We live in a world where digital information is available at any time and from any place, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. This has changed the way we live, connect, learn and work. According to a 2017 Pew Research Center survey, “95% of Americans now own a cell phone of some kind.” And more and more of us are using those cell phones to keep working “on the go.” We all have our essential software programs that keep our businesses running smoothly, but sometimes we are out running ourselves and don’t have access to our desktop. Thankfully, mobile versions of our favorite software can connect our desktop computer to the cloud to our mobile devices, making it even easier to access the information we need no matter where we are. Here are 10 of our favorite business apps to complement your desktop essentials.
DROPBOX
Dropbox is a file hosting service that offers cloud storage for your business files, allows easy file synchronization and sharing. Anything saved to the Dropbox folder on your computers and mobile devices will be uploaded to Dropbox’s servers and can then be accessed and shared by anyone with the appropriate password.
WHAT IT DOES
With the Dropbox app, you can:
- Store and share your documents, videos, photos, and files online.
- Access your files from any device, from your desktop computer to your phone.
- Create links to access folders and files, and share those links with coworkers and clients to facilitate seamless collaboration from anywhere.
WHY WE LOVE IT
- Access every file you need right from your mobile device.
- Files are easily shared, giving clients and team members quick and easy access to the information they need.
- Manage access to specific folders by creating groups. You can also transfer files between groups and individual users as responsibilities and projects change.
- Maintain privacy and confidentiality by setting passwords for your links. You can even allow temporary access by setting password expiration dates.
- Remotely wipe company files from devices that are lost or stolen.
- Integrate with over 300,000 connected apps, making Dropbox an even more powerful tool for your business.
GOOGLE DRIVE
Google Drive is a file storage service that provides a secure place to save and share your documents, spreadsheets, videos and photos. Use Google Drive to access your files from any computer or mobile device.
WHAT IT CAN DO
With the Google Drive app, you can:
- Create files and then share them with others.
- Access your files quickly and easily no matter where you are.
- Invite team members to view, edit and comment on your files and folders.
WHY WE LOVE IT
- Files are backed up automatically so documents are always current and changes are never lost.
- Easily search for files by name or by content.
- Share a link to your file with team members and clients.
- Share comments, questions and tasks by adding comments to your files, making collaboration easy and effective.
- Use your device camera to capture photos and paper documents.
- Quickly access notes and agendas for meetings, refer to contracts and sales reports, or pull up your script for an on the go phone call.
- See file details, activity, changes made and even refer to past versions of documents.
- You can even enable file viewing offline.
EVERNOTE
Evernote is a note taking and archiving program designed for saving, organizing and annotating a variety of information all in one place. Notes can include text, website pages, photos, voice files or even handwriting. Notes are organized into notebooks and can be tagged and sorted for quick and easy access.
WHAT IT DOES
With the Evernote app, you can:
- Create, capture and organize ideas as searchable notes, notebooks and lists right on your mobile device.
- Create notes from your phone’s web browser and save them to notebooks.
- Use your mobile device to capture photos, videos and audio memos and save them as notes.
- Attach documents, spreadsheets, photos and more to your notes.
WHY WE LOVE IT
- All of your notes sync automatically between computers and mobile devices.
- Use during meetings to add comments and changes to your documents then share with team members.
- Encourage collaboration as team members can access and work on documents from multiple devices.
- Use your camera to capture business cards, receipts, and handwritten notes and then add them to your notebook.
- Create agendas with to-do lists, add your boarding pass to your travel plan, attach sales reports to meeting notes, keeping all of your information organized in one place.
JOIN.ME
Whether you’re working on the go or collaborating with team members from multiple locations, Join.me can keep you connected. This web based software is perfect for online meetings and screen sharing.
WHAT IT DOES
With the Join.me app, you can:
- Keep connected from anywhere and from any device.
- Host meetings through audio calls and video calls.
- Share your screen with others using both audio and video at the same time.
WHY WE LOVE IT
- Join or host a video conferencing meeting from anywhere.
- Use the screen sharing function to take control of the mouse while other meeting attendees can follow and see everything you do.
- Share the mouse with another attendee for their part of the presentation.
- Chat with one participant during the meeting or chat with everyone.
- Share whiteboard presentations created before your meeting or in real-time as you work together.
- You can even stream up to 10 videos at once, giving you the ability to host meetings with everyone on your team.
- Meetings can be locked and unlocked for added privacy and security.
MAILCHIMP
MailChimp is a powerful marketing automation platform that helps you create and manage your marketing campaigns. Use their templates and add-ons to create, manage and track successful marketing pieces that engage customers and build brand recognition.
WHAT IT DOES
With the MailChimp app you can:
- Create email campaigns that sell products and share your message.
- Add a personalized touch to automated responses that keep you engaged with your customers.
- Integrate with e-commerce providers to view your sales data and how it correlates to your marketing campaigns.
WHY WE LOVE IT
- Create, preview, edit and send personalized marketing campaigns directly from the app.
- If MailChimp is connected to your store, the app will automatically pull product images to include with your promotions.
- Get a quick overview of your audience. Find subscribers by location, filter by group, see audience growth and know where new subscribers are coming from.
- Connect the MailChimp app to your store and know how your current marketing efforts are influencing product sales.
- See how people are engaging with your campaigns by viewing real-time stats from anywhere.
PANDADOC
This document automation platform helps you manage all of your business documents. Sending proposals, submitting quotes and work orders, or signing contracts, PandaDoc makes sure that things get done automatically and on time.
WHAT IT DOES
With the PandaDoc app you can:
- View, edit and send documents to be signed.
- Know when documents are received, viewed, signed and completed.
