At Botree, our goal is to help you optimize your people and processes. With services like Workflow Mapping, we look for opportunities to make your team work more efficiently together. This can happen through automation opportunities, aligning workflows, and finding new software solutions. Often, new software solutions can be pretty costly. Especially with smaller teams, it’s harder to see the ROI for all of the new expenses.
There are a lot of great, free software solutions that can be integrated into your daily practices. Like anything, there is a trial-and-error process to finding what works best for your business. The best part about free software (other than the price tag): it’s a risk-free way of trying out new things to see what will work the best for you.
As Botree’s Client Relations Specialist, I use a lot of different software integrations to improve my quality of work. We are firm believers in the power of technology to simplify your day-to-day tasks. Since I focus on making things easier for clients, I wanted to share three of my favourite free software solutions to help you out!
This is a self report, and I suppose also me coming clean to my coworkers that my grammar isn’t as fantastic as they perceive it to be. Surprise, I’ve had a little help on the side from this little tool. I love Grammarly. I use the Google Chrome extension, as well as the Google Docs integration, on everything. Whether it’s writing articles for Botree, sending emails to clients, or even doing school work; I use Grammarly to keep everything looking professional. With the free account, Grammarly will check your spelling, grammar, and provide recommendations for clarity. In the paid version, you can also check the tone of your writing, evaluate word choices, and even identify opportunities for inclusive language. Personally, I find Grammarly to be more intuitive and thorough than regular spellcheck.
I’ve been holding a lot of interviews behind the scenes to bring exciting voices to Botree’s articles. Using Otter, I’ve been able to record calls and have them transcribed. This makes it simple for me to look back on interviews to find the quotes I need. The transcription is usually pretty accurate and, with the free account, you can add 5 terms to the vocabulary. It identifies different speakers and you can add in the names of each person to keep track. As a self described word nerd, I love that it highlights key words that were discussed for easy access and just to see the overall tone of conversation. With the free plan, you can record conversations up to 40 minutes in length and a total of 600 minutes per month.
Anyone familiar with Botree’s training services will know how much we love using the DiSC communication theory. The theory focuses on four main areas: D- dominance, I-influence, S-steadiness, and C-conscientiousness. Everyone is a mixture of all four styles, but may be more dominant in one or two styles compared to the others. I learned about Crystal Knows on Clubhouse during the winter season. Their free Google Chrome extension can scan LinkedIn accounts, make a guess on their DiSC type based on their content, and tell you how to tailor your conversation based on your desired outcome. How cool is that? This is a great extension for sales positions. Check it out below!
Will you be trying any of these software solutions to optimize your workflow and processes?