Many seasoned virtual business organizations regard time tracking to be the lifeblood of many businesses. It is as vital as the company’s bookkeeping or payroll functions or any other function.
Time monitoring has a direct impact on many critical business issues. Being able to see how your virtual team works on various tasks is like having X-ray vision. It helps you determine whether or not your employees are efficient with their work. It indicates if your budget and deadlines are being met and whether your staff is working at an optimal rate.
Regardless of your industry, effective time management is essential. Organize and let your employees use highly recommended time trackers apps below to increase productivity and for more work accountability:
1. Timely
Timely is a to-do list, time tracking, and calendar all rolled into one. Projects have categories assigned to them. Thus, the app is integrated with several calendar providers like Google and Mac, and each task is tagged with specific projects. You reserve durations on your calendar to manage your time, and the program will register your time. Drag-and-drop also lets you move tasks around with ease.
Optimizing Timely, users can manage their appointment calendars, create reports, and send notifications and reminders from their homes or offices. Here, “calendar management” describes features that may be used to plan, book, and reschedule appointments, set up classes or groups, or schedule recurring events.
Also, it becomes possible for customers to purchase their tickets online through links included on websites or through Facebook. Timely also encourages web and social media users to schedule their trips. This is an excellent option for companies with many different product lines or marketing strategies.
Timely also includes automatic SMS and email reminders, along with a data storage solution that safeguards personal information, including addresses, reservations, emails, and sales information.
Pricing starts at $8 per user per month (billed annually) for small teams and limited projects. You may also choose the Premium offer for $14 per user per month (billed annually) for unlimited projects and teams. Moreover, if you want to add more features and capabilities, you can subscribe to their Unlimited plan for $20 per user per month (billed annually). You can also try their 14-DAY FREE TRIAL without a credit card needed.
2. nTask
nTask is said to be the project and task management tool for workaholics. While it doesn’t precisely fit the definition of a hybrid application, it has some features which come together rather nicely. When you use the tools in the app, such as the Slack connection and in-app chats, along with the time tracking, multi-task management, and recurring tasks, you can engage your teammates to be more productive on their tasks.
As organizations recognize that each project has its inherent limitations, its timetable, resources, and requirements may vary. On a regular basis, these deadlines, resource allocation, and requirements may be developed into the program.
nTask also has an interactive Gantt Charts user interface. While traditional task management tools use pre-defined non-interactive data sets to render Gantt Charts, in nTask you may easily drag and drop the chart cells to alter the timeline in whichever way you choose.
Pricing for features and tasks begins at $2.99 per feature per month. A limited free version is available. Free trial memberships are free. Additional price details are available below. You can also refer to their FAQs about their payment options.
3. Hubstaff
Hubstaff focuses on remote team members, allowing managers to track their progress on different projects and identify who is currently logged in. To ensure your staff is working productively, the app may operate in the background of a user’s computer and snap screenshots at pre-determined and scheduled intervals.
The best features of Hubstaff are the following:
- Time tracking, including mobile time tracking
- Automated time tracking based on location
- App and URL tracking, a screenshot is optional
- GPS tracking
- Add project limits
- Detailed reporting
- Organize work orders in one place
- Online timesheet
- Payroll software and online invoicing
- Productivity measurement
The Basic plan starts at $ 7.00 per user per month. Everything you need to run your creative business, including limitless screenshots, payment processing, integrations, one integration, 24/7 support, and individual settings, are included in the basic plan.
On a per-employee basis, users’ settings can be modified under the Basic plan. It is also possible to maintain tabs on how your staff is performing their jobs by letting you preserve snapshots of their screen during the shift and monitoring activity on the keyboard and mouse during shifts.
For an expense of $20 per user every month, you can get the same services if you go with the Enterprise plan, which comes with all the Premium features but includes VIP assistance, unlimited job sites, concierge account setup, and increased limitations on public API.
4. TrackingTime
The company behind TrackingTime offers software for both Windows and Mac users and includes smartphone apps for iPhone and Android. A helpful tool that shows which clients spent the most time with you and how you’re allocating your time in between projects.
The best features of TrackingTIme Include:
- Measure team’s productivity
- Flexible reporting software for project budgeting, payroll, and productivity analytics
- Monitor team progress in real-time
- Timesheet audits
- Specify work schedules
The company behind TrackingTime offers software for both Windows and Mac users and includes smartphone apps for iPhone and Android. A helpful tool that shows which clients spent the most time with you and how you’re allocating your time in between projects.
The best features of TrackingTIme Include:
- Measure team’s productivity
- Flexible reporting software for project budgeting, payroll, and productivity analytics
- Monitor team progress in real-time
- Timesheet audits
- Specify work schedules
At $5.00 per feature each month, you may add one new feature every month. You may try out TrackingTime completely free of charge for their free trial version.
The free version of the app allows you to have an event calendar to help you organize and manage tasks and projects. In addition to the valuable time information in the app, you can filter your findings by project, customer, or user to see where the team’s time went. Finally, you can simplify your processes using project management tools, invoicing software, calendars, and email by integrating the Zapier link.
5. Trello
Keeping track of projects, collaborating with coworkers, and assigning due dates are among the primary benefits of Trello. The ease of use of the platform is a key advantage of this software.
Trello is about as intuitive as it gets when compared to other project management systems on the market today. The good thing about this method is that it is well-suited for small projects and teams. Even non-technical users will have no trouble navigating the platform.
Everything is very easy, from when you start a new project to the time you have additional team members. In Trello, there are only a few options, which means that there is essentially no learning curve.
Added benefits are the following:
- Easy to set up and customize workflows
- Can view board data from many angles and uses
- Can break down card tasks into a more organized workflow
- No code automation
- Can integrate top work tools
Free plans are excellent for personal projects and side projects of modest size. It includes an infinite number of cards, lists, and files with a ten-megabyte restriction. A ten-board per team limit applies to this software, although most people have their board on hand, and as such, this software works for personal usage.
You’ll want to purchase an upgraded Business Class or Enterprise bundle for a business and for teams that are larger than just a few people. The Trello Business Class plan is the basic paid tier for the platform. This offering represents this provider’s best-selling product. The $10 per user per month pricing is a terrific deal for small and large teams alike.
The best-of-the-line product in this provider’s offering is Trello Enterprise. For larger teams with more complex project management demands, it was created.
Before subscribing, you may try their FREE TRIAL offer if you sign up.
Takeaway
Overseeing the completion of various project tasks and keeping track of time don’t always mix. The solution of having a time tracker app is very easy to implement, as your employees can simply start and leave a system running in the background to manage their timesheets, which eliminates the hassle of completing timesheets at the end of every week.
This is a very important tool since it allows you to better distribute your employees’ tasks, assist to proactively manage, and keep your team focused on their goals. It is important to have a general sense of what tasks individuals are working on since you can detect who is in danger of burnout before they inform you. Time tracker is a tool you must-have for your team!
