Do you have a mound of scribbled-on post-it notes on your desk, carry a trio of gadgets — and still feel unorganized?
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Yeah, there’s an app for that.
Several, actually.
Gadgets can make your life easier but only if you know how to use them! Downloading a few apps can go a long way toward maximizing your efficiency.
We took a spin around the iPhone block and came up with Ten Must-Have Apps for Business.
1) PowWowNow (Free). This app lets you set up a conference call on your iPhone on the fly. It lets you tap your email and phone contacts to set up your invite list, and uses GPS to determine the best call-in number based on your location. It will automatically dial the number, generates a pin and — wait for it — it remembers your pin! Watch a demo.
2) MbPointer ($2.99). A remote for controlling PowerPoint presentations can cost up to $100 or more. For $2.99, this app allows you to turn your iPhone into a PowerPoint presentation remote — You can flip through slides, scroll up and down and make notations using the pen. Plus, that’s one less gadget for you to forget. One caveat: You’ve gotta have wi-fi.
3) Urban Spoon (Free). How many times have you been scrambling to figure out what restaurant to go to for a business lunch? That’s in your own city — never mind when you travel! Urban Spoon uses your GPS to determine your location and offer restaurant suggestions. Don’t like the suggestion? Just shake the iPhone and it will produce another suggestion — in a fun slot-machine format. Next! Watch a demo.
4) Dragon Dictation (Free). So, you’re in your car, or just not a fan of that iPhone keyboard. Dragon Dictation is an app that will type whatever you say, with the quick click of the record button and then allow you to take that text and drop it into an email, send it to your Facebook page or just save it as a note to self. Status update: Look ma, no hands! Watch a demo.
5) Evernote (Free). This app helps make you more like that organized friend you envy and feel less like you’re falling down a short flight of steps over and over again. It lets you organize all of your written notes, photos and voice recordings in one, searchable archive. It even converts text in photos — say, on a business card — into searchable text. Bye-bye, mound of post-it notes! You just got digitized. Watch a demo.
6) Napkin Genius ($1.99). Sure, Apps like Evernote are great for organizing your text and photo files, but what about your brilliant, world-changing doodles? Napkin Genius hears you, right-brainers, allowing you to draw digitally, be it on a blank screen or on a photo. Finally, a way to harness all that genius. Watch a demo.
7) Keeper (Free). What’s your password? Wait, is that the one for your work login or your Facebook page? Keeper is an app that will remember all of your passwords, account numbers and log-ins and it’s super secure — it’s encrypted with multiple layers of encryption. Even if someone steals your phone – it’s protected. Watch a demo.
8) SalesForce Mobile (Free). Laptops are great, but when you’re in the field, it’s not always easy to crack open your computer and power it up. SalesForce Mobile allows salespeople to look up account activity before a sales call and log notes right after your meeting. It lets you spend more time in the field and answer new leads quicker.
9) Yahoo Finance (Free). You’ve got to keep up with the latest business news and the market — and, of course, you already have CNBC’s highly-acclaimed appon your iPhone. In addition, you should also have an app like Yahoo Finance that not only lets you track the market and your portfolio, but also aggregates business news from a variety of news sources — so you don’t miss a thing. Watch a demo.
10) iTranslate (Free). Quick, how do you say “Yes, I’d like to buy 100” in Latvian? Can’t find your pocket French dictionary from ninth grade? Forget it — you don’t need the extra pounds on the plane anyway. Now, you can download iTranslate, which offers quick and easy translations for over a dozen different languages, to help you wing it during global business meetings. As they say at Staples in Spain — “Eso fue fácil” (“That was easy.”) Watch a demo.
