When it comes to managing projects and tasks with other people, emails and phone calls are not enough. That's why a cross-platform solution like Beesy is worth checking out.

Beesy attempts to be an all-in-one platform for helping users plan and coordinate projects, setup to-dos and deadlines, communicate with clients and co-workers and much more. Available on the web and as an iPad app ($5.99), Beesy is another useful planning tool similar to the software and strategies we've outlined in our guide for online meetings.

Introducing Beesy

Both the online and iPad version of Beesy use five main sections: the Dashboard, which provides an overview of tasks and calendar appoints; a Notes section for meeting notes and minutes; a list of Actions created by you and tasks to assigned to other people; a People section for your contacts; and a section for planning your Projects and goals.

The browser-based version of Beesy includes actions for managing tasks, deadlines, phone calls, meeting notes, and adding links to online photos. In addition to these, the iPad app includes a drawing tool, a built-in web browser and map, and an audio recorder.

The features in the iPad version of Beesy are more useful than on the online version. For example, you can actually send an email from the app, draw and write on downloaded web pages, and record and save audio files. However, neither version as of yet allows inline photos, but photos can be attached and re-opened in the app.

Using Beesy

Beesy keeps you from having to use three or four different applications to manage your projects and tasks. The Dashboard is designed to give you a quick overview of your dated tasks, which can be saved and moved to urgent and non-important columns. Tasks are also grouped by Overdues, This day and weekly views. And by the way, Beesy can also sync with you iCloud Calendar.

Your most recent notes and projects can be accessed from the dashboard, and the iPad, in landscape orientation, provides sufficient screen real estate to view and type input. The side panel the app provides a list view and access to your notes and projects. It seems that Beesy is most useful for organizing tasks and meeting notes by project, though it could also be used as a simple to-do manager.

Meeting notes and other content can be exported to Evernote, Dropbox, a .CSV file, and a via email. All data in your account is synced across devices (requires the €5 per month plan), but I found the process a little slow at times during my testing.

Under the app's preferences you will find several guides to using Beesy, and it's a good thing the developers put them there because many of the included actions and features might not feel very intuitive when you first use the service and app. This area also allows users to request direct tech support, along with links to the user forums for sharing ideas and feature requests.

Worth the Download?

There are other alternative solutions to Beesy, including our recently reviewed projects manager, Intellinote or the collaborative to-do list software Wunderlist. Trello takes a different approach but remains a very popular solution, or if you just want a simple way to assign tasks, you might want to try Beamtask.

http://youtu.be/XrzUikCEr6o

If you're looking for a mobile-first project management solution, Beesy is worth a try. The online version of Beesy allows you to manage a single project, including other actions. The service provides a one-month free trial, and the monthly premium subscriptions allow for a range of unlimited actions, online storage space, attachments on notes and projects, and team sharing.

Download: Beesy for iPad ($5.99)

What do you use for project management and collaboration? Have you tried Beesy? Let us know what you think.