Tamara Scott, Author at TechnologyAdvice We're On IT. Fri, 20 Jan 2023 05:54:36 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://cdn.technologyadvice.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/ta-favicon-45x45.png Tamara Scott, Author at TechnologyAdvice 32 32 Slack and Basecamp Integration: Connect Them in 2023 https://technologyadvice.com/blog/information-technology/basecamp-vs-slack/ https://technologyadvice.com/blog/information-technology/basecamp-vs-slack/#comments Tue, 27 Dec 2022 21:21:27 +0000 https://technologyadvice.com/?p=56443 Basecamp and Slack have several features that overlap, including notifications and file sharing, but you’re not going to get the same functionality in both. Slack is a communication and messaging tool, while Basecamp is primarily project management. Despite their inherent differences, Slack can actually enhance your Basecamp experience because these tools can work very well... Read more »

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Basecamp and Slack have several features that overlap, including notifications and file sharing, but you’re not going to get the same functionality in both. Slack is a communication and messaging tool, while Basecamp is primarily project management.

Despite their inherent differences, Slack can actually enhance your Basecamp experience because these tools can work very well together. For example, you can easily import updates from Basecamp into Slack with Zapier.

Furthermore, using the Slack app Field Trip can enable your team to share and view their Basecamp activity within Slack so you keep related conversations and updates all in one platform.

In this article we’ll go through some of the major features of both tools and how they work together to benefit your organization. 

Which Project Management software is right for your business?

Integrated Features

Slack prides itself on having “all your apps in one place,” which gives you access and updates for your connected apps in your message logs, making them searchable. Teams often use these Slack integrations to notify teammates of bug tracking, product releases, sales and customer needs, and lots of other things. You can connect an RSS feed or webhooks into any of your channels, or you can use an outside app like Zapier to push updates to Slack.

Basecamp doesn’t have the same sort of integration capabilities that you’ll find in Slack, but you probably wouldn’t want to connect a whole lot of apps anyway. You can add or remove documents and trigger actions in other apps like Zapier, but this project management tool is really built to be a repository for your documents. You can forward project-specific emails into a project, but you won’t get automatic updates from other tools within Basecamp.

Without further ado, let’s get into some of the top features of both and how integrating them can give you a leg up in the day-to-day.

File sharing

Basecamp

Basecamp approaches file sharing like a repository. Team members click into a project to add all the files associated with that project in a central location. The Docs & Files location can be segmented into folders, which can then be further organized with color coding and upload notes. A double-edged sword of this configuration is that files are public to the entire team that works on a single project. Sharing files between individuals or setting user permissions isn’t really in the cards here.

Slack

Files shared on Slack can get lost in the run of fast-moving conversations, both in the direct messages and the more populated team channels. There are ways around this, including a fairly robust search feature that scans all text and pinning messages, which floats the messages flagged as important to a special pinned list. Pinned messages live only in the channel where originally pinned, rather than showing as public to the whole group.

Integrated

Integrating Basecamp with Slack can allow for easy file sharing through the Field Trip Slack app. Each of your staff members securely connect their Basecamp projects and share documents and files with all appropriate individuals. Users can even create documents and share them to the message board, so that other team members can view them and provide comments on them in Slack.

Notifications

Basecamp

Basecamp to-do boards show all tasks, due dates, and assigned users in a single place within your project. You can also have all of your personal to-dos show up in your own dashboard. In-app messaging appears in the form of comment strings found in any project card. Another helpful feature lets your team forward emails from their inbox into the project, keeping all documents right in one place, and @messaging on a comment sends a notification to marked team members.

Slack

Slack has desktop notifications that show up for new messages and direct message notifications in the form of those little red circles that show up on an icon. You can change all of these settings and customize them to show (or not) for each team you work with. There is also a weekly update email for team owners or admins that shows your usage status. @messaging notifies team members and groups, so you can get a particular person’s attention by including their name in a message.

Integrated

The Slack Field Trip’ app ensures that users never miss a Basecamp post by supporting notification features through Slack. Notifications sent to Slack will inform your staff when Basecamp to-dos are completed or created. And since your team will only need to pay attention to Slack to receive notifications for Basecamp, they will no longer be bombarded by alerts through two separate platforms. 

Team collaboration

Basecamp

Basecamp allows your team to build a central source of truth for complex projects with a lot of moving parts. This includes building files of documents, commenting on those files, and assigning tasks and due dates to particular project environments. Basecamp doesn’t go as far as other project management tools that let you build custom workflows and Gantt charts. Messaging can happen within a project, between individuals, or through group messages called pings that live outside of the projects.

Slack

Slack works as a conversation facilitator, bringing teams and individuals into a single app to talk and share files (and, of course, GIFs). As a messaging service, it works great, but Slack wasn’t built for document management or as a single source of truth for your projects. While message threads let you build a side conversation for any existing conversation without disrupting the flow, these can get lost quickly, especially in large organizations. The Enterprise Grid version has enhanced features for team collaborations, including workspaces, but even these work best as communication tools rather than project management tools.

Integrated

Teams can integrate Basecamp and Slack together through Zapier to create collaborative workflows through both apps. For example, by connecting Basecamp 3 and Slack through Zapier, users can create Slack channels from new Basecamp 3 projects, allowing for straightforward Slack communication about particular projects. They can also post new Basecamp 3 messages, Basecamp 3 to-dos, or Basecamp activity to one or multiple Slack channels, so everybody can stay informed and updated on their Basecamp projects.

On the flip side, the integration of the products through Zapier also allows information from Slack to be shared within Basecamp. Users can add Slack channel messages as Basecamp 3 to-dos, and they can add new saved and pushed Slack messages as Basecamp 3 to-dos. Your team can even create campfire messages in Basecamp 3 from new messages posted to channels in Slack to ensure project members don’t miss a thing on either platform.

Reporting

Basecamp

In basecamp, you can run granular reports based on tasks, projects, dates, team members, and more. All team members can run and access these reports, which include prepared rundowns that tell you what’s due and what’s left in a project. You can also have daily activity reports delivered to your inbox if you want to know your daily tasks without logging in. 

Slack

In Slack, weekly update emails give team admins insight into how much your team uses the platform, but not a whole lot else. Slack also provides admins a team stats page with basic usage for all time, and paid tiers can access detailed usage information.

Integrated

By using the products together to create integrated workflows with Zoho Flow or Zapier, you’ll have more thorough Basecamp reporting through connected communication from Slack. Therefore, Basecamp activity and task- and project-based reports will reflect all necessary information, even if it was originally communicated through Slack, so long as it was shared between both platforms. 

The Slack and Basecamp 3 integration through Zapier also lets users send Slack channel messages with reports of new Basecamp 3 to-dos on a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule to appropriate staff members. Meanwhile the Field Trip Slack app sends automatic check-ins so leaders and other users can stay informed on their team member’s productivity.

How Can I Integrate Basecamp and Slack?

slack integrations

There are multiple ways to integrate the Basecamp and Slack platforms for increased functionality. This can be done with connections through the Slack app Field Trip, Zapier, or Zoho Flow. While each of these integration options allow users to share their activity between the two platforms, they do have their differences: 

  • Zapier enables information and activity to be shared between the apps and used within one another to keep users on track. 
  • Zoho Flow uses information and activity from both apps together to create and trigger automated workflows. 
  • Field Trip enables just Basecamp activity to be shared within Slack and Google Chat. 

Get the Most Out of Slack and Basecamp

While Basecamp and Slack have some similar functionality, you probably shouldn’t try to make a choice between the two. Instead of arguing the inherent value of Basecamp vs. Slack, your best bet would be to see how you can use both apps in concert because of their different use cases. 

