Don’t forget to share this with your favorite office manager!
We recently took some time to chat with a handful of people who work in office management and operations – and we learned a few things:
- Office managers give new meaning to the term “wear multiple hats.” The job description can include everything from everyday office tasks to driving marketing campaigns to managing HR to, well, just about anything else.
- Office managers and ops people are CRAZY busy. Not surprising given the wide array of responsibilities they have.
- Operations and office management have evolved quite a bit. Modern office managers know their way around the SaaS space and are comfortable as early adopters of new products.
Since Large is a bot that focuses on making offices run more smoothly, we thought it was super cool to see all the ways software is empowering offices. So, we whipped together a classic listicle to share it with you.
You’ll find that these products are involved across the spectrum. That’s because today’s office managers are moving the needle across the business – not just pushing paper.
So, here’s the tech stack that modern office managers are using:
Cash
Money/accounting products
Expensify: Expense reports that don’t suck.
Abacus: The easiest way for you to reimburse your team, reconcile corporate credit cards, and implement your expense policy.
Free Invoice Generator: Alternative free invoice generator.
Automating the office
Robots that make your job easier
Large: The office manager’s best friend. A bot that can have groceries or lunch delivered in less than an hour, can coordinate flights and hotels for your team, and can buy/order anything else your team needs.
Clara: Add Clara to any email, and Clara will take care of scheduling back-and-forth on your behalf.
Meekan: Your team’s scheduling assistant robot. Matches everyone’s calendars in seconds and books the best time for any meeting.
Keeping up with the industry
How some office managers are staying up on tech
Product Hunt: Curation of the best new products, every day.
Hacker News: Where lots of developers and startup people share links.
Startup Digest: Personalized newsletter for all things startup in your area.
Professional Development
Lots of office managers are learning to code or picking up other skills related to a business, or driving efforts for the team to do so. Here’s what they’re using:
Codecademy: Learn to code interactively, for free.
Udemy: Own your future by learning new skills online.
General Assembly: Master new skills in design, marketing, technology, and data — online or at campuses around the world.
Keeping the team in the loop
Communication products
Slack: The best chat tool ever.
Asana: The easiest way for teams to track their work — and get results.
Meldium: Access all your apps with one click.
Staying on top of things
Productivity tools
Workflowy: A better way to organize your thoughts.
Google Calendar: Still the best calendar.
Yanado: Tasks management inside Gmail.
Ambiance
Products that keep the office comfortable
Noisli: Improve focus and boost your productivity. Mix different sounds and create your perfect environment.
Next Desks: The smartest desk ever.
Noizio: Ambient sound equalizer for relax or productivity.
Sonos: Great-sounding speakers
Inbox Everything
Ways to manage email better
Rapportive: Rapportive shows you everything about your contacts right inside your inbox.
Boomerang: Schedule an email to be sent later. Easy email reminders.
Unroll.me: See a list of all your subscription emails. Unsubscribe instantly from whatever you don’t want.
Organization
Ways to organize, manage, and collect information
Typeform: Free beautiful online survey & form builder.
Evernote: The workspace for your life’s work.
HelloSign: Fast, Secure, and Legally Binding eSignatures for Business.
Human Resources
Products that help with benefits, HR, and employee management
AnyPerk: Employee Perks, Benefits, and Discounts.
Zenefits: An All-In-One HR Platform.
BambooHR: HR software for small and medium business.
If you don’t ❤ this post and send it to your favorite office manager, it might just fade away into obscurity.
Is that what you want? 😜
