Small Business Ideas: Improve Your Small Business with Cheap and Free Mobile Applications (Guest Contributor, Celina Durgin)
Did you know that tools for cheaper, easier, and faster small business management are only a download away? Developers have designed mobile applications to expedite key tasks common to the small business owner, employee, or customer.
Access and share documents, create and play presentations, manage budgets, and stay connected with coworkers and employees—all from your mobile device.
Some apps are free, several cost a one-time fee of a few dollars, and the most advanced app costs $29 a month. Learn which mobile applications would be most useful and cost-effective for your small business.
Here are ten you must check out (the three most expensive have been placed first, so don’t worry—it gets cheaper as you scroll down):
1. Fuze Meeting ($29/month) [fuzemeeting.com] For: iPhone, iPad, Android, and Blackberry
Build presentations and share them with colleagues—from anywhere in the world. Fuze Meeting is a cloud-based service, so in addition to presenting with screen-share and PowerPoint, users can collaborate on HD content and share business documents.
2. Salesforce (Sales Cloud Mobile: $15/month; Chatter Mobile: free) [salesforce.com] For: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Blackberry
Sales Cloud Mobile helps you perform tasks and do business on-the-go. This app is ideal for a sales team that wants to keep track of each member’s progress while the team is out making sales. Chatter Mobile is a streamlined and convenient social networking application. Users can easily communicate contact information and news about the small business to one another.
3. RightSignature ($14/month) [rightsignature.com] For: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
This app makes signing contracts and other documents easy and secure for you and your customers. Simply upload the document onto RightSignature and email it to the recipients. The app will open automatically on your customer’s mobile device, and then he or she can use a finger to sign an authentic-looking signature on the touchscreen.
4. Documents To Go ($9.99) [dataviz.com/products/documentstogo] For: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android, Blackberry, and Maemo
View, edit, and create Microsoft Word documents and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. Review and update any of the Word documents without returning to the office. Advanced viewing and editing features help you work around the limitations of a touchscreen when fixing mistakes or adding data to spreadsheets.
5. iXpenseIt ($4.99) [fyimobileware.com] For: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
Manage your money efficiently and conveniently, snap photos of your receipts and save them immediately, and input information for instant graphical expense reports. This one will help keep you sane as you balance the budget.
This article on monitoring cash flow for your small business might be very helpful. You’ll learn how to use your income and expense data to monitor your cash flow.
6. SmartTime ($4.99) [leftcoastlogic.com/smarttime] For: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
SmartTime is the original integrated organizer. Its “adaptive logic” slots your tasks in the times between your appointments and integrates them into an organized view. SmartTime 5, the latest version, automatically adds tasks to your iPhone calendar.
7. Keypoint ($1.99) [keypointapp.com] For: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
Keypoint is a tool for creating presentations on-the-go. Afterwards, publish the presentation on your small business’s website or share it with your friends with just a touch on the screen.
8. iShare (free) [ishare.com] For: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
The iShare mobile application organizes uploaded documents and other information into searchable libraries. This is a great way to keep track of the things your small business keeps on file, and it allows you to access them anywhere. And it’s free.
9. Bump (free) [http://bu.mp/] For: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Android
This app is just plain amazing. It’s pretty simple; essentially, it helps you share contact information. But get this: if you and a colleague hold your phones and literally bump your knuckles together, the app will instantly transfer each of your contact information to the other’s phone!
10. GlobalMeet Mobile (free) [pgi.com/us/en/conferencing/mobile-apps] For: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Blackberry
This is a mobile conferencing app. Easily host or join meetings, invite guests via email or phone, follow colleagues’ conferences on GlobalMeet active talker, and record your calls with one touch.
Mobile applications can save your small business time and money. Some help you easily document files or save contacts. Others help you manage budgets and appointments.
All of them help you accomplish tasks on-the-go. Overall, mobile apps can help you organize and simplify your life as a small business owner and enable your business to run more efficiently.
Mobile applications for small business will forever change the way we work and play.
Our Instant CFO, Instant Marketing Manager and Instant Sales Manager Courses will teach everything you need to know about running a successful small business.
Thanks, Celina! We’ll be publishing more reviews of the best mobile applications for small businesses.
