Save Time! These Three Web Apps Will Save You Over 30 Hours a Month

What would you do with an extra 30 hours a month? What if you could find tools that can help you save time, achieve more and simplify your work?

Fortunately, there are amazing web apps available that can transform our productivity and take us to the next level. Let’s explore seven remarkable tools with the power to unlock our full potential. And hopefully, there are a few new ones to consider, too.

Finally, we’ll also take a look at the process of trying new web apps so you don’t incur the wrath of your hard-working IT manager. Installing software without their approval could place you in hot water. And we wouldn’t want that.

Agility

Disclosure: this is one of ours (Owned by Evolve Document Solutions). Agility is for you if you are fed up with long-winded searches for documents if you shudder at the thought of endless document filing that takes up hours, and if working through stacks of paperwork is the bain of your administrative time.

Agility has been developed in line with real customer feedback. The vision is to provide convenient, time-effective and cost-friendly document management for all. Agility offers an alternative to outdated, time-consuming, and costly document storage and search and retrieval solutions.

Let’s look at how Agility will save time:

Key Features

1. Efficient Document Retrieval: Search both document content and titles for quick and relevant results.
2. Remote Access: Access documents from anywhere with an internet connection.
3. Eliminating Off-Site Storage Costs: Reduces the need for off-site storage, saving time and money.
4. Disaster Protection: Secure online backup for documents against accidents and natural disasters.
5. Savings Calculator: Tool to calculate potential savings in staff time and costs.
6. Secure Storage: Documents are securely stored on Amazon Web Services servers, ensuring compliance with regulations.
7. Instant Backups: Immediate backup of documents upon upload for safety.
8. Fast Online Search: User-friendly and efficient full document search functionality.
9. Data Destruction: Option for secure destruction of original paper documents after digitisation.

Benefits for Administrative Office Workers

1. Time Efficiency: Saves significant time in document management tasks.
2. Enhanced Productivity: Streamlines administrative processes, allowing staff to focus on other critical tasks.
3. Cost Savings: Reduces financial expenditures on traditional document storage and management.
4. Flexibility: Enables remote access to documents, facilitating flexible work arrangements.
5. Disaster Recovery: Provides peace of mind with secure backup and protection against unforeseen events.
6. Ease of Use: Simplifies document retrieval and management with an intuitive search system.
7. Security: Ensures that sensitive documents are stored securely and compliantly.
8. Instant Access: Quick retrieval of documents enhances responsiveness and efficiency in administrative tasks.
9. Reduced Physical Storage Needs: Minimizes the need for physical document storage spaces.

These features and benefits highlight how Agility can significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of administrative tasks within an organisation. For a more detailed exploration of these features, you can visit the Agility.

We’ve created more documents about Agility here: https://www.evolvedocumentsolutions.co.uk/category/agility-document-management-software/

And you can claim a free trial here: www.agilityscan.co.uk

Textblaze 

Textblaze reveals that users save an average of 28 hours a month using their software. That’s some going! Tried and tested? One of our subcontractors has saved 80 hours to date. So what is it?

Text Blaze is a productivity tool that helps you save time by automating repetitive tasks like typing, copy-pasting, and searching. It does this by creating templates and snippets that you can access with a shortcut. These templates can be anything from simple phrases to complex code blocks.

Text Blaze is a productivity tool designed to enhance typing efficiency while using your Chrome browser. It offers various features to save time and increase productivity:

• Text Blaze claims to save top users more than 28 hours each month, resulting in potential annual savings of over $10,000 due to improved productivity.
• Users type a staggering 7 billion characters per month using Text Blaze.
• On average, there is an 11x increase in productivity when users employ Text Blaze snippets.
• The tool boasts a top-rated status with a 5-star Chrome Webstore rating based on user results.

