Updated January 13, 2023
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You’re busy running your company, juggling several strategic hats to manage the business—offline and online—to compete in the this fickle and ever-changing world. There are several online management tools you’ll want to have handy especially if you’ve embraced technology to grow your business.
Are you armed with a smart phone, laptop, and other gizmos so you can keep plugged in at all times? By now you’ve hired techies (or have them on call) to help with of all the moving parts in the care and feeding of your company’s website, email servers and computer networks. Yet, you don’t want to look like an idiot if the problem exists between the keyboard and chair, affectionately known in some tech circles as PEBKAC.
Here are a couple of online management tools to add your CEO toolkit to alleviate unnecessary embarrassment and help with troubleshooting:
1. Is My Website Down?
Not sure if a web site is temporarily out of service or if it’s only you that can’t connect? Sites like down.com or Is It Down Right Now?t can quickly answer that question. You’ll feel more confident when you do sound the alarm. If it is just you, try the ole fall back “Reboot & Restart” routine and try again. Or, snag the nearest 12-year old to help you out.
2. Using Google Apps to run your business?
Using cloud-based tools to run a business is becoming more common due to its accessibility, affordability and (relatively) easy integration. Small, medium and large-scale enterprises are using Google Apps for email management, online document collaboration, and calendars to keep employees connected and productive. However application glitches happen from time to time. So to determine if its a system-wide problem, Google has a handy dashboard that shows performance information by Apps service. Not only does it provide today’s status but you can look back to see if a problem was reported and related details.
Not feeling like a super user of Google Apps yet? Google also offers a Learning Center where they’ve compiled an area to help you get started, video clips, tips and tricks as well as frequently asked questions and troubleshooting tips by app. You’ll be an expert in no time, impressing the 12-year old who helped you earlier.
3. Virtual Canary In A Coal Mine
Regardless if you groan at the thought of using Twitter or you’re an avid fan, it’s our modern day canary in a coal mine. If a problem is brewing, there’s probably chatter about it in Twitter. Use the search function to tap into the conversation. Hey, you may actually find it to be a useful tool in other parts of your business.
Have another favorite online management tool? We’d love to hear about it and how you use it to keep your business up and running.
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