4 automation tools that save time and increase productivity
Here at QTeam Solutions, we’re head over heels for automation tools that save time and increase productivity. And if you sprinkle some AI in them, we’re really hooked.
Whether you’re a start-up or small business, being good at what you do means that, in time, you more or less end up with the same needs as medium or large organizations but, not necessarily, with the same resources they have at their disposal to handle them.
That’s where business automation tools come into play. They can help bridge the gap between your business needs and limited resources. In this article, we’ve put together a selection of tools that we’ve been using for quite some time and found to really have an impact when it comes to saving us time and increasing productivity.
Calendly
Scheduling meetings might not seem that big of a deal initially, but think about how much time it usually takes you to do that. Once you factor in the back and forth of locking down a time slot, issues with time zones, and so on, you end spending quite a lot of time, which could be used on more productive tasks.
Calendly is a great tool for scheduling meetings because it eliminates the long email chains that usually spring up in these situations. You can send your availability with a Calendly link, which can be opened even if people don’t have an account on the platform, and then they can choose the time slot that best works for them.
We’ve been using it since the beginning of 2020, and we love it. Just a few clicks, and you can schedule a meeting in no time. Not to mention that it has a free version that comes with everything a start-up or small business might need.
Grammarly
Whether we’re writing emails or blog posts, Grammarly is a useful companion for us. The premium version includes a plagiarism detector, advanced grammar checker, and some other functionalities, but we think the free version is enough for small businesses.
Articles and blog posts are a great way to improve SEO, promote your business, and establish domain authority. But not everybody has the time and skills to write them correctly. Luckily Grammarly can help ease the stress of doing this, enabling you to quickly and correctly develop quality content for your website or other websites.
You can use Grammarly as a desktop app or browser extension, meaning that you can easily integrate it into your daily workflow without too much hassle.
Adzooma
Online advertising is not easy, especially when this is not the only thing you have on your plate. And while the learning curve for creating ads is manageable, analyzing and updating them is another matter.
That’s where Adzooma comes in. It analyses your Google, Facebook, and Microsoft Ads campaigns and gives you various suggestions on optimizing them. From creating new ads to pausing certain keywords or improving landing pages. What usually takes some hours to do in Google AdWords is done in a couple of minutes.
Adzooma also implements the changes you choose from its suggestions, so you don’t need to spend time doing it. We also like its custom reports that help you identify how your ads are performing without creating them yourself. And we think they also provide a better user experience and readability than the Google Ads interface reports.
Oh, and did we mention it is entirely free?.
Integromat
Integromat is a recent finding for QTeam in terms of business automation tools. We’ve been experimenting with it for a bit, and we have to say that we really like what we see. Simply put, Integromat is a tool that lets you automate manual processes via a drag and drop interface.
It comes with predefined automation scenarios, but you can build your own depending on specific needs. Some of the use cases of Integromat include receiving daily Google Analytics reports in your Slack account, saving your WooCommerce order to a Google Spreadsheet, saving email attachments to Google Drive, and more.
The free version is quite generous when compared to other solutions available on the market in terms of what it lets you do. So, if you spend a considerable amount of time moving info from one tool to another, why not give Integromat a try.
What’s next?
We’re sure that once you start trying these awesome business automation tools, you’ll never look back and find yourself with more time to spend on your core business. And why not use some of it to see how AI can help your business grow even more.
Book a free 60-minute session with one of our consultants, and let’s talk about Artificial Intelligence.