by Kirk Trachy under QuickBase News

Tune in Thursday 9/24 at 2pm Eastern time for a webinar entitled: “ How to add Microsoft Outlook to QuickBase”. This open webinar showcases “SendToQuickBase” and “SendToOutlook” an Outlook integration product from SoftTech, Inc. “SendToQuickBase” bridges and extends QuickBase so users have full Outlook Integration for email, meetings, appointments, tasks and contact updates.

Anything that is in Outlook is sent to QuickBase and anything in QuickBase can be sent to Outlook.

Joe Acunzo, President of SoftTech, Inc. will be on hand to show how to set up and use “SendToQuickBase” and “SendToOutlook”. If time permits we will dive in to how this product is used for routing inbound emails directly into QuickBase (i.e., email requests) and how companies use this for logging QuickBase events.

The webinar is entitled, “ How to add Microsoft Outlook to QuickBase” and you can register at http://quickbase.intuit.com/webinars/.

This is one of 10 live and interactive webinars we hold each week. All are welcome.

by Kathleen Lamphier under Industry Trends

Here’s the fourth tip for improving team productivity with customizable web-based software. Tip #5 is coming Tuesday.  If you just can’t wait and want all the tips now, click here to request them.

Tip #4 – Maximize productivity while minimizing IT dependence
A desktop or custom project management solution requires IT assistance for installation, maintenance and support from both a time and hardware perspective. When you turn to your IT department (assuming you enjoy the privilege of having one) to provide you with a project management software tool, you add a burden to its schedule, delays to your implementation and an additional expense to your project.

Customizable SaaS project management solutions deliver the functionality you need without incurring new costs – in time and money – for installing software, adding new features or for maintenance and support.

For maximum efficiency and productivity, your project management software application should provide:

Convenience:
With the right application, your team can access project information over the Web, whenever and wherever they want. They can create and modify reports instantly without IT or developer assistance. And they can update their own task status, fast.

Customization:
Team members can easily change row and column names, create real-time reports, personalize their application dashboard to see just the project information they need, and more – all on the fly.

Speed:
Your project management software should enable you to collaborate right away, without installation or custom development delays or extensive training.

Scalability:
Teams are fluid groups of individuals that form, dissolve and re-form over time. Managing secure access and assigning varying levels of permission for each user should be simple enough for the application administrator (the person who can customize the application and access permission levels) to do without IT assistance. And adding users to the project management software should be as simple as sending an email.

Updates:
Every off-the-shelf software upgrade requires installation on each user’s machine – a time-consuming process. One of the major advantages of SaaS project management solutions is that upgrades are made automatically without imposing any work on you or your IT team.

Coming Tuesday, tip #5 – Automate recurring processes

How about you?
Has QuickBase helped you increase productivity and minimize dependence on IT?

Has QuickBase’s customizable dashboard feature helped your team members focus on the information that’s most important to them?

While commenting on a recent post of mine, one customer, Lou Brothers, shared how “using Dashboards and Notifications has really increased the quality and speed of [project] updates. Since everyone can see the information that pertains specifically to them they can focus on providing updates and ignore the ‘noise’ from everyone else.”

by Kirk Trachy under QuickBase News

We launched a new version of QuickBase over the weekend (6am EST on Saturday to be exact.) The release delivers a range of new features that even Santa would be proud of. Included is QuickBase access for the iPhone and a cross-application reports tab on your My QuickBase page.

And there’s more… you will find new tools for improving control, manageability and security in your applications.