Looking for the right apps for your business can be difficult, especially now that the App Store has over 700,000 apps, while Google Play has 600,000. To make your search easier, here are the top 10 smartphone apps for business owners.
Scan2PDF Mobile
PDFs are incredibly useful; you know that. But what if you were given a hardcopy and not a PDF? No problem. Just run Scan2PDF, scan the document using your smartphone’s camera, and voila—an instant full-colour PDF that you can e-mail.
e-Secure
Smartphones have now invaded security systems. e-Secure is an app that lets you monitor your office or warehouse using the e-Secure video platform and other compatible security products. So if there’s a break-in, power failure or any such problems in your property, you get a text or e-mail informing you about it.
QuickBooks Mobile
If you’re using QuickBooks for your business, you can now run your company’s finances even on your smartphone. The QuickBooks app lets you create, edit and send invoices; record and keep track of payments and sales; manage client balances; make sales receipts for customers; and synchronise with QuickBooks. Did we mention it’s free?
Bump
Sharing contacts and photos, or syncing devices has never been this easy. Just run the app and gently bump your smartphones together. Presto change-o! You’ve exchanged contact information with your business associate. Bump works great, especially during crowded conventions.
UPS Mobile
This free UPS app lets you track and manage your shipments, estimate shipping expenses, print a shipping label, and find the UPS service nearest your location. It’ll save you energy, time and even money.
Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite
Since your smartphone can’t create or edit MS Office documents out of the box, you’ll need an app to do so. The best one right now is Quickoffice; aside from the expected editing capabilities for Word, Excel and PowerPoint, the app also provides integrated access to cloud services like Dropbox, MobileMe and Google Docs.
Square Card Reader
There are many credit card processing apps out there but Square is the most hassle-free that we know. Just download the app, sign up at the Square website to get your card reader, and then link your bank account. There are no monthly fees, just a 2.75 per cent rate given to Square for every swipe of a Visa, MasterCard, Amex and Discover credit card.
HoursTracker – Time Sheet & Time Tracker
Say goodbye to paper time sheets. HoursTracker lets you keep track of your hourly earnings, including overtime. You can even export the data in CSV format or regular text.
Google Drive
If you thought Google Docs was great, wait till you try Google Drive, which lets you store up to 5GB of files. More importantly, the service lets you access, upload or edit your files using any computer or your smartphone. Any changes you make are saved and automatically synchronised. And like Google Docs, you can share these files with your contacts.
Business Card Reader
Yes, Bump (see above) is awesome, but what if your contact doesn’t have it and gives you a calling card instead? No sweat. Just run Business Card Reader, snap a photo of the business card, and the app would then load the information into your phone’s contacts list.
Originally posted on October 20, 2012 @ 8:42 pm