This way you can gain the benefits of each, with Basecamp allowing users to document team collaboration and tasks on projects and Slack enabling instant messaging and document sharing. Integrating the apps can provide even more functionality, as your information is connected and synced between platforms. So all reports are updated with relevant information, notifications are supported for all important events, and collaboration is supported by synced information from each platform and file sharing capabilities.

If you’re still not getting what you need with the Slack-Basecamp integration, consider some other project management or collaboration solutions. It may just be your team needs something more in line with your projects and collaboration styles.

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Best Kanban Tools & Software https://technologyadvice.com/blog/information-technology/kanban-tools/ https://technologyadvice.com/blog/information-technology/kanban-tools/#respond Mon, 08 Aug 2022 20:30:29 +0000 https://technologyadvice.com/?p=56182 Gone are the days when project managers used sticky notes and whiteboards to track projects from inception to completion. These days, many teams plan and measure project execution in online Kanban tools that anyone can access wherever they work. The Kanban process originally emerged from the movement of physical cards down the Toyota production line.... Read more »

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Gone are the days when project managers used sticky notes and whiteboards to track projects from inception to completion. These days, many teams plan and measure project execution in online Kanban tools that anyone can access wherever they work.

The Kanban process originally emerged from the movement of physical cards down the Toyota production line. As a car moved through production, its representative card would move from worker to worker, signaling the beginning of each new task. This helped managers visualize production bottlenecks and optimize the workflow by re-assigning labor to keep the cars moving down the line smoothly.

In the same way, Kanban tools help teams fix their bottlenecks by allocating the right time, talent, and resources to move projects along. They also help individuals track tasks and steps to project completion.

Because it’s such a useful way to visualize work, many of the more intricate project management software tools employ the Kanban methodology within a larger, more complex system. If you’re shopping for a Kanban tool, you can use the list of top vendors below to get started or use our Project Management Product Selection Tool to get a free list of the best project management software for your needs.

Which Project Management Software is right for you?

Why Kanban?

The Kanban method is a great tool to help you visualize your project progress and find bottlenecks in the process. Kanban boards can be as simple as three columns that show tasks that have been requested, are in progress, or are done. If followed correctly, you get real time information on how the project is moving forward and any issues that are causing hang-ups, creating a more efficient workflow.

With the Kanban method, you should only have a manageable number of work-in-progress tasks happening at once. What’s manageable for your company will depend on your team, but this helps prevent you from trying to tackle too much at once. Multi-tasking is not as efficient as many people believe, so the Kanban method seeks to prevent it. When one task is complete, then you can pick up another.

But Kanban software comes in several forms, and it can be difficult to compare the different types. To provide better analysis, we divided the Kanban software market into three categories.

  1. Project Management Tools with Kanban Boards
  2. Kanban Tools For Software Developers
  3. Atlassian Products with Kanban Tools

1. Project Management Tools with Kanban Boards

Everyone has jumped on the Kanban train these days — even project managers who have traditionally adhered to the waterfall methodology. More traditional PMs can reap the benefits of software that employs Kanban boards alongside custom workflows, Gantt charts, and built-in analytics.

ClickUp

One of the greatest strengths of a kanban board is its visually intuitive approach to communicating work status. ClickUp’s task management boards are fully customizable without having to apply a single line of code. Dependencies, task relationships, and more make can be integrated into Kanban boards with a few clicks, and the resulting project views are clean and easy to parse at a glance.

Our full review dives deeper into ClickUp’s kanban board and its many additional features. Garage startups and complicated corporate structures alike will find a fully-customizable solution in ClickUp.

Scrumwise

Scrumwise Kanban tool.

Scrumwise is an agile project management tool that offers Kanban integrations. It’s built for teams to track progress during sprints through card and board visualizations, so time constraints and dependencies are clear.

Integrate the software with your GitHub account to add Scrumwise data to your commits, or connect to the API to change and update information remotely. Because all data updates in real time, your team won’t have to spend a lot of time refreshing pages to stay current.

Kanbanery

Kanbanery Kanban tool

Kanbanery comes loaded with templates, and you can make your custom boards into templates to copy workflows and tasks to subsequent new projects. Each task card gives you multiple ways to record progress, such as comments, due dates, and lists. Updates happen in real time, and notifications won’t distract you from your larger workload.

GitHub, app, and API integrations send your data between tools and update your Kanbanery boards automatically. You can track your workflow and identify bottlenecks with built-in reporting tools that follow the process from start to finish. Even though Kanbanery has several pricing plans available, it could be expensive for smaller teams.

Bitrix24

Bitrix24 Kanban View on Desktop

Bitrix24 is a communication and project management tool that combines conferencing tools, a CRM, and task management to make project planning easier and more efficient. The software provides an online project workspace where team members can discuss tasks, share documents, and view the workflow to ensure things are progressing smoothly. Along with Kanban boards, you can also use Gantt charts, a project calendar, and custom project stages to visualize your progress.

Perfect for smaller businesses or teams with a tight budget, Bitrix24 offers a free plan for unlimited users that offers a basic iteration of many features, including the CRM and project management tools. If you decide you like the software and want to upgrade, there are five paid plans you can choose from.

Planview Leankit

What is a Kanban Board? | Planview LeanKit

Planview Leankit upgrades the basic Kanban board with horizontal “swim lanes” that clarify concurrent project goals. While most Kanban tools keep the standard vertical rows to signify steps along the process, Leankit lets you see dependencies and parallel projects from a single view. Each of the project steps is flexible, so you can customize according to your project’s needs.

Leankit lets you see overviews and analytics for each of your team’s projects, and all features are available in the native mobile app. Leankit prices its plans per user in several different tiers. You may have to do some comparison shopping to get the features, integrations, and price you want, but there is a 30-day free trial available with no credit card required.

2. Kanban Tools For Software Developers

Developers love to organize their workflows and so do their project managers. These software-focused options give developers access to Kanban boards in addition to helpful production and bug tracking tools.

ZenHub

Fixing bottlenecks with task boards and GitHub labels

Zenhub was built with software developers in mind and directly integrates with your GitHub account. The Kanban project boards have access to multiple repositories to more easily track issues and pull requests. Using popular agile development components like epics, user stories, and burndown charts, ZenHub will appeal to your developers’ existing language. And because it’s directly tied to GitHub, ZenHub can track commits and progress in real time.

Each developer can create a personal to-do list on their user dashboard, while APIs and integration with Slack keep the whole team informed. Pricing is based on the number of users and scales up to the enterprise level.

Yodiz

Features- Yodiz Agile, Scrum & Issues Project Management Software

Built for agile project management, Yodiz employs what they call “Scrumban” views, a mix of scrum and Kanban methods. These allow your team to get an overview of the project and zoom in on tasks while tracking parallel workflows in swim lanes.

Yodiz’s real power comes from its integrations, which support Zendesk, GitHub, Atlassian products, and more. These integrations make Yodiz a powerful tool for building new products, QA testing, and bug tracking, letting you collaborate with your UX and support teams in a single product.

3. Atlassian Products with Kanban Tools

Atlassian has made big moves in the project management space recently, especially with their acquisition and integration of Trello into their software development and collaboration suite. A list of Kanban software is incomplete without a couple of Atlassian products that use Kanban styling.

ALSO READ: Trello vs. JIRA: Choosing an Agile Project Management Tool

JIRA

JIRA Kanban View on Desktop

JIRA acquired the GreenHopper agile project management product and has since integrated that product fully into its larger software and project development tool. JIRA includes the ability to build Kanban tools within the larger context of projects and workflows, giving your team a look at the 10,000 and 1-foot views of your projects. JIRA provides your team with ready-made workflows, and once you get the hang of it, you can make custom workflows and copy those as templates.

