10 Free Business Apps That Help Entrepreneurs Work Smarter

 

BY JOHN REILEY

It is often said you get what you pay for, but in a modern digital age with the rapid development and availability of high quality mobile apps that isn’t always the case. Here are ten free apps to improve productivity, collaboration, communication and more.

1. Unify Circuit (Collaboration)

   Circuit is a collaboration app that brings your team together. Circuit collaboration software improves teamwork by
   bringing voice, video, screen-share, messaging, and file sharing together into a single platform with one unified view. Circuit lets your team work and interact without being tied to emails and cell phones. Features include text, video, and voice chat as well as impressive storage access and security options. Circuit gives you one easy to use platform to seamlessly integrate your workflow.

2. Roambi (Business Intelligence)

   Roambi business apps give you mobile analytics, reporting, and business intelligence on your iPhone or iPad anywhere. Having essential data on hand, at a moment’s notice, can help you can stay ahead of daily business challenges and opportunities on the go. Roambi lets you access business data on a user-friendly mobile platform. Create easy to use executive reports and dashboards, get data into the hands of mobile workers in the field, and pull all of your critical data into one single app with 100% offline access.

3. Trello (Project Management)

   Post it Notes are a thing of the past. Trello keeps track of everything, from the big picture to the minute details thanks to the cloud. This mobile project management app enables the creation of quick notes and reminders helping you and your team stay on top of those to-do lists. Trello is also great for managing time and resources, especially when you’re out of the office.

4. Hootsuite (Social Media Management)

   Enhance social media management tasks with Hootsuite, a leading social media dashboard. Manage multiple networks and profiles and stay on top of customer communications quickly and easily. The dashboard supports social network integrations for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare, MySpace, WordPress, TrendSpottr and Mixi. Additional integrations are available via Hootsuite’s App Directory, including Instagram, MailChimp, Reddit, Storify, Tumblr, Vimeo and YouTube.

5. Flipboard (Social Network Aggregation)

   When there’s too much information and not enough time to sort through it all, there’s Flipboard . The social-network aggregation, magazine-format mobile app, localized in more than 20 languages, collects content from social media and other websites, presents it in magazine format, and allows users to “flip” through their feeds. Flipboard offers a single place to keep up on the news, follow topics you care about and share your favorite content. Gain seamless access to information that is relevant to your business, presented in an easy to read and digestible format.

6. Scanner Pro (Document Management)

   Turn your iPhone or iPad into a portable scanner. Scanner Pro helps you quickly scan paper documents into PDFs that look clean and professional. This app enables you to replace huge hardware scanners with mobile technology. Best of all, you can perform scans in batch loads, and each batch is shown on the top-level of the app. So, once you’ve completed a group of scans, the group can be uploaded to a number of online services as a multipage PDF.

7. LastPass (Password Management)<

   LastPass is a freemium password management service which seeks to resolve the password fatigue problem by centralizing user password management in the cloud. It can be tough to remember passwords for all of your devices, sites, and programs Lastpass lets you take the hassle out remembering your passwords. Keep them safe and accessible with Lastpass’ military grade level of security encryption.

8. OpenScape (Communication)

   OpenScape is a flexible unified communication and collaboration (UCC) tool designed for growing businesses. Take calls on your business line from the comfort of your own mobile device. The app suite also scales, providing easy to use, built-in voice and conferencing services, voicemail, messaging, mobility, contact center, and presence for up to 384 users.

9. UberConference (Conferencing)

   This free mobile app makes conference calls easier than ever. Simple, visual, and free to use, you can easily set up and join free conference calls without PINS, and forget having to ask “who joined” or “who said that?” UberConference also gives you the option to record calls for future reference.

10. PdaNet (WiFi Connectivity)

    The PdaNet app turns your mobile device into a WiFi Hotspot so you can access the Web, email and more on up to five laptops. Get your team together on the fly and meet in your favorite location – even if the establishment doesn’t have WiFi. If you’re unsure how to tether your phone and prefer a WiFi Hotspot finder, use the WiFi Finder app.   source: yfsmagazine