Smart phones like the iPhone, Android and Blackberry aren’t just for playing games. They’re pocket computers that can quickly and inexpensively give your business a technological edge.
With mobile applications, better known as Apps, you can track your vehicle mileage, blog and update company social media sites, edit and view documents and files, and even process credit cards and update your bookkeeping. Mobile Apps range in cost, though many are free or less than $20.
We’ve scoured the web to find some of the most useful business apps, as detailed by bloggers, business organizations and techies who know best. Browse through these articles and perhaps you’ll find some that work for you!
Best Smart Phone Applications for Small Business Owners (National Federation of Independent Businesses) Example App: No more paper time sheets! HoursTracker—Time Sheet tracks time spent on a project with a simple “Clock In” and “Clock Out” button. Users apply an hourly rate for each job and hours are exported through email as a summary or in CSV format for easy invoicing.
Best Android smartphone apps of 2011 for business pros (TechRepublic) Example App: Dropbox is a great cloud service that automatically syncs a folder of files between multiple computers (Windows, Mac, or Linux). This app extends Dropbox to Android and interacts with other apps (such as Documents To Go) to open the files.
The Best Smartphone Apps for Business (Inc. Magazine) Example App: Scan2PDF Mobile lets you use your phone’s camera to scan contracts, receipts, and other documents as full-color PDFs and e-mail them to your desktop.
14 Essential iPhone Apps for Small Business Users (Mashable) Example App: JotNot Scanner is a solid document scanner that lets you scan multiple page PDF files and then save them to MobileMe, Evernote, Dropbox. Box.net or Google Docs. If you upload to Google Docs you can even take advantage of Google’s OCR engine for better document processing. The app is really optimized for the iPhone 3GS but older iPhones can still utilize its feature set.
65 Small Business Mobile Applications You Must Check Out (Small Business Trends) Example App: Evernote allows users to save ideas and notes in text, voice and photos and access from any device.