Key Features

1. Saving Snippets: Users can save any piece of text in Text Blaze as a template and assign it a shortcut. You can customise these shortcuts can to suit individual preferences, like using “/ty” for a “thank you” sentence.
2. Effortless Substitution: Typing the assigned shortcut will automatically substitute the saved snippet text wherever you are in Chrome. Text Blaze is compatible with various platforms, including Gmail, Google Docs, LinkedIn, Salesforce, and more.
3. Dynamic Templates: Text Blaze provides dynamic templates, including forms, dynamic formulas, and integrations with other websites, streamlining daily tasks and reducing the need for multiple tools.
4. Sharing and Collaboration: Users can share their created snippets with colleagues, allowing for real-time updates and collaborative editing.
5. Productivity Boost: Text Blaze is described as an “auto text,” “text expander,” “snippets,” “macros,” or “canned responses” tool that maximises efficiency, offering features such as creating forms with blank fields, dynamic formula calculations, and automation of workflow tasks.
6. Consistency Across Teams: For teams, Text Blaze serves as a central database for effective emails, chats, and messages. Shared folders facilitate continuous improvement together.
7. Versatility: Text Blaze works across various websites and platforms, including Gmail, Google Docs, Office 365, Salesforce, and more, ensuring its accessibility wherever Chrome is used.
8. Message Consistency: Teams can maintain message consistency using shared snippet folders, as updates are automatically synchronised, ensuring everyone is on the same page.

Benefits for Administrative Office Workers

• Save time on writing emails: Text Blaze can help you save time by providing templates for common email phrases and boilerplate text.
• Create consistent reports: Text Blaze can help you create consistent and high-quality reports by providing templates for report structure and formatting.
• Automate data entry: Text Blaze can help you automate data entry tasks by providing templates for form filling and data entry.
• Generate marketing copy: Text Blaze can help you generate marketing copy by providing templates for product descriptions, blog posts, and social media posts.
• Create meeting agendas: Text Blaze can help you create meeting agendas by providing templates for agenda structure and formatting.
• Save time on repetitive tasks: Text Blaze can save you hours of time by automating tasks like writing emails, filling out forms, and creating reports.
• Create consistent and high-quality content: Text Blaze can help you create consistently styled and formatted text, and it can even help you generate content from scratch.
• Improve your focus: Text Blaze can help you focus on the more important aspects of your work by automating the more mundane tasks.

Scribe

This is really clever stuff. Ever needed a quick, clear way to show someone how to do something on a computer? That’s where Scribe steps in. It’s a nifty tool that captures what you do on-screen and turns it into easy-to-follow guides. Think of it as having a helpful assistant who watches your steps and then writes them down for you.

Scribe is like a magic pen for the digital world. With a simple click on the ‘Record’ button, Scribe springs into action. It keeps an eye on your clicks and keystrokes, crafting these into step-by-step instructions complete with screenshots. The best part? You don’t have to be a tech whiz to use it.

Key Features

1. Automatic Guide Generation: Simply hit ‘Record’, and Scribe begins tracking your keystrokes and clicks, automatically creating step-by-step guides complete with text and screenshots. This takes away the hassle of manual documentation.
2. Scribe Pages: Combine your process documents with added text, descriptions, hyperlinks, and videos. This feature allows for a more comprehensive and personalised guide.
3. Customisation Options: Tailor your guides with added tips and extra information, or merge multiple documents. Scribe offers the flexibility to edit text, steps, and images for a more bespoke instruction set.
4. Easy Sharing and Embedding: With just a click, share your Scribe via links or embed it in various platforms like knowledge bases, CMS platforms, or wikis, ensuring easy accessibility for your team.

Benefits for Administrative Office Workers

1. Efficient Knowledge Sharing: Scribe supports easy and efficient knowledge sharing. This is particularly useful for quickly onboarding new staff, training, and answering recurring questions.
2. Time-Saving on Documentation: The automated creation of visual, step-by-step guides significantly reduces the time spent on developing and organising documentation.
3. Simplified Process Demonstration: Scribe’s ability to capture both browser and desktop workflows and turn them into guides helps in clearly demonstrating processes without the need for lengthy explanations or manual screenshots.
4. Enhanced Team Productivity: By cutting down the time taken for documentation and process explanation, Scribe enables administrative workers to focus more on other important tasks, thereby enhancing overall team productivity.

In summary, Scribe offers a suite of features designed to simplify and streamline the process of creating and sharing procedural documentation, making it a valuable tool for administrative office workers looking to enhance efficiency and productivity.

BONUS: Here’s Four More!

Otter

Imagine capturing every word of a meeting without missing a beat. Otter does just that with its real-time transcription service. It creates searchable, timestamped transcripts, making it easier to revisit key points from meetings and lectures. Sharing these transcripts ensures that everyone is on the same page, literally. Otter is indispensable for those who value precision and collaboration in their communication.

