self improvement

Kick Out Multiple Organization Tools And Get A PIM

If you’re using multiple tools for communication and organization, you should consider getting only one and benefit from it. There are so many tools available that you may lose the overview which to use and which not. The result is that most users have an application installed for every purpose.

The pros are that you have every tool ready to use for its special purpose. The cons are that most of these tools are interoperable which results in redundant data and often in a higher confusion. Where have you stored your business partner’s email address? Is it stored in your email program or in your contact manager? The more parts of a program will intersect with a single purpose the more you will ask yourself which program is the right one to use.

Is it hard for you to get a contact’s private phone number when you’re talking to someone else at phone? How difficult is it to find a meeting time for, let’s say 3 people? How often do you have to talk to them until you have all agreed on a date and time? These are just some typical examples, where a good tool can help you save time. You may think of using Excel for this job. Many users try to manage their day this way. But keep in mind: Excel was designed to calculate, not to organize your day. There are much better approaches.

There are a lot of free and commercial tools available which only have been created to make your workflow smarter and support you with your daily work. These applications are called Personal Information Managers (PIMs) and will put your organization on a new level.

Some PIMs are able to create a network which enables you to share information with others. Finding a free meeting time becomes a one click action, contacting others, too. When it comes to PIMs most users think about Microsoft Outlook. As Outlook offers the richest set of functions, it’s also the most expensive one. Some cheaper alternatives and especially designed for individuals or small companies are Pimero, iCal or Do-Organizer.

Gerard Schwabe is lead tech developer at soft-evolution, a software company which has developed the team management software Pimero.