At Alphalake Ai, we are all about efficiency through technology. Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, we relied heavily on communication apps to keep in close contact with our global team. As part of the "new normal," it's estimated that 91% of companies now use at least two messaging apps.

If you are newer to the world of working remotely and not seeing your colleagues on a day-to-day basis, I thought it might be helpful to run through some of the bots that can supercharge your productivity and efficiency. Here are five of my all-time-favourites:

Mio – Bringing People Together

How many apps do you have on your phone to keep in touch with internal and external workmates? I would hazard a guess that you might have Slack, Microsoft Teams, and possibly Cisco Webex Teams as well. To save you switching back and forth between different messaging apps all the time, or having to open your emails, give Mio a try.

Mio creates universal channels for channels for Microsoft Teams with Slack or Webex Teams. The bot allows you to send messages to your contractors, suppliers or clients that use Slack or Webex. It supports GIFs, emojis, channels, direct messages and message edits/deletes.

Meekan – Your Scheduling Bot 

Next, let's look at meeting scheduling. Do you find yourself going back and forth with colleagues trying to find a meeting time suitable for all? You're certainly not alone and for the people that have experienced the added difficulty of arranging a meeting for colleagues in a different time zone, Meekan has your back. This bot was created to reduce the reliance of email threads as these can be deleted or lost. Meekan will look after your calendar and even understands time zones, so you won't be shocked to see a 3am meeting. Meekan can not only check your calendar and your team's calendar to find a suitable date and time for everyone. Easily integrated with Microsoft Teams, this bot is particularly useful to have around if you are working with remote employees from different parts of the world. 

Workbot® - Boost Your Productivity

Meet your digital personal assistant, the Workbot®. If you are using Microsoft Teams, this is a must-have. Workato designed the Workbot® to create a digital home from which you can access information and functionality from over 150 business apps at once. The options are too extensive to cover in one blog post, but to give you a taste, it will help you to approve workflows, deliver requests for IT assistance, and manage order fulfilment. It can provide insights into how your business is performing through scheduled summary reports.

If you work in sales or marketing, Workbot® is invaluable to help you stay on top of your leads. It can create a new contact for you in SalesForce without having to click out of your team's channel. It will then notify you of changes within your CRM when leads are updated. 

In essence, it saves you from endless clicking in and out of different apps to get things done.

Polly – Your Crystal Ball

Insights from customers and colleagues are invaluable to help you make meaningful decisions. Instead of trying to be a mind reader, you can create a poll with Polly.

Whilst conducting your polls with Polly, you have the option to manage various parts. For instance, you may decide that votes for specific questions should be anonymous, which can encourage more people to take part. Not only can Polly help you with conducting your poll, but you can also use this bot to analyse your results. For example, you might be considering a change in software or internal business process to improve efficiency. It is simple, ask Polly, and you will get an instant response to your most pressing questions. 

So, what is your favourite productivity app? I would love to hear about any that I should have included in the list.