Mobile Meets SMB: How Mobile Apps can Help Small Businesses Compete

 

When was the last time you used a mobile app at work?  I would guess you’ve already used at least one mobile app today.  According to a study by the Small Business and Entrepreneur Council, small businesses that use mobile apps to manage their operations save more than 370 million business hours and more than 725 million employee hours annually.  That’s a huge amount of time saved which is so important for any company – after all, time is fleeting and needs to be invested wisely.  The study, which surveyed firms with 20 or fewer employees, found that 31% of companies saved an average of 5.6 hours per week because of mobile apps.  So what are the best apps for saving your company time and money?  Below is a list of some of my favorite apps to up your company’s productivity and profitability.

Apps to Manage Money

Accounting can be incredibly time consuming.  When an employee travels for work, have them download Expensify.  Expensify allows an employee to import expenses straight from their credit card or bank account.  The app even lets employees scan their receipts for inclusion in expense reports.  Expensify lets employees track mileage by entering their destinations on a map.  The app has QuickBooks integration built in which is quite a boon as many companies rely on QuickBooks for accounting.  Expensify is free for individuals or $5 per user per month to approve expense reports as a company.
If you are a business that accepts payment on the go, you should consider Square.  Square provides a credit card reader that attaches to iPads, Androids and iPhones.  The app and the card reader are free and every swipe costs 2.75 percent.

Note and Document Apps
With many employees working from home, accessing documents from mobile devices is more important than ever.  One solution is Dropbox, a cloud storage system that’s free for up to two gigabytes of storage.  The advantage of Dropbox is that you can directly share documents with a group of people without crowding their inbox. 

Now, how do you manage all the documents and materials you come across?  Evernote is designed just for this purpose.  It’s not only creating a to-do list on your mobile device; Evernote captures and labels all of your documents, pictures and notes.  This way, you can document on the go and always tie your documents back to a specific project.

Desktop Virtualization from Anywhere

Enterprise solutions have really started to catch up to the mobile trend.  Two very popular virtualization services, VMware and Citrix, both have mobile versions.  VMware View allows for a personalized experience for each user while still allowing IT to maintain security and control.  Citrix Receiver makes it easy to provide a store-like interface for users so they can access desktops, applications, and IT services from their mobile device.  Citrix, like VMware, still keeps IT in the driver’s seat for security and control, and Citrix allows companies to maintain centrally-hosted service delivery. 

So, those are my favorites. Which mobile apps do you like best for business?

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Mobile App Development