Navigating The Digital App Market

There is a lot of buzz about social media and various other facets of the digital age – how using them in the right way is crucial to the health of your business, and how your competitors may already be one step ahead of you. A lot of this hype, however, is circulated in order to make you feel like you’ve fallen behind the curve, which can make you so flustered that you don’t invest time and energy as prudently as you could.

This, in turn, can make you feel like you’ve fallen even more behind, and you will continue engaging with available tools on a surface level without delving more deeply, and with more discretion, into the options that are truly best for your business. The first thing you need to do, then, is to realize that there are so many potential resources out there that you can never hope to be able to tackle them all.

This is a good thing, however. If you were somehow able to make use of every possible resource at your disposal, you would inevitably spread yourself way too thin. So how do you balance the allure of new technologies, which may be marketed to appear perfect for you and your business, with the prudence required to actually use them effectively while still honoring your professional identity?

The forest, the trees

You could make the case for nearly any app or service being at least tangentially related to what you are doing professionally. A productivity app that turns your time management into a game? Sure, it may not be absolutely necessary, but who’s to say it won’t positively impact your personal morale as well as help you manage your life more effectively?

You should definitely keep an open mind when approaching or investigating new technologies and resources. It is good to make these kinds of conceptual leaps on occasion, because it can allow you to make connections and find more creative avenues to success that may otherwise have been overlooked.

However, you should find a balance between seeing the potential in everything and confusing potential with utility. Certain apps and services will work better for you or your team, but if you make the effort to consider everything, you could find yourself falling victim to aesthetic paralysis.

Studies have actually found that people make better decisions when there are fewer – though not too few – options available. Having too many options available strips them of their ability to make informed decisions: it overwhelms their mental faculties, for one thing, and for another, it makes it impossible for them to ever get enough information about every option because there is simply too much information available.

Translating organizational culture to the digital realm

The best way to get a handle on the options available is to define the parameters of your search – which can be done with your team and serve as a great team-building exercise, in addition to establishing practical options for working more efficiently in the future.

Start by asking people you work with what could be most improved, or where they feel they have the most room to increase productivity. This can help you narrow down your search for what apps and services could be most useful for your business specifically.

Be wary of the allure of testimonials. What worked for someone else does not necessarily promise the same level of glamor or success. Honor your identity as a business and build it up with any services you incorporate.