This is the second installment in my “Productivity Apps” blog series. Last time out I wrote about PC applications that help me through my busy days more sanely and efficiently. This time out, I want to discuss mobile apps, specifically for iPhone and iPad, both of which I use constantly in order to keep in touch with work, manage communications when I am out of the office, and which make my travel and life more organized and enjoyable. Many of these apps are also available on Android and Blackberry.
Kayak: www.kayak.com/iphone - Travel Research & Booking – Free
I use both the online version of this service and the app. It is the best airfare search engine I have found. Incredibly simple to use, powerful, and it covers almost every airline. I frequently need to make last second travel bookings due to changes in schedule or cancelled flights when I’m on the road. This app helps me quickly find and book what I need.
Open Table: www.opentable.com/mobile - Restaurant Reviews & Reservations – Free
I am constantly meeting business partners for breakfast, lunch and dinner and have to make reservations on the fly. This app helps me find nearby restaurants and sort them by style, price and other parameters. I can then book it on the spot.
Yelp: www.yelp.com/yelpmobile - Reviews of Virtually Everything – Free
Yelp helps you find whatever you need from the best local watering hole to a dry cleaner that can beat even the toughest stains. It gives me a local’s point of view no matter what city I’m in on business. The user reviews offer insights that you can’t find anywhere else online.
Pulse: itunes.apple.com/us/app/pulse-news-for-iphone – News Aggregator – Free
I’m a huge consumer of news, but I am not a big fan of most RSS feed readers. Pulse is my favorite way to find and quickly read mainstream, business and
Box.net: itunes.apple.com/app/box.net - Cloud file storage – Free for personal account, $15/user/month for multi-user businesses
I use Box.net as my cloud storage in order to access all of my files on the road. I can use Quickoffice to view and edit the files and then save them back to the cloud (and via synch to my PC) using Box.net.
Quickoffice: www.quickoffice.com – Spreadsheet, Word Processor, Presentations – $19.99
This is an iPad-only app and it’s what I have found to be the best for opening, changing and saving Microsoft Office applications on this platform. I use Box.net to store my files in the cloud and I use this app to access, change or display them. It’s not quite as easy as using these apps on your PC, but for enabling access and edit capabilities on the road it’s great.
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/iphone - Contact Research – Free
I meet a lot of people every week and many of them for the first time. I find myself using this app frequently just as I’m entering a restaurant to meet with someone for the first time so that I can quickly look up their background, see who we know in common. It works much like the online app so you will find it instantly familiar.
Speaking of useful contact/business apps, there are a pile of business card scanning apps out there and I have tried three of the highest rated ones. They all fell short. Between not recognizing card content and not automatically uploading to my Outlook contacts, they simply are not efficiency gains in their current state.
Timer: pacolabs.com/iOS/Timer - Timer – Free $.99
Proformative runs a lot of events and I need a countdown timer that is easy to set and read in order to keep our speakers on track during events. This particular app is push-button simple and easy to reset when going from one speaker to the next. The numbers are huge and take up the whole screen in landscape mode, so they can be seen from quite a distance. And when it reaches zero I set the screen to flash, so that only the speaker knows his/her time is up. This app is very flexible and you can change all of the major settings so bells can chime when time is up, if you prefer.
Speedtest: www.speedtest.net/mobile - Bandwidth Meter – Free
When my phone or tablet are moving glacially I often find it comforting, if not informative, to run a speed test. This app is quick and free and reliably measures network throughput both up and down. I often find that speeds are not as advertised in places you would expect them to be solid, such as airport lounges, coffee shops, etc.. Knowing what the problem is can lead you to rapid correction of the issue, such as moving around or hopping on to a different network.
Roboform: www.roboform.com/platforms/mobile/iphone - Password manager – Free to try, $10 1st year, $20/yr annually
This is one of my favorite PC apps and the company has a matching mobile app (like many of the apps here). I have hundreds of passwords to manage. I want to make my passwords unique and powerful, but I would never be able to remember them all without a tool like this. With Roboform, you create one mega master password and that gives you and only you access to any number of site-specific passwords. Having my passwords and other secure information on me has saved my bacon many, many times.
Tripit: www.tripit.com/uhp/iphone - Travel itinerary manager – Free
I travel a lot. So much that I have frequent flyer status on three airlines. TripIt organizes my travel plans into an itinerary that has all of my trip details in one place and all I have to do is send my confirmation emails to the service and it does all the schedule entry automatically. TripIt is constantly in my hand when I’m going to or in the airport, and when I’m heading to my hotel. It gives me automated flight status as well – so one app manages all of my travel logistics.
Skype: www.skype.com/mobile - Video, Telecom & Instant Messaging – Free
I use this as a faster-than-email way to communicate when I am on the road. I can reach out to our entire staff at a moment’s notice and get lightning fast response. When neither email nor a phone call is optimal, this fills in the gaps nicely.
Expensify: www.expensify.com/mobile - Corporate expense reporting - $5/subscriber/month
Expensify puts our company’s expense
Evernote: www.evernote.com/iphone - Task Management/Note Taker - Free or $5/month subscription for premium features
I really want to like this app. I have it on my computer and my phone. I love that it synchs tasks between all of my platforms – that is slick. However, it can be slow to load in poor wireless conditions and for simple tasks it seems like hunting a mouse with an elephant gun. My alternative is to use the simple Notes app that comes with the iPhone and that works just fine for many things. I’ve read great things about Evernote, but it’s just not great for me yet.
Word Warp: www.appcraver.com/word-warp - $.99
My favorite game is not Angry Birds, but rather a challenging word game that I have been playing for over a year and have not tired of. You get six letters and you have to construct as many words as possible in a period of time that you set. Each set of letters has at least one six letter word and you must get that word to proceed to the next level. Great challenge that never gets old.
Other favorite apps from busy folks like you:
Keith Taylor,
Favorite App: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. My decompression app is scrabble. I also like SportsCenter, to track how the Giants are doing.
Ron Gill, CFO Netsuite
Favorite App: My iPad is about half full of apps for six year olds. The app I use the most is probably the Kindle app. I also use the Thomson Reuters app, which allows me to see stock analysis.
David Wu, EIR Redpoint
Favorite App: I’m a Foursquare Junky, but I don’t really know why. It’s pretty addictive. I was semi-obsessed with becoming the mayor of Sand Hill Road. I was mayor of all those VC firms but nobody knew who I was. It’s one of those things where you only need three or four seconds. If I have four or five minutes, I’d probably open Kindle and read.
John Zdanowski, CFO of Pixelfish
Favorite Apps: Evernote and Bill.com. It’s the greatest thing that’s happened to payables since the check.
Mark Richards, CFO Atomic Datacenters
Favorite App: Adobe Ideas, where you can make illustrations and send them to yourself. Flipbook news reader.
As always, your mileage may vary. So please feel free to chime in with your favorites and help out your fellow super-busy finance professionals.
