Your office is now as mobile as you are, with hundreds of apps enabling you to take your work with you. We pick out our best free office apps.
Whether you’re a start-up, established small business or a freelancer, using apps can save you time and money.
Here are the best free office-based apps for you:
Calendar
While every mobile now comes with its own inbuilt calendar with lots of features and the ability to sync with your email accounts, there are some apps out there that include additional functions, better layouts and more custom-ability.
Business Calendar Free (Android) allows lots of configuration from colour-coding to multiple options for recurring events. However, the biggest selling point is its ease of use.
Sunrise Calendar (IOS) offers iPhone users access to their Google accounts as well as real-time syncing, LinkedIn connection and weather forecasts at meeting locations.
Money
Downloading the PayPal app is useful for start-ups that are using personal accounts. They do have a professional version of the app, for which you can buy a card reader, but it does cost more.
To help keep track of your everyday spending download Expense Manager (Android). Track your expenses for multiple accounts, schedule payments, take photos of receipts and keep tabs on your budget over weeks, months and years.
If you’re having trouble working out the VAT, try the VAT Toolbox (IOS), which includes a VAT calculator and European VAT ID validator to help tackle fraud.
Storage
Cloud storage will become more and more important for small businesses in the future as working environments become more flexible.
The best free cloud storage apps are the two biggest – Google Drive and Dropbox. Both are available on IOS and Android and come with 15GB and 2GB respectively. You can also choose to upgrade to business accounts and pay for more storage.
Networking
Online networking can be a great way to make new contacts, see who is working in your area or pick up tips for your business. One of the best apps for it is still LinkedIn, which allows you to update your profile and make connections instantly.
If you like the old fashioned way of networking – meeting face-to-face – you could try the CamCard app. Available on both IOS and Android, it lets you take a photo of a business card and then strips all the information from it and saves it to your contacts. A business version is available with more features but at a cost.
Money
Downloading the PayPal app is useful for start-ups that are using personal accounts. They do have a professional version of the app, for which you can buy a card reader, but it does cost more.
To help keep track of your everyday spending download Expense Manager (Android). Track your expenses for multiple accounts, schedule payments, take photos of receipts and keep tabs on your budget over weeks, months and years.
If you’re having trouble working out the VAT, try the VAT Toolbox (IOS), which includes a VAT calculator and European VAT ID validator to help tackle fraud.
Storage
Cloud storage will become more and more important for small businesses in the future as working environments become more flexible.
The best free cloud storage apps are the two biggest – Google Drive and Dropbox. Both are available on IOS and Android and come with 15GB and 2GB respectively. You can also choose to upgrade to business accounts and pay for more storage.
Networking
Online networking can be a great way to make new contacts, see who is working in your area or pick up tips for your business. One of the best apps for it is still LinkedIn, which allows you to update your profile and make connections instantly.
If you like the old fashioned way of networking – meeting face-to-face – you could try the CamCard app. Available on both IOS and Android, it lets you take a photo of a business card and then strips all the information from it and saves it to your contacts. A business version is available with more features but at a cost.
Marketing
Keeping an eye on your marketing campaigns wherever you are is hugely important, as it allows you to fine tune them as you go. If you’ve signed up to MailChimp, which lets you create and send marketing material, the app means you can monitor your campaigns and subscriber lists from your phone. It also lets multiple users use one account so your whole team can get involved.
For those with Facebook pages, the Facebook Pages Manager app is a useful way of keeping track of what’s going on as well as allowing you to remotely update the page and adapt your campaign at a moment’s notice.
Posted by The Secret Businessman