What is the right tool for the job?
We all know the satisfaction of discovering the perfect tool that saves us hours of tedious work. The one that allows us to knock out the boring stuff quickly and focus on doing the important work. What's even better is when someone tells us which tools they can't live without. So, let's dive in and explore what the Bureau community is using to make a real difference in helping us work more efficiently. Let's go!
Don’t Be a Fool - Use the Right Tool
It’s that time again! Our friends at Promethean Research have updated their digital services tools survey for the first time in a couple of years. Covering everything from HR to design, they asked Bureau members and Promethean clients what they prefer to use to get things done. Overall, they are paying about 3.7% of their revenue on tools. Let’s take a look at what makes the business world go around these days.
AI on the Rise
The biggest change happening with companies these days is the meteoric rise of AI tools, as we talked about a few weeks ago. It looks like over half of businesses are already taking advantage of AI in some form. Unsurprisingly, the most popular of these tools being used is ChatGPT, which 41% of people say they are using. There’s a wide gulf between that and GitHub Copilot, used by 13% of companies surveyed. A very few (4%) are using custom tools. With so many digital shops using these options, it’s becoming less of a point of differentiation among them. It’s practically a must-have already.
Project Management
Everyone needs a good project management solution to keep their PMs from tearing their hair out. There were a few close contenders in this space, with Jira taking 22% of the vote. It just edged out Asana and Google Sheets, which tied for 21%. Basecamp and ClickUp rounded out the top 5. Only 2% of shops said they don’t use a specific PM tool, and interestingly, nearly one in five companies used something other than the 12 we asked about. There’s a lot of diversity in this group, and no shortage of good options.
Team Communications
Remote work has made chat software indispensable for pretty much everyone (how else are you going to send GIFs on company time?). At the Bureau we favor Slack, and that is in line with the survey, which found that Slack absolutely dominates this field to the tune of 93%. Even Google Chat, the next most popular option, only takes home 7% of the vote. This one wasn’t even close.
Slack is also the most impactful overall tool for businesses, chosen by nearly a quarter of respondents when asked what they simply couldn’t live without.
Finance/HR
What about the nuts and bolts of business operations? The survey also covers finance and HR management software. In the finance space, Quickbooks takes home the gold, with more than four in five companies using it (interestingly, half of those folks also use a second tool). The next most popular was Harvest.
For HR and payroll processing, Gusto was the top choice, used by 29% of businesses. BambooHR was next at 7%, which was also the number of shops not using any at all.
This is just a sampling of the excellent insights in the full report. It also covers areas like analytics, CRM, newsletters and business process tools. It’s a great look at how other companies get things done and offers ideas of other tools to look at if you need a change.