Top Productivity Apps You Really Should Be Using for Smart Workplaces

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Every top workplace wants their employees to be more productive. However, whether an employee can get better or not, really lies with themselves. So, if you’re here, we hope productivity tips is your objective. If so, this article’s for you! We curate some top productivity apps that will really add a punch to your workplaces in becoming smarter and modern!

So, what do these apps do? How do these productivity apps value-add to what you or your team currently do? Who would these apps be most suitable for? We discuss these and more in this article for the power workhorse! Go forth!

The world wide web is huge, and yet you had stumbled on my site looking for something. I hope you find it as we had taken huge efforts to create them. Best of all, its FREE! Hence, some of our content may include affiliate links (i.e. whenever you click on the links and purchase, I earn a small commission at no extra costs to you!). No worries! Some of these links may look like phishing, but I assure you they are not! Lastly, the affiliation does not affect my reviews towards them. Enjoy!

  1. Calendly
  2. Evernote
  3. GanttPRO
  4. Lucidspark
  5. Otter.Ai
  6. Sembly AI
  7. Todoist

1. Calendly

Top Productivity Apps: Calendly

Year Founded: 2013

Country of Origin: USA

What This App Does?

  • Provide a single calendar synced from multiple platforms such as Outlook and Zoom.
  • The calendar allows colleagues to book meetings with you only on your free slots, which prevent clashes and the need for email or phone contact to book one.
  • Helps keep your day schedule to plan and better impactful meetings with auto-reminders (and follow-ups too!).

Use Factor

  • Automated Workflows – Easily build workflows to automate meeting reminders and follow-ups such as Thank You note. In turn, this improves attendance and minimizes no-shows and cancellations. The outcome is better relationship, professionalism and trust. Your clients and colleagues will appreciate it!
  • Integrates with ATS & Payment – Calendly integrates with nearly 100 third-party apps to further enhance its ‘productive’ offerings potential. Moreover, with Zapier, users can expect to automate as much as 4,000+ tasks! Nonetheless, we really wish to point you to Calendly’s integration with other Applicant Tracking Systems and Payment Services Providers. The former means less emails, more interviews, and even a whole-new experience for candidates! Fit for the innovative companies! While the latter, means you can collect payment from your clients during the meeting itself with PayPal and Stripe!
  • Plan On-The-Go – Being productive is really about keeping all your work within work hours. However, if you need to, you still can with Calendly’s mobile app for iOS and Android devices. That’s productivity apps for you! The app itself is full-featured and work in-sync with the web app. So, everything that is done on the mobile app is reflected in real-time.

Best Suitable For?

  • Executives needing to meet colleagues and external parties frequently. For instance, senior Executives, sales professionals, and HR recruiters. Those needing to travel frequently while juggling their busy daily schedule will find Calendly a huge plus too!

Pricing

  • Free Use: Yes, for 1 Calendar Sync
  • Paid Plan: fr US$ 8/mo/seat for 2 Calendar Sync
  • Specials: Special Pricing to Qualified Non-Profits via Email Contact

2. Evernote

Top Productivity Apps: Evernote

Year Founded: 2008

Country of Origin: USA

What This App Does?

  • Capture details (e.g. from website, PDF, images, camera scans etc.) and record ideas (as notes) for access later anytime, anywhere.
  • Turn any ‘notes’ into to-do lists and get them all done with reminders and due dates.
  • Safe keeps all your notes (including saved images etc.) forever within your personal organised space.

Use Factor

  • Record As You Want – Evernote allows you to record anything, not just texts. For instances, photos, documents, PDFs, webpages, and even screenshots! Particularly, the Web Clipper tool allow users to capture a specific section of a webpage and annotate to record your thoughts at that instance. Additionally, use the mobile app to quickly scan any document with your device’s camera and save them where you know you can find it! Scan receipts, transport tickets, product information and any documents that matters!
  • Locate What You Need – See, recording is one thing, but finding it is another! Fortunately, productivity apps like Evernote are a whole package! With Evernote, you can search by your handwriting, by texts in a document, or just use tags to keep them organised right from the start! Yes, there is Optical Character Recognition (OCR) in Evernote! By the way, Evernote can identify 28 typewritten languages and 11 handwritten ones, with the language toggle-able! In short, Evernote finds all!
  • Easy to Start with Templates – By now, if you’re still thinking that Evernote is another note-taking app, then what we’re going to tell you will change it! There are ready ‘notes’ templates in Evernote, that allows for a variety of purposes from marketing, sales, meetings, project management, to school and more! Use templates such as business plan, social media calendar, and project tracker to help you pen your ideas in a presentable document format. Where needed, edit the templates further to fit your use!

Best Suitable For?

  • Anyone with a hectic schedule and needing to be detail-conscious. Most particularly, innovators and designers finding themselves needing to record their inspiration as they come will enjoy Evernote. Also, supervisors and inspectors who need to capture any details on-the-go for follow-up later on!

