptop, tablet, or smartphone, all documents are still available online. If you’ve accidentally deleted a document, you can usually recover it.
To Save Time
All of these aspects reduce time and thus ensure a more efficient way of working. Team members are spared long journeys, and interruptions during work due to discussions of the current project status are largely redundant. Employees receive feedback faster and can respond to it directly. Compose and reply to messages faster.
You can plan, split and edit projects better. In summary, one can say that the correct use of online tools can save you a lot of time that benefits your actual work.
Our Top 10 Online Tools
In the following, we would like to introduce you to a selection of tools that have convinced us and that we use regularly.
Slack
For us, Slack is the ideal tool for team communication. We use Slack to discuss current projects, business-relevant topics, ideas, news, and dates and exchange documents and links.
The practical communication tool was developed by Stewart Butterfield, the founder of the photo service Flickr, and has recently gained popularity. Slack promises companies of all sizes to have all business-related discussions in one place online.
Numerous apps can be integrated into Slack, such as Trello and Google Drive. Slack shows all notifications from the built-in apps in a unified activity stream. This means that all discussions from different apps can take place in one central location.
The so-called channels are particularly useful. Here at sevDesk, we have defined various subject areas, such as “Marketing,” “Good Ideas,” and “Good Tools.” The channels are discussion forums in which each member can post ideas and links and distribute updates and news on the topic. You can add as many team members as you want to the channels – this way, only those relevant to the topic can be reached. You can use the “@” sign to address individual team members who will receive notification of the link via email.
It is also possible to create private groups. This is especially useful when discussing individual projects. Here, too, you have the option of only adding team members who are involved in the project. Documents can easily be exchanged in groups or private conversations using drag & drop.
Slack is ideal for forgetful people: You can easily search the entire news archive for key terms and thus find older messages again. The search results can be sorted by date or relevance. In general, Slack is very clear and self-explanatory.
All team members are listed in a sidebar, as well as channels and private groups. This is the respective conversation, which is displayed in a continuous stream sorted by date.
We can only recommend Slack. It is a practical and simple communication tool that virtually every company needs.
Trello
To-do lists are a thing of the past – modern organization tools like Trello are taking their place instead. Trello is perfect for jotting down all tasks in the company and assigning them to one or more people. This makes Trello easier for both teamwork in the company and self-organization.
The clear boards and cards can be used for the entire project planning. Any number of cards can be assigned to the individual boards. Each of these cards contains a task and can be provided with texts, attachments, deadlines, tags, and checklists and supplemented with comments or ratings so that you can communicate about individual tasks directly in Trello. A particularly successful feature is the drag & drop function, with which you can easily move cards with a click of the mouse.
At sevDesk, we have divided the boards into subject areas such as “Marketing” and “Website.” If you click on one of these boards, all cards that deal with the respective topic are listed. The status of the cards is divided into columns, which in turn are sorted by month.
If a task is being planned, it ends up in the “planned” column. If this is edited, it is dragged and dropped into the “in progress” column and, if it is completed, it is stored in the “done” column. So you can see at a glance which tasks still need to be completed this month and which have already been completed.
If you create a new card, any number of people can be assigned to it, who can be notified of the new task by email. All news for tasks you have been marked can be viewed by clicking on the “alarm bell” at the top right. Trello also has practical search and filter functions – so you can find cards very quickly.
All in all, Trello is a helpful tool for company organization for us, the design of which is convincing. It has a simple and understandable structure and is suitable for anyone who wants to end their chaos of notes.
OwnCloud
Cloud computing, literally “computing with the cloud,” is in the process of permanently changing the universe of modern information technology. Clouds make it possible that programs and data are no longer stored locally on your operating system but are stored on a server and are available via the Internet.
Today hardly any computer or smartphone can do without a cloud service. But the cloud also arouses suspicion among many-after all; you don’t want to leave all your data to a single company. We at sevDesk have therefore opted for the “ownCloud” cloud service, on which we store all company data. In contrast to Dropbox, iCloud, and Co., with ownCloud, all content is stored directly on your webspace or server – so you always have control over your data. In addition to the space on your server, external storage such as Dropbox or Google Drive can be integrated.
ownCloud is perfect for sharing your cloud with other users and allocating this specified storage space. You can easily make documents available to individual users or user groups. You can also set passwords for more security.
The ownCloud interface is clear and straightforward. The sidebar shows all available folders that can be filled with files, music, contact details, pictures, and much more. Online administration is also easy: text files can be edited directly via the web interface, and PDF documents and graphics can be displayed in the web browser without additional software.
ownCloud is ideal for teamwork, as you can open and edit documents from anywhere. External storage media such as USB sticks are no longer required, as all content is available everywhere. It is no longer necessary to write different email versions of a file back and forth. For example, you can give feedback much faster.
For us, ownCloud is extremely useful, as all data is available to us in a single place – regardless of which device and where you are currently. That’s why we can only recommend ownCloud.
Asana And BaseCamp: Both Basecamp are powerful team collaboration tools that offer organizations a great way to move from the conventional email chatter to efficient team management around tasks and projects.
Confluence
Confluence is wiki software developed by the Australian company Atlassian and is mainly used for communication and knowledge exchange within the company. The online tool Confluence is an online lexicon, the contents of which you can not only read online but also edit directly in the web browser.