- Track the number of views, the last time the document was opened and the total time spend reading the file.
WHY WE LOVE IT
- Managing and tracking your documents is easy to do.
- Open, view, approve, sign and send any of your documents right from your phone.
- You have quick access to project status wherever you are.
- You can send reminders and even reply or leave comments for documents that still need action.
- The new PandaDoc dashboard gives you an instant view of your sales pipeline, allowing you to see which documents have advanced to a new stage each day.
- You can also sort and view documents by status and timeframe.
PIESYNC
PieSync is a contact synchronization platform that works in the background and syncs your contacts two-way and in real time between your favorite cloud apps. This means you’ll have access to the most up to date customer information, no matter where you are or who entered the data.
WHAT IT DOES
With the PieSync app, you can:
- Synchronize your data between your sales, marketing, CRM and email platforms.
- Connect your apps together so that all of your contacts are matched and synced in two-way real time giving you up to date information from anywhere.
- Eliminate errors since you only need to enter data once and duplicates are avoided.
WHY WE LOVE IT
- PieSync runs in the background, automatically transferring data and updates in real time. No more having to remember to update your cloud apps to import and export new data. PieSync does it for you!
- Synchronization includes deletions and unsubscribers, keeping your data clean and current.
- Real time synchronization means that your contacts are updated as soon as you scan a business card or enter a phone number. Information is instantly shared across connected apps so that contacts are never lost.
- Even though it runs in the background, you can still customize PieSync to create filters, change the sync direction or even pause the sync at any time.
- Linking between separate platforms such as Insightly and MailChimp gives you and your team a full picture who is listening, who is buying and who needs more information. Use this understanding to build stronger relationships and more personalized marketing campaigns.
QUICKBOOKS
This essential accounting software is perfect for small businesses. With Quickbooks you can create invoices, manage your expenses, monitor your cash flow, track profits and losses, and access dozens of reports that give you a full picture of your business’s finances.
WHAT IT DOES
With the Quickbooks app, you can:
- Create new invoices from your phone as soon as a deal is closed or a product is purchased.
- View your account balances, your profits and losses, and a variety of other reports.
- Access all open and overdue invoices to have instant access to the status of each account.
WHY WE LOVE IT
- View and update invoices and account right from your mobile device, keeping your accounting current no matter where you are.
- Even sales receipts and invoices created on your mobile device can be customized with your logo and other custom fields.
- Use your phone’s camera to capture receipts and attach them to your expenses.
- View your bank transactions and attach them to your accounts.
- Always know where you are spending and making money with instant access.
- Connect to over 80 partnering apps to coordinate inventory management, sales history and customer accounts.
TRIPLOG
TripLog is a GPS mileage tracking app that automatically tracks and records your business travel miles. Choose from several different tracking options, and customize categories to make reimbursements and tax preparation easy and accurate.
WHAT IT DOES
With the TripLog app, you can:
- Log your business travel miles automatically and accurately.
- Eliminates paper tracking and estimating.
- Track all vehicle expenses including fuel, parking, tolls, maintenance, and insurance.
WHY WE LOVE IT
- Automatic tracking means no more guessing or forgetting to log mileage. Tracking starts automatically when you connect your mobile device to a power source, connect to a Bluetooth device, or start driving more than 5 miles per hour.
- TripLog will automatically stop recording as soon as the vehicle stops or your device is disconnected.
- Customize your categories to fit your travel and reporting preferences. TripLog will automatically record and organize your mileage and expenses based on parameters you have set.
- Record your driving routes and then view them on Google Maps.
- In addition to mileage, TripLog will also track all of your other vehicle and travel expenses and organize them for tax purposes. You can even capture and upload images of receipts with your mobile device.
- TripLog can integrate with other apps such as QuickBooks for simple and accurate reimbursements, tax preparation and reporting.
INSIGHTLY CRM
Insightly is a powerful, customizable customer relationship and project management platform built for business. With Insightly CRM, you can manage contacts, tasks, projects and sales opportunities. Sync Insightly with other business platforms to keep all of your information up to date and organized.
WHAT IT DOES
With the Insightly CRM app, you can:
- Easily schedule meetings on your phone and then sync with all of your device calendars.
- Prepare for meetings no matter where you are, using the Insightly CRM app to update the status of a project, add notes, and review contacts.
- Use Global Search for quick access to notes, emails, contracts, sales numbers, and even documents stored on other apps.
WHAT WE LOVE
- No matter where you are, there is no lag time between talking about what needs to be done and actually making it happen.
- Tasks that might otherwise be delayed or forgotten can be assigned, or even completed, immediately.
- Add notes to contacts and projects, ensuring that ideas and opportunities won’t fall through the cracks.
- It’s easy to update projects, advance pipelines to the next stage, and pull real-time sales numbers. This keeps your sales process moving forward so that deliveries are made on time and customers are happy.
- With Insightly’s Voice Notes, you can add notes to contacts, organizations, leads, opportunities and projects simply by speaking into your phone.
- Each member of the team has the most up to date information available, resulting in improved sales and service.
One other thing we love about the Insightly CRM app: We can connect it to all of our other favorite apps for seamless flow of information between platforms and devices. Connect files from DropBox or Google Drive to projects in Insightly. Filter contacts in Insightly to receive marketing campaigns from MailChimp. Forms and documents created in PandaDoc can be sent, reviewed and managed automatically through Insightly. The functionality of each of these platforms is maximized as they are synced with Insightly CRM, keeping your business running smoothly wherever you are.
What is your favorite mobile app for business? Let us show you how easy it is to integrate your business apps with Insightly CRM. Contact me for a free strategy session to improve your workflow–whether you’re working from the office or on the go.