SO MANY APPS AND TOOLS have come into my life this past year. Clearly, there’s no shortage of innovation when it comes to designing technologies for a more efficient, effective business. Here are a few of my personal favorites.
CloudOn
A great tool for business people on the go, CloudOn essentially puts Microsoft Office on your favorite devices so you can work on the files you already store in the cloud—with Box, DropBox, Google Drive, or Microsoft Skydriv —while you’re out and about. This is a great tool to help with organization and productivity. Use it to edit Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files on the iPad.
Prezi
An amazing presentation tool that diverges from the traditionally one-dimensional PowerPoint slides, Prezi is also cloud-based, so geographically dispersed people can easily collaborate on a single presentation in real time during meetings. Slightly more exciting than the traditional alternative.
MailChimp
If sending newsletters has been a painful experience in your world, take a look at MailChimp. MailChimp helps you design email newsletters, share them on social networks, integrate with services you already use, and track your results. It’s like your own personal publishing platform. It works with Google Analytics, Contacts, and Docs.
myERP
myERP calls itself “one app to run your business” and indeed this exceptional app will help you with everything from accounting, billing, customer relationship management, projects, and inventory. For example, myERP will generate real-time reports such as profit and loss reports, balance sheet, and tax statements, even auto reconciling your accounting with your banks. It works with Gmail and Google Calendar.
CardMunch
What do you do with business cards? The traditional option is stashing them then manually entering the information into your system. CardMunch makes it way easier. This is a brilliant little app that captures your business cards on your phone, creating a contact list that is easily shareable and transportable to other platforms like LinkedIn or Contacts. Fantastic timesaver.
UberConference
UberConference brings a visual element to conference calls, making the dreaded, often fuzzy experience much more enjoyable. The on-screen display shows instant profiles of all participants, so you can clearly see who’s on the call and visually know who is talking. Names, photos, and other info are easily pulled in from your address book and social networks.
HootSuite
When it comes to managing your social accounts, HootSuite is an incredibly useful business app. A single, web-based dashboard lets you track and post to all of your company’s social media profiles—Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.—from one place. Analytics show which messages are actually getting viewed, clicked on, and generating real ROI.