5 Tools Your Business Should Be Using

Does your business still rely on Microsoft Office to do everything? If so, you’re missing out on some crazy-amazing tools that will make your business run more efficiently and keep you miles ahead of your competition.

It’s understandable to be afraid of new tools and easy to stay with what you know. Office is definitely everyone’s trusty go-to pal for creating all sorts of documents. Does it scare you when people mention using document creation tools based in the cloud? It shouldn’t, a lot of them even offer a free trial. We love a good tool at PATLive and we utilize a TON of them company-wide. Here are five of our favorite tools and why you should be using them, too!

Jira

Have you ever heard of the SCRUM method? It’s not as scary as it sounds.. Jira is an Atlassian product that was actually created with developers in mind, but PATLive uses it company-wide in order to stick to goals and keep up with what everyone is working on. If you want your business to be more goal-oriented, this tool is a no-brainer.

Slack

Slack is a robust chat tool that allows you to contact users 1 on 1 or you can create private channels for whole groups or departments. It is ideal if people are always on the move in your office. Slack also makes it handy to connect with people when you’re out of the office. Have remote or freelance employees? This tool is essential for keeping them in the loop and connected to the office at all times.

Box

Box.com is a cloud-based storage system that allows companies to share important documents with ease. In addition, users can leave comments on files and even sync them to their appropriate editors. PATLive uses Box as an external drive for all of our documents. It makes it handy for people to grab what they need when they need it or to collaborate on a project.

Knowledge Owl

Formerly known as Help Gizmo, Knowledge Owl is a one-stop-shop for all things knowledge base. PATLive uses them for both internal and external knowledge bases. Internally, they’re a great resource for cross-department information access as well as for training purposes. Externally, Knowledge Owl can be used to FAQ’s for customers or even assist you in onboarding education. Customization of our service was a snap with the folks at Knowledge Owl even more.

Small Improvements

Small Improvements is a tool that simplifies the employee feedback process within organizations. You have the capability to communicate amongst coworkers and even set objectives to be to be tracked in a clean and visually appealing format. We conduct our performance reviews through the software, which helps us stay organized and on track.

If you think keeping up with the latest business tools is just trendy, think again. New business tools are created to make work more efficient and bring teams together. Keeping your eye on the latest tools keeps your business ahead of the game and could even contribute to a bump in your bottom line.