Thinking back 70 odd years ago to the 1940’s where the first computer was ever made, we now have more power in the palm of our hands than those heavy machines ever did…
Since the internet was first released technology has dramatically changed and even the way we go about our daily lives has changed. You now have access to do your weekly shopping in a click of a few buttons without spending hours wandering round a shop. Or you can keep track of your own health, some smartphone companies such as iOS and Android have their own fitness health apps already integrated when you purchase the smartphone. But when it comes to managing your business, people still are not utilising their smartphones enough.
Below is a list of 10 mobile apps for managing your business on the go:
CRM:
• Capsual – This system is for you and fellow colleagues to manage and update any tasks that need completing. It can hold a database of all your client/customer information. It’s a great way to keep track on what work you have completed for clients over time and any tasks that need completing. You may also want to make note of any meetings you may of had and attach any meeting notes you want to keep hold of.
Connectivity
• Slack – This is an awesome little messaging system for you and your colleagues, which you can use on the go. Not only can you privately chat to your colleagues but you can create different channels within the app to keep track of what needs doing and what everyone’s up to. For example, you could create a channel called “client issues” and mark and tag what needs doing along with the relevant people to do the task, so they get notified. You can connect and integrate other helpful tools to use it more as a CRM.
• Trello – Trello is similar to Slack but is a cross between management and connectivity. You can actually integrate this app into your Slack system too! Trello allows you to create boards with lists inside them.(see below for 
example) it is a great tool, especially if you have employees within your business as you can keep track of task completions and what they are up to on a day-to-day basis. Or for your own personal use, you can create boards on different types of tasks that need doing, for example: Day-to-Day work, Important Business tasks
• Google Drive – To most, this should not be new. This was a game changer within the internet. Also known as cloud computing it is one of the most effective way of quickly accessing your documents and valuable information which you have stored – wherever you are in the world. Not only that but optionally, you can choose other people, like employees or clients to have access to the same document without the hassle of emailing it over. You can both work at the same time.
Social
• MailChimp – Majority of businesses have some form of system which allows
them to manage their email campaigns. Preferably, we like to use MailChimp for many reasons, but one of them being we have found that we can easily manage our campaigns for ourselves and clients on the go through their user-friendly app. We can keep track of everything as though we were sat at the desk.
• Canva – For those of you who aren’t great with design, this is a great online and mobile app which you can use to create sleek and funky infographics to go with your social or blog content. They have a range of different features to help you create some unique infographics. It is a great tool if you don’t have much time. They have pre-set sizes to quickly create awesome designs. For example, you could create a new Twitter header on your next train journey.
Management:
• FreshBooks – Some of you will already be familiar with this as it’s a tool for sending invoices and keeping track of payments. Now you can do all this on the go. It clearly displays all the important information you would want to know and right from the palm of your hands you can send or check-up on due invoices. It’s great if you have no time to pop in the bank or open up your computer.
• ZenDesk – This is more of a tool for businesses who want to supply a constant, on-going customer support to customers. ZenDesk offer a number of different products which relate to customer messaging services. It allows you to give that on-going support, on the go! Although you need to already have ZenDesk set up and integrated into your system, once this is done it will act as any other messaging service and notify you as and when a request is put in for you to instantly reply.
• Google Analytics – All the time we should be checking and keeping an eye on our analytics throughout every month. We need this tool to help us improve overall and without it, you are already running into a dead end. Google have released their own analytics app for both iOS and Android, which allows you to do exactly the same stuff as if you were sitting at your desk. We love this app as we can instantly bring up any important information wherever we are and present it back to clients.
• WordPress – Some of you will be familiar with this platform as it is a very well known CMS platform for websites. If you are a one-man-band business, this is a great app to ensure your website is up to date with content and for editing your actual website itself. Having the WordPress app means you can do all this very quickly on the go.
Jodie Lawlor, Digital Marketer, The E-Commerce Workroom.