Here at Green Chilli Design we love Website Apps that make life easier.   From file transfer sites to productivity software, we are always keen to try them out.

But why..?  In the early days of computer technology; work was done in one location, on one computer and a central server would be used to connect the team in your office.  I remember a time, when I was living in the UK and working in London,  that I had to send some Photoshop files to a client in the States,  a courier would be used to bike around CD’s but sending large files overseas presented a slightly different problem.

This was before the days of ‘Dropbox’ and ‘You Send It’. We had to install an ISDN line (a kind of fast dial up), that allowed us to connect via an FTP site.  On average it took all night to send 1 PSD file, which today, could be sent in 10 mins.

Thankfully,  this is no longer an issue, over the last 5 years we have seen massive improvements in internet connectivity and services.  It has allowed us to service an international client based from New Zealand and the sending and receiving files and briefs from all over the world. Group video chats and real time feedback have changed the way we work.

It’s now proven that having the ability to access your files and information on any device and location is a massive advantage.

See the list of cloud based software Green Chilli Design use below:

Accounting Software

Xero –  It actually makes accounting fun and integrates with many other web services.

Time Tracking

Harvest – a great time tracking tool (integrates with Xero)

Quoting and Proposals

Bidsketch – This software is great for keeping track of all those quotes and proposals. As well as being a written record it can also create a dialogue between you and your clients.

CRM

Capsule CRM – At Green Chilli Design we use ‘Capsule’ to keep track of all our people and all the companies we do business with, never lose that email or contact again!

Project Management

Do.com –  There are so many PM Apps out there, what I like about Do is it’s simplicity and integration with Harvest

Virtual Server (Active Jobs)

Dropbox – A file sharing favorite. It doesn’t stop there, ‘Dropbox’ has so many great integrations, too many to list them all here.

Email and Calendars

Google Business Apps -The more I use ‘Google Apps’ the more I appreciate them,  in fact, using Google Docs (now named Google Drive), has replaced the traditional software packages such as Microsoft Word (although Green Chilli Design will still keep a copy for client purposes).

Software

Adobe CS6 Cloud – This is the big one, all of Green Chilli Design’s Adobe CS products, are now cloud based. This means, every time there is a update or new release, you receive it in real time, and the monthly pricing structure is very favorable.