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Essential Applications for Business Users, Part I

June 26th, 2008 by Gregory Silvano Posted in Small Business | 1 Comment »

If you had to set up your new computer right now, which apps are you going to install first?  Which applications are your mission-critical, must-have apps?  Besides Microsoft Office, here’s my list of the must-have applications for any business user:

MindMapper 2008 Professional Edition

If you haven’t used a mind mapping tool, Google “mind mapping” right now.  Aside from the cheesy name, it really is a very intuitive and productive way to jot down your ideas.  We downloaded a half dozen tools and found MindMapper 2008 to be the best of the bunch.  MindMapper had the most polished UI and was the only option that allowed us to quickly create mind maps without needing the mouse.

Axure

It’s not easy to mock up your ideas into something visual.  I have seen clients create mockups in Powerpoint, Excel, Word, HTML, Visio, Paintshop Pro, and just about any other tool imaginable.  We stumbled on Axure and absolutely love it.  It’s the first one we’ve used that actually enabled you to quickly create mockups without a steep learning curve or fighting the tool.

GoToMeeting

Conference call, share your screen, draw on your screen, make any attendee the presenter.  All with a 2MB download and $50/month.  Perfect.  We have several licenses and spend hours a day on GoToMeeting.  It does exactly what you need it to do, and nothing more.  GoToMeeting knows what it’s designed for and it doesn’t try to be something it isn’t.  If you collaborate with colleagues in several locations, GoToMeeting is an absolute must. 

CaseComplete

OK, nobody likes use cases, but if you’re trying to create business requirements for an application they’re really a very good way to organize and communicate your goals.  But they’re not fun to create.  And sorry, they’re still not fun to create – even with CaseComplete.  But they’re a whole lot easier and more intuitive.  All you have to do is type in outline format.  It will help you build a dictionary of definitions, actors and requirements.  It’ll output the results into one of many Word templates (which you can customize) and the latest version will create diagrams for you.

 Tags: business users, gotomeeting, mind mapping, mockups, prototypes, software, use cases