Anita Brook is founder of Accounts Assist a growing firm of Chartered Accountants. She’s been advising small business, sole traders and consultants for 12 years.
It seems that apps are now as familiar as breathing, where would be without our trusty smart phones? It’s not just our free time that’s been improved by the app, now the business world is also seeing the benefits, with truly useful functionality quite literally in the palm of hands. Compared with buying the equivalent piece of equipment, or software, these apps will save you money and make it easier than ever before to work on the move.
Here’s the top of the business application pops:
Accountancy tools
Timewerks: Great for freelance workers, Timewerks is a time-tracking and invoicing app, which helps users keep track of hours and materials used and then send invoices accordingly. Each client can be listed, with their name, email address and how much a project is going to cost – an invoice is then created from this information.
iXpenselt: Perfect for keeping track of your expenses, you can even store photos of receipts and securely save passwords for your bank accounts. Customised, detailed reports of your monthly expenditure are available to view allowing you to keep on top of your budget.
Accounts-checkbook: Like iXpenselt you can keep track of your money, as well as scheduling payments, transferring funds, exporting data and viewing graphs and reports.
Document management
FileMagnet: Need to look at documents on the go? Transfer PDF’s, Microsoft Office and iWork files to your iPhone direct from your Mac or PC.
QuickOffice: Once you’ve sent documents to your phone, you might need to make changes to them. QuickOffice not only lets you view your Microsoft Office documents, but also edit and create those documents. These can then be stored on your phone, or on cloud services, such as Google Docs and MobileMe.
Spreadsheet: Like having Excel on your phone, this is a great spreadsheet application that is compatible with XLS programmes on your PC or Mac.
Scanners
JustNot Scanner: JustNot allows you to scan multiple page PDF files and then save them to cloud services. If you upload to Google Docs you can take advantage of Googles OCR engine for better document processing.
ScanBizCards: Rather than stuffing your bag full of business cards, which usually get lost, the clever app lets you scan them, meaning you never lose those all important details.
While the iPhone and the other smart phones on the market might have started life on the less serious side of things, their influence on our everyday activities is growing, with these business apps making them truly useful bits of kit – particularly for SMEs who might not have the budget for lots of tech. And, with all this business functionality in the bottom of your handbag, being stuck in an office all day is no longer a necessity, so get out and enjoy the sunshine!
This post has been commented once
1
June 22nd, 2010 at 11:07 amKevin Salter says:
Iphone app for businesses – see the effects of pricing changes on business profitability – Business Profitability Analyst – this has been in the top 100 paid apps in the business section of the apple store on numerous occasions….