Business Apps 

Business Apps:

Apps To Help You With Your Work

Apps for Business

There are an ever growing number of apps available for business.  These are intended to provide individuals and businesses new tools that will help to increase productivity, sales, visibility, efficiency, team work, collaboration, and leadership.  In order to help you find the apps that fit your individual needs, we have reprinted several lists of business-focused apps compiled by professionals who have studied the app market.  Obviously, these lists are not exhaustive; rather they are only intended to help you to initially scan some of the more popular business-related apps.

List One: 7 Business Apps Every Professional Should Download

Reprinted with permission from WorkIntelligent.ly

Written by Kevin Purdy https://twitter.com/ kevinpurdy

Which apps do this? We happen to have seven of them, linked and ready for installing. The best part: all of them, except one category, are free, and the one that isn’t free is notably less than a hamburger.

1. TripIt

TripIt is a personal assistant for travel, especially if you give it access to your email inbox and let it scan for tickets and itineraries. Afterward, you literally don’t have to do anything except open the app to see all the details: your confirmation number, your departure time, the address of your hotel, the distance to the conference center, and the website of the restaurant you’re supposed to eat at Friday night. Open it up at least once before you journey and TripIt will hold your travel details for offline viewing, in case you don’t want to spring for WiFi on the plane. (iPhone/iPad, Android)

2. QuickOffice

There are all kinds of mobile business apps that claim to work well with Microsoft Office documents, but only so many offer only read-only access. Those that do offer editing tools often want to tie you into their own cloud storage schemes. Not QuickOffice. This app was recently acquired by Google, but it still works as a utilitarian open, edit, and save solution for quick views and adjustments. We’ve talked about the importance of information mobility, and this app provides a great way for mobile workers to access documents on the go. (iTunes, Android)

3. Pocket (or Instapaper)

Which app looks and works better is a matter of taste, but both Pocket and Instapaper do their jobs remarkably well. That job: take blog posts, news articles, and other content on the web (including everything at WorkIntelligent.ly – shameless plug), strip it down to just the text and necessary images, and save them to your device for reading when you have time. Big offices used to have such “clipping services” way back when, but they didn’t let you choose your favorite font. (Pocket: iTunes, Android; Instapaper: iTunes, Android)

4. Agenda (or Fantastical)

It’s odd how unhelpful the default calendar on an iPhone or Android can be. With how much design has gone into the OS of each, how can something as simple as a calendar cause so many headaches? Why can’t you just get an agenda view of everything that’s happening today when you start it up? Why does entering the time and date of an event feel like unlocking a bank vault? My own fix is Agenda Calendar 4, which makes smart guesses about when you want to schedule things, shows your day in a well-designed glance view, and generally gives you more information and links from an event than Calendar. If you frequently use the iPhone’s Reminders function, you might instead try Fantastical 2, which ties directly into the iPhone’s alerts and reminders systems. (Agenda: iTunes, Android; Fantastical: iTunes)

5. Chrome

Chrome is Google’s own browser. Your iPhone already has the Safari browser, and your Android phone likely has its own default browser. So why would you bother to install a browser that shows the same web pages as either of these? One big reason: if you use Chrome on a desktop computer and sign in on both your desktop and phone with your Google account, you can see and open any tab you had open on your desktop browser when you left it. Or just start typing in a few words from the page you already went to into Chrome’s search bar, and Chrome should come up with it. It feels magical (and maybe a bit creepy). (iTunes, Android)

6. CloudCube (Android only)

Maybe you already feel backed up, cloud-connected, and ready to grab your files from anywhere. So cloud-connected, in fact, that you sometimes have a hard time remembering in which cloud you stored that certain file, and where you have room to put that next big one. CloudCube works with all the notable syncing services: Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, Box, SugarSync, and more. Move files between clouds, see what’s inside each account, and even sync folders between your Android device and your services of choice. (Android)

7. IFTTT (If This Then That) (iPhone only)

Wouldn’t it be neat if every time you took a screenshot of your iPhone, that screenshot was automatically saved to where you want it? Or if every time you completed a Reminder on your phone, it emailed the appropriate person to let them know, automatically? Or if you could see, on your phone, every photo you’ve been tagged in from Facebook? With IFTTT (short for If This Then That), that kind of two-step, non-thinking action is entirely possible. The hardest part is thinking up the “recipes” that you want for your phone, but after playing with the website a bit, you should get a real sense of just how many things can be done without your having to even think about it. Be sure to install this iPhone app so you can take full advantage of that set-and-forget productivity. (iTunes).