Trello

Trello Kanban tool

In early January of 2017, Atlassian acquired Trello. There haven’t been any big changes to the tool’s usability, but some integrations and updates have been released. Trello remains the go-to Kanban tool for many business teams and individuals because of its simplicity. Trello is strictly Kanban, organized by boards that team members can use to access and update tasks and store documents.

Trello does offer Slack integrations and other add-ons they call Power-Ups, such as JIRA, Bitbucket, and Confluence, but the biggest appeal of Trello is its simplicity. That keeps the basic tool free, but business users can upgrade for more Power-Ups and security.

* * *

Whether you decide to buy a standalone Kanban tool or a larger PM suite, you can rest assured that adding Kanban software to your project management strategy will make life easier for your team.

In the meantime, you can use our PM Software Product Selection Tool to get a list of free recommendations for the best project management software for your company’s requirements.

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10 Smartsheet Alternatives to Get You Out of Spreadsheets https://technologyadvice.com/blog/information-technology/smartsheet-alternative/ https://technologyadvice.com/blog/information-technology/smartsheet-alternative/#respond Mon, 08 Aug 2022 20:15:08 +0000 https://technologyadvice.com/?p=63343 Smartsheet is an extensible and flexible spreadsheet-based project management tool, which restricts its usefulness for companies that want to avoid the limitations of spreadsheets. To help you free yourself from spreadsheets, we’ve brought together these Smartsheet alternatives. If you’re ready to dive right in to Smartsheet alternative recommendations, we’ve got a sizable list for you... Read more »

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Smartsheet is an extensible and flexible spreadsheet-based project management tool, which restricts its usefulness for companies that want to avoid the limitations of spreadsheets. To help you free yourself from spreadsheets, we’ve brought together these Smartsheet alternatives.

If you’re ready to dive right in to Smartsheet alternative recommendations, we’ve got a sizable list for you to peruse.

What Is Smartsheet?

Smartsheet is a spreadsheet-based project management tool that teams and individuals can use to organize and track projects. Because of its flexibility, Smartsheet is great for marketing, IT, HR, and pretty much any business department. With Smartsheet, each project task is saved as a line in the spreadsheet, and you can build in due dates, add notes, attach images and documents, and construct a hierarchy of tasks. The software also allows you to share your sheets with an unlimited number of contributors and manage their access to sensitive information.

Smartsheet Alternatives

Smartsheet and its alternatives aren’t the only options for project management software. Check out the TechnologyAdvice project management guide for information, products, reviews, and recommendations.

Zoho Projects

zoho projects dashboard smartsheet alternative.

Zoho Projects is just a small piece of the greater Zoho galaxy of tools, but it holds its own for flexibility and ease of use. This project management software combines collaboration, document management, Gantt charts, and even team wiki pages for optimum clarity into projects. Individuals can view entire projects or just their own tasks, and you can bring the information all together in reports.

Zoho Projects also offers direct integrations with Google Suite tools, Github, and Bitbucket. These tools allow teams to collaborate within the tools they already use and stay up to date for projects that cross departmental lines. Use the built-in time tracking tools to better understand how team time is spent and where you can cut out inefficiencies.

ClickUp

Clickup smart sheet alternative screen shot,

As a piece of project management software, ClickUp is user-friendly and easy to integrate into existing workflows. The platform delivers a set of pre-configured dashboards that are easily customizable to meet the team’s team’s exact needs.

ClickUp is more than just a Smartsheet alternative. It offers in-app docs, a whiteboard, and a suite of other features. Overall, ClickUp is decidedly simple to use, and robust enough to fit the needs of any business of any size.

Monday.com

What is monday.com? – Support
One of Monday.com‘s selling feature is its easy-to-use, visual dashboard. The dashboard makes it simple to delegate tasks to team members and to spot an action item. New boards are created for new projects, which makes for easy and quick organization. Each board can be customized based on the project’s needs. Other capabilities of Monday.com’s PM feature includes assigning tasks, monitoring deadlines, communicating with team members, and sharing necessary files.

Monday.com is also a highly flexible project management tool because it’s built around the pulse, which can be a task, a contact, a product name, or anything else you can dream up. That makes Monday.com highly customizable, although there are project templates available that you can use to help you get started. Because of the range of projects you can manage in Monday.com, it’s a useful tool for the entire company.

Teamwork

teamwork projects dashboard smartsheet alternative

Teamwork makes project management, help desk, and chat tools for businesses. It has a full collaboration and project management suite with tasks, milestones, calendars, billing, document sharing, and time tracking included. Look for mobile and desktop apps that connect to your Teamwork account and integrations to connect you to the tools you already use.

Teamwork is built to manage large and complicated teams with lots of contacts and projects with user permissions and admin privileges that let you shuffle users between companies and projects. These features are perfect for franchise or enterprise companies with lots of moving parts. But the tool’s ability to handle complexity doesn’t hide its most helpful features, which are great for any size business.

Wrike

manage projects with wrike.

Wrike is a long-standing leader in the project management tool vanguard. Wrike uses a folder system and Gantt charts to organize projects: each project has its own folder, and within those folders you’ll find tasks, files, and communication related to the project. These same tasks show up in the project Gantt charts, where dependencies and timelines are visually represented to help teams organize their time.

Wrike also includes burndown charts for every project to help teams track their progress and make any necessary adjustments before it gets too late. While you can attach individual files to tasks and projects, there isn’t a designated file management screen. However, Wrike offers a live activity stream and direct communication via @mentions within tasks.

Also Read: Wrike vs. Basecamp: A Project Management Software Comparison

Workfront

workfront projects dashboard smartsheet alternative

Workfront is a work management software, which defines the major focus of the software and helps to single this option out from the crowd. Workfront lists three major feature categories that align with the ways that companies do business: planning, working, and delivering.

While the working features make up the basic project management software of task and assignment management, the planning and delivering features set Workfront apart from its competitors. Find request and resource management tools to help project managers to plan future needs and allocate resources appropriately before projects even start. Then use the approvals workflows to speed delivery and reporting features to provide metrics to stakeholders.

Basecamp

basecamp dashboard smartsheet alternative
Basecamp is a long-standing leader in the project management software field. Many companies use this tool to organize their communication and collaborate around shared documents. Basecamp is more collaboration-focused than some of the other software on this list, with tools that provide a single source of truth for file storage and real-time editing on documents.

Another perk of Basecamp is its activity streams, where individuals can see updates on particular projects, pending assignments, and team-wide views. Discussion threads show comments from all, replacing email conversations that quickly fracture between individuals or explode into full-company reply-all chains. And use the reminders and notifications to keep team members on track without passive-aggressive messaging.

Also Read: Asana vs. Basecamp: A Project Management Comparison

Asana

asana dashboard smartsheet alternative

Asana is a task-based project management tool designed to bring team members together around time-based projects. Use notifications and due dates within tasks to manage items on your calendar or on the Gantt chart (available in premium plans). Teams can manage multiple projects at a time with the reporting dashboards and individuals can understand all of their ongoing tasks from the My Tasks view.

Asana also has a wide range of outside integrations to augment your project work. Some of the other tools on this list require you to work solely in their software, but Asana’s API connections make it easy to share information via email, file sharing, instant messaging tools, and even version control software like Github. And the Asana-Zapier connection makes it easy to automate information sharing with nearly any other tool.

Also Read: 5 Asana Alternatives for Tracking Team Projects

Workzone

Workzone project management software.

