14 Workflow Apps to Multiply Your Team Efficiency

Workflow Apps You Must Know About to Increase Team Efficiency

Vartika Kashyap
ProofHub Blog

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Are your clients nagging you for status reports now and then? Are they dubious if you are even working on their project or not?

Is lack of transparency straining your business relations?

Or

Is your team losing efficiency due to email chaos?

Are you finding it too difficult to keep all the ends together in a project?

If yes, then a workflow app can get you sorted and multiply your team efficiency.

What is Workflow?

Workflow is a way of getting things done and involves all the steps from initiation to completion of projects. When you have a systematic method to go about things such that projects are delivered on time and goals are met, then you have a workflow.

“Streamline your work process with ProofHub. Sign up now!”

What is a workflow app?

Workflow app is an organized system that allows the smooth execution of all your tasks and other works by wasting less time and increasing your efficiency.

Here are a few questions you should ask before choosing a workflow app.

Who is choosing the solution? Are they the same people who will use it?

Yes, you need to ask this question so that those who are entitled to make the choice also involve poor those who will live with the solution and use it daily.

A diverse team involving people from various professional backgrounds, age groups, perspectives, and industry should be part of the decision making process.

Make sure you do not invest in a hefty solution if your team consists of a few people. Also, do not go for a super-light featured solution if you are already a number around 5000.

Is the workflow you are choosing intuitive and functional enough?

Do not be super quick in making your decision just by looking at the beautiful user interface. A good UI is no proof of great functionality. Therefore test-driving the solution before finalizing it is important.

Also, a free trial says so much about the company. Therefore, do not be satisfied with just a demo. You should rather dive in and use it in real-time to see how it manages your workflow and how sound is the functionality.

The cost of switching from one software to another can be really high. Therefore, you should definitely ask some subject matter experts to evaluate the software before committing your entire team into using it.

Here are 14 workflow apps that are instrumental in increasing efficiency and making teams more productive.

Task management workflows

1. ProofHub

ProofHub is a great workflow app. The exhaustive list of features in ProofHub helps you have clear visibility into every aspect of your project workflow while letting you manage it in an organized manner.

You can plan the whole project beforehand, look at potential bottlenecks, delegate clear roles and duties and see work flowing from one stage to others in real-time.

The best part is that it keeps your clients in loop so that they do not have to ask for status reports again and again. Also, no additional effort has to be done to share files and create a report of billable hours as ProofHub offers a time tracking facility.

Pros:

  • Feature-rich
  • Very reasonably priced
  • No per-user fee
  • No learning curve

Cons:

  • No integration with Zapier

2. Asana

Asana is another workflow app that offers comprehensive task management features. It helps you manage work while keeping everyone on the same page. Asana offers various readymade workflow templates like product roadmaps, new hire onboarding workflow, and editorial calendars.

The clear demarcation of roles and responsibilities, instant status reports without asking for follow-ups, sound planning system, time tracking, and effortless collaboration are some of the main features of Asana while managing the workflow.

Pros

  • Feature-rich
  • Simple interface

Cons

  • A little expensive
  • Charges per user

3. Nuvro

Though Nuvro is a lesser-known workflow app, it is a robust one. Nuvro provides a single page view of all your project related information through its dashboard.

The features like allocating tasks, setting sub-tasks, monitoring progress, creating recurring tasks, setting task dependencies, access into workload reports make Nuvro a good option for managing workflows.

Pros

  • Allows milestone tracking
  • Simple to use

Cons

  • No Gantt charts
  • No time tracking facility

4. Basecamp

Basecamp is a project management software that has been around for a very long time and has developed a sound customer base. Basecamp allows the management of tasks with its simple interface, you can create lists, assign tasks, track hours and use calendars for task management.

All these features are basic project management features, but Basecamp lags behind when it comes to setting subtasks and it has no inbuilt Gantt charts.

Pros

  • Simple interface
  • Automatic check-ins

Cons

  • Many core features missing
  • Expensive as compared to features

Automation workflows

5. Mailchimp

Mailchimp is an automation workflow app. An automation workflow is beneficial when you want to deliver some specific content to your subscribers at a specific time. It is instrumental in executing successful email marketing campaigns, driving inbound leads and software demo requests.

Mailchimp allows you to send email newsletters and transactional emails from one marketing app, gather new subscribers with landing pages and forms and send automated drip and transactional emails follow-ups, etc.

Pros

  • Beautiful templates
  • Presentable user interface
  • Quick support

Cons

  • Provides a lesser number of contacts and sends for each pricing plan
  • Some features are hard to locate.

6. HelloSign

HelloSign is a workflow app that automates your paperwork with its automatic email reminders and insert everywhere option. You can complete long paperwork easily with this. The signing process can be shrunk to just a few clicks with the feature of e-signatures.

This can be great for real estate dealers as their clients can sign paperwork on tablets and close deals. While the sales team can use this to seal contracts faster, schools can use it for their online registration process. It can be bliss for a business development team.

Pros

  • Very user-friendly
  • Setting up templates is super easy

Cons

  • Does not give signatures in blue ink
  • Some important features are available only in the business plan.

