ULTIMATE GUIDE TO THE BEST AND MOST POPULAR BUSINESS APPS
Clever Apps For Productivity, Management and Communication
If you run your own business, you will understand the benefit of using business apps. Whether for tracking expenses and receipts, apps for business productivity, or any of the many cool business apps available, there is a business app to suit your needs.
However, finding the best apps for business in the vast sea of related apps takes time, and we all know that time is the last thing you have to spare. With new mobile business apps releasing every week, the task of choosing the best ones doesn’t get any easier.
Best Business Marketing Apps
Snapchat – Business Marketing App (Social Media)
We all know that social media marketing is where it's at for big sales but not enough of us are being brave enough to move our strategies on from the big players like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and take a look at something a bit more recent.
Snapchat currently appeals to a younger demographic with its instant in the moment posting, but it is worth remembering that at one point, the same could have been said for Instagram.
Main Features: Instant sharing, chat, augmented reality features, inter-app sharing, Snapchat Stories, special visual and audio effects and Snap Map for travellers.
Buffer – Scheduling App For Business Social Media
Your social media analytics will tell you which dates and times are your most popular for responses, but being available to post at these times is often not possible. Buffer is one of the best business apps to provide a one-stop shop for social media marketing and allows you to schedule posts, analyse their performance and work with multiple platforms.
Main Features: Quick and easy scheduling, automatic publication, performance analysis, best posts and key engagement metrics. Free lite version available.
WordPress – Online Business Blogging
WordPress is the blogging platform of choice for many business managers. It's easy to use, and if you are considering outsourcing, understood by most freelance bloggers. The mobile blogging app for WordPress offers excellent content management, including offline access.
Main Features: Posts and pages for multiple applications including portfolios, photoblogs and magazines, easy publication scheduling, user management, media management, plugin extensions, built-in comments, multi-lingual websites and search engine optimisation.
- Platform: Android and iOS - Desktop
- Trial: n/a
- Cost: Free (in-app purchases of themes available)
- Purchase: Google Play and iTunes
Mailchimp – Marketing Your Business Via Email
Lots of business owners in the UK consider MailChimp to be the best business app for email marketing because it's relatively easy to use and a cost effective solution. Whatever your marketing story, MailChimp can share it via an effective email marketing campaign and then monitor the results. Free limited-email version available.
Main Features: Automated marketing with a personal touch, integration with major e-commerce providers, advertising channels and detailed reporting.
- Platform: Android and iOS - Desktop
- Trial: n/a
- Cost: From $10 USD per month depending on list size
- Purchase: Google Play and iTunes
Linkedin – Business Networking App
If user numbers are anything to go by then LinkedIn is by far the best business networking app. With straightforward business profile creation and the facility to contribute as much or as little as you like, LinkedIn has proven itself to be the best place when it comes to getting to know the who’s who in your industry circles.
Main Features: Professional network, talent seeking and recruitment, marketing opportunities, social selling, personalised e-learning.
Zoho Reports – Business Analytics Apps
Mobile business intelligence (BI) software can help business managers to ensure that all of their business decisions are data-driven. Zoho Reports uses analytics checks to extract key choice-informing insights.
Main Features: Synchronisation of business data from popular spreadsheet and text files as well as online storage services and web URL feeds, connection to relational databases and some popular business apps such as QuickBooks, data blending to create meaningful business reports with visual analysis.
- