Stu Atkins is a leading keynote presenter, trainer and co – founder of Social Seedling. Innovation, tech trends, social media and disruption are his forte and Stu has his finger on the technology pulse both here and abroad.

Business Innovation Tools – Top 6 tools to being more productive at work (and home!)

As a society, there’s more information flowing between us than at any other time... we battle to prioritise, respond, record and manage this flow of information, whether it be at home or work. Here are 5 tools to help you run a more effective space.

          1. TeamUp Calendar – FREE - a shared calendar, via a free App that allows you to sync important dates with your key stakeholders. Or Family. Or Friends. It let’s you colour code events, invite attendees, set recurring meetings, add updates on the fly and notifies you when someone else amends / adds events. www.teamapp.com

          2. Evernote Scannable – FREE (iphone only) is an app based too that allows you to scan documents via your smartphone in very high, printable quality. It’s an excellent way to scan and email documents at home or work, along with taking high quality images of documents to store online. Better still, if you take a picture of a business card via the app, it will instantly connect you via LinkedIn and send them an introductory email which is personalised. It’s a great tool for private and work life!

www.evernote.com/products/scannable

          3. Canva – $119 USD per annum – An Australian product taking the world by storm, Canva let’s anyone design simple and effective creative images. Simply upload logo’s, pictures, or choose from their extensive database of images to create invitations, social media posts, even ads for magazines. There’s loads of creative templates to choose from and is a very simple tool to use. The free version is limited, the full paid product is exceptional value.

          4.TODOIST – FREE for a simple version or $45AUD per annum. We all need ‘to do lists’ – this product is a list management tool on steroids! Capture your tasks, assign deadlines for you or others, colour code based on levels of importance and see your progress as you work through your tasks. This tool will organize even the most disorganized in your family or business! www.todoist.com

          5.Hemingway Editor – $20 USD –– is an app for Windows and Office which simply helps make your writing BOLD and CLEAR. This tool cuts dead weight from your writing and gets your point across. It also formats your writing in HTML to publish directly. If you are checking a document written by a colleague, it allows you to send the doc back with markups and suggestions, showing where improvements need to be made. www.hemingwayapp.com

          6.Pocket – FREE – put simply, 30 million users can’t be wrong. This app lets you prioritise anything you read on the web for future reference. It’s a brilliant way to prioritise web based content to ensure you only read what’s important and relevant, when you are ready. www.getpocket.com