Hats-off to all those company that have accomplished growing their businesses in the pre-web era. Today, it almost seems impossible a run a startup without the use of web apps - to help you check your mail, answer support requests, send out newsletter and accomplish several other functions. What we find interesting in using web apps is that they are inexpensive, easy to setup and automate a lot of processes that were othervise done manually. Automation allows us to free up valuable time that we can pour into working ‘on’ our business rather than ‘in’ it.

Here are some of the tools we use at our workplace. We wanted to say a big THANK YOU for helping us grow our business…

Google Apps - email and document sharing

DeskAway (obviously!) - project collaboration, planning and messaging

Zendesk - support

GetSatisfaction - online community

iContact - email marketing

Google Analytics - tracking visitors on our site

Crazy Egg - heatmaps for pages on our site

Pingdom - monitoring uptime on our servers

Wordpress - blog platform

Twitter - customer support and outreach

Screenr - quick 1-minute help videos online

Dropbox - sharing files across home, office

Skype - communications and demos

eLumenata, Inc. is an instructional design company specializing in virtual world educational design.

It is SIMPLE and EASY TO USE! It captures the most important aspects of PM and focuses the attention on those issues.

~Virginia Dickenson, Owner/President

This is how they use DeskAway,

How are you using DeskAway and what value is it providing your team?
Using it for project management - outlining projects, task lists, assignments; it is an amazing value - this way, I have the milestones, deadlines, etc - and can build the task lists around those issues. More important, it is SIMPLE and EASY TO USE! It captures the most important aspects of PM and focuses the attention on those issues.

Were you using any other tool before DeskAway?
I was using Google docs spreadsheet and prior to that, the Microsoft PM app online (not MSProject) - however, it was far too complicated to be of value.

Was there a learning curve associated with DeskAway? How did your team adapt to a new application?
Learn as you go - no time needed. My team LOVES IT.

What features does your team use the most?
Task assignments and groupings.

Are you emailing (sending tasks, attachments etc.) less because of DeskAway? How has DeskAway helped in lowering project costs, profitability or improving efficiency?
Yes - DeskAway eliminates the need for con calls that explain spreadsheets, gives our clients a place to see progress, and also allows for quick and efficient project changes.

Are there any other thoughts that you would want to share with us regarding our service, product etc.?
KISS!!!!! Keep It Simple Simon! Thank you!

Thanks!

How do You use DeskAway? Let us know @ priyanka.d(at)synage(.)com