10 must-have tech tools for the wired mediator in 2008

What tech tools are most worth the investment of your time and money to support your quest for a thriving mediation practice in 2008? Here’s my list.

Some are free, some are close to free, and a few are an investment. Most are pretty simple to set up and use. I use all of these almost every day and consider them central to my mediation business success:

1. Highrise - Every ADR practice needs an effective client relationship management (CRM) tool to track clients and projects from first contact to end of contract. The trouble is that most CRM software is overkill for a small business and the long lists of features are dizzying and overwhelming. Enter 37Signals’ Highrise, a web-based client communications and tracking service. There are few bells and whistles and it does what it does very well. When I was first experimenting with Highrise a year or so ago, I read a review that suggested the more I used it, the more I’d understand and like it. I was skeptical at first that Highrise would do what I needed, but the review was right on the money.
2. GrandCentral - You probably have both an office phone and a cell phone, and perhaps you give both numbers to clients. That’s two numbers they need to try and two sets of voicemails. What if you could simplify and still give your clients great service? GrandCentral offers universal phone numbers that ring to any number(s) your wish, give you visual voicemail, send voicemail to your email if you wish, and even allow you to leave specific outgoing messages for specific callers. The list of features goes on and on. Google has acquired GrandCentral and though you can reserve a telephone number in the U.S., you can’t actually get an account right now…unless you get an invite from someone who already has one. Like me. I have a couple of invites left to share with mediation colleagues. If you’d like one, leave a comment here and tell me why one should go to you! [Update: Sorry, I have no invites left. Word on the street is that Google's going to make GrandCentral widely available again soon. Subscribe to the GrandCentral blog to get the announcement when it comes.]
3. Jott - Maybe you usually jot down your random ideas on a piece of paper. Maybe you’re in the car and want to remind yourself of something later. Maybe you want a quick and easy way to track your time when you’re not near your computer. Problem is, you can end up with a lot of little pieces of paper, recordings stuck on your phone, and notes on your computer. Jott solves that problem. Jott, a free online service allows you to record a brief message via cell phone, then transcribes and emails the message to you in text form within a few minutes. Read more at my previous article, Jott Yourself a Message on the Run.
4. Freshbooks - Some of the promotion for Freshbooks claims you’ll get paid more promptly when you bill through this online invoicing service. I was interested in the simplicity and great interface of Freshbooks but didn’t believe the payment speed hype for one second. Boy, was I wrong. When I invoiced two ongoing clients who’ve been consistently late with payment, I was stunned to receive payment from both within a matter of days. No more invoicing by emailing or mailing Quickbooks invoices for me. I’m hooked on Freshbooks’ ease and access from anywhere I can get an Internet connection, including from my phone. Here’s a past article: Client Invoicing Goes Online.
5. PayPal - My individual clients prefer to pay with a credit or debit card instead of a check, and even my corporate clients are increasingly choosing the same approach. That’s fine by me, because with PayPal, I can sweep funds into my business checking account from wherever I am, in the office or on the road. And PayPal integrates with other services, such as shopping carts, websites, and Freshbooks. Read more at my previous article on PayPal Merchant Services.
6. USPS - I live rurally and tend to cluster errands because of the distance from so many services. Maybe you do the same if you’re in a metropolitan area with parking pressures. Thanks to the US Postal Service, I can now get anything I need from the comfort of my office, and I can ship materials or items to clients without waiting for my next round of car errands. With an account on the USPS website, you can calculate postage, ship packages via any method, and buy stamps. Buy a small digital postage scale and you’re good to go.
7. Jacquie Lawson e-cards - The little touches count in the kind of profession we’re in. Paper greeting cards are still important, and there’s also a place for e-cards in your client relationship management toolkit. My college roommate introduced me to Jacquie Lawson’s elegant and whimsical e-cards several years ago and after using them for personal greetings for several years, I began using them for business greetings in 2006. Be sure to read Lawson’s rules associated with sending the e-cards from your business.
8. Smartphone - A smartphone combines cell phone with the features of a PDA and then some. I’m a Mac user most of the time and the iPhone is my mobile of choice these days. I’m thrilled that I can carry all my contacts, calendar, email, favorite photos, my entire music collection, and get access to the Internet with one slim, hip device. And it really does work as advertised. Of course, you can use the iPhone if you’re a Windows user too, and other options include the Treo and BlackBerry.
9. Bluetooth headset - Wireless headsets are a natural accessory for your smartphone. They’re so small and light you can just leave them in your ear even when not in use and they’ve gotten a whole lot easier to “pair” with your phone. I’m all for any quality device that removes a few more wires from my office!
10. ScanSnap - So much for the promise that computers would eliminate papered offices. But with the ScanSnap, I’m a step closer than ever before. The ScanSnap isn’t just a scanner. It’s a really fast scanner. And it turns paper documents into searchable PDFs. That means that I can find any document I need from my computer just by searching on a few key terms. I now scan all my contracts, all my tax documents, and just about anything else I might otherwise put in a paper file. ScanSnap works with both Windows and Mac machines; here’s a review.

What’s your favorite tech tool? Leave a comment (if you’re reading this in your email, just click on the article title to be taken to the page where you can scroll down and comment) and share!