Running a small business requires wearing many hats: Problem solver. Communicator. Financial whiz. Marketing genius. You name it!
Why not take some of the load off with business apps?
Apps are changing the face of business. They’re becoming more prevalent and more powerful, as they help businesses manage a number of tasks, including viewing documents remotely, communicating to employees, backing up and synchronizing files, etc.
Want to improve daily operations? Organize your ideas? Manage travel expenses? There’s literally an app for that. To help you navigate the seemingly endless sea of business apps that are transforming the corporate world, we’ve compiled our Top 10 list, which covers:
- Communication;
- Finance & accounting;
- Marketing;
- Organization;
- Project management;
- Time management;
- Security, etc.
- CamCard (Marketing and Communication)
CamCard is the easiest app to manage and exchange business cards. Say goodbye to manual typing since this smart technology scans your biz cards, extracts the information therein, and saves it to your address book within one second. This is the ultimate app for sales people, entrepreneurs, business developers or marketing experts, and anyone who wants to be one. Since it can scan 50 business cards per minute, this digitization service also recognises information on bank cards, passports, and scans documents.
- Canva (Marketing)
Do you have experience in graphic design? With Canva, you don’t have to worry about that! This user-friendly app is packed with numerous design tools that are suitable for marketers, bloggers, and other business professionals to produce attention-grabbing images and social media graphics. If you don’t want to hire a graphic designer, but you need some professionally-designed marketing materials, Canva helps you save your precious time and money. This handy tool uses attractive templates and an inbuilt interface to create beautiful visual content for your business, including stunning brochures and Instagram posts, stock photography shopping, and basic photo editing.
- Dropbox Business (Organisation)
Dropbox Business is a cloud computing app that allows you to sync files and folders across various platforms. This mobile app is one of the most popular platforms to store and share files in the cloud, and especially useful for companies seeking reliable ways to share information with telecommuters. Dropbox is ideal for small businesses because it has plans for just three users to access business files on the go. Its paid service allows you to backup files in the cloud, and makes it effortless to grab files as desired. With the pricing starting at $12.50/month, it is also cost-effective for business travellers who are constantly on the road.
- Evernote (Organisation and Communication)
Evernote is ideal for team brainstorming, consolidating notes, and saving extracts from websites. It offers a unique workstation accessible from any place at any time. Since it keeps all documents and photos in one place, the app makes it stress-free for people to work remotely and cooperate with their teams. Evernote is available on Windows, Mac, iOS and Android devices. Its basic version is free, while the business version costs $14.99 per user, per month with several added features including administrator controls and unlimited space for uploads. It also integrates with Microsoft Teams, Slack, Outlook, Salesforce and Google Drive.
- Expensify (Finance & Accounting)
Expensify is an expense tracking app aimed at both small and large organizations that are seeking a sophisticated way to track receipts and manage expenses on the go. Expensify can sort and code each receipt, and can even automatically submit business expenses for approval and refunds. Among the many functions, it is best suited to businesses with one or multiple employees who are routine travellers. Evidently, Expensify saves time for businesses as it helps keep your accounting updated virtually, making end of year reports a whole lot simpler.
- Google Drive (Communication and Organisation)
This Google’s cloud-based storage ecosystem provides up to 15GB free storage for personal use. Businesses can use Drive Enterprise, and only pay for the storage used by employees through Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. The app allows real-time collaboration from several locations, easy sharing and effective management of business files. You can use Google Drive to transfer files in the Google cloud, which functions as a backup. It also allows users to work on documents as a team, and administrators can invite employees to view, edit or comment on any of the files.
- LastPass (Security)
This security app provides you with an ingenious way to safeguard unique, complex passwords of all of your accounts, especially if you cannot remember all of them. LastPass stores all your passwords in a vault, which you can only access using one master password, and saves you the agony of memorizing tens of them. Furthermore, it generates secure passwords for all of your accounts, allows you to share them only with trusted individuals, and revoke them as desired. This makes LastPass ideal for sharing accounts with your employees. Be rest assured that the company never knows your master password and it cannot decrypt your data.
- OmniFocus (Project Management)
OmniFocus is a productivity app based on the “Getting Things Done” method of time-management. As a personal task manager, the app lets you create projects and tasks and use to-do lists to organize them. It uses “Perspectives” to help you filter your tasks and projects by displaying only what you want to see at any given moment and accomplish it on time. The app monitors tasks by project, date, person or place, thus balancing your work schedules effectively. OmniFocus syncs between your iOS devices, including iPhones, iPads, Macs and Apple Watch.
- RescueTime (Time Management)
Are you constantly on the PC and need to monitor the time you spend carrying out productive tasks versus unproductive activities, such as scrolling through social media pages? Then RescueTime is the time management app perfectly fit for you. RescueTime measures productivity by monitoring your computer activities, such as active periods, websites visited, and programs used throughout a day. It also analyses and presents you with weekly reports on the amount of time you spent on the internet, mobile device, etc. Generally, RescueTime is the best business app to set goals on time management vs productively for better digital habits and completing tasks promptly.
- Skype (Communication)
While its rivals have tried to knock it off its videoconferencing throne, Skype remains an effective and popular app with more than 10 million reviews on Google Play. Skype app offers unpaid video calling, instant messaging, Skype-bound voice calling, online voicemail and texting. It is a suitable application for cutting costs on long distance communication and for additional communication features such as video chats. Skype app allows you to include up to 25 people together on a call!