Back to Work: Must-Have Tools to Boost Productivity This Fall

Fall has arrived and for many of us, it is a signal we must settle back into our work routines. But getting back into the groove can be challenging, especially after the long summer break.

Whether you’re headed back to the office like many major companies or continuing to work remotely, this is the perfect time to regain focus, set new goals, and set yourself up for success.

In this blog, we’re breaking down some of the essential tools to help you organize, collaborate, and simply work better this fall.

1. Tools for task management

Task management tools are indispensable if you want to track of your daily responsibilities and ensure that nothing slips through the cracks.

‍Research shows that as little as 12 minutes spent on planning can eliminate up to 2 hours of unnecessary work.

Whether you’re working on a personal project or with a team, efficient task management allows you to streamline your processes and meet deadlines with ease.

Some of the more popular project management platforms include:

Trello

Trello is a visual task management platform that helps manage projects (large or small) in a simple, intuitive way.

It is widely known for using the Kanban board system which makes it easy to track progress and view tasks with no effort.

Trello provides many customization options and can be used for internal project management or aven publicly to collect feature requests from customers. 

Asana

Asana is a more complex task management solution, suited for teams working on large projects with multiple tasks, deadlines, and dependencies.

Asana makes it easy to scale from individual projects to larger, more complex projects where multiple teams are involved.

Jira

Although not reserved for technical teams, Jira is a Scrum-driven project management software designed with development and engineering roles in mind.

Teams can plan, track, and manage complex development projects with clear structures, timelines, reporting, and multiple integrations.

2. For communication and collaboration

At the start of fall, smooth communication becomes even more critical as this is the time when many new projects and partnerships begin.

Slack

Slack is a household name when it comes to internal collaboration. It features a wide variety of features, from channels to file sharing and video calling.

Slack makes internal communication smoother and integrates with many business apps for file sharing, project management, calendars, or video conferencing.

Zoom

Video conferencing is here to stay for teams that work in the office or from home.

Zoom is commonly used for one-to-one meetings, webinars, customer calls, and more.

Many alternatives are available today that cater to specific industries or company sizes. You can check our video conferencing platforms comparison here.

Consolto

For teams that need more than just the basics of video calling, Consolto is an all-in-one video conferencing platform combining the capabilities of appointment scheduling, chat, and CRM software.

Consolto is particularly useful for teams that communicate frequently with customers and prospects - such as in sales or customer support.

It allows you to connect with customers on your own website, without having to use third-party platforms to either book or conduct calls.

3. Appointment scheduling

Scheduling and running meetings can quickly become a nightmare when you have to connect many different solutions.

With Consolto’s powerful scheduling capabilities, you save time, reduce miscommunication and no-shows, and eliminate the hassle of integrating multiple tools.

Consolto also integrates with your calendar so you never miss an appointment.

4. For automation

Everyone working in an office is burdened with repetitive tasks so automation is one of the easiest ways to reduce tedious work and stay productive.

Artificial intelligence, which 64% of businesses believe will help increase productivity, provides even more ways for teams to eliminate repetitive, manual tasks.

Zapier

Zapier is a long-standing automation platform that allows businesses to connect thousands of apps and create automated workflows. 

Zapier is easy to use in non-technical teams such as marketing and allows you to set up triggered actions such as adding leads to an email list or sending website notifications to Slack.

Consolto also integrates with Zapier, allowing you to connect your favorite business solutions. You can learn more here. 

ChatGPT

Along with other artificial intelligence tools, ChatGPT is a powerful AI that can help with tasks such as creating content, summarizing documents, and even cleaning up lists or analyzing data.

AI software like ChatGPT is quickly becoming indispensable for marketing, creative, and support teams.

Productivity tools for Sales teams

Sales teams are at their best when they use the right tools. 

With its built-in video conferencing, CRM, and booking capabilities, Consolto enables sales reps to connect with prospects and keep track of communications in a single place.

In addition, Consolto lets website visitors initiate calls with your reps, which encourages more interactions and helps discover new potential customers.

Read more here about how Consolto can boost your sales efforts. 

Productivity solutions for Marketing teams

Marketing teams are constantly planning, creating content, analyzing data, and coming up with new initiatives. Automation is the best way for them to reduce repetitive work and stay focused on the big picture.

Buffer

Buffer allows marketers to schedule posts across social platforms. It helps save time by letting them plan content ahead of time without having to worry about manually publishing content on each platform every time.

Hootsuite

Similar to Buffer, Hootsuite also lets teams schedule and track the performance of their social media efforts. It handles the repetitive work so marketing teams can focus on new growth initiatives. 

Tools for Customer Support teams

With the right software solutions, customer support teams can improve their response times, customer satisfaction satisfaction, and efficiency.

Freshdesk

Freshdesk is a customer engagement solution that offers ticketing, live chat, chatbot, and reporting. With built-in automation, Fresdesk helps support teams manage customer inquiries in a single platform.

Consolto

Consolto is an excellent choice for support teams that need to communicate with customers in real time via chat or video calling.

It saves conversation history, files, recording, and customer data in a unified dashboard and makes it easy for support agents to access this data in order to deliver the best personal assistance every time.

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Summing up

As the holiday season and year-end draw near, it’s important to equip your teams with the best tools to help them stay organized, focused, and efficient.

If you’d like to reduce your tech stack rather than amplify it, consider Consolto to help your teams across the board. 

Consolto provides video-conferencing, live chat, appointment scheduling, payments, and a CRM all in one place so you can supercharge your marketing, sales, and support teams with a single, easy-to-use platform.

If you’d like to see Consolto in action, give it a go with our free trial here.