10 Handy Apps to Make Running Your Biz Easier
By Andrew Patricio
May 13, 2015
Small Business & Entrepreneurship
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By Stefanie Neyland, Small Business Content Developer at BizLaunch.com
We’ve all heard the ubiquitous saying ‘there’s an app for that’, but with today’s constantly growing app marketplace the expression has never been more true.
In days gone by, running your business from anywhere other than your office was no easy task. But luckily, the universality of smartphones and the rise of easy Internet access has changed this, making it easier than ever to stay connected to your business while on the go.
Without further ado, here are ten handy apps that could make a big difference to your small business.
Don’t you just hate it when you receive an email attachment that requires your signature? You have better and more pressing things to do with your time than print, sign, scan and send that document back to the recipient. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to sign documents electronically? Well, there really is an app for that. If you do most (or at least some) of your business through your smartphone or tablet, this app will fast become your new best friend by allowing you to sign your name on all of your communications without having to print or scan.
Make billing clients painless with this user-friendly accounting software by Wave Accounting. It’s the fastest way to organize expenses, track time and invoice your clients—all from the palm of your hand. The app offers myriad features displayed in a straightforward and intuitive design; and the best thing about it is that it’s created for entrepreneurs, not accountants.
Google Drive allows you to seamlessly access, share and edit files from your PC, tablet or smartphone. Essentially a virtual office suite, the handy software also acts as a cloud drive with ample free storage space of 5GB. What more could you ask for?
Can’t stand doing your expense reports? Look no further. Expensify is great for companies of all sizes as it makes capturing receipts, tracking time or mileage, business travel and creating expense reports quick and easy. Acknowledged by the tech community as the best app for expense reporting, it takes the time, paper and headaches out of expense reports.
Sales teams, marketers and entrepreneurs love Insightly because it saves them time and allows them to track and follow all of their customer or project related activity in one place. Use Insightly to manage your business's contacts, projects, tasks, events and more.
Named as the New York Times ‘Top 10 Must-Have App’, Evernote is a valuable tool for any small business owner. Easy-to-use, and best of all, completely free—it helps you remember everything you need to across all the devices you use, helping you stay organized, save your ingenious ideas and improve your productivity. Take notes, capture photos, record voice reminders and create to-do lists all from your handheld device.
Shopify makes it easy to build an online store and run it from anywhere. The mobile app allows you to manage your online Shopify store from your smartphone or tablet, meaning you’re able to sell your products on the go and accept payments with your phone—anytime, anywhere. Notifications are sent right directly to your device, and will instantly let you know whenever a new order comes in. You can even capture payments and create fulfillments from within the app.
Bump is a revolutionary networking app that allows business owners to do away with the customary business card and replace it with a virtual one. Users can swap contact information, files and photos by simply tapping their smartphones together. Why waste mountains of paper when you can exchange useful info with a simple ‘bump’?
Imagine all your team's communications in one place, instantly searchable, and available wherever you go. That's Slack. Instead of relying on a combination of email, instant messaging, text messaging and phone calls, Slack allows businesses to streamline all communications down into a simple, real-time collaboration tool. You and your team will be able to discuss topics in different virtual channels full of updates, images, files, tweets and links that are open for all to see, helping to keep everyone within your business on the same page.
Travel a lot on business and want to save time and gas money? Waze, the world’s largest community-based traffic app, offers voice-guided GPS navigation with turn-by-turn directions. In fact, just by driving with Waze open, you're already contributing tons of real-time traffic information to the local population. You can also actively report accidents, police traps and other hazards you see on the road.
Do you have any favourite apps you want to add to the list? We’d love to hear your suggestions! Tweet us at @StaplesCanada.
We’ve all heard the ubiquitous saying ‘there’s an app for that’, but with today’s constantly growing app marketplace the expression has never been more true.
In days gone by, running your business from anywhere other than your office was no easy task. But luckily, the universality of smartphones and the rise of easy Internet access has changed this, making it easier than ever to stay connected to your business while on the go.
Without further ado, here are ten handy apps that could make a big difference to your small business.
- DocuSign
Don’t you just hate it when you receive an email attachment that requires your signature? You have better and more pressing things to do with your time than print, sign, scan and send that document back to the recipient. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to sign documents electronically? Well, there really is an app for that. If you do most (or at least some) of your business through your smartphone or tablet, this app will fast become your new best friend by allowing you to sign your name on all of your communications without having to print or scan.
- Receipts by Wave
Make billing clients painless with this user-friendly accounting software by Wave Accounting. It’s the fastest way to organize expenses, track time and invoice your clients—all from the palm of your hand. The app offers myriad features displayed in a straightforward and intuitive design; and the best thing about it is that it’s created for entrepreneurs, not accountants.
- Google Drive
Google Drive allows you to seamlessly access, share and edit files from your PC, tablet or smartphone. Essentially a virtual office suite, the handy software also acts as a cloud drive with ample free storage space of 5GB. What more could you ask for?
- Expensify
Can’t stand doing your expense reports? Look no further. Expensify is great for companies of all sizes as it makes capturing receipts, tracking time or mileage, business travel and creating expense reports quick and easy. Acknowledged by the tech community as the best app for expense reporting, it takes the time, paper and headaches out of expense reports.
- Insightly
Sales teams, marketers and entrepreneurs love Insightly because it saves them time and allows them to track and follow all of their customer or project related activity in one place. Use Insightly to manage your business's contacts, projects, tasks, events and more.
- Evernote
Named as the New York Times ‘Top 10 Must-Have App’, Evernote is a valuable tool for any small business owner. Easy-to-use, and best of all, completely free—it helps you remember everything you need to across all the devices you use, helping you stay organized, save your ingenious ideas and improve your productivity. Take notes, capture photos, record voice reminders and create to-do lists all from your handheld device.
- Shopify
Shopify makes it easy to build an online store and run it from anywhere. The mobile app allows you to manage your online Shopify store from your smartphone or tablet, meaning you’re able to sell your products on the go and accept payments with your phone—anytime, anywhere. Notifications are sent right directly to your device, and will instantly let you know whenever a new order comes in. You can even capture payments and create fulfillments from within the app.
- Bump
Bump is a revolutionary networking app that allows business owners to do away with the customary business card and replace it with a virtual one. Users can swap contact information, files and photos by simply tapping their smartphones together. Why waste mountains of paper when you can exchange useful info with a simple ‘bump’?
- Slack
Imagine all your team's communications in one place, instantly searchable, and available wherever you go. That's Slack. Instead of relying on a combination of email, instant messaging, text messaging and phone calls, Slack allows businesses to streamline all communications down into a simple, real-time collaboration tool. You and your team will be able to discuss topics in different virtual channels full of updates, images, files, tweets and links that are open for all to see, helping to keep everyone within your business on the same page.
- Waze
Travel a lot on business and want to save time and gas money? Waze, the world’s largest community-based traffic app, offers voice-guided GPS navigation with turn-by-turn directions. In fact, just by driving with Waze open, you're already contributing tons of real-time traffic information to the local population. You can also actively report accidents, police traps and other hazards you see on the road.
Do you have any favourite apps you want to add to the list? We’d love to hear your suggestions! Tweet us at @StaplesCanada.