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It's December, which means it is time to take a look back at the past year and honor a few of the outstanding products for advisors that we've had the pleasure to review in 2005. As is our custom, I'll offer up award winners in three categories: hardware, software, and rookie of the year.
Here are the ground rules: Software and hardware contestants can be either new products or improved versions of existing products. Industry-specific products qualify, as do general consumer products if they're capable of improving an advisor's practice. Rookie-of-the-year contestants are new products that may not yet be perfected, but that either break new ground or hold great promise for the future.
Please note that the technology awards is my way of highlighting my favorite products of the year. There are no actual awards presented, and Morningstar has no involvement in the selection process. Nor does Morningstar endorse any product mentioned in this article.
My Software Product of the Year--EverNote
As a technology and practice management writer and consultant, I am painfully aware that all of us, including yours truly, are leaving some money on the table due to operational inefficiencies. One surprisingly common example of inefficiency is the time people waste looking for little snippets of information that they do not have a designated repository for--the sort of information that often gets jotted down on the back of an envelope or a sticky note. On occasion, some of this information makes its way into a Word document, CRM package, or a spreadsheet, but sometimes it doesn't. Even under the best of circumstances, a great deal of time is expended finding the sticky note and transferring the information.
One excellent and inexpensive tool for collecting free-form data, keeping it organized, and, most importantly, finding it when you need it, is EverNote.
EverNote (here is my review) is a personal free-form database that allows users to store all sorts of information. The EverNote icon resides on the Windows Task bar, so the application can be conveniently accessed as needed with a mouse click.
EverNote has a unique structure: It is an endless roll of virtual digital paper. To get started entering information, you can click a note and begin typing. As you type or otherwise insert information onto the tape, EverNote automatically saves it. This makes using EverNote fast and efficient.
You can also drag and drop content or copy and paste it. EverNote offers "clippers" for a number of programs, including Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Thunderbird. With clippers, you can instantly add content from one of the above applications to EverNote by simply clicking the Add to EverNote icon.
The application includes a number of useful templates for common items. There are templates for expenses, shopping lists, source codes, to-do lists, contacts, and phone messages. Additional templates have been created by users, and they are available at the user's forum.
If you wish, EverNote will automatically categorize your notes for you, or if you prefer, you can create your own manual categories. It is possible to assign multiple categories to a note. If your note is a spreadsheet that contains information about a client, you can categorize it under the client name and as a spreadsheet. Categories are one of the many methods you can use to find information you've inserted onto the tape; others include advanced search and the time band.
I've really come to appreciate EverNote's security features. Users can encrypt text within a note by highlighting the text and entering a password. To view the encrypted text, you have two choices: decrypt text or show decrypted text. The former removes the encryption; the latter allows you to view the encrypted text only when the note is visible on the tape. I often use encrypted notes to track temporary user names and passwords I set up for various Web-based programs that I am reviewing. It works like a charm!
Recently, EverNote released a minor upgrade. It fixes some bugs and includes new features, such as global hotkeys for some common tasks. With SmartSearch, you can now scroll through the results using Find Next or Find Previous. If you wish, it is now possible to make sure that EverNote stays on top of other applications on the Windows desktop. Want to set a default note type or a default note author? This latest release makes it possible to do so.
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