With thousands of apps in the enterprise atmosphere, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. We talk to small and mid-size biz owners all the time who understand that apps can be great for running a business; they just don’t know where to begin.
For us, the nine below are a solid start. There are plenty of ultra-specific apps that might suit any number of esoteric business needs, but these can probably play an immediate role, improving connectivity and boosting productivity regardless of your industry or service sector.
Kayak – An awesome travel search engine that lets you find and book flights, cars, and hotels. Also has a handy flight tracker and itinerary manager.
TweetDeck – Great Twitter client that lets you easily customize your view of the Twitterverse, monitoring multiple feeds and tracking keywords, hashtags, and users as you see fit.
Evernote – A smart way to sync info across your devices. Take notes, share photos and voice recordings, create and control to-do lists — and everything is nice and searchable.
Pivotal Tracker – A slick project management app that facilitates project planning and team collaboration, measures milestone achievement, tracks budget burn and a lot more.
Skype – A favorite for staying in touch with grandparents across the country, it’s also ideal for business conference calls, video calls, and instant messaging. And we swear the sound quality buries any phone-based bridge.
Expensify – We hate pockets of crumpled receipts as much as anyone. This lets you track mileage, file expenses, and upload receipts using your phone’s camera. And it’s smart enough to snag the date and amount charged.
Quicken – Excellent mobile money manager that consolidates a view of all your financial accounts: checking, savings, loans, credit cards, etc. Helps set budgets and provides a clear picture of just how much spending power you have moment to moment.
Dropbox – Easy file sharing, photo and video uploading. Smart way to access files without worries about hogging device memory or having to tote around a jump drive. Remember those things?
1 Password – Slick way to manage all your various user IDs and passwords, letting you access your protected websites with just a touch. That means no more searching for sticky notes or cocktail napkins.
All of these apps are available for iPhone/iPad, and most for Android. Many also have WebOS and Blackberry versions, so find what works for your device and see how they work for you.