Pricing

  • Free Use: Yes, for 2 Devices sync & 60MB Upload
  • Paid Plan: fr US$ 7.99/mo for Unlimited Devices Sync & 10GB Upload
  • Specials: 50% Off One-Year Subscription to Evernote Personal for Eligible Students

3. GanttPRO

Top Productivity Apps: GanttPRO

Year Founded: 2015

Country of Origin: Poland

What This App Does?

  • A platform for users to collaborate over their projects with Gantt charts.
  • Project tracking and team management features enable users to complete their projects efficiently, and effectively.
  • Different toggle-able views of the Gantt charts and exportable reports (i.e. Budget & Time Log) make internal and external reporting possible and easy.

Use Factor

  • Custom & Pre-Built Templates – First and foremost, Gantt charts aren’t something available only in 4G. However, an online cloud-based one with smart capabilities is. GanttPRO comes with ready-to-use templates for you to plug-and-play, and start building your own charts. Moreover, building is a matter of drag-and-drop! As per GanttPRO, users can take only as much as 7 minutes to learn it. So, try it out and be on your way to an expert Project Manager!
  • Built-In Collaboration – With GanttPRO, there is no need to plan with the platform and then communicate elsewhere. Use the platform itself to communicate plans and discuss over comments with other team members. It’s just so handy. In addition, if you’re the supervisor, you can assign roles and responsibilities, as well as, the tasks and resources for it. Thereby, helping you to manage their workload for maximum productivity and efficiency!
  • Auto Scheduling – This feature simplifies planning by automatically recalculating and adjusting your task according to changes made. Doing so is a huge time-saver and error minimiser. Hence, the reason GanttPRO is in this list of top productivity apps!

Best Suitable For?

  • Professionals handling large and long projects such as in construction, events and marketing. Students embarking in a career in these lines should explore this app for the learning edge.

Pricing

  • Free Use: No. 14-Day Free Trial
  • Paid Plan: fr US$ 8.90/mo/user
  • Specials: 50% Off for Non-Profits, Schools & Students via Email or Live Chat

4. Lucidspark

Top Productivity Apps: Lucidspark

Year Founded: 2010

Country of Origin: USA

What This App Does?

  • Platform for brainstorming and collaboration over virtual whiteboards.
  • A creative space for inspiration, ideas sharing and strategic planning from the comfort of anywhere…
  • … and without the technicalities. That brings fun, ice-breaks and free thoughts.

Use Factor

  • Integrates with Zoom & MS Teams – What we like so much of Lucidspark is its integration with Zoom and Microsoft Teams that makes Lucidspark possible to use during the video conferencing itself! That is, like an upgrade over your current video meetings that isn’t just talking. Moreover, users can ‘break into groups’ for separate brainstorming with Lucidspark, and then gather back for group sharing after wards. Frankly, there’s so much more features to explore using Lucidspark in video conferencing. I mean, the thing here is; all these for better meetings. So, go try!
  • Creative Tools – Productivity aside. With Lucidspark, it’s about creativity too! Use the different tools like breakout boards, timer, voting, emojis, sticky notes and all to brainstorm effectively. Then, re-organise them into proper plans and strategies in your ideal view. That is, flowchart, venn diagram, 2×2 matrix etc. before setting your team to work on it. Imagine all these while your team is hyped and inspired from the session! Now that’s serious productivity!
  • Innovative Templates – How can top productivity apps skip using templates when they can? In Lucidspark, there’s already a huge gallery! I mean, click the link and have a look. Some are made by Lucidspark users themselves, which are reflective of real-life work and requirements!

Best Suitable For?

  • Any work environment with a focus on collaboration and creativity. So, Lucidspark is a sure value-add to any creative and design teams. Not forgetting, schools can use this to facilitate discussions among students and nurture collaboration skills.

Pricing

  • Free Use: Yes, for 3 Boards & Basic Features
  • Paid Plan: fr US$ 7.95/mo for Unlimited Boards

5. Otter.Ai

Top Productivity Apps: Otter.AI

Year Founded: 2016

Country of Origin: USA

What This App Does?

  • Convert & save your meeting conversation as text for later references.
  • Syncs with Zoom, MS Teams & Google Meet to offer a no-effort way to taking minutes accurately while maximising your time for effective virtual meetings.
  • Recorded texts can be easily added into professional reports and further furnished with comments, questions and images, to turn into action plans.

Use Factor

  • AI-Powered Transcription – Central to Otter.ai’s technology is speech-to-text, a powerful artificial intelligence. With advanced algorithm, the AI’s machine learning capabilities makes Otter.ai better with every meeting. That is, speaker identification will get more accurate, along with use of vocabulary, and summarising notes. The outcome is smarter collaboration and higher quality of work!
  • Access Anytime & Anywhere – What more? With Otter.ai’s web app, mobile app version and Chrome extension, you and your teammates from anywhere around the world can use it as and where most conducive for them! All it takes is a sign-up! I mean, buy later, but you got to try Otter.ai out! Afterall, there’s too many meetings, too little time, too many things to note, right?
  • Need Not Be Present – Now, the feature that make Otter.ai into this list of top productivity apps! You actually don’t need to be present in the virtual meeting to start Otter.ai! All you need is set it to auto-join and it will do its transcription. Moreover, you can set Otter.ai to auto-share to all meeting participants after the meeting! Saving you valuable time and effort for work requiring your attention elsewhere!

