2016 is almost over. So maybe it is time to reconsider the tools you are using to boost your productivity. New tools are coming up every day, so it is pretty hard, even for tech people, to keep up with everything. We try to mix up our list with bigger and smaller companies on the look for the best productivity apps in 2017. Also a short disclaimer here: we are the creator of one of the tools we are going to suggest, let´s see if you can spot it :p

ToDo/Project management – Basecamp 3

If you are still running your business on email, texts and meetings then you should definitely consider the new released Basecamp 3. Instead of having your communications, documents, projects etc. all over the place, Basecamp brings everything your company is working on into one nice designed place.

With the Basecamp Home screen you get a view all over your company. You also get an “HQ” for company wide announcements and communications, dedicated space for your different teams and private places for each project. Of course, you can control the visibility of all these projects.

Each of these teams and projects has their own to-do´s, a message board, a schedule, a Campfire (chat tool within Basecamp) and documents.

You also have a feature called automatic check ins which can replace a big chunk of your status meetings.

All in one Basecamp 3 is a great solution to run your company on it. Very well designed and great features where they put a lot thought into it. For us, it is one of the best productivity apps in 2017 for sure.

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Documents – Dropbox Paper

In the past Google was the one and only answer here. But in 2016 they got a huge competitor – Dropbox Paper. The editor and the documents look just stunning and not only that: It is also feature packed.

The editor is extremely flexible. You can add tasks lists, code, images (including Gifs!), emojis,  file and app embeds (like Vimeo, YouTube, Spotify,  Soundcloud, Google docs etc.) and many more!

Another very well made feature in Dropbox Paper is collaboration. You can invite anyone you want to your document so they can add things like attachments, give comments or add some fun stickers (there´s a sticker for everything!)

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Email management – Front

You are looking for a great well crafted email client with many additional features and you are also a friend of transparency? Then Front is the one and only email client for your team! 🙂

It is also not just for your mail because you can monitor Twitter, Facebook Messages and SMS as well.

First steps would be to add your shared inboxes like hello@yourcompany.com and start collaborating. One of the probably most used features is the assigning to a team member. If you think someone is more qualified to answer that email just assign it to your colleague. There is also a chat feature where can talk internally.

These features alone would make Front a great collaborational email client. But there is even more like rules, reminders, canned responses, following specific threads and even more!
So go check it out! 🙂

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Scheduling – Vyte

We created Vyte because we think scheduling meetings is still a huge pain point today. Especially after the sunset of Sunrise Meet but Vyte is here to change that! 🙂

Even in this times the normal way to schedule a meeting usually contains a lot of back and forth. Not so with Vyte. Just choose your invitees and pick some available dates direct from your calendar. The invitees than can vote on this options (they don´t have to be Vyte users) and after you confirmed the meeting it lands in everyone`s calendar. Pretty slick, right?

You can also create your own Vyte page where people can book you in just seconds. They can see when you are available and, so they only pick times when you are actually available. So if someone wants to meet you, just send them your Vyte page link and they are good to go – or include it into your email signature 😉

Some other great features are seamless time zone handling, no double bookings, voting on meeting location (like Skype, Office etc.), integrations with Slack, Gmail and LinkedIn and many other things you´ll love. On iOS we are also offering a full featured calendar.

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Now up to you! What are your best productivity tools for 2017? We´d love to hear your thoughts!