For entrepreneurs who manage a small business or a home based office, keep all the small details organized can be a big challenge. New entrepreneurs often find themselves doing a lot of things at once, while forgetting to do some altogether. Many of us now carry pocket office assistance in the form of iPhones or iPads – but finding the right apps to use from the thousands of choices is yet another item on our ever-growing “to do” list. To help you get started, we’ve offered a short list of some top small business apps for the iPhone and iPad.
The extensive App Store available with iPhone and iPad is fast making it one of the most attractive devices for business purposes. For small business owners who are always on-the-go or who have employees working from different locations, using these devices can save both time and money.
The operating system for iPhone and iPad, called iOS, supports a number of different small business apps. Some of them are absolutely free, while some are available at a small cost. Following is a description of some best small business apps for iPhone and iPad, categorized as free or paid:
Top 5 Free Small Business Apps on iOS
Small businesses often have funding issues and may find that having paid apps on their device is not feasible. So, here’s five useful iOS apps that cost you nothing:
1.MetroFax
MetroFax is an online fax service that allows you to send and receive faxes through Internet. Available on iPhone, this service enables you to send and receive fax right from your mobile device. With this app, you won’t have to worry about being near the office fax machine to get business docs sent.
2.Primadesk
A suitable device for content management, Primadesk allows you to manage and access your data on cloud-based services. It is an ideal solution for small businesses having employees working from home since it allows them to view, manage and share the data and create backup on a single interface from different locations. You are only required to drag and drop content from your desktop to Primadesk to save it there.
3.HootSuite
HootSuite is social media management software which allows you to manage all your social media content using a single platform. It is invaluable for small business owners to integrate their marketing efforts with a single click. Now available on iPhone, it can help you manage your marketing campaign during your spare time (you have lots of spare time, right?).
4.Dropbox
Dropbox allows you to share all your data; documents, videos and pictures anywhere. If you have different computers, iPhones and iPads connected together, you can save the data to your Dropbox on any one of them and it will automatically be saved on all connecting systems. For small businesses with online or home-based employees, it’s imperative to literally “stay in sync” with versions of electronic documents.
5.Evernote
Evernote allows you to keep up with everything happening in your life. You can record your notes, ideas, snapshots or voice memos, sync them all with your PC or Mac and review them later at your convenience. Combined with the iPhone voice-recording feature and camera, it allows you to record or simply take photos of things you want to remember later. So if you tend to have creative ideas for your business while you are out and about, this iPhone app is just for you.
Top 4 Paid Small Business Apps on iOS
Now for those who can afford to invest a little on their sofware, here are a few valuable paid iPhone apps for small business owners:
1.Analytics App
Analytics App is the perfect iPhone substitute of Google Analytics for small business owners who manage an online business or have their own business website. Analytics App allows you to track your website traffic and categorize the result in 47 different types of organized reports. The most efficient feature for iPhone is the “Today” report which provides, as the name suggests, the traffic statistics for the day. The app is available for $5.99.
2.HoursTracker
HoursTracker is a time tracking app that can be used by small business owners who find it hard to track their time accurately. It allows you to track how much time you work on a particular project and keep reports of all your separate projects. This iPhone/iPad software is a perfect solution to manage your time and shifts for different projects and clients. The app is available at a very economical price of $3.99.
3.Quickoffice
The iPhone does not always work well with MS Office documents – many apps only allow you to view documents and not edit them. Quickoffice Pro for iPhone allows you to view, edit and exchange all your MS Office documents. It also allows you to email your documents directly from your iPhone. The whole Quickoffice suite is available for a price of $14.99. However, if you find that difficult to afford, you can buy individual Quickword and Quicksheet applications that you may be more useful.
4.QuickBooks Mobile
QuickBooks Mobile is your accountant on the go with you available 24/7. The app can be used for recording sales, creating invoices, managing your bank and credit balances, tracking your account receivables and payables, storing customer contact info and running financial reports. And it provides you with bank-level security. The application is great for small business owners who manage their own accounts. The QuickBooks Mobile app is free, but you need to be QuickBooks Online subscriber to use it. It is also available to QuickBooks Pro and Premier customers through subscription plans of varying prices.
Summary
These iPhone apps for small business owners are very valuable for helping them managing and organizing their efforts, time and their business in a better way. With the use of these business apps, entrepreneurs can stay connected to their business all the time from anywhere.
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