Mobile phone technology has entered the business arena in a big way with 3G first giving professionals access to the internet, swiftly followed by 4G which delivers speeds that rival those experienced via Wi-Fi broadband connections.
The business app is now under huge scrutiny as a tool that can help businesses save time, increase productivity and generally help deliver better business.
Downloadable apps don’t have to cost the earth, in fact these apps will help any UK business and don’t cost a penny to download.
Business Apps
• Business cards are certainly not the most exciting essential business tool but they could be if you adopted the latest technology. The CamCard app is a great example of this allowing you to create an AR Card with your image, product images, videos and audio files all attached. You can share these cards via email, SMS or QR code.
The CamCard app will also allow you to use your smartphones camera to capture other business cards and it automatically reads the information and adds the content into your phones phonebook. CamCard is available on Apple, Android, BlackBerry and Windows phones.
• Video conference calling is also developing into a more useful business tool. The Cisco WebEx app for example will allow you to hold video meetings with numerous parties whilst displaying PowerPoint presentations on the same screen. Presenter capabilities can be passed to other users and other users can be invited to join the meeting at any time. Available on Apple, Android and BlackBerry.
• Task lists have moved on a long way too with the Asana Mobile app delivering shared task lists with up to 15 staff. Perfect for managing projects users can add tasks, completion dates, priorities, attach files including those stored in Dropbox, attach images and set-up recurring items. Asana Mobile is available on Apple and Android devices.
• Microsoft compatibility may be an issue when businesses use a number of mobile devices but the CloudOn app overcomes cross-compatibility issues. Smartphones and tablets can now open, review and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and perform rich editing tasks with items such as charts and animations. Available on Android and Apple files can easily be stored on Dropbox, Box, SkyDrive and Google Drive.
• Expenses can be a headache for business and their staff but the Expensify app is helping to tackle this issue. Multiple expense reports can be created and the app allows receipts to be photographed with the app reading the receipt so no manual input is required.
An additional benefit delivered by Expensify is that lost receipts can be recreated in the form of an IRS guaranteed eReceipt by importing credit card transactions. The app can also track business mileage and is available on Apple, Android, BlackBerry and Windows smartphones.
About the Author: David Khan is an author in the mobile phone industry and writes on behalf of Carphone Warehouse and their Business Mobiles division