What other business apps do you consider critical to getting the job done either while on the go, or at the office?

List Two: 16 More Apps that the Contributors at Workshop Exercises Use and Like

Google Apps for Business is a suite that includes email, online storage, scheduling tools, video meetings, slides, and other business tools to transform the way you work.  Google Hangouts allows up to ten team members in remote locations to participate in team meetings and sessions.

Wunderlist 2.  This nicely designed and flexible app helps you create shareable to-do lists.  It includes alerts and pop up reminders when things are due.

Flow is an easy-to-use straight-forward app that helps you to not only plan and manage a task easily but also to share, expand, discuss, brainstorm, and delegate it with colleagues.

CoudMagic.  This is a friendly and functional app for e-mail management.

Dropbox is a storage cloud for file, video, and picture sharing.  You can access and edit your files from anywhere: your computer, tablet or phone. 

Skyscanner.  If your work requires you to travel, this free service app helps save you time and energy by scanning for the best fares available.  Special discounts are also often available.

CamCard.  Have you ever misplaced a business card that you wanted? With CamCard you can use  your phone camera to scan a business card, transcribe it, and file it neatly for easy reference.

Pocket is a sync able app to save web pages, links, videos, and articles that you might want to check out later when you have the time.

Voice Recorder HD.  This is a great audio capture app that has unlimited recording time.  Record meetings, conversations, or save your own good ideas and thoughts with high quality recordings.

Around Me.  If business takes you to unfamiliar places, Around Me will pin point vital locations such as restaurants, hospitals, ATMs, hotels and other sites that a traveler might need.

Evernote is an productivity app that allows you to save ideas and record text, audio, photo, and video notes.  All of which is readily available by synchronizing it with your phone, desktop, or tablet.

Expense Tablet helps you keep track of your personal expenses.  It gives you an easy-to-use format for following your expenditures as well as providing budget reports and your spending history.

SayHi Translate  This app will translate your spoken words or text into dozens of other languages.

Wi-Fi Finder.  Avoid the annoyance of not being able to find a Wi-Fi hotspot.  Wi-Fi Finder gives you a map of nearby hotspots where you can make an Internet connection.

Tempo is like having a personal assistant who takes care of the details so you can better use your time: directions, drive time, phone numbers, fight status.  It connects your calendars, contacts, e-mails, and apps.  Oh by the way it keeps your calendar and provides you with reminders.

Feedly gathers and sorts your apps, selected articles, podcasts, and videos.

List Three: Best Apps to Boost Your Leadership

By Gabriela Rodriguez, reprinted with permission from https://exhibitionscargo.com

The best leaders will always be the most prepared ones. Attend to conferences, take seminars and submerge deeper each time in your company’s activities is undoubtedly the adequate way to reach the top, but we know that any small push that may help us get what we want is always welcome.

Nowadays, Smartphones are a basic tool in any leader’s work, so making the most of them may be the borderline between wanting to be a good leader and being it, in fact.

Make your Smartphone produce the maximum and increase your leadership abilities with these apps we suggest you:

• Asana. How many times have you been handling a big amount of projects at the same time and you have had to fight to establish the priorities for each member of your team? With Asana you will easily forget about this problem, since it allows a clear view and prioritizing, which means you are capable to offer a timely support and get ahead of potentially stressing situations without a scratch.

• Leadership Development. Because you can always learn something new, this app will become your own virtual learning center, where you will find debates, seminars and all kinds of topics which involve training and development of leadership abilities. You will also find contents related to organizational change and development, human resources strategy and talent management.

• Evernote. The perfect application for the busy businessman. You can follow up the previous meetings with customers and import information from social media like Facebook and Linkedin immediately. It is also ideal to use your device to take images of your bills, which saves time when you must find your accountant.

• Contactually. Connecting with employees, mentors, customers and other people from your network had never been so easy. For the majority of the businesses, relations are a key component for growth. Contactually’s simple reminders will help you to give firm steps in the world of public relations, keeping your business objectives in movement at the same time.

• INYpulse. Having happy and motivated employees is also a priority for the good leaders. This application allows you to monitor and be informed of the company’s matters before they get out of control, through an anonymous weekly survey, making you a more effective leader.

• Dropbox. The last, but not least, is this storage cloud that allows you to configure folders and synchronize all your devices to have your contents always available. One of the most important key benefits of this application, which you may also find in the online version, is the capability to drag documents from your computer’s desktop to your Dropbox folder, making much easier the updating of your information.