Recently I upgraded to an iphone and wanted to share how this has improved my general organizational productivity using an “App” called Evernote . You can download the app from itunes and I believe there are blackberry compatible versions as well, however it works really well on the iphone with the large screen.

So, why is it a productivity improver? Well , before using evernote I had been recording voice messages on the phone which were added to my Outlook file, then setting emails as tasks to be done , creating new tasks and trying to tie it all together using outlook and hoping it would all sync up with the iphone. This was very time consuming and difficult to manage. When you install evernote on the iphone you have a program that allows you to :

1. Type in a text note.
2. Take pictures using the iphone camera
3. Record voice messages

……..and then it saves all this input in the one place – your evernote account.

This shines when you are out of the office as you can record all actions, thoughts and pictures using the one application knowing that when you have a moment you can review it all in one place.

Your evernote account is not just accessable from your iphone, you can access it on the web from any computer and any changes made either on your iphone or while on the web application are all saved and synchronised. You can also run an application on your PC offline that will sync up once you are back with an internet connection. Using the PC based application is also a good backup if the evernote web server decided to implode, however unlikely this may be.

The application is a really good example of how cloud computing is becoming an inexpensive method of capturing and sharing information. Speaking of inexpensive did I mention that evernote is completely free, however there are charges for premium features that allow multiple access to accounts which would be useful for sales teams on the road or if you were running a project with a few people involved.

Some specific examples of what I have been doing with evernote are:

***Making voice notes while out and about then emailing to my admin assitant who can listen to the message and act.

***Taking photos of equipment while out on site and not having to download from the phone to my  desktop PC or Laptop and remember what folder I stored them in.

***Copy and pasting web sites , phone numbers, to do’s ,shopping lists etc into one action note that can be accessed in two button presses on my iphone.

Once you have got all this data sitting in your inbox , them you can sort through it without having to find 20 pieces of paper or go through a number of programs. As for sorting and prioritising all this info I will look at this in my next post where I share some thoughts on Getting Things Done.

Save some time, then spend it doing something you love!

Tim