Productivity is at the heart of every successful business. So why is it so hard to achieve? Choosing the best productivity tools can support this.
Knowing the features to look out for and considering the needs of your organization, individual teams, and team members can increase the chance of successfully adopting new software and better IT management support.
This article defines productivity tools and discusses their most important features, including those for remote teams, and how these features support IT management
Productivity measures how efficiently people complete tasks, and productivity tools make it easier to measure this efficiency and streamline the process. Staff can complete more tasks in a shorter time.
These tools achieve their aims by allowing staff to access documents quickly, build charts and graphs to show project planning and progress and promote collaboration with colleagues. They work well with the best IT reporting tools on the market to measure success.
These tools have many advantages, such as higher career success and employee experience. Higher productivity means higher employee retention, and savings from avoiding recruitment campaigns mean higher revenue and more cash for innovation and growth.
There are twelve main features to consider when considering a new productivity tool. Which of these will be relevant for your organization will vary depending on your business type, size, and industry. However, these features are a great place to start and can form a solid foundation for decision-making before investment.
1. Customizable Dashboards
When your customizable view of your timelines, projects, files, Kanban boards, and calendar is organized, prioritizing projects is easy.
If you can search and filter projects, you can sort them by status, end date, or start date to get an overview of project progress and allocate resources to complete projects to the deadline to help IT management keep track of progress. You’d want the best dashboard for a helpdesk tool , so it’s no different for productivity tools.
2. Zoomed-in View of Projects
It’s essential for IT managers to be able to view a project according to which team members are involved and which staff are involved in different projects and teams. Doing so makes it easier to track progress along with a high-level calendar and list views of in-progress initiatives. Look out for views that enable you to visualize days, weeks, or projects.
3. Internal Chat
Productivity is about collaboration between managers and team members, making an internal chat tool essential for any productivity tool. It can allow teams and individuals to pass on updates in private messages or group or company-wide chats.
Within the chat feature, you should be able to create separate channels as you need. Team members can send direct messages to managers to share IT concerns or report problems that might delay the progress of teams and projects.
4. Recurring Tasks
Recurring tasks are great for higher productivity because they allow you to set continuous daily, weekly, or monthly tasks to hit deadlines. Recreating these tasks automatically makes it possible to reschedule daily tasks by due dates and how regularly they occur.
5. Add Tasks via Email
Consider features that enable you to create tasks via email in a few seconds through a simple process.
Many productivity platforms provide a streamlined way to achieve this by emailing an address with the subject as the task title and the message body as a task comment. Also, consider integrated AI writing tools to write these emails to speed up the process.
6. Reminder Setting
Reminders are at the core of any successful project, so always keep an eye out for reminder features in any tools you are considering investing in. Reminders allow you and your team to hit deadlines by receiving important timeline data in advance.
7. Better Focus With Notification Muting
Staff sometimes need laser focus, which is impossible when notifications from managers ping at them from every direction.
The ability to mute notifications is an overlooked feature in productivity software . But look for it in your next tool because it allows employees to dive deep into high-priority projects without interruption.
8. Private projects and tasks
The best project management programs allow for project privacy, ensuring projects and tasks are private and participants are there by invitation. This feature avoids confusion and allows staff to focus on their assignments and projects without being overwhelmed, leading to achieving project goals.
9. Single Sign-on (SSO) for Google or Microsoft
Signing in to several separate accounts is terrible for productivity and creates unnecessary work for IT management as it wastes time and money.
SSO (single sign-on) allows users to sign in once and access several different tools, increasing their productivity and allowing them to focus on what matters most: finishing projects to the deadline.
10. Speed of app
Success is more than just doing the task; it’s about doing it quickly and within a certain timeframe. Collaborative project tools with quick access can smooth the learning curve for digital adoption, saving time and money. Fast-access apps drive quicker connections for all teams: Remote, distributed, and on-premise.
11. Secure file-sharing to reduce silos
When you choose a tool with secure file-sharing and document-sharing, you reduce information silos by sharing information securely between departments. This feature should allow access for everyone through one application for file hosting and storage services for streamlined data security that doesn’t negatively impact productivity.
12. Elegant Design for an Inspiring Workspace
Not all project management tools are elegant, but we promise some are out there. When you find one that fits this description, with an intuitive dashboard, the ability to adjust views as you require, recurring tasks, and project visibility, unlock higher team productivity and less frustration from disorganized workflows .
These 12 crucial features of productivity tools can help you manage tasks more quickly and keep your projects on track. A sound project management system that fits how your team works and simplifies things will help create a virtual workspace everyone will enjoy.
Productivity Tool Features for Remote Teams
Source: Canva Pro
Some features apply more specifically to remote teams and their specialized needs. These features can help teams flourish despite large geographical distances.
Here are five key features of productivity tools for remote teams:
Real-Time Collaboration Tools that allow multiple team members to work together simultaneously on documents, spreadsheets, or projects (e.g., Google Docs, Notion). This feature fosters seamless communication and collaboration across different time zones.
Task Management and Tracking Integrated task lists, project boards, or Kanban systems (e.g., Trello, Asana, Monday.com) that help teams assign, track, and prioritize tasks, ensuring deadlines are met and work is evenly distributed.
Integrated Communication Channels Features like chat, video calls, and file sharing (e.g., Slack, Microsoft Teams) help teams stay connected in real-time, making it easier to discuss projects, share updates, or brainstorm without needing in-person meetings.
Time Zone Management Tools that help teams manage time zone differences, allowing them to schedule meetings and track work hours across different regions (e.g., World Time Buddy, Google Calendar with time zone support).
Document Sharing and Storage Cloud-based storage and file-sharing features (e.g., Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive) that allow team members to easily store, access, and share important documents while ensuring version control and secure access.
How Do Productivity Tools Features Support IT Management?
IT management can be complicated, but productivity tools can help.
These tools help IT managers work more efficiently by providing features that facilitate organizing, tracking, and communicating.
Let’s look at a few examples: Task management tools like Trello or Asana let IT managers break down big projects into smaller tasks and assign them to team members. This helps everyone know exactly what needs to be done and when.
Communication tools like Slack or Teams help team members communicate quickly and share important information, even if they are working from different locations. Cloud storage tools like Google Drive or Dropbox allow IT teams to store documents and files in one safe place to access them from anywhere.
Real-time collaboration features, like those in Google Docs, let teams work together on documents simultaneously. These tools make it easier for IT managers to keep track of their teams’ work, stay organized, and get things done faster.
Choose the Right Productivity Tool Features For Your Organization
When you understand the features of productivity tools, it’s time to select a specific tool, try it out, and decide whether to invest or choose a different tool.
First, consider team needs and workflows. If teams need to collaborate extensively on documents or get live updates on tasks, Google Docs or Trello might be best. Understanding your team’s workflow is essential to choosing the best tool to streamline their daily task completion.
Second, consider how the tool integrates with your existing tech stack. The right productivity tool for your needs will work well with every tool your teams are already using and slot into place amongst their workflow seamlessly.
If your team uses Slack to communicate, pick a productivity tool that works with it. When you consider this factor, you make it easier for teams to connect and complete projects on time.
Always take the time to choose the right productivity tool to encourage your staff to use it and promote fast digital adoption, save money and time and increase revenue fast.
