Wrike Reveals New UI And Time-Broadcasting Feature To Keep Employees On Task

Wrike has updated its workplace productivity application Graphite, rolling out a new minimalist user interface and also the ability to broadcast the current work in real-time. The emphasis on a well-structured task view is designed to encourage workers to come back to the app and staying there longer.

The Graphite update has applied a crisp coat of Web 2.0 paint to the tired Windows Explorer style interface, and also heralds new features: project infographics, denser notification emails, and HTML5 desktop popup notifications.

The design changes and features are aimed at creating a more engaging interface that will encourage users to create and manage tasks, and collaborate on projects. However, it aims to do this in a subtle manner where the experience is not cluttered or bloated with features. Further, the ability to monitor what your colleagues are working on creates a reason to continually check into the application.

Wrike CEO Andrew Filev said the changes were designed to accommodate user habits while improving productivity. Earlier this year, it added real-time update capabilities to let employees manage tasks offline and online, to enhance the ability of workers to collaborate on documents both inside and outside of the app.

The user interface has emerged as a new front in the battle for worker productivity.

A collaboration tool for marketing professionals Brightpod is adding real-time updates to the activity stream, as well as allowing users to manage their marketing workflows public.

And major competitor Asana recently released announced integration with timesheet app Harvest, which allowed the users to track time by simply clicking a little stopwatch in the taskbar. This information is recorded in the user’s corresponding Harvest account. The looming clock creates an urgency to stay on track and complete a particular task. The startup, cofounded by Facebook cofounder Dustin Moskovitz and with $38 million investment at its disposal, also released a version targeting enterprise customers, as a number of users were demanding the ability to expand the application into other parts of the business.