• Key features:

• Real-time transcription of meetings, lectures, and other events
• Creation of searchable transcripts with timestamps
• Ability to share transcripts with others

• Benefits for administrative office workers:

• Capture and retain important information from meetings and events
• Facilitate better communication and collaboration by sharing transcripts
• Ensure everyone has access to the same information

Trello

Visual thinkers, rejoice! Trello is the visual Kanban board that turns abstract tasks into tangible cards. It’s a collaborative space where team members can see, move, and manage tasks with ease. And with its seamless integration with other business tools, Trello is more than just an organising tool; it’s a hub for team collaboration and workflow streamlining.

• Key features:

• Visual Kanban boards for organising tasks and projects
• Collaborative workspace for team members
• Integrations with other business tools

• Benefits for administrative office workers:

• Visualize and manage workflow at a glance
• Collaborate with team members on projects effectively
• Integrate with other tools to streamline processes

Evernote

Like Trello, Evernote has been around for a while and is still one of the best notetaking apps around. Have you ever felt the frustration of misplacing important notes or documents? Evernote addresses this by offering a note-taking and organisation tool that captures and stores everything from notes to images. It’s the digital filing cabinet that’s always at your fingertips. For those who value having all their information in one easily searchable place, Evernote is a godsend.

• Key features:

• Note-taking and organisation tool
• Capture and store notes, documents, and images
• Search and access information easily

• Benefits for administrative office workers:

• Capture and store important information for later reference
• Easily search and find information when needed
• Stay organised and on top of tasks

ClickUp

Finally, ClickUp takes project management to the next level. It’s an all-in-one platform that offers agile workspace solutions, customisable dashboards, and a variety of views to track progress. Whether you’re planning a small project or overseeing multiple tasks, ClickUp brings clarity and control to your workflow. It’s ideal for administrative workers who thrive on staying ahead of the curve and visualising their progress.

• Key features:

• All-in-one project management and task management tool
• Agile workspace for planning, organising, and tracking progress
• Customizable dashboards and views

• Benefits for administrative office workers:

• Manage multiple projects and tasks from a single platform
• Plan and track progress using agile methodologies
• Create custom dashboards to visualise data and trends

Each of these web apps offers unique features designed to make the life of an administrative office worker easier, more efficient, and definitely more organised. Embracing these tools could be the first step towards a more streamlined, productive workday.

5 Steps to Avoid Causing a Grumpy IT Colleague

Now we’ve whet your appetite with some amazing time-saving apps a word of caution. The last thing we want is for you to end up on the IT department’s naughty list. 

If your business is smart you’ll have some super-shrewd IT policies. The question is – how do you explore these tools without stepping over the line? Let’s walk through a safe way to try out new web apps.

Step 1: Understand Your Company’s IT Policies

First things first, have a look at your company’s IT guidelines. Don’t have them handy? No worries, just ask your IT department. They’re there to help, after all. Understanding these guidelines is crucial. It’s all about knowing what’s allowed and what’s not. Can you install software on your work computer? Are there approved apps you should stick to? Getting these answers upfront can save you a headache later.

Step 2: Seek Approval

Have you found an app that looks promising? Great! But before you go any further, get the green light from those in charge. This usually means having a chat with your manager or the IT team. Explain why this app caught your eye. How will it help in your work? Remember, it’s not just about playing with new gadgets – it’s about improving how you work.

Step 3: Test in a Controlled Environment

If you’ve got the thumbs up, start by testing the app in a controlled setting. This might mean using a designated testing computer or a sandbox environment. The idea here is to keep your main work systems safe. You don’t want to accidentally introduce a security risk, do you?

Step 4: Evaluate the App

As you test the app, think about how it fits into your work. Is it making tasks easier? Is it reliable? Make notes on its pros and cons. After all, you want to make sure it’s worth using in the long run.

Step 5: Share Your Findings

Once you’ve given the app a thorough test, share your insights. Your IT team and colleagues will appreciate your feedback. Who knows, your discovery might benefit the whole team!

Enjoy saving time with IT on your side

Exploring new web apps can be exciting and beneficial. Just remember to follow your company’s guidelines, get the necessary approvals, and test safely. By doing so, you’re not only protecting your company’s systems but also paving the way for potential improvements in how everyone works.

Stay curious, but also stay safe and informed. That’s the key to smartly navigating the ever-evolving world of technology at work.

Related posts:

What strategies do you use to stay organised in the office? What are the common school software tools used in UK offices? How can employees maintain productivity throughout the day? How Can Office Productivity Be Measured?