Refresh Creative Media - What’s new on the web

Yesterday, Refresh opened its eager doors to a fresh and vibrant 2009. Spirits are high and employees are rejuvenated after the holiday season break. At this time of year, resolutions are made, goals are set and aspirations listed. One of the most common aspirations year to year is to increase one’s productivity. To do more. To waste fewer hours in the day, and to achieve greater heights.

Having said this, I present one of my 5+ lists… 5+ tools to enhance productivity in the workplace.

Google Apps

Google Apps includes: Google Docs and Spreadsheets, Google Calendar, Google Mail and a variety of other Google products, all hosted on your own domain name. This free service (optional payment for additional features) allows colleagues to collaborate on documents in real time, and discuss updates and general business strategy via Google Talk and inline on all Google Apps offered. This is an invaluable way to increase productivity, be it for a small team in one room, or a larger team spread out internationally.

Link: http://www.google.com/a

RotaBoard

Do you manage a large number of employees? Is it becoming a chore? Rotaboard makes the task quick and painless. It’ll help with sending notifications, and organising schedules and shifts, making it an ideal tool for managing shifts and timesheets for employees.

Link: http://www.rotaboard.com

Del.icio.us

Del.icio.us is a popular online bookmarking application that allows users to store and share bookmarks that they find interesting or useful. Online bookmark storage is useful on both a personal and business level. Not only are your bookmarks always available (assuming you have constant internet access), but you can also easily share your bookmarks with colleagues and friends. You can also search other public bookmarks for topics of interest, or view websites that have been tagged with the same tags (keywords related to the bookmark) you have used. 

Link: http://del.icio.us

Yammer

Yammer allows you to send short messages to your colleagues (or anyone in your Yammer network) – it’s similar to popular micro-blogging platform, Twitter. This means no more clogging up of your inbox with short messages or joke emails from colleagues. Keep it short, keep it simple, keep it productive.

(If you find this platform intriguing, check out Twitter.)

Link: http://www.yammer.com

Mindomo

Mind-mapping 2.0! Mindomo allows users to create mind-maps (or idea webs) for projects and strategies. Mind-mapping is also a great way to collectively brainstorm and conceptualise an idea.

The mind-maps are free to share, but registration and login are required to save them.

Link: http://www.mindomo.com

MyStickies

Sticky notes are an age old pastime, assisting brains around the world to remember the most mundane or the most important tasks. MyStickies allows users to register for free and add sticky notes around the web. Use one to indicate where you stopped reading on a page with a large amount of content, or make notes when you find something interesting or would like to research further. MyStickies looks to be the future of Post-it notes. And they save paper too.

Link: http://www.mystickies.com

Feedalizr

Social media is fast becoming one of the most productive ways to communicate with colleagues, friends and potential clients or customers. But with the vast array of social media services available on the web today, it’s not always easy (or time efficient) to regularly visit all the services you subscribe to. This is where Feedalizr comes in.

A South African developed Adobe AIR application, Feedalizr gives users the ability to manage multiple social media accounts through one application. Update your Facebook status, send out a Twitter message to your followers or upload an image to your Flickr stream. Social media takes on a new platform. 

Link: http://www.feedalizr.com

What productivity enhancement tools or applications do you use? Tell us in the comments.