It’s hard to believe it’s only two years since the pandemic threw us all into a dramatically different working environment. It forced us all, in a sense, to become digital natives.
Video calling apps such as Teams and Zoom changed the way we do business forever. Very soon we were adding Calendly links to our contact pages and Whatsapp to our desktops.
But that was just the beginning.
Advisers are spoilt for choice when it comes to apps that promise to save them time and make things easier – but it’s not always as easy as firing up Zoom.
The way we manage tasks can be quite personal – what delights one person can just as equally annoy another – so it can take time to find the ones that work for us.
To make it a little easier, I’ve created a rundown of the apps advisers are actually using, and grouped them into four: task management, practice management, leisure and fitness and 'other'.
These should hopefully provide inspiration when it comes to streamlining the way you do things, from both a professional and personal perspective.
Thank you to all our contributors – many of whom came from Octo Members Group and Next Gen Planners, both excellent community apps in themselves – and if you have recommendations of your own, please let us know!
Task management
Notion. Jade Shelton, Proposito
We use Notion for everything non client related. We use it as a task system, for training plans, processes, projects, meetings, as a video hub. It's works really well within our business – there's so much it can do.
Asana. Matt Pitcher, Altor Wealth Management
Asana is a flexible task management application and allows you to set up recurring tasks - we have templated threads set up for onboarding for example. It’s easy to see what work I and the team have that day and coming up.
Basecamp. Richard Allum, The Paraplanners
It’s not the best task management app in my opinion, but where Basecamp shines for us is the collaboration and communication with the team and clients. We put all long-form messages, short-form chat, files and direct messages in there, as well as tasks and schedules. It keeps it all in one place with an audit trail so that anyone with access can see what’s going on - or not!
We’ve used it since 2007 so have lots of data within it. It’s very useful when an adviser asks if we still have something from 10 years ago and we can find it instantly.
Todoist, Garry Hale, HK Wealth
Todoist is easy to use and so effective. It really helps me manage tasks and I never forget anything. It does what I need it to do.
Clockify. Caroline Stuart, Sparrow Paraplanning
Clockify is a time recording app. I use it for all the work I do: chargeable, non-chargeable; client and non client related work.
Primarily I need it for billing and invoicing where I work for a client on an hourly rate, but I also use it as a productivity tool to see exactly where I spend my time. It's invaluable for business planning.
Practice management
1Password, James de Lisle Wells, de Lisle Financial Planning
With the importance placed on data security I think this is a marvellous solution making everything way more secure while also making my life so much easier.
The link between laptop, browser and phone is pretty seamless and it also acts as a store for your favourite sites so you can easily get to where you need too. In short, a massive time saver.
ClubHouse. Setul Mehta, The Openwork Partnership
ClubHouse divides opinion from “I don’t get it” to “It’s incredibly valuable”. It allows you to engage in a meaningful discussion or debate on a certain topic or allows you to instigate a conversation at any time.
For example, I could start a conversation on “I have a vulnerable client because of reason ‘x’, how should I approach the situation?”. This means rather than Google it or track someone down, I could engage in a wide-ranging conversation with someone and be far more prepared for the situation having covered a lot of ground.
Piktochart. Tom Shoreland, Aspire
Piktochart enables you to build a visual to represent a concept or a specific situation. The last client-specific visual I built was about a client's business, personal and family assets and issues, and how they were connected.
I've used it to explain products, and it’s helped me win clients. I don't use it frequently enough to justify subscribing (unlike say Calendly) but when I do use it, it tends to be impactful.
Leisure and fitness
Blinkist. Lee Robertson, Octo Members Group
One that stands out is Blinkist, which condenses popular books by cutting out a lot of the waffle and focusing on the key messages. I use it for speed-reading and assessing whether I want to buy the whole book after I’ve read the highlights. I find it incredibly useful to keep on top of my business book reading.
I like Domestika too, which features high-quality online video business courses and explainers that can help you to learn or understand new skills, particularly around marketing, video, podcasting, writing and such.
Pocket Casts. Matt Aitchison, Clear Vision Financial Planning
I love my podcasts! This app keeps them organised and is good for playlists and for controlling speed (I listen at 1.5x speed for example).
I also love Strava for capturing running data, and for the community feel you get from being connected with buddies that run and/or bike.
Audible. Graham Hughes, Independent Resourcing Consultancy
I love Audible. I often have a business audiobook on the go while I'm working. I’m currently listening to High Performance by Jake Humphries and Damian Hughes.
Waking Up. Gary Winslow, Asset-map
Waking Up is a library of manicured content based on consciousness and awareness, as well as a daily guided meditation ritual. It makes having a mobile phone ‘healthy’. I've found it truly transformative.
Garmin is another I like. It records my daily physical activity, which I always find entertaining (heart rate, distance, power, etc). Also useful for planning future rides/runs.
Mixcloud, Dan Britton, Blue Wealth
I have niche music tastes (underground progressive house) and a number of DJs stream shows via this app, so I can listen to them on my phone in the car etc. Some of the shows are weekly and have over 900 episodes!
Other
Waze. Adam Carolan, NextGen Planners
I love an app called Waze, which provides GPS, maps, traffic alerts and live navigation. I find it much more accurate than Apple maps.
Jointly. Elizabeth Webb, Fairstone
Jointly is an app for carers, and very easy to use. It makes it easy to keep an updated list of important information such as medication and allows me to note any significant events for my parents, which means there’s no messing about with paper when updating the doctors. It also tracks when things change as well. It would be good for long distance caring responsibilities as well as face-to-face.
Have you tried any of the above, or can you recommend something better? If so, let us know!
