The pros are that you have every tool ready to use for its special purpose. The cons are that most of these tools are interoperable which results in redundant data and often in a higher confusion. Where have you stored your business partner’s email address? Is it stored in your email program or in your contact manager? The more parts of a program will intersect with a single purpose the more you will ask yourself which program is the right one to use.

Does it take too long for you to find a contact’s address, email or phone number. How long does it take to find a meeting slot for you and three other people? These are typical situations where a lack of functions and interoperability between your different tools make your daily work harder as it needs to be. It’s still common to use MS Excel for organization, but Excel is definitive the wrong software for this job. Excel is great when it comes to calculating with formulas, but it should be the last option for organization.

On is to use a Personal Information Manager, or just short PIM. A PIM usually consists of a scheduler, a contact manager, notes, an email client and a task manager. The most important thing is that the PIM was designed to help you with your daily private or business organization. Mostly all parts are working together; therefore you can turn off all other applications which handle only a single issue of your organization.

Some PIMs are able to create a network which enables you to share information with others. Finding a free meeting time becomes a one click action, contacting others, too. When it comes to PIMs most users think about Microsoft Outlook. As Outlook offers the richest set of functions, it’s also the most expensive one. Some cheaper alternatives and especially designed for individuals or small companies are Pimero, iCal or Do-Organizer.

Gerard Schwabe is senior project manager at soft-evolution, an innovative provider of team management software Pimero.