Managing ideas and notes

7. GetPocket

GetPocket works as a bookmark tool that works for various platforms. You can save useful articles, writeup or videos belonging to any publication, page or app. You can then get immersed in this content anywhere- even offline. You can organize your saved items with tags

You can share the saved links using Facebook, Twitter, email and Buffer. Pocket app is supported on Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, Kobo, etc.

Pros

  • Chrome integration
  • Comes with unlimited storage
  • Price is affordable

Cons

  • No ‘save articles to list’ feature

8. Evernote

Evernote is a note-taking app that can act as your personal digital assistant. The fears like losing your notepad or the piece of paper where you jotted down useful notes will no longer haunt you.

With Evernote, you can keep all your notes and even create notebooks for adding information about a particular subject. You can add pictures, audios, files of all kinds (spreadsheet, pdf ), etc. in Evernote. You can easily share these notes with your teammates and clients to ask for feedback or carry out discussions.

Pros

  • Great search feature
  • Effortless note-taking and synchronization

Cons

  • Freemium plan is too restrictive
  • The paid plan is expensive

9. Notion

The feature that sets Notion apart from most of the note-taking apps is that it is a data-driven app. It allows you to manage insane amounts of data in an organized way. It is a lot more than just a note-taking app, as it allows management and collaboration on projects.

Pros

  • Powerful tables
  • Comment feature

Cons

  • The free plan is just a demo
  • Falters in the formatting department

“Looking for ways to manage your tasks more efficiently? Start using ProofHub!”

Time savers

10. Buffer

Buffer is an app that helps you save time as you can schedule your social media posts in advance and they will be posted later on the scheduled times. This way you can complete your entire responsibility related to social media in one sitting thus working on something else later.

Buffer also lets you see reports on how your posts performed. This way, you can make necessary changes in the time you posted and the content you uploaded.

Pros

  • Manage multiple accounts from one place
  • Can schedule unlimited posts

Cons

  • Confusing pricing structure
  • UI is a bit clunky sometimes

11. GetRevue

GetRevue is a good workflow app for those companies which run an email digest or newsletter. Revue allows you to create your email newsletter through a mobile-based service. You can import links in Revue very easily.

You can choose the style of your email and add content to that. The biggest perk of this app is that you can update your customers about your latest changes or additions from anywhere or before you even enter your office premises. This way you can make more time for other important tasks and be more productive.

Pros

  • Great support
  • Low price

Cons

  • No affiliate program

12. 1Password

Security is something everyone is always concerned about. But poor management of passwords can create security problems. 1Password is a platform to manage all your passwords securely in the cloud.

So all you need to do is remember one password instead of too many. Another advantage is that this software remembers the form questions like ‘what is your cat’s name?’. It is pretty useful a service as long as you do not forget that one password.

Pros

  • Very well designed
  • Secure note templates for sensitive data

Cons

  • No automated password changing feature
  • No camera integration

Make the right choice as per your industry requirements, team size and needs. Do let us know if you found this article useful.

Bonus Apps:

13. Integromat

The task of automating workflows often requires different apps to interact with one another. The problem here is that many apps don’t feature native integrations, which delays
workflow automation initiatives. In such cases, Integromat will save the day. The app is a Swiss-army knife for automating workflows, allowing for the fast development and deployment
of integrations between apps.

Pros

  • Powerful
  • Low price
  • The free plan includes all the features

Cons

  • Steep learning curve
  • Paying customers have the priority when it comes to customer support

14. Shift

Shift is a productivity hub; one streamlined workstation for all of your apps, accounts, tabs, and workflows. With Slack, WhatsApp, Gmail, Outlook, and over 1,000 integrations with other top apps, you can enjoy single-click access to all of your go-to apps and accounts. And, with custom features like Focused Web Tabs, and cross-account Unified Search, Shift makes it easier than ever to find your focus and get your most important work done.

Pros:

  • Integrations with 1,000+ top apps
  • Custom-built, productivity-enhancing features: Unified Search, Focused Web Tabs
  • Streamlined, user-friendly interface

Cons:

  • Free account is limited

15. CMW Tracker

A powerful workflow management software for those on the way from Excel or Outlook-based workflow tracking towards more effective process management. CMW Tracker makes it a snap for non-technical users to automate any approval process or request handling workflow.

Just design your own workflow in a graphic tool right from your browser, and automate it quickly without coding and IT team engagement. With CMW Tracker you can make sure that every team member has proper access according to their roles and responsibilities. The tool automatically routes tasks, sends notifications about new tasks and upcoming deadlines, generates instant status reports, ensures time is tracked, and streamlines overall work processes.

Pros:

  • Quick-win automated workflow rollout
  • Simple to use and powerful
  • Customizable and flexible

Cons:

  • No built-in eSignature, signature service integration needed
  • No free plan, only a 30-day trial

If you enjoyed this…

Read the other articles:

  1. 5 Quick Ways to Make Your Workplace More Efficient
  2. Work Hack: Leveraging Project Management Software to Improve Team Productivity
  3. Top 11 Benefits of Teamwork in Workplace
  4. Hidden Values Of Team Productivity Tools

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Chief Marketing Officer@ProofHub. Featured writer on LinkedIn. Contributor at Elearning Industry, Dzone, Your Story and Business.com.