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May 8, 2014

Peak – Fewer Interruptions Mean More Productivity

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On one hand, interruptions are the well-known enemy of productivity. But at the same time, how are managers supposed to know what their employees are up to if they don’t stop by and ask? Peak is a web-based application that removes shoulder taps and check-in emails from the workplace. As a result, teams of all sizes are able to work more efficiently and productively.

Peak is a productivity platform that’s fully automated. The web-based application keeps track of what users are working on automatically, without requiring workers to manually check-in or input their data. Just connect Peak to the services or apps your company already uses—Peak integrates with popular tools like GitHub, Basecamp, Dropbox, Gmail, and Google Drive, among others—and wait for the reports to start flowing in. Peak provides you with all different types of employee insights. For example, you can see which specific hours your employees prefer to work, which days of the week tend to be the most productive in your office, and which specific staffers are too overloaded with work on any given day.

Click on any employee’s image to get a complete breakdown of that person’s activity level. You can see the average amount active work time per day for any member of your team, even going so far as to find out how many emails each person has sent and received during a given period of time. Not only do these factoids give you the type of insight that can help when distributing work, but they can also serve as a source of guidance when making future employment decisions.

Practical Uses:

  • See how many emails your receptionist sent and received yesterday
  • Find out which member of your staff worked the most hours last week
  • Review the files your marketing department has uploaded to Dropbox
  • Get notifications whenever new discussions are created in Basecamp

Insider Tips:

  • Peak provides bosses with a list of their most and least active employees
  • View uploaded files by clicking on the link in Peak
  • Employees can see what their colleagues are up to
  • Request an integration for any service that Peak hasn’t already connected with

What we liked:

  • Managers can feel like they’re in control of the office, without disrupting their employees by asking for updates
  • Employees remain accountable even when they work from home
  • Managers receive real-time status updates as their employees accomplish tasks
  • Data points are automatically translated into terms that managers can understand

What we didn’t like:

  • Peak will become more useful as the service continues integrating with more popular business apps

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: October 2013
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: Victoria, Canada
  • Founded by: MetaLab
  • Web site: http://www.usepeak.com

Costs:

  • Studio plan is $49 per month, billed annually
  • Team plan is $99 per month, billed annually
  • Business plan is $199 per month, billed annually
  • Corporate plan is $399 per month, billed annually
  • Enterprise plan with custom pricing

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