Best Suitable For?

  • Personal Assistants, Corporate Secretaries and anyone who may find themselves needing to take frequent notes during virtual meetings or classes. In fact, students and academic faculties can find new ways to enhance the learning experiences with this app’s tools for keyword highlights, search, insert images etc.

Pricing

  • Free Use: Yes, for 600 Mins Transcription & Max 30 Mins Transcription Duration
  • Paid Plan: fr US$ 8.33/mo for 6k Mins Transcription & Max 4 Hrs Transcription Duration
  • Specials: Discount for Students & Teachers on Pro Plan

6. Sembly AI

Top Productivity Apps: Sembly AI

Year Founded: 2019

Country of Origin: USA

What This App Does?

  • Virtual meeting recording and transcription similar to Otter.ai.
  • Unlike Otter.ai, syncs with Webex in addition to Zoom, MS Teams and Google Meet.
  • Offers GlanceView™ to generate summary of meetings with topics and key details.

Use Factor

  • GlanceView™ – Arguably, the biggest defining factor to using Sembly AI is its trademarked GlanceView. The smart AI feature is able to recognise key terms in the meeting to build topics around them, and then consequently build a full summary of the meeting. Its technically what only a team of expert minute-takers can do!
  • Works on Webex – Sembly AI works on one more video conferencing platform called Webex. So, if you’re a user of Webex, why not hop on and try a free plan of Sembly AI? Then, hop over to Otter.ai and compare for yourself? Both are freemium!
  • Works for Scheduled & Unscheduled Call – Like Otter.ai, Sembly AI syncs with your calendar and are capable of automatically doing its job. Regardless if you’re in the meeting or not! However, Sembly AI works with unscheduled call too! As long as you ‘invite’ Sembly AI to it! So, without a doubt, worthy to be in this line-up of top productivity apps!

Best Suitable For?

  • Secretaries and personal assistants including virtual and admin assistants.

Pricing

  • Free Use: Yes, Up to 5 Workspace Members
  • Paid Plan: fr US$ 10/mo for Up to 50 Workspace Members

7. Todoist

Top Productivity Apps: Todoist

Year Founded: 2007

Country of Origin: Spain

What This App Does?

  • Tools for tasks management and tracking to bring tasks from planned, organised to done.
  • Help’s employees stay ahead of their tasks, with priority settings, reminders, and deadlines.
  • Syncing with other productivity apps used within the team turns all work into ‘task-based’, and enables high performing work culture.

Use Factor

  • Superb Task Management + Tracking – Todoist comes packed with a bunch of tasks management tools including the ability to ‘quick add’ a task, set recurring tasks, priorities, delegate and more. Besides, it is available as a web app, mobile app, browser extensions and even wearable app too! That is, Todoist have its own version for your iOS and Android-powered watch! Although it supports only task tracking, it’s still pretty cool!
  • Integrates with Top Apps – As we said before, Todoist have its own different versions such as the browser and email add-on to enable users to quickly add tasks or track from there. But if you integrate Todoist with the 100+ third-party productivity apps, the app itself gets even better! For instance, you could integrate with Evernote to turn any note into an actionable task readily. Or, you could integrate with MS Teams to generate new to-dos from messages. It’s like a whole new working experience that only gets better and more productive!
  • Templates Available – Nonetheless, its unproductive if Todoist takes a high learning curve to master, right? Fret not as Todoist comes with ready templates! Use from the various real-life templates such as appointments, annual review, content calendar, event planning and more to set yourself and your team up quickly! Then, take the time to master Todoist as you like as you build your high performing team!

Best Suitable For?

  • Any professionals needing to keep ahead of their tasks and deadlines. High performers and teams looking to build high performing culture will truly appreciate Todoist.

Pricing

  • Free Use: Yes, for 5 Projects & Max 5 MB File Uploads
  • Paid Plan: fr US$ 3/mo/ for 300 Projects & Max 100 MB File Uploads
  • Specials: 50% Off for Registered Non-Profits

Final Comments

Frankly, there’s too many WorkTech that anyone can explore to support their everyday productivity! In fact, all software and apps are built for that! Out of the many, the curated few in this list can be used by nearly every employee in the workforce. Nearly all are freemium which is a good thing. Afterall, this article serves little to bring enough value to what these productivity apps can do! The best is still to try it out yourself by implementing them small-scale first into your everyday work. Take your time on this, and reform your processes accordingly around the app. Once you’re ready, introduce to your team and start building a whole new working experience. Trust us when we say; High performing teams are possible, regardless of anyone’s starting point.

Activities

Which of these productivity apps would you most likely use? Tell us why with a COMMENT below.

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Some TAGS for more productivity boost: Collaboration | Personal Productivity | Video Conferencing

chanty
Donut Atwork We are the Team from Donut Atwork. Bringing you Tutorials, Reviews and Tips from WorkTech for you to achieve wonderful things!

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