Hello there!

Welcome to the August 2009 edition of this newsletter. In the past couple of weeks, we released quite a few small features and enhancements to improve your experience with DeskAway. If you haven't already, check them out here:

Revamped Milestone Page, At-a-glance Overdue stuff & colorful labels
Blog emails, update company name, & editing message comments

I also want to thank everyone for sending us some amazing requests for changes and new features via email, Twitter (twitter.com/deskaway) and on GetSatisfaction. Your ideas, thoughts, suggestions are really important to us so do keep them coming...

Do you see yourself checking your email, news feeds, websites several times a day only to feel that you have actually not accomplished anything? If that's the case, I leave you with a good article from Web Worker Daily called the The 80/20 Principle in Practice. Put it to practice and see your productivity soar!

Cheers!

Sahil Parikh
Founder, DeskAway.com

PS - If you love DeskAway, be sure to signup for our affiliate program

"Once I got into the DeskAway interface, I knew it would be perfect for our company!"

Natalie A. Schloesser from Unchartered Shores, was kind enough to share her team's experience with DeskAway. Read more to find out about their company and how they use DeskAway to manage and track their web projects.

Unchartered Shores is a website design and development company focusing on small to mid-sized businesses. They spent months searching around for the perfect project management software; even subscribed to a different one for awhile. Once they got into the DeskAway interface, they knew it would be perfect for their company! No more searching for emails or files, everything was all in one place - wrapped up in one neat little package for their contractors all over the world to see.

1. How are you using DeskAway and what value is it providing your team?
We use DeskAway to manage our website design projects and keep in contact with contractors around the world. It has increased communication between the steps - from sales, to designer, to developer, to the people that maintain my cloud servers. DeskAway makes any project information easily accessible at any time; preventing the sending and re-sending of emails.

2. Were you using any other tool before DeskAway?
Yes! I researched project management apps for months, tried 2 different ones, “settled” on one for about a year, but continued to look because we weren't completely happy with its functionality and interface. DeskAway changed all that; it fits perfectly with our needs.

3. Was there a learning curve associated with DeskAway? How did your team adapt to a new application?
Very little, if any! My team finds it extremely intuitive and easy to use. From contractors that had not used a project management app before, to those who had used our previous app, they all found the transition to be quite smooth.

4. What features does your team use the most?
Messages, Docs, and Files.

5. Are you emailing (sending tasks, attachments etc.) less because of DeskAway? How has DeskAway helped in lowering project costs, profitability or improving efficiency?

Absolutely! We are definitely emailing less, and personally when I receive a message from a team member via DeskAway, I find it easy to login, answer any questions, and then delete the email - knowing it's saved in DeskAway. DeskAway itself is extremely cost effective, and as a whole has improved our efficiency as a team.

Thank you DeskAway!

• 3 tools to maintain work-life balance
• 6 points for effective teams
• On Software Review
• Smashing Apps Review

Sort of like spring cleaning, we are thinking of removing idle accounts (including all files, data etc.) that have not been used for more than 3 months. If you have not used your account for 3 months, you probably will never use it again. Do let us know if you have any concerns, questions or issues.

Have a great week and thank you for being a part of the DeskAway community.

Please feel free to forward this newsletter to people you think might benefit from it!