Taskforce brings fully featured tasks to your Gmail account

Though Google Tasks has been available to Gmail account holders for several years, users may have noticed that the applet isn’t on Mountain View’s high-priority list, as Google has failed to provide any significantly upgraded functionality for Tasks since its initial release. Third-party developers, however, have created a number of excellent mobile Tasks apps, which allow users to sync their Tasks entries across devices. Despite the best efforts of these third-party developers, they’re still hindered by the inherent limitations of the Google Tasks API. For those who demand a more fully featured task application, yet still require seamless integration with the Gmail environment, there is Taskforce, who has reimagined the Gmail task management experience by creating their own bespoke task management add-on, which promises to deliver a number of productivity-enhancing features aimed at business and enterprise users. Sounds good so far; let’s see how it works!

Installing Taskforce is simple; just go to their website, enter your Gmail address, download the Taskforce browser extension (available for Firefox, Chrome, and Safari—sorry IE users!), restart your browser, and log-in to Gmail. The Taskforce toolbar will now be floating in the upper-right-hand corner of Gmail, allowing you to view existing Tasks, create new Tasks, and monitor your “Activities,” which are automatically generated when you share your task with a collaborator (the Activities function works regardless of whether or not your collaborator has installed Taskforce on their computer). Multiple collaborators can be brought in on the same Activity, and specific emails can easily be associated with a particular Activity just by clicking on the “Add to Existing Task” Taskforce button that appears above every email opened in Gmail. Collaborators can comment upon an Activity, and everyone else associated with that Activity can then view those comments. There’s a lot of potential here for small business owners who frequently work with outside vendors, or are seeking to promote collaborative efforts amongst internal staff members.

The Activities function is really the highlight of Taskforce, as it provides a very simple, yet powerful means through which to link specific tasks with their relevant collaborators and corresponding email communiqués. Taskforce also does a pretty commendable job of converting emails into tasks, though as one might expect, this feature does occasionally require some post-hoc editing.

In its current iteration, Taskforce has two notable downsides. First, when you send a task to a non-Taskforce-enable collaborator, the program doesn’t provide any confirmation that the task has been sent, or received; if you’re working on a tight deadline, this omission could prove to be more than a mere nuisance. More problematic, at least for our readership, is Taskforce’s lack of mobility; the program is currently usable only on laptops and desktops running full versions of the compatible browsers. The only way to load Taskforce on a mobile device is through a special login on Taskforce’s website, which offers limited access to existing tasks and activities, and provides no integration with mobile versions of Gmail. If the majority of your correspondence and scheduling is done in the office, this might not be a deal-breaker, but if you’re handling the majority of your communications and logistics from a mobile device while on the road, Taskforce’s limited mobility could be a real source of frustration.

My advice? Try it for yourself: What Taskforce does, it does very well, and its mobile functionality is likely adequate for occasional use. At the very least, there’s a lot of promise in this app, and I’ll definitely be following its future developments. Who knows, maybe Google will take notice, and start to include some of Taskforce’s features into future iterations of Google Tasks.

Google Wallet and Google Offers Bring Huge Opportunities to Small Business Owners and Consumers

Today we were at Google’s press conference in NYC, it just concluded, and we have to say, the implications could be huge for small business owners, with Google announcing two key new Android apps that will potentially enable your customers to pay you faster by using their mobile phone. The primary app, Google Wallet, will securely store and communicate financial information from users’ phones to merchants’ NFC terminals. NFC (near field communication) is a wireless technology that has been around but is becoming more popular.  The other app announced was Google Offers, which serves as a complement to Wallet, integrating coupons and loyalty programs to the transaction experience.  Let’s take a look at the features offered by each app, and then consider the implications for small business owners.

Wallet will roll out this summer, though it will initially provide NFC services only with Citi Mastercard and/or a pre-paid Google account.  Google promises that more account types (Visa, American Express, non-Citi Mastercards, etc.) will be added in the future, but they didn’t name any specific partners, nor did they offer up any sort of timetable.  Despite the limited number of launch-time partnerships, the potential for Wallet is huge, as it’s the first NFC system that allows users to maintain multiple credit accounts within the same NFC client.  As Wallet gains wider adoption, more banks and credit agencies will likely jump aboard, which will provide users with an NFC commerce experience as flexible and robust as the current, leather wallet-based transaction process.

