9 Productivity Apps That I Love - Adaptive Business Services

We’ve got something for everyone here … Windows, Android, and IOS. So, it that same order …

For Windows

Unroll.me – I would have to say that any app that can help me to keep by Gmail inbox under control is a very productive app! Every time an email hits my inbox, Unroll.me analyzes that message and determines whether or not it may be coming from an automated mailer. Newsletters for example. How about newsletters that you never even signed up for! I check Unroll.me once every morning to see what it may have identified. I am then able to look at each sender and choose to either unsubscribe, send future messages directly to my inbox, or add future messages to my daily “roll-up” which is a single email digest sent to me each morning that includes all senders that I have assigned to this category. Of course, I can go to Unroll.me at any time and change the status of any sender. #Awesome!

Buffer – I’ve been using Buffer ever since it was first introduced and it has always done nothing but grow on me. This morning I upgraded from their free (3 social networks) platform to their paid ($10/mo) Awesome platform that gives me a larger buffer and 12 social networks (including LinkedIn groups). Not only that, they provide integrations with both Android and IOS. In actuality, Buffer integrates with just about everything that I regularly use including my beloved Google Reader. You can right click your mouse from any web page and send it to your Buffer and, if you want to add a little extra pizazz, highlight a snippet of text on that web page before you create your Buffer post and it include that snippet (remember your 140 character limit in Twitter) along with the page link.

PowerPoint – What’s this doing here? O.k., here’s the deal. I can’t draw stick people but sometimes I need to create images for my site. This has always been a huge challenge for me as I have yet to find a free app that is flexible enough, and easy enough, for me to use. I even went out and bought Paint Shop Pro and I’m too stupid to use that. PicMonkey is great for cropping and re-sizing but the free version has it’s limitations and even the paid version won’t address all of my needs. Among other things, I am starting my long-delayed task of learning how to create CTA’s (Call To Actions) and landing pages. I’m a big fan of HubSpot (can’t afford to use it) but, I get all of their free eBooks and templates and read their articles religiously! Well, low and behold, I start getting templates to create effective CTA’s, eBooks and Infographics and they are all done using PowerPoint. It was a like a giant light bulb that illuminated my otherwise dim brain. This I can do and I can also get better at PowerPoint in the process. Sweeet!

For Android

SwiftKey – I held onto my BlackBerry for quite some time and the main reason was for the physical keyboard. I don’t have the dexterity of a teenager and, for that matter, I only have one thumb that is fully functional. The keyboard software on my original HTC One S was not too bad but the phone flat would not (literally) work for me so I switched to a Samsung Galaxy S2. Better phone but their keyboard software is atrocious and when I say that I am primarily referring to their auto-complete routines. SwiftKey’s auto-complete is the best I have seen and it is intuitive and intelligent. It also learns from me as I go along and will even scan existing emails etc. for my commonly used phrases. The result is that SwiftKey often suggests the next word that I would typically use when composing a message. Nice! Finally, most of the keys and symbols that I generally use are all accessible on the main keyboard and not two or three key layouts down.

Silence – I am pretty fanatic about turning off my phone (set to mute or vibrate) during meetings. I’m also very forgetful when it comes to remembering to turn it back on. This often results in missed calls and sometimes those are missed opportunities. That sucks. Silence is a free app that allows me to set the phone to automatically go quiet for a given period of time and then automatically turn itself back on when that time has expired. You can create these events on your own or also just select them from your calendar and it even handles recurring events. Silence is indeed … golden!

Contacts+ – If you are looking for a more visible representation of your contacts then Contacts+ is for you. Even better, it will also: aggregate and display your contact’s social profiles, provide speed dialing; manage your text messages; and also serve as your call log. Finally, Contacts+ will also perform Google Searches on your contacts as well as generate Google Maps of their address. So, if you find it valuable to know all you can about your contacts, and hate jumping from network to network to do so, Contacts+ may be for you!

For IOS

Carbonite – For the record, I have Carbonite running on my desktop as well as on my Android phone and my iPad. Mind you, while Carbonite will back up photos on your mobile devices, that is not what interests me. What flips my switch is that Carbonite makes my desktop files available to me on ANY device. For less than $60/year I get unlimited storage, auto-backup, and universal access! What’s not to love about that!

DropBox – When DropBox was first introduced, it was considered to be very revolutionary. Now we have Google Drive, SkyDrive, Box.net and others. I’m sorry, I still prefer DropBox for ease of use and flexibility. Like a lot of apps, DropBox is found on all of my devices. I’m placing this discussion here, under IOS, because I have found no better way to transfer specific files from my desktop to my iPad than through DropBox. A lot of times this might be a pdf eBook or workbook and DropBox allows me to easily upload those to my iBooks for off-line reading.

Mr. Reader – The backbone of my learning and social sharing, very literally, is my Google Reader. I would be D.O.A. without it. Reader will actually run on my desktop, Android, and IOS devices and it works very well. However, Mr. Reader is designed specifically for Google Reader on your iPad and it just might be the most beautifully designed and functional app that I have ever laid my eyes on. Anything I can do with my desktop reader I can also do with Mr. Reader. Certainly there are other apps for the iPad like Flipboard that display articles beautifully but, I value utility and speed over beauty and Mr. Reader offers both!

Have fun!

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Craig M. Jamieson

Managing Member at Adaptive Business Services

Craig M. Jamieson is a lifelong B2B salesperson, manager, owner, and a networking enthusiast. Adaptive Business Services provides solutions related to the sales professional. We are a Nimble CRM Solution Partner. Craig also conducts training and workshops primarily in social selling and communication skills. Craig is also the author of "The Small Business' Guide to Social CRM", now available on Amazon!