What is Productivity Software?

The aim of productivity software is to automate various aspects of your work so that you can focus on the task that requires actual thought. Not everything can be done on pen and paper, especially if you have a large amount of data to deal with. Doing everything manually will take more time and reduce efficiency.

Business Productivity Tools of all business operations can be enhanced with various IT solutions available at affordable costs. Business & Productivity software is a software application for managing information in various forms.

It can be documents, presentations, worksheets, databases, graphs, audio or video. The best productivity software provides automated features and tools to perform routine tasks such as collaboration tools, file sharing and storage, database management, email management, reporting, contact management, document management, customer relationship management and many more.

Why Do We Need Productivity Software?

Productivity software is the backbone of any organization because it makes day-to-day tasks very easy. Around 78% of "middle-skill" companies are now using business productivity software. Imagine creating a graph with data if there weren’t any business & productivity software available. Productivity software like spreadsheet software would help with such tasks. You can also get professional quality documents, presentations & graphics with the help of business & productivity software. You have Microsoft Word to develop raw content, and spreadsheet software to create charts and graphs for an enhanced visual appeal. You can also design a logo and other visual elements with your graphics software. Then you can put it all into a presentation to sum up what you want to say about your project or business. Different productivity tools can also be integrated with each other.

Types of Best Productivity Software

Productivity software consists of applications which help users increase their productivity. Different types of productivity software tools are:

Word Processing Tool

Word processing tool is the most common type of productivity software. This tool has replaced the typewriter to manipulate the content. It can be used to produce various kinds of documents. Word processors are used by a variety of people for in numerous purposes which include students who use it to make reports, businesses use it to make memorandums and scientists use it to make research reports. Word processing tools let you write and edit a document. You can also print a document and search within the document. You can format your document by using the tools inside the word processor such as margins, page orientation, and line spacing.

Spreadsheet

Spreadsheet tool can be used for calculations on the data and formulae entered by the users. It helps users enter data by creating tables and entering data into rows and columns arranged as a grid on the spreadsheet software. It also helps in analyzing data for your business. You can also perform various operations on this tool.

Database Tool

Database tool gives the ability to summarize and store any information. Any database can be accessed with the help of SQL queries. It is better to maintain a database system since the beginning of the business. Database helps people keep track of things. For example, a hospital database management system would contain details of every patient, the treatment they are going and the medication they are taking. Some common database software packages include Microsoft Access, Oracle, FileMaker Pro, and Microsoft SQL Server.

Desktop Publishing Software

Desktop publishing, graphics, and presentation software tools enhance the appearance of a document to produce professional-quality documents that can be newspapers, books, magazines, and brochures. Graphic tools are used to either create creative graphics or analytical graphics depending on your need. Desktop publishing tools include applications like Adobe Illustrator, Microsoft Publisher, Quark Xpress, and CorelDRAW. Many graphic applications can also manipulate images, like Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Visio, etc.

Integrated Productivity Software

Integrated productivity software tools combine the specifications of several application programs into one software tool. The benefit of using an integrated business & productivity software is that the user gets every essential tool in just one application. The tools of integrated productivity applications are designed to work together so that a user can easily exchange files created in different parts of the integrated package. The user doesn’t have to learn any new languages to operate this integrated system because the user interface of the software is extremely simple. Some of the most common integrated productivity software tools are Microsoft Office. 

Document Management System

Document management system or DMS is a modern way to manage, store and track the documents within an organization. Organizations can store and manage their documents on a centralized platform. Online document management software allows anytime anywhere access to stored documents with secured login. It helps maintain various versions of a document as well. Document management system provides an efficient way to enhance the productivity with all essential documents at your disposal.

Customer Relationship Management System CRM

Every company can benefit from using a CRM system, especially those who have to deal with customers on a day-to-day basis. CRM’s exhaustive features ensure that your customer relations are maintained properly. It can be used for improving the productivity of your marketing, sales and customer service departments. The software provides modules for lead management, campaign management, social media management, email tracking, reporting and analytics.

Financial Accounting Solutions

A financial management system is a tool that allows businesses to keep a record of their income, expenses and other assets. This record is important to maximize profits and is essential for the sustainability of any business. Financial accounting software includes modules for cash management, tax management, revenue management and payroll management.

Marketing Automation Tools

Marketing automation tools help automate marketing activities and measures campaign metrics. It provides a marketing database to store contact details, purchase history, buying preferences, etc., which can be used to deliver personalized experiences to the customers. It provides automation features for various marketing mediums like email, social media, lead generation and more. Marketing automation software can be used to measure the effectiveness of campaigns and understand the impact in terms of KPIs & ROIs better. Marketing automation tools has various module like landing pages, email marketing, CRM integration, lead scoring, reporting and analytics.

Benefits of Productivity Tools

Improved Quality of Work

The quality of work increases when team members can check the status of a project with the click of a button. They can review everyone’s schedule, share information regarding different projects and communicate without any restriction. Your employees can automate redundant task and improve their overall efficiency. Better product quality results in satisfied customers and higher revenue.

Customer Satisfaction

A happy customer will surely return with more business. That is why, it is very important to keep a customer satisfied. Customer satisfaction can be ensured through CRM software application. When you maintain a healthy relationship with the customer with the help of a CRM tool, it can be highly profitable for your business.

Better Integration

It means better business. When different departments are using different software platforms, it creates chaos. Employees should work in an integrated manner to increase their efficiency and performance. Integration implies information from various sources to be stored in a centralized location. This enables data to be available at a central location rather than multiple places. Better integration allows users to see required information which helps in growing the business.

Productivity Tools Increases Efficiency

Efficiency is bound to increase when you have a proper system to run your business. With the help of various productivity tools, you can optimize your tasks and achieve your long-term and short-term goals on time.

Everyone Stays Updated

Productivity software tools help you communicate changes if you are connected to a network. Once a piece of information is uploaded, it is accessible for review by anyone on the team. Every task is visible to members of the organization. You don’t have to bother people with questions. You can search in the database yourself. This also saves time as you don’t have to depend on someone else.

Easy Hiring and Onboarding

Onboarding a new employee takes time and resources. The productivity of an existing employee is disrupted by the formalities and training of a new employee. It interrupts their entire cycle of task completion. When project information is handy and organized, it means fewer distraction for existing team members. The new member can look for business processes and related questions in the productivity system itself.

How to choose the best productivity software?

Finding the best productivity software should be based on what you need. Whether you need just a word processor, or you need both word processor and spreadsheet. Once you know its functions, it will ease your day-to-day tasks. Before buying productivity tracking software, make sure you follow the given points:

Fix Your Objective

Every business has different needs. Make sure you select the kind of software which is suitable for your business. Figuring out the aim of your business and then ordering software is the way to go. If your business does not need a marketing automation tool, you do not have to opt for that tool and you can make use of that money on tools that your business needs.

Ease of Use Personal Productivity Software

Most productivity tracking software tools are easy to use, but make sure that you are able to understand and operate the software easily once it’s implemented within your system. Any software feature that you cannot use conveniently will result in wasting both time and efforts.

Vendor Support System

A reliable vendor support is a must for you to use a business & productivity software uninterruptedly. If you face any issue with the software, you would need a vendor support executive to fix it. Make sure the vendor has an efficient after-sales service because delay in fixing the issue can take a major toll on your business.

Ask for a Free Productivity Software Demo

Before buying business & productivity software, make sure that you ask the vendor about each feature. Also, as for the online demo. This would help you understand the software better and let you make a sound judgment.