With about 1.3m apps available to Android users and approximately 1.2m apps available to Apple users, it can be hard to find an app that is user-friendly and effective. There are thousands of apps designed to help you be more productive whilst saving you time and resources.

We’ve rounded up our staff’s top 5 productivity apps to share:

       1. Evernote

It’s easy to see why Evernote is one of the most popular digital notebooks in the app market. Create notebooks, manage collaborative projects, take notes, create lists, manage expenses and more with Evernote.

Why our staff love it: Evernote’s tagging function makes it easy to search for files and keep everything organised.  

        2. Pocket

Save articles, videos and content easily with Pocket. A great app to keep track of articles and content that you want to take a look at later.

Why our staff love it: Offline reading and the sleek design makes Pocket a winner.

       3. TurboScan

Turn your phone into a scanner with TurboScan! An all round favourite, TurboScan helps us keep track of documents and ensures that everything is easily accessible.  It saves us time from rummaging through our drawers looking for miscellaneous pieces of paper!

Why our staff love it: Great to store business cards, invoices and has a great editing function.

      4. Mailbox

Mailbox is a great tool that helps users sort through their email quickly.

Archive or trash with a swipe. Mailbox takes the hassle out of going sorting your inbox.

Why our staff love it:  The ‘snooze’ email function is pretty popular. We love that it lets us focus on what we need to do now and reminds us to respond to other emails later. 

     5. Any.do

Any.do is the office’s favourite task management app as its interface is clean and lets us synch our lists, attach files to tasks and collaborate on tasks easily with other people.

Why our staff love it:  Seamless cloud sync and the function that lets us set recurring tasks make Any.do our preferred task management app.    

No healthy work environment is immune to conflict in the office. It is important to embrace conflict as a way for organisations to grow and professional relationships to strengthen. 

It is important that your team is well equipped to deal with conflict to preserve professionalism and encourage learning opportunities.

Here are 3 things to take into consideration to create a ‘conflict-friendly’ zone:

1.     Communication: Lack of communication often causes conflict in the workplace. It breeds uncertainty and delays; it inhibits productive teamwork and creates a negative atmosphere. Open communication between everyone is vital.

2.     Structured response:  Ensure that your organisation has a well-structured conflict resolution process to ensure that everyone is familiar with the process they must go through to resolve conflicts. Redress conflicts sooner rather than later. Prevent a small grievance evolving into a grudge by tackling it as soon as possible.

3.     Accountability: Encourage everyone to take responsibility for his or her behaviour and reward accountability. Often people are afraid of the repercussions to their actions and avoid taking responsibility.

Your logo is a visual sign that communicates your brand’s values, enterprise and culture. Your logo is your brand’s graphical representation of its brand. It is a potent marketing tool, which creates ownership and evokes your brand.

·      Embody your brand – While this might sound like a no-brainer, it is important for companies to ensure that their logos are not a little too ‘inspired’ by their competitors and larger companies.  Make sure your logo relates to your name, your brand and your industry.

·      Scalable and Balanced – Balance the colour, shape and ensure it is scalable to larger and smaller sizes.

·      Simple is best -  Simple logos are easier to recognize and are more compelling. Detailed logos are harder to recognise and difficult to transfer onto multiple mediums without losing its’ complexity.

If you are gearing up to brand your product, service or organisation, we have prepared 6 essential questions that you should consider before embarking on brand development.

·      1. What am I going to brand?

Identify the product, individual, service, or organisation you are going to brand.

·      2. What should I research?

Research everything in your market. Research everything relevant about your target market, research your competitors, research industry trends…research, research, research.

·      3. How is the product or service going to be positioned in the market?

Consider how the product or service will be positioned in the market. What needs are will it redress? What value to does it bring to the marketplace?

·      4. What does it offer? What does it do better? Why is it different?

Consider what the product or service you are branding offers. How does it do it better than its competitors? What makes it different? When people buy or support your product or service, what are the supporting and buying?

·      5. What should my name, logo and tagline convey?

What will your brand’s visual aesthetic say about it? How will your brand’s name relate to your brand? Does your tagline relay your brand’s value proposition? Is your logo a symbol that is relatable to your brand? 

·      6. How will it be launched?

How will you launch your brand? When you unveil your new logo or launch your new product, ensure that you keep your brand at the centre of your launch. Is championing technology and innovation central to your brand’s ethos? Ensure that your unveiling and launch incorporates technology and celebrating innovation. Is your brand championing a healthy lifestyle? Consider a fun run or a free healthy breakfast launch. Ensure that all your brand’s promotional activities are actively communicating your brand’s value and philosophy.