Workzone is a spreadsheet-based project management tool much like Smartsheet, but with a few upgrades. View and edit project and personal tasks in a hierarchically organized spreadsheet list view or in Gantt charts to visualize dependencies. Use secure file storage to attach important documents to tasks and projects, and don’t worry about sharing too much information with clients who can also view your projects, as you can set permissions to hide sensitive information.

Workzone also includes some interesting project planning tools, including request intake forms, resource allocation charts that track scheduled hours, and time tracking tools to help your team refine their plans. Use the reporting tools to better understand projects in progress and to plan for future events.

Redbooth

redbooth dashboard smartsheet alternative

Redbooth is a project management tool that gives teams and individuals flexibility in the ways they view their tasks and projects. Redbooth offers a Kanban board, Gantt chart, task list, and calendar view of your tasks and every project your team makes. The template features help you build recurring tasks, and due date notifications keep everyone up to date on upcoming needs.

Redbooth has also added machine learning features to their software that make suggestions for task due dates and even prompt you to assign tasks to particular team members–all based on similar previous tasks.

Also Read: Redbooth vs. Trello: Which PM Software Is Up To The Task?

Scoro

Scoro is business management software that combines project management tools with CRM, scheduling, and financials. This particular set of tools works really well for agencies and creative companies that need to track time, plan multiple projects, and handle billing all from a single app.

Scoro acts as the planner, communication platform, and billing intermediary all in one. Built-in time tracking tools transfer data from projects to invoices, and scheduling software lets managers see resource allocations and dependencies. While the variety of project management tools aren’t as robust with Scoro as some of the other options on the list, the extensibility of this platform to business management makes it a great choice for agencies.

Pros of Using Smartsheet for Project Management

Because Smartsheet has been around for a while, it understands how projects work. There are several ready-made templates available to help new users get started quickly, and you can build repetitive projects like employee onboarding into your own templates to quickly choose over and over again. The tool also lets you break free from the basic spreadsheet to view your projects in a Kanban-style board, Gantt charts, or a calendar. These views are supplemented by an analytics dashboard that you can customize to view lots of different metrics from throughout your projects.

Cons of Using Smartsheet for Project Management

The most major drawback of Smartsheet is that most of your work must take place in the spreadsheet view, with all of the quirks and complications of spreadsheets. If you’re already an Excel power-user, this might not be so much of a problem, but learning Smartsheet-specific UI and formulas might pose some difficulties for the everyday business user.

Smartsheet also bills itself as a collaboration tool, which for the most part, it does really well. It is limited in its capabilities to autosave your work, which means that Smartsheet isn’t really built for real-time collaboration like some of the other options on this list, or even Office 365 Excel and Google Sheets. Other major features Smartsheet lacks include time tracking tools and a centralized activity feed for all projects.

Choosing the Best Smartsheet Alternative

Project management tools come in all shapes and capabilities, so choose carefully. TechnologyAdvice can help you find the best project management tool for your company and project needs. Fill out the form below, and one of our unbiased Technology Advisors will contact you with a short list of the best vendors.

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QuickBooks vs FreshBooks https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/quickbooks-vs-freshbooks/ https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/quickbooks-vs-freshbooks/#comments Tue, 21 Jun 2022 14:35:00 +0000 https://technologyadvice.com/?p=56591 QuickBooks and FreshBooks share many similarities, but each accounting software solution addresses different business needs. FreshBooks offers an intuitive user interface and straightforward features for small businesses and freelancers, whereas QuickBooks Online provides comprehensive accounting software for businesses of all sizes. Comparing QuickBooks and FreshBooks based on features, pricing, integrations, and customer support will help... Read more »

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Key Takeaways

  • QuickBooks works best for companies that sell products and require scalable, fully-fledged accounting software.
  • FreshBooks works best for service-based businesses and for freelancers and solopreneurs who need a way to track expenses and revenue for simple reports.

QuickBooks and FreshBooks share many similarities, but each accounting software solution addresses different business needs. FreshBooks offers an intuitive user interface and straightforward features for small businesses and freelancers, whereas QuickBooks Online provides comprehensive accounting software for businesses of all sizes.

Comparing QuickBooks and FreshBooks based on features, pricing, integrations, and customer support will help you decide if either platform is right for your business. If you’re still not ready to make a decision, consider exploring our Accounting Software Guide to browse all solutions on the market.

Related: 5 QuickBooks Alternatives for SMB Accounting

Timekeeping

FreshBooks offers built-in time-tracking capabilities that are helpful for project- and case-based businesses where employees track billable hours alongside other project expenses. The dashboard and project views of these hours help you keep your entire project and individual employees on the right task at the right time. Depending on the size of your team, you’ll likely import this data into your accounting system once compiled.

QuickBooks Online offers QuickBooks Time for an extra cost that tracks time worked against payroll for full or part-time employees. Otherwise, you’ll have to enter payroll as an expense and bill it by categorizing the employee’s service as a product. It’s not the most efficient way to track employee time, so you’ll likely need to look into other payroll or time clock software to go along with this.

Just getting started? Check out the HR software that every startup needs.

Invoices

FreshBooks also includes customizable invoice designs and includes a click-to-pay button so customers can easily pay their online invoices. The invoices pull data directly from the timekeeping feature, as long as you mark your hours as “billable.” Automations include recurring invoices and automatic invoicing of billable hours, as well as follow-up emails for overdue payments. FreshBooks Payments allows the recipient to pay the invoice immediately via credit card, Apple Pay, and ACH.

FreshBooks also includes customizable invoice designs.

QuickBooks connects to some outside time tracking apps like Google Calendar or TSheets to track billable hours and include these on your invoices. The invoice builder in QuickBooks Online contains numerous customization features, including adding your logo and changing colors, so you have control over the design of your invoices before you send them to clients. QuickBooks Payments includes a click-to-pay button on your invoice to let your clients pay directly from the invoice with a debit or credit card, Apple Pay, or ACH payment, and set reminders and recurring payments directly from the platform.

Need to streamline your accounting process? Learn about Invoice Factoring!

Inventory Management

QuickBooks Online’s inventory management features tie in with its accounting software, which means you can enter payments made to suppliers, track inventory on hand, and make future orders based on inventory output. These features support small-to-medium retail and manufacturing businesses with complicated accounting procedures. 

FreshBooks doesn’t include any inventory management features.

Read more: How to Choose the Best Inventory Management Software

Expense Tracking

QuickBooks supports both debits and credits, keeping you apprised of profit margins at every stage of your monthly accounting cycle. This may take some more manual entry on your part (or your accountant’s) because QuickBooks Online is designed to show line items only rather than some of the more nuanced breakdowns. 

To streamline monthly reimbursements, the mobile QuickBooks app also makes it easy to take pictures of and upload receipts.

FreshBooks mostly focuses on invoicing and payment collection, so you may have to purchase or connect to another accounting system anyway. That said, it does offer special expense features like receipt tracking, project time tracking, and sales tax management, which can be a big help for small business owners just getting started.

FreshBooks expense tracking features.

Accounting

QuickBooks Online makes keeping track of your accounting easy. Features like double-entry accounting keep your sheets balanced and help organize cash flow, but user mastery of these features doesn’t come easy to all. A common criticism of QuickBooks is that its abundance of features makes the software difficult to learn, especially for small business users who typically don’t have a dedicated accountant on-site. A healthy amount of accounting or bookkeeping knowledge will help users navigate the software.

Once you figure the system out, balancing both sides of your sheet will take much less time than doing it by hand. Your accountant likely uses QuickBooks Online too, so you can share data directly with them.

FreshBooks doesn’t provide accounting features in the form of fully automated balance sheets and the like, but if you want to put in some work, you can enter your own data to fill out balance sheets. This can be time-consuming, depending on how many clients and projects you run at a given time, so this process may not be the best option for small businesses.

