In 2017, Microsoft announced that, over time, Microsoft Teams will replace Skype for Business. Over the past three years, companies have been transitioning over to Teams to stay ahead of the game before Microsoft pulls the cord.
This transition of software is only one example of how the most popular workspace apps have changed in the past five years. Staying on top of the most popular and effective apps can change how smoothly your business runs.
Here’s a list of the top ten business apps in 2020…
Microsoft Teams
Once upon a time, Skype for Business might have held this “top 10” spot. Instead, Skype has given way to Microsoft Teams.
Where Skype was, for the most part, a business version of MSN (if you’re old enough to remember Microsoft’s early chat model), Teams is so much more. With Teams you can still chat with colleagues, both individually and in a group. However, where the app really shines is its conferencing abilities. Users can switch an audio-only call to a video-and-audio call with the click of a button. Teams is compatible with Microsoft Planner and can host files, which are accessible to teammates.
In March 2019, Microsoft rolled out Teams Live Events, making the app a truly all-encompassing communication solution. Through live events, it’s possible to host online presentations. This release came just in time for COVID, offering companies a way to continue hosting events with clients and prospects, despite the world being on lockdown.
Slack
Slack is another of the most common business communication platforms. The app offers the ability to create channels for your teams. For example, the marketing team would have a Marketing channel they’d use to keep everyone up to date and informed. The app also offers one-on-one chats, group chats, audio and video meetings, and more.
With Slack, you can add apps to the app. They have a mouth-watering collection of apps that help users work from home apps, offer daily tools, support productivity, and more.
Google Workspace or Google Drive
In many “top email provider” lists, Gmail is actually listed as the best email provider offered today. Companies tend to gravitate toward using whichever cloud-based storage comes with their email provider.
Google Drive has become an incredible, intuitive, multi-platform storage tool for team collaboration. Within Google Drive, you can add and organize documents. When editing text documents, you can see where in a document your teammates are, what changes they made, comments they left, and more in real-time. Changes are saved automatically so no teammate ever works on an outdated version.
Zoom
Zoom is the most popular conferencing tool in this list. With Zoom you can have your usual one-on-one and team chats, both audio and video. There are also a ton of apps you can add to your Zoom experience, helping with collaboration, learning and development, productivity, and more.
One way Zoom shines is that it offers a cloud phone solution. Instead of downloading a softphone to your computer, Zoom offers cloud capabilities, making your work phone calls as mobile as a cellphone.
Asana
Asana has been picking up steam, becoming one of the best planning applications out there. The app is a cloud-based solution that can be synced with your browser, computer, and phone.
Team and individual projects can be shown in multiple views that help teams stay on track such as list view, timeline, and project boards. Updating a task’s progress or timeline can be as easy as clicking and dragging. Notifications can be configured for upcoming or late assignments. Also, teammates can leave comments and notes, keeping everyone in the loop.
Trello
In the words of Trello, the app “keeps track of everything.” The app offers a kanban-style solution where users can view, move, and edit their tasks as needed. Teammates can be invited or assigned to each task and can comment updates as the tasks progress.
Trello was founded on the notion of turning sticky notes digital. The platform is a highly-visual tool for organizing and keeping track of to dos. Files can be uploaded, notes can be made, and users can be tagged. Trello also offers alerts for due dates, late projects, user mentions, and more.
One great feature of this app is that users outside of your organization can be invited. Therefore, contractors and freelance workers can join teams and boards, staying up to date.
Todoist
We’ve all tried numerous ways of setting up to-do lists: Apple’s Reminders app doesn’t have the sophistication the workplace needs, Outlook’s reminders feature isn’t user friendly, notepads aren’t cloud-based…
Todoist is a much-needed solution for mobile to-do lists that is powerful enough to keep up with our jobs. In fact, Todoist’s user interface is set up much like Gmail’s user interface, with the ability to categorize your todos with folders, labels, colors, icons, prioritization, and more.
As a side note, Todoist is compatible with Microsoft Teams as an in-software app.
Evernote
Evernote makes it to the top ten of nearly every top-workplace-apps lists. Why? Because it’s the “best note-taking app.”
Evernote is a well-organized cloud tool that keeps your notes in the same place. One main flaw with note-taking is that, once they’re written, our notes usually get buried; never to be looked at again. Being cloud-based, users can use Evernote to take notes on a computer and read them over on their mobile devices.
Notes are stored offline so users can access and edit them even when they’re offline. Users can add notes, images, and even audio recordings to their notes, enhancing the power of note-taking.
Fishbowl
Fishbowl fills a need that the working community didn’t even know it had. The social networking tool is for business-oriented users. Yes, we have LinkedIn, but LinkedIn is a place where professionals still have to act… professional.
Fishbowl offers professionals a solution where they can connect anonymously with other professionals in the same industry or situation. They can ask questions, bring up concerns, or touch on topics that would likely be taboo on LinkedIn.
On the more casual side, Fishbowl is a great place to have regular, non-sensitive chats too.
Jira Software
Jira is one of the most popular apps for project and issue tracking for software teams. It’s mostly loved by tech people and oftentimes seen as an alternative to Asana or Trello.
It offers many integrations and interesting features for continuous integration and deployment, and automatic update of issues when code is committed in BitBucket. It’s also perfect for agile development – planning sprints and distributing tasks across teams.
Joan Desk Booking app
Transitioning between work from home and your office building has never been easier. With Joan Desk Booking app, employees can book desks in advance, find where their teammates are seated while office managers can track office presence and contact tracing.
Joan’s desk scheduling app offers a user-friendly user interface for employees to check the availability and book a desk. Joan’s booking app is available on both desktops and mobile devices, helping users book on-the-go.
Joan currently offers a 30-day free trial and has a demo version. If you’re still in search of the perfect solution, try it out. No credit card and commitment-free. We are sure you’ll love it!
Try Joan Desk Booking app and create a safe and organized workplace.