For small business owners, Google Offers promises to be a real game-changer.  Google demonstrated how seamlessly Offers integrates with both Wallet and users’ desktop browsing experience; a desktop Google search for “denim shorts” might yield a digital coupon, which can be added into the user’s Offers account through a single click, and then redeemed in person, via Wallet, at the local point-of-sale.  Even more exciting is the integration of location-specific coupons and offers into the Android ecosystem; a phone-based search for “sandwiches” could yield offers from nearby restaurants, generating greater first-time customers for local businesses and international franchises alike.  Offers will also manage and track customer loyalty programs, which could definitely help transform occasional customers into regular patrons.  Google is selectively launching Offers in Portland, San Francisco, and New York this summer, though once the initial bugs have been worked out, the program will likely quickly spread to other cities.

Google also outlined some features that will likely be added to Wallet/Offers over the next several years; digital receipts, transaction-based prizes and games, and eventually the ability to integrate drivers’ licenses, health insurance cards, concert tickets, and hotel keys.  What remains unknown, though, is who will be responsible for securing the data of these para-transactional experiences.  For the financial information of the transaction itself, Google has partnered with FirstData to provide secure transmission and storage of relevant data, but it’s unclear if FirstData would also be responsible for managing loyalty card information and the like.

There’s a lot of potential here, but what can small businesses expect in the short-term?

To be honest, not much.  Currently, the only Android phone sporting an NFC chip is the Nexus S, and it’s hard to build an entirely new commerce ecosystem around a single phone.  More NFC-enabled Android phones will likely arrive later this year, but it will take at least several years before a significant number of consumers have Google NFC technology in their pockets.  And, with rumors circulating that Apple has an NFC platform of its own in the works, it’s unlikely that Google’s initiative will move forward without some competition from its rivals.  The short-term potential of Wallet/Offers is also tempered by the aforementioned lack of launch-time financial partners; how many people have both a Citi Mastercard AND a Nexus S, and how many consumers look forward to regularly refilling a bespoke Google debit account?

Sure, the immediate potential of Google’s announcement is pretty limited, but with NFC terminal readers costing less than $10, merchants won’t be staking a significant financial investment in the technology, should it fail to find widespread consumer adoption.  And the long-term potential for small businesses is absolutely huge; if Wallet and Offers become widely adopted by consumers, smaller merchants and local retailers will be able to engage in the type of targeted advertising and sophisticated customer loyalty programs (with their accompanying analytics…) that are today affordable only for medium-to-large companies.  If you’re a small business owner in one Google’s trial cities, becoming an early adopter of Wallet/Offers could pay considerable dividends down the road, as your familiarity and expertise with the infrastructure could provide a key competitive advantage, should Google’s NFC become the transactional experience of the future.

The New Dropbox for Android is Ready for Business Use

Regular readers of this site are probably familiar with Dropbox, as it’s one of Terrence Gaines’ favorite mobile apps, and with good reason.  The popular cloud-based service provides users with 2gb of free file-hosting storage space (though you’ll have to bribe the company with some real legal tender if you need additional gigs), which can then be accessed and/or modified from nearly any device (so long as that device is powered by Windows, Mac OSX, iOS, Linux, Android, or Blackberry… which it probably is).

For enterprise and small-business users employing Android phones, however, Dropbox has provided more angst than joy over the past couple years, as the Dropbox Android app has suffered from buggy performance and limited functionality.  The company recently released a thoroughly revamped Android app, which promises to finally bring full parity to Dropbox’s mobile offerings; but does it?

One of Dropbox’s most efficiency-catalyzing features has been its ability to automatically synchronize files; if a sales agent in the field secured a new order, a Dropbox-enabled spreadsheet in the central office would immediately reflect the change in inventory.  That’s how Dropbox worked on an iPhone, at least, but until this most recent version of Dropbox, Android users were forced to manually upload files.  I’m happy to report that Dropbox’s Android app finally incorporates full automatic synchronization, which works like a charm over both wi-fi and 3G connections.   As for the erratic performance of earlier iterations of Dropbox for Android, my extensive testing found none of the hang-ups or crashes that plagued earlier builds.  This is a robust, solidly performing app that’s ready for the challenging rigors of business use.

Despite the significant improvements Dropbox has implemented, prospective users should be aware that the mobile app does not have the full functionality of a desktop Dropbox client.  For instance, within the Android app, it’s impossible to move files from one folder to another, and external apps are needed to properly view documents, PDFs, or movie files (QuickOffice is one great doc app, and offers built-in Dropbox compatibility).

For those burned by bad experiences with previous versions of Dropbox’s Android app, the stability and improved functionality of Dropbox’s latest iteration make it worthy of a second look.  While the Android app’s features can’t match those of a full desktop client,  the limitations are unlikely to be noticed by most people working in the field.  Dropbox has finally released an Android app that lives up to the high standards set by the company’s other OS offerings, which makes it easy to recommend this app to any business looking to improve their information-sharing capabilities across disparate devices or users. What are you waiting for? Sign up for Dropbox today, and then get the Dropbox app for Android.