Want all your accounting needs at your fingertips? Check out these Mobile Accounting Apps.

Integrations

QuickBooks Online boasts over 400 native integrations with payment software, business banking, CRMs, e-commerce, and many other software categories to ensure maximum visibility and control over your financial data and sales processes. Some other helpful tools like ReceiptBank and PayPal keep your transactions updated with necessary details.

FreshBooks includes over 100 integrations, but these target freelancers and small businesses. Freshbook’s integrations allow you to connect your app to human resources and tax filing tools for small businesses to round out the payroll-tax-invoicing circle. Track payments from your Squarespace website with an integration, or connect your FreshBooks to Zapier to process and organize actions in tons of other systems.

Reporting

QuickBooks Online includes a variety of reports with their product, and the majority of these follow what you’d need for accounting purposes. Each group of reports includes sub-reports that drill down to the details you or your accountant needs for proper analysis:

  • Accounts payable
  • Accounts receivable
  • Products and inventory
  • Expenses and purchases
  • Sales tax reporting
  • Employee reports (basic time and product or service reports)
QuickBooks Online includes a variety of reporting features.

While this list is impressive, you’ll find that many of these reports only work after significant manual entry and tagging by the user. You’ll need to keep detailed records to fully access each of these, so small businesses may want a different reporting tool.

FreshBooks shows reporting centers on profit margin, and their central dashboard shows your periodic input versus output. Because FreshBooks works best as an invoicing and time-tracking tool, the reports focus on payment collection, as well as a couple of tax-related reports. The software has filters to help you build more granular reports, and some of the reports are time-based to help you stay on top of your payments due.

Pricing

QuickBooks pricing includes four tiers that businesses can choose from to get the features they need. 

  • The QuickBooks Essentials plan is perfect for small businesses because it includes three users and makes it easy to pay contractors. 
  • QuickBooks Online Plus includes 5 users and adds inventory tracking. 
  • QuickBooks Online Advanced is for bigger teams, so this version adds business analytics, a dedicated account team, and more. 
  • QuickBooks Payroll is an add-on for all plans.

FreshBooks pricing also has four tiers.

  • FreshBooks Lite seems to just be for freelancers as it only includes five billable clients.
  • The FreshBooks Plus plan includes 50 billable clients, making it a great option for small businesses, especially since you can send unlimited estimates and proposals to help you win jobs. 
  • FreshBooks Premium includes unlimited billable clients with the ability to customize email templates, send unlimited invoices, and track project profitability.
  • FreshBooks Select is a custom pricing option that provides a dedicated account manager and specialized onboarding and migration services. 

Customer Support

QuickBooks does offer online customer support, but you have to be logged in to access it. However, users can also research topics in the knowledge base or ask questions in community forums to help them find the answers they need.

FreshBooks customer service offers a live chat option on their website, along with phone customer support 12 hours a day, five days a week. The website also has a searchable help center that covers a variety of common customer service topics. 

Read more: Benefits of Live Chat for Customer Service Teams

QuickBooks vs. FreshBooks: Which is best?

QuickBooks and FreshBooks are big names in the accounting software space, but each one is best suited to different types of businesses.

If you’re an independent contractor or small business owner looking for an easy-to-use solution, FreshBooks offers straightforward tools for invoicing, time-tracking, and more. QuickBooks has a longer list of native features and integrations, but the extra capabilities come at a higher price point than FreshBooks.

Still not sold on QuickBooks or FreshBooks? Visit our Accounting Software Guide to explore more accounting solutions.

1 Domo

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Build a modern business, driven by data. Connect to any data source to bring your data together into one unified view, then make analytics available to drive insight-based actions—all while maintaining security and control. Domo serves enterprise customers in all industries looking to manage their entire organization from a single platform.

Learn more about Domo

2 Multiview ERP

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Multiview Financials' ERP provides a single point of truth within your organization, enabling visibility across divisional, regional, or product line silos. It goes beyond traditional finance and accounting to add the sophisticated capabilities that today’s complex organizations demand.

Learn more about Multiview ERP

3 Wrike

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Wrike is a team collaboration platform used by more than two million people across 140 countries. Manage your finances and keep your organization profitable with Wrike´s powerful software. Create a project budget, set preferred currencies, add default hourly rates, and control user access – all in one place. Use time tracking tools to log employee hours and allocate resources. Get detailed reports and build analytics dashboards for a full project portfolio overview.

Learn more about Wrike

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Gamification Badges Are Not Digital Credentials: A Q&A With Jarin Schmidt of Credly https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/gamification-badges-are-not-digital-credentials/ https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/gamification-badges-are-not-digital-credentials/#respond Thu, 17 Mar 2022 22:00:02 +0000 https://technologyadvice.com/?p=89962 Gamification tools award badges to employees for completing internal training, but earning digital credentials may be much more useful in the long run. We spoke with Jarin Schmidt, Chief Experience Officer at Credly, about the benefits for employees and businesses. What Is a Digital Credential? TechnologyAdvice: Let’s start with a baseline question so we’re talking... Read more »

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Gamification tools award badges to employees for completing internal training, but earning digital credentials may be much more useful in the long run. We spoke with Jarin Schmidt, Chief Experience Officer at Credly, about the benefits for employees and businesses.

What Is a Digital Credential?

TechnologyAdvice: Let’s start with a baseline question so we’re talking about the same thing: what is a digital credential?

Jarin Schmidt: A credential is a third-party claim about what someone knows and can do. For example, an employer or training organization, an association or an academic institution will confer a credential upon an individual as proof of the individual’s abilities and competencies. Through digital credentials, skills and knowledge are verified via a trusted, common language platform like Credly.

This enables individuals to have greater control over their career trajectory by having verified, trusted proof of learning outcomes. Individuals can determine how they want to leverage their earned digital credentials throughout their career paths.

Read more on CIO Insight: IT Certifications vs Degree — What Should You Do?

TA: From what I gather, gamification badges are company or even departmentally meaningful, whereas credentials are industry-wide or nearly universal. Other than building an individual’s resume, how might companies use digital credentials?

JS: That’s a great way of putting it. To drill down even further, gamification is about applying game principles in non-game settings to drive behaviors. Digital credentials are used to unlock opportunities by adding transparency to learning and experiences. Digital credentials have an advantage over gamification badges because they bring actionable value into the workplace. Other ways that companies may use digital credentials include:

  • Internal career paths: HR professionals can use digital credentials to establish employees who are advancing in their roles quickly. This enables teams to develop succession plans and have visibility into qualified internal hires for upcoming open positions.
  • Third-party verification: Digital credentials are not self-reported and prove an individual has mastered, experienced, or attained the requirements of the specific badge.
  • Informed outside hiring decisions: Organizations can rely on digital credentials to provide accurate, up-to-date previews of the skills required within their workforce. By understanding and mapping out their current workforce skills and needs, organizations can focus on filling skills gaps in their workforce.
  • Employee development: Digital credentials provide a path for employees to develop specific expertise while in their current roles.

Read more: Best Recruiting Software & Tools

TA: I can see clear benefits for both individuals who are earning credentials, hiring managers who need to verify distinct skill sets, and companies who build credentials for their products. Are there other use cases or benefits that I’m overlooking?

JS: Digital credentials can also be used within educational institutions to confirm expertise in an area that traditionally wouldn’t warrant credit or perhaps a full diploma. Colleges and universities can use credentials within coursework, or as supplemental programs, to provide students applicable and verified skills before they enter the workforce.

On the other hand, educational institutions can also garner valuable data and insight from digital credentials — such as understanding program success, determining the changing needs of skills and requirements for their students, and monitoring student engagement.

