Shortly we'll be releasing the biggest upgrade to Accelo since our redesign last year, and under the hood, this is probably the biggest upgrade we've ever made. We'd like to offer our users the opportunity to get a special sneak-peek preview of the new features and improvements before the upgrade.
What is coming in this upgrade?
This upgrade involves 9 major new or improved features which get to the heart of how you manage your communications, work, and tasks in Accelo:
- Introducing the new Inbox
Replacing the antiquated and cumbersome to-do list and static "activity stream", this new screen will probably become the most important (and heavily used) screen for you and your team. This screen will show you all of the incoming activities, and allow you to search, filter, read, reply, relocate and action (including in bulk) all of the activities in Accelo. Early feedback suggests this screen might well allow you to replace your current email inbox with Accelo.
- Introducing the new Tasks board
The new Task board is a whole new way to see the tasks you (or your colleagues) have assigned. Using a simple "cards" interface and the ability to drag and drop, you'll be able to keep track of your tasks, reschedule them, reassign them, log work on them and open/complete them quickly and easily.
- Major upgrade to Tasks
Along with the tasks board, we're also introducing a major upgrade to our (admittedly pretty poor) tasks feature in Accelo. Now you'll be able to assign tasks, accept (or decline) tasks assigned to you and get notifications when tasks you've assigned to others are completed. Basically, our tasks list goes from its current simple "list" and "complete" functionality and instead gives you a way to really keep track of the work you've got to do.
- Introducing the new Activity view
Along with our new inbox, we've also redesigned and upgraded the way you view activities (notes, email conversations, etc). Instead of showing a single email, for example, and then forcing you as a user to click through to a different screen to see another part of the conversation, you'll now be able to see a list of all of the activities in a conversation on one screen. The new screen will familiar for Gmail users (it is like the conversation view you see in Gmail), and we're excited to hear what you think of it.
- A whole new way to create Activities (it is much faster!)
Creating activities is at the heart of Accelo; whether you're making a note, sending an email, scheduling an appointment or just logging some time, activities are how you do it. However, the current screen for adding activities means leaving where you were and requires a whole new screen load; not very user friendly or efficient. To solve this, we've introduced a new way to create activities; now whenever you create an activity you'll be doing it without leaving the screen you're on using a fast and easier to use the window that shows up almost instantly. Simply click, enter some text (and time) and save and you're done.
- Bringing Accelo to your Gmail inbox
For our Gmail users, we've got something really exciting planned. With this upgrade we're also introducing a dedicated "Gmail Gadget", a small window that loads underneath every email you view in Gmail that brings important Accelo information directly to your Gmail inbox. If you've ever found yourself thinking "I wonder whether anyone else on my team has replied to this yet" or "is this contact already in Accelo" or "I wish I could update the status of the sale/project this email relates to", we've now got a solution for you that doesn't involve leaving your Gmail inbox.
- The new Activities API
While we released our API into beta late last quarter, the biggest missing piece was the ability to search, create and access activity information (which includes not just email content but also time logs) via the API. For our many users who registered for the API beta so they could build their own export, business intelligence or other reporting tools off the key information stored in activities, this new feature will be a welcome addition we're sure.
- Improved Calendar Integration
While we've had strong integration with your Google/Exchange/Office365 calendars for a long time, one of the features we've been missing is the ability to automatically turn appointments that other people create for you (through meeting requests) into Accelo activities. With the upgrade to the activity system under the hood this quarter, we've introduced the ability to turn these appointments into scheduled meeting activities automatically (if they include a client attendee/organizer who's already in Accelo).
- Gmail Auto Archiving & Inbox Synchronization
We're pretty sure this last feature is going to be popular with some of our heavier users - the ability to automatically mark as read or even archive emails in your inbox when you action an activity in Accelo. At launch, we're only going to be able to support Gmail, but we're working on Exchange and Office365 support (for marking as read) too.
Join us for a live sneak peek
To get a sneak peek at the new features, ask questions and find out when we'll be upgrading your account, join us for a special sneak-peek webinar. We're running three of them to fit in with different timezones, and if you can't make the interactive session we'll also be posting a recording here on our blog. To join us live register using the links below:
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