How can Zapier help you be more productive?
If you are like most business owners and entrepreneurs, you are running a lot of different apps on a lot of different devices. All these different apps and devices tend to get a bit confusing, especially when one app doesn’t integrate across devices, or your Android based app isn’t available on the iOS and vice versa.
What is Zapier?
The answer to this very real issue, which not only takes time, lowers efficiency, and also leads to the need to carry around multiple devices, is Zapier. This is a cloud-based webapp–automation service that allows you to enter data into one app and through a “Zap”, you can automatically populate another app or multiple apps to have the information show up everywhere it needs to.
Although there are other webapp-automation services out there, Zapier is really designed for business productivity and professional types of applications. Through Zapier you will be able to connect over 300 different apps and adding, all that are some of the most commonly used business apps.
How Do I Zap?
Zapping, or connecting apps so they sync, is really as simple as dragging and dropping to make connections. Different plans with Zapier offer different number of connections and different syncing times.
The free plan allows you to Zap (think integrate or connect) five apps, and it syncs every five hours. You can move up through the plans to the business plan that lets you have more frequent syncing with up to 125 Zaps with the infrastructure package.
What Can I Zap?
By connecting or Zapping different apps, you can set up specific triggers to generate a user-defined action by the system. This will allow you to get a text message if you receive a payment through a specific payment portal, such as PayPal, or to be notified if your company or personal name is used on Facebook or another social media site.
Other ways to use Zapier to increase productivity include Zaps using:
- Basecamp
- Dropbox
- Gmail and other Google Apps
- Mailchimp
- MS Exchange
- Salesforce
- Evernote
- ASANA
- WordPress
- Shopify and other ecommerce platforms
- SurveyMonkey
- SugarCRM and other CRM programs
- Desk
- GoToMeeting
- Workboard
The range of apps is constantly growing, and there is a very active community contributing to the possibilities with Zapier. This makes it a great addition to anyone who wants to be more organized, efficient, and effective in managing their business from any device.