Additionally, digital credentials can also be a significant driver of brand awareness for companies. Individuals want to share their achievements, and digital credentials provide an opportunity to share success through many means, such as listing them on resumes, including them in email signatures, highlighting them on social media, and much more.

Incorporating digital credentials into company-branded social media strategies can drive earner-led brand awareness and increase engagement with the individuals who earn a company-specific badge.

The Purpose of Gamification Tools

TA: Do you think that gamification still has a place in the workforce?

JS: Gamification can still be an useful tool for companies internally, because gamification is about creating feedback loops and driving employee behaviors. These factors can have a positive impact on short-term employee success. Where gamification falls short is in the employee growth journey, and fostering value outside the organization it is implemented in.

Digital credentials communicate verified capabilities and signal more widely what an individual can do on the job. Digital credentials also light the way toward additional learning, reskilling, and upskilling opportunities that can enhance talent retention and management — adding value to both employees and the company.

TA: Many companies have invested in learning management systems and custom training tools. Do digital credential systems like Credly replace these systems, or how might those work together?

JS: Credly and its customers partner to provide comprehensive training opportunities with one consistent language of verification. Credly has integrations with many learning management systems, like Canvas and Moodle, to ease the credentialing process — making it seamless for customers to automatically issue digital badges within their learning management systems.

A combination LMS and digital credential system allows customers to create, manage, and monitor all aspects of credentialing, certificate, or badge programs.

Read more: Best Employee Engagement Tools & Platforms

TA: I can imagine digital credentials working in place of, or in addition to, technical interviews for developers and skills tests during interviews. How does Credly affect the hiring process for highly technical or skilled positions?

JS: Digital credentials accelerate the hiring process for highly technical and/or skilled positions. With the right systems in place, candidates with credentials are positioned at the top of the list. This eliminates tedious resume reviews for recruiters, who are just trying to discern the most qualified candidate for the role.

Digital credentials empower recruiters and hiring managers with the best candidates for a role versus who just looks good on paper.

About Jarin Schmidt

headshot of Jarin Schmidt

Jarin helps shape the future of documenting and promoting skills by leading the product, engineering, and design teams at Credly. With a background in design, strategy, and product development, Jarin is passionate about helping people tell their unique professional stories through emerging technology so they can discover the most rewarding opportunities.

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Workable vs. ZipRecruiter: A Non-Comparison Post https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/workable-vs-ziprecruiter/ https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/workable-vs-ziprecruiter/#respond Fri, 18 Feb 2022 20:00:01 +0000 https://technologyadvice.com/?p=54484 One recruiting software product can be vastly different from the next. After all, small businesses have completely different recruiting needs from massive global corporations. They each need a different software solution when it comes to streamlining their hiring processes. Comparing Workable vs. ZipRecruiter proves these vast differences right out of the gate. Here are some... Read more »

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One recruiting software product can be vastly different from the next. After all, small businesses have completely different recruiting needs from massive global corporations. They each need a different software solution when it comes to streamlining their hiring processes.

Comparing Workable vs. ZipRecruiter proves these vast differences right out of the gate. Here are some analogies I came up with:

  • ZipRecruiter = hammer; Workable = tool shed
  • ZipRecruiter = apple; Workable = apple tree
  • ZipRecruiter = microphone; Workable = audio soundboard
  • ZipRecruiter = a tube of paint; Workable = the art supply store

You get the picture. What’s important to remember here is that each of these products is useful in its own right, but your talent acquisition team is not going to use them for the same purpose. Both are in the recruiting software category, but that’s about where their similarities end.

Workable calls their product “the most popular applicant tracking software.” Although they don’t define a sample group, there are quite a few five-star reviews on the web. Hiring managers and recruiters seem pretty happy using Workable’s complete, end-to-end applicant tracking system.

ZipRecruiter, on the other hand, provides coverage for your job posts on major job boards and a searchable database of candidates. Think of it as a job posting tool, rather than a full-service applicant tracking system for hiring managers.

Just to warn you from the outset: This is going to be an unbalanced comparison when you look strictly at the number of features. That aside, both products have high satisfaction ratings for what their features provide.

Candidate Sourcing

Candidate sourcing is ZipRecruiter's primary feature

Candidate sourcing is ZipRecruiter’s primary feature, and it does this really well. Upload your job listing to their platform, and ZipRecruiter will push that description to hundreds of paid and free job postings. You do have to provide a ZIP code or other location identifier, but you can source qualified candidates from anywhere in the world.

ZipRecruiter boasts a database of over nine million job seekers, where you can search for active and passive candidates and go after the best fit for your job opportunity. The service also sends a daily email to job candidates, and your opening can feature prominently as a paid job ad.

Some of ZipRecruiter’s extras in this category include a hosted Careers page you can easily add to your website, social media sharing, and “boosted” posts that rise higher in the overall listings.

For its part, Workable provides technology resources to help you promote your job opening on your site and within your social network. The platform offers a hosted Careers page that automatically updates when you make a change to the position in Workable, and you can build a custom jobs tab on your Facebook page.

You can also use the Workable People Source browser app to source candidate information from social media and public online data into a central view. Workable also provides syndication to multiple job boards, but you pay per applicant rather than per job post. They also provide a shortlink for every job, so hiring managers can post to a job board outside of the Workable network.

When choosing between these pieces of software, you should consider how strong your current network of candidates is, and whether you want to source from outside that network.

ZipRecruiter can post to 100 job boards at once and connect you with candidates that you might otherwise not reach. Workable gathers potential job applicants from the corners of your network or who already have some knowledge of your company.

Resume Handling

Both of these recruitment tool options provide pre-screening questions that your applicants must answer prior to submitting their resume and job application. These questions immediately remove candidates who don’t meet the job requirements, which cuts down on the amount of time you spend reading unqualified resumes.

Both Workable and ZipRecruiter have features to organize, tag, and view your candidates’ resumes. They also offer automated and personalized email responses to send to candidates when they apply for a position.

ZipRecruiter lets candidates upload resumes to keep on file, and their overall profile helps you search the database. However, ZipRecruiter’s capabilities do not extend beyond resume organization.

If your hiring managers have a current workflow for scoring and interviewing qualified candidates — very common for a bigger employer — then you’ll need to export your data and upload it to that system. That said, if you’re a small business looking for an easy job posting tool, then ZipRecruiter might be exactly what you need.

As the more comprehensive recruitment tool, Workable has a resume parsing feature that can pull experience and education data from a resume and upload it into a candidate profile that houses all of the applicant’s data.

Thus, Workable streamlines the recruitment process for your talent management team, helping to reduce redundant work so you can get to the hiring stage faster.

Interview and Beyond

Workable CRM to organize your applicant pool

After sourcing your candidates, Workable effectively turns into a CRM for your applicant pool. Workable integrates with your calendars and email, as well as your actual CRM — you can provide a single view of candidates across all systems, no matter what job site they came from.

With these capabilities, you can schedule interviews, provide feedback, email candidates, and score responses. A mobile app provides easy access to the Workable CRM and interview functions, so you can update your potential candidate profiles and give feedback to your entire talent team from any location.

If they want, your recruiters can also run your entire hiring process through Workable, including background checks through the Checkr app and even EEO compliance auditing. Built-in analytics and reporting help you find your most reliable sources of job candidates, speed your hiring process, and build better human capital.

All of these features means that your hiring manager can work within a single system, from sourcing candidates to extending an offer letter.

Conclusions

Workable vs. ZipRecruiter is hardly a fair comparison, as the two recruitment software products address different aspects of the hiring process. Both are worthy in their own right; it just depends on what your recruitment team needs and what your budget is.

