There’s no shortage of tools that can help you create, edit, and manage your calendar. Whether if it’s booking meetings, receiving event reminders, or keeping your to-do-lists manageable, you’ll need these tools to keep your life in order.
But, with so many options out there, how can you find the best calendar tool for you? You can start by looking for the following factors.
Ease of Use
The first factor that you need to consider when searching for a calendar tool is ease-of-use. This means that you should be able to use the tool from the get-go. If the tool is too complicated then there’s a good chance that you won’t be getting the most out of the tool.
For a tool to be easy-to-use you should be able to quickly create your calendar, add events, and share it with others without getting confused or asking for help. This is really important. You won’t use this valuable tool if you can’t do it easily. Make sure it’s intuitive.
Flexibility
Your calendar tool also needs to be flexible so that it meets your specific needs. For example, if you’re working with people from across the country then it should come with time zone detection. If you should also allow you to create both one-on-one and group meetings.
Additionally, your calendar tool should also let you set buffer times and prevent last minute meetings so that there aren’t any scheduling conflicts.
Scabeable
Regardless if you’re a solopreneur or small business owner, your goal is to grow your business. As such, you should make sure that your tool grows with your business. Look for a tool that doesn’t limit you on how many people you can take on or blocks you from adding more locations.
A scaleable calendar tool also provides peace of mind since you know that it can handle future growth.
Integration
It’s not uncommon for us to use a variety of tools. To make life much easier, you’ll want a calendar that works with your existing tools. For instance, the ideal calendar tool should sync with popular calendars like Google, Outlook, Office 365 or iCloud.
The proper calendar tool should also integrate with tools like Salesforce, Zapier, or GoToMeeting so that daily tasks can be streamlined and automated.
Customizable
Even the greatest of calendar tools won’t always have the exact features that you need. That’s why you should be allowed to customize certain features. For example, you should be able to set custom event times, events, notifications, branding, and integrations.
Cloud-based
As you’ve obviously noticed, particularly everything is on the cloud these days. And for good reason. It allows you to access and manage your calendar, schedule, or to-do-lists on any device from anywhere.
Another added perk with cloud-based tools. It eliminates the need of having to worry about software updates. That’s because the tool automatically does this for you.
Having a cloud-based tool also means that you’ll never lose any data. Your calendar, schedule, lists, and client notes are all securely stored on the cloud.
Unlimited Appointments and Clients
Let’s say that a client tries to schedule a meeting with you but can’t because your scheduling system has a limitations. In this case it would be the maximum amount of appointments for the month.
This isn’t just embarrassing, it’s also frustrating. To avoid such a situation you want to use a system handle an unlimited number of clients and bookings.
Reminders
Want to ensure that you or the other party doesn’t miss a scheduled meeting or event? Then make sure that the calendar tool comes equipped with reminders that are sent via email or SMS. This way all parties will receive a reminder at least 24 hours prior to the appointment so that everyone is on-time and accounted for.
If for some reason you or the other attendee(s) have to reschedule everyone will be sent an automated reminder to rebook. Ideally, the tool would also come with a link to your schedule to eliminate any back-and-forth emails.
Security and Privacy
Security is paramount these days. That’s why your calendar tool should take precautions like encryption and secure cloud-based client data storage. The tool should also be compliant and ask you to verify sensitive information like your identity.
On top of fraud prevention, the tool should also have transparent privacy policies. Most notably, double-check that the software doesn’t share any of your information with third parties.
Tech Support
No matter how easy the tool is to use, there may still be times when you have questions or need assistance. At the minimum there should be easy-to-locate contact information, self-service support center, or a FAQ section to guide you through any questions or concerns.
This article was originally published on Calendar by John Rampton.