In Confluence, you can create various categories and subpages, the content of which you can easily change or add to. In this way, knowledge in the company can be constantly exchanged and expanded. You can search the “Lexicon” without any problems, and you can also mark people here with an “@” and notify them by email.
We at sevDesk have divided our wiki into different categories, such as “Marketing & PR,” “Research & Development,” “Sales & Support,” etc. These categories are divided into subcategories, which we have filled with various internal information and continuously update.
For example, in the sub-category “Inbound Marketing,” you can find checklists for creating blog posts and results for surveys of the desired content and other marketing-relevant analyses. For our team, Confluence is an extremely useful knowledge database that we are constantly expanding.
Doodle
Sometimes finding an appointment in a group can take longer than the appointment itself – everyone is probably familiar with this problem. The online tool Doodle can help. Doodle is the classic for making appointments in a team and should be familiar to most of you.
Whether you plan an event, an excursion, a meeting, or simply a joint lunch, pretty much everything can be coordinated with Doodle. The principle of Doodle is very simple: You choose a topic, suggest dates, and create the finished survey in a few minutes. Participants can be invited by e-mail – and the appointment poll is ready. Participants do not need to register to make an appointment.
We at sevDesk always use Doodles when joint action is due, so that on the one hand we can find a suitable date and on the other hand we know how many team members will appear. Doodle is a very practical tool that saves a lot of time when it comes to making appointments.
MindMeister
MindMeister is a very useful, simple tool when it comes to brainstorming. The web app makes brainstorming easier and more efficient with the help of a virtual mind map. The principle of the mind map, i.e., the visualization of ideas and conceptual fields on a topic, should be familiar to everyone.
The advantage of MindMeister over the good old mind map on paper is, among other things, that you can work together as a team from different points of view on a mind map. MindMeister is particularly useful when you don’t have the opportunity to meet on site.
The mind maps in MindMeister can be designed in a visually appealing way; colored links and media are quickly inserted. The finished mind map can then be exported as a PDF or JPG file. On MindMeister, you can create both private and public mind maps. The free use is unfortunately limited to three mind maps. If you want to use more features, you need the paid version.
Toggl
Toggl is a modern time management tool. Thanks to the time tracking functions, you always have an overview of how much time you spend on certain activities or tasks. Toggl can help you improve both your personal and business time management.
Via Toggl, for example, you can see the time of all activities for a certain project and decide accordingly whether you want to invest more or less time for certain activities in the future. The “reports” show you how much time you have spent with things in the last few days, weeks, or months.
Toggl offers a range of practical tools, such as creating diagrams, exporting tables, or sending professional reports by email. Particularly practical: Toggl can also be used for teamwork. You can create an unlimited number of projects and teams. This makes it much easier to check and adjust the time for individual projects. Toggl has many innovative functions and an appealing, individually adaptable design and is, therefore, our favorite when it comes to time management tools.
Clickup
Clickup is a task and project management tool that facilitates work organization in companies and increases productivity in teams. Clickup is a useful tool, especially for globally operating companies, as it supports the coordination of location-independent work in different teams.
Tasks can be clearly defined with this tool. This means that in addition to setting priorities and deadlines, responsibilities can also be assigned. Work results that are achieved during the task process can be documented or commented on at any time.
Projects are used to view the individual tasks in a larger overall context. Different tasks are assigned to different projects. This creates a clear visualization and assignment for more complex issues. Managers with several employees, in particular, do not lose sight of the essentials.
In order not to have to create recurring or similar projects over and over again, ClickUp can use templates. Click supports you and your company in developing routines, thus saving time and money in the long term.
All in all, Clickup supplements the functionalities of tools such as Trello and Wunderlist in terms of task management with the project component. If your company is growing rapidly (more employees, more customers, etc.), ClickUp can help you keep track of things.
Google Drive
Word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation programs have become indispensable in everyday office life. The fact that online giant Google took advantage of it a few years ago.
Google Drive is the company’s file hosting service and, in addition to storing documents in a cloud, allows documents to be edited together. With Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms as part of Google Drive, you have a useful online equivalent to Microsoft Office. And it’s completely free.
The user interface is just as intuitive as that of the market leader Microsoft. Anyone who has already worked with other Office programs will not have any problems with Google Drive.
At sevDesk, in particular, Google Docs and Google Sheets are used regularly. Minutes and the like can be created in meetings by several employees simultaneously, thanks to the joint editing function. The data can then be shared without problems using a “release button” and entering a corresponding email address.
The Google Sheet for editorial plans can be used as a concrete application example. Every employee involved is always up to date, and changes are visible at all times.
You can write professional invoices and send them directly to customers by email or post in just a few seconds. With the help of artificial intelligence, sevDesk processes your receipts and incoming invoices automatically and reads out relevant data. The appropriate booking category will then be suggested to you immediately.
In addition to the simple creation of offers, delivery notes, invoices, or reminders, sevDesk has many other useful functions. You can keep your cash book properly, submit your advance VAT return to the tax office with just a few clicks, or create your income statement. Thanks to online banking, you can pay open bills directly from the software.
Conclusion
These nine online tools help us organize and structure our daily work, distribute tasks, and work productively in a team. We hope that we could give you a good insight into our most important tools – of course, there are a handful of others that we like to use but cannot describe in detail here. Perhaps you will discover one or the other online tool for yourself and your company – it’s worth it!