Workable is a great product for managing sourcing, applicant tracking, and hiring. ZipRecruiter is a job posting solution for expanding your hiring network.

If you still have questions, visit our product selection tool, or call one of our unbiased Technology Advisors for a free consultation.

Top Applicant Tracking Software Recommendations

1 Pinpoint

Visit website

Attract, hire, and onboard the right people with Pinpoint—the modern applicant tracking system designed for internal talent acquisition teams that care about flexibility, candidate experience, and want to spent less time on repetitive admin.

Simple, intelligent software and unlimited help from the Pinpoint team means you'll attract the right candidates, select the best, and wow your new hires from the moment they say ‘yes’.

Learn more about Pinpoint

2 Crelate Omni

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Crelate, an all-in-one ATS and recruiting CRM, helps users deliver results and scale their business. The single screen experience minimizes productivity loss. Functionality reduces the need for additional programs to operate a recruiting and/or staffing business. Flexible workflows allow users to work how they want.

A modern, sleek, and intuitive feel, Crelate offers built-in integrations, industry-leading reports, and powerful search. Letting you focus on what you do- changing people's lives.

Learn more about Crelate Omni

3 Teamtailor

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Teamtailor — the all in one solution for your recruitment. Attract more candidates and manage their applications, while you promote yourself as an attractive employer. All packaged in an easy to use web service. Sign up for a free trial and get started with a new career site in just a few minutes!

Learn more about Teamtailor

Need a Little Help?

Talk with a software expert for free. Get a list of software that’s great for you in less than 15 minutes.


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Make Unlimited PTO More Than A Marketing Play https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/unlimited-pto-policy/ https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/unlimited-pto-policy/#respond Fri, 04 Feb 2022 17:16:24 +0000 https://technologyadvice.com/?p=87929 Companies love to advertise unlimited PTO policies on their careers pages, but some employees argue that in actuality, employees end up taking far fewer days because they don’t have clear guidelines.  And while it’s a good selling point, moving to unlimited PTO is complicated and requires policy decisions and buy-in across the entire company. A... Read more »

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Companies love to advertise unlimited PTO policies on their careers pages, but some employees argue that in actuality, employees end up taking far fewer days because they don’t have clear guidelines. 

And while it’s a good selling point, moving to unlimited PTO is complicated and requires policy decisions and buy-in across the entire company.

A clearer balance sheet — eventually

Companies that provide a limited number of days off to employees will end up carrying unused PTO days on their balance sheets, according to Rajeev Kapur, CEO of 1105 Media, a B2B media and marketing services company. Those days can add up to a financial liability in the near term, which might convince some companies to convert to an unlimited PTO policy. But in order to clear that balance sheet, employees need to be paid for days off they haven’t used yet.

“Your balance sheet has to be strong to move to unlimited PTO,” says Kapur. “Cash has to go out first,” to pay for those accrued days. It’s a big initial investment, but if you’re in a financial position to do it, you should also consider the policy implications of the move.

Unlimited can’t exist without guardrails

According to Kapur, “No one takes unlimited PTO, because if you do, you get fired. You either cause more work for other members of your team, or the company realizes they don’t need you — and you get downsized.” Kapur says that employees who need to take extended time off or want to work fewer days out of the week should look into taking a sabbatical or a leave of absence or discuss going part-time with their employer.

These are often the fears of workers who rely on the good graces of their manager and need to feel like they are contributing in a significant way to stay in their jobs: If I take more time off to care for myself and my family, I’ll be punished. 

Full-time work comes with full-time benefits like health care, which most US full-time employees purchase through their employers. But many employees have realized that the stress of the pandemic, child care, and reduced work-life balance due to the stresses of suddenly working remotely are leading to burnout. And under unclear unlimited PTO policies, many employees can feel stressed about when they can and cannot take off — which in turn increases burnout. 

Clear policies can relieve pressure on employees

Pagely, a managed WordPress hosting company recently acquired by GoDaddy, enforces lower limits on PTO. 

Danielle Tabor, SHRM-SCP, who oversees HR and culture at Emburse, a global fintech firm that offers unlimited PTO suggests building policies that support taking the right amount of PTO to do their best work. She says companies should “emphasize that the amount of vacation taken during the year will not be factored into any promotion, raise, or other decisions.” 

Tabor says that HR should set minimum limits and ensure managers and individual contributors are aware of the average days of PTO taken. “On top of this, make sure your HR team is conducting a regular audit of PTO taken. At Emburse, we run reports quarterly to understand who the outliers are in both extremes and meet with their managers to discuss how to best approach the situation.”

You may need different policies for different locations

Tabor also cautions that multinational companies need to keep in mind varying federal requirements in different jurisdictions. “Most other countries, especially in western Europe, already have far more vacation allowances than the US – often 4-6 weeks – and quite often these are government-mandated. There’s also a much different culture of people taking all of their vacation days. You’ll need to decide if these countries will also get unlimited days, and if not, how you will share this message with employees.” Documented policies with clear guidelines and references to local laws will help clear up any confusion.

PTO cannot be the only measure of productivity

While it’s easy to accuse the employee who takes a lot of PTO of taking advantage of the policy, managers should attempt to understand the employee’s individual situation in light of that data.  Document PTO — and really all — policies in your HR software where all employees can access them, track employee performance toward goals, and take an empathetic look at what the data tells you about the employee’s time with the company. Don’t be afraid to change your policies in ways that better support your employees. 

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Google Analytics May Violate GDPR https://technologyadvice.com/blog/marketing/google-analytics-gdpr/ https://technologyadvice.com/blog/marketing/google-analytics-gdpr/#respond Thu, 27 Jan 2022 19:03:03 +0000 https://technologyadvice.com/?p=87302 European companies may need to find a new website analytics provider to replace Google Analytics — if they want to avoid legal action under GDPR. NetDoktor, a medical news website based in Austria, was found to have violated the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by using the website analytics software Google Analytics, which... Read more »

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European companies may need to find a new website analytics provider to replace Google Analytics — if they want to avoid legal action under GDPR.

NetDoktor, a medical news website based in Austria, was found to have violated the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by using the website analytics software Google Analytics, which shipped plain text data about European Union citizens to the United States. In the January 13, 2022, ruling, the Austrian data regulator Datenschutzbehörde found that the use of the Google Analytics cookie allowed the transfer of unique user ids, IP addresses, and browser parameters to the US, where privacy protection were deemed “not effective, as they do not eliminate the monitoring and access options by US intelligence services”

The legal case is one of many cases brought by noyb recently that aim to uphold the GDPR restrictions on personal data collected in the EU and transferred to American companies. Most notably data giants like Google and Facebook have been targeted, but the suits also extend to other companies that haven’t traditionally been lumped in with the usual data collectors, like Stripe

The EU’s argument is that tools like Google Analytics collect data, including assigning unique identifiers to EU citizens when those citizens visit the website. That data, processed by US data centers, can be used to individually identify a user when combined with other identifiers like IP address and browser type. The court is concerned mostly with how this data could be used by US Intelligence agencies to monitor EU citizens.

What companies need to know about the Google Analytics decision

Google Analytics is the most widely-used website analytics tool for one reason: it’s free. But the adage that has ruled tech for the last 20 years applies here as well, “If the product is free, you are the product.” In this case, data on visitors to your website is the product Google is interested in. This data helps Google build better algorithms to surface useful content for searchers on their search engine results pages (SERPs). According to BuiltWith, over 28 million websites currently use Google Analytics, with the UK, Germany, France, and the Netherlands all appearing in the top 10 countries where Analytics is used. 

Should the courts decide that Google Analytics is violating GDPR rules, individual companies will need to remove the Analytics code from their website and find an alternative to Google Analytics that either provides local customer data storage and processing or provides data storage within the EU.

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How To Build A No-Code App — Learn From My Mistakes https://technologyadvice.com/blog/information-technology/no-code-advice/ https://technologyadvice.com/blog/information-technology/no-code-advice/#respond Tue, 25 Jan 2022 22:14:03 +0000 https://technologyadvice.com/?p=87062 I love the idea of using no-code platforms to speed up app development within a business, but the “anyone can build an app” marketing line is dangerously misleading.  At TechnologyAdvice, the content team uses Google Sheets to plan and track our content production for over 20 technology publications. Admittedly, Google Sheets worked just fine when... Read more »

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I love the idea of using no-code platforms to speed up app development within a business, but the “anyone can build an app” marketing line is dangerously misleading. 

At TechnologyAdvice, the content team uses Google Sheets to plan and track our content production for over 20 technology publications. Admittedly, Google Sheets worked just fine when it was me and one other writer planning and tracking our blog posts for a single publication. But after three acquisitions and the addition of over 30 team members, managing and updating all of the tabs, formulas, and charts on that sheet takes up two-thirds of one team member’s working hours. And she rebuilds the sheet every quarter. 

We’re currently looking for a new project management software that fits our needs. We’ve narrowed it down to a couple of options, but the thought keeps coming back to me: We have a pretty good system built out in a spreadsheet, which is basically an app. Couldn’t we just turn our spreadsheet into an app?

Short answer: No. You cannot “just” turn a behemoth into a fully-functioning app by uploading the spreadsheet to the app tool. I’m as disappointed as you are. But because I have spent many frustrating hours trying to build this Ikea bookcase without ever looking at the directions, I have some advice on how to approach your first no-code app.

1. Learn the tool first

“It’s no-code! I’m not a coder! This was built for me!” she said, regretting every word. 

Just because I can do a vlookup with a YouTube assist doesn’t mean I have the technical knowledge to build a complicated app right away. In the world of no-code, you gotta start simple.

My first mistake was to jump in with a very complicated set of spreadsheets built with impressive formulas that run burndown charts, track budgets, and count a custom production points system. I thought that since all of this work is already in a spreadsheet, I could easily translate it to a no-code app. 

But I forgot that I actually had to learn how the tool works before I can build a complicated app. After playing around with a sample of my publication plan data for too frustratingly long, I found a beginner tutorial on YouTube with step by step instructions to build a task management app. The tools suddenly made sense.

While building a task management app doesn’t have all of the functions I want from my final content production app, it’s a good place to start learning the app. Turns out it’s a lot easier to work with 5 columns of data instead of 16.

Takeaway: Build a simple sample project or two to learn the tools before attempting to dive into that tough project. 

2. Start with simple data and build an MVP

Our content planning sheet has gone through many iterations, but because it works as both a planning and tracking document, the data is not consistent across tabs or even within a single sheet. Inconsistent data and missing fields and column quirks that work in a spreadsheet make for a frustrating app build. 

My “clean” spreadsheet included extra columns that were helpful for formatting but annoying in the app. I had also included lots of rows where I had planned blog posts but didn’t fill in any of the other columns. If I had started with fewer columns and rows, I might have been better equipped to manipulate that data when I got into the app.

But you’re building your app for your ideal user and your ideal state, so build the ideal data set. And make that data set fit the minimally viable product (MVP) that will suit your needs. What does the ideal behavior look like for the most basic version of your app? Start there. You can build in exceptions later. Consider:

  • Does your most basic app need to track budgets, or can you add that in later?
  • Does your most basic app need to include alerts?

Takeaway: Unless your team is hyper-organized, I would suggest building your first app from pared-down, clean, and as-close-to perfect data as possible. Fill out all the fields you can, or get rid of any columns you don’t immediately need.

3. You still need to know spreadsheet-style formulas

I can clean up a spreadsheet and import the data into a tool, but I invariably get stymied when the no-code app builder needs me to build a formula. I consider myself pretty tech-savvy (I know what an API is! I have a GitHub account!), but I cannot write regular expressions or formulas without the help of documentation and probably several video demonstrations. 

This might be completely obvious to most people who build software, but if you’re new to this, you’re going to need to invest some time learning to speak the language of the software you’re using. The magic of WordPress and WYSIWYG editors mean that most people who publish on the web don’t need to know HTML to do it. But if you want to customize your blog post, you might need to learn what an HTML tag is and how it works. The same is true with a no-code app. 

Takeaway: You will need to invest some time learning how to speak the app’s language in order to make it work. Most of these tools have communities, videos, and ample support documents to help you out.

4. Don’t fall victim to the marketing

This is my major gripe with the promises of the no-code world. The marketing says “Anyone can build an app!” “No coding necessary!” “Fast and easy!”

And sure, building an app on a no-code platform is faster and easier than building a web or mobile application from the ground up. There’s a reason that platform-as-a-service (PaaS) tools exist: Learning to build an app infrastructure is hard, so you should pay someone else to build it for you. 

Also More: IaaS vs. PaaS: 2022 Comparison

No-code applications are an extension of the PaaS movement, where companies use existing databases, servers, and operating systems to speed up their app builds. You don’t have to learn a whole new coding language to understand how to use a no-code tool. You don’t have to understand how to make database calls or even how to code the design elements of your app. This makes them incredibly useful for startups and individuals that are strapped for resources. It even makes them useful for care-mad employees at larger corporations who know that their current systems could be improved. 

Takeaway: Don’t be fooled that no-code means no learning curve. Set aside the time to learn your tool of choice and outline the right projects to build. Once you get the basics down, you’ll be building apps for everything — but that’s an entirely different problem.

The post How To Build A No-Code App — Learn From My Mistakes appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

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Unbounce Acquires LeadsRx to Increase Conversion Visibility https://technologyadvice.com/blog/marketing/unbounce-acquires-leadsrx/ https://technologyadvice.com/blog/marketing/unbounce-acquires-leadsrx/#respond Wed, 12 Jan 2022 15:56:51 +0000 https://technologyadvice.com/?p=86674 The marketing analytics companies will combine to boost the performance of Unbounce's new AI tools.

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Unbounce, a conversion intelligence platform where marketers can build landing pages and gain insight into lead behavior, announced today that has acquired LeadsRx, a marketing analytics platform that builds a comprehensive picture of the customer journey by logging lead touchpoints. The move was announced in a press release

More data insight from Unbounce

Unbounce has made a name for itself as a tool where companies can easily build landing pages and lead forms and increase their on-site conversions. The software provides design elements that companies can use to test and iterate to the best converting version of a landing page. Unbounce has also recently released a Conversion Intelligence Platform, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tool that helps marketers iterate their campaigns faster. 

In order to train any AI tool, you need data. And LeadsRx has plenty of it. The company has built a database of over 2.5 billion customer data points from over 5,000 global brands. The data that LeadsRx will provide to Unbounce not only had depth, but breadth, spanning several marketing channels including digital radio, streaming services, podcasts, and TV.

What about consumer privacy?

Many marketers find themselves wanting more quality data about their customers while being simultaneously concerned about how their own digital data is being used. Unbounce was careful to address the data privacy in the press release, stating, “LeadsRx is deeply committed to consumer data privacy. The company works off its proprietary technology that collects first-party data only. Unlike marketing attribution platforms of its kind, LeadsRx doesn’t rely on third-party cookies but instead develops private identity graphs for each of its clients.”

And at this point, the two companies will work separately, “until further assessment takes place.” That sounds like we can expect an expansion of the Unbounce Customer Data Platform and an eventual dissolution of the LeadsRx brand. 

Also Read: Unbounce vs. Optimizely: Split Testing Tools for Lead Gen

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