"Gmail is by far the most critical tool in my arsenal," says Steve Rubel, senior vice president and director of insights for Edelman Digital. "I tie Gmail's integrated instant messaging into a service called notify.me, which sends me special alerts when blogs mention me or CNN breaks a story. Since Gmail has tons of storage and terrific search capabilities, I house my personal library there and constantly refer to it to quickly find articles, statistics and case studies that I want to source in my work for clients."

Networking Services: Everyone has heard of Facebook and LinkedIn, but what about an online service that can actually help you keep track of the people you meet and the interactions you have with them?

Thanks to products like Jibber Jobber, you no longer have to spend countless hours thumbing through business cards or musty old notebooks searching for cellphone numbers or tidbits from an old conversation. The information you need for that power lunch is all in one place and easy to access.

"It's important to consciously manage relationships with your contacts over the long term," says Jason Alba, CEO of Jibber Jobber. "Using Jibber Jobber, you can quickly and privately import contacts from a variety of sources, rank relationships, log notes about relationships, create action items and tie them to people or companies."

By selecting the right mix of services for your type of work, technology can become your best friend once more. Just be aware of the potential pitfalls. "For instance," says Rubel, "when working with Web-based applications, choose ones that are not likely to go belly-up. Look for those that have revenues and a stream of new features."

Also, even services that are programmed for efficiency can become all-encompassing if you let them. To sustain a high level of productivity, focus on completing one important task at a time, and don't play around with your applications during the time of day when you do your most creative and innovative work.

Finally, don't allow these useful services to overshadow your in-person relationships. You don't need to have Webinar training for the team downstairs, and you should avoid the temptation to play constant rounds of e-mail tennis with your manager instead of occasionally sitting down in her office. Human beings are social creatures at heart, and simply talking to a colleague or client is sometimes the best way to communicate a clear message.

By Alexandra Levit, Forbes.com

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Use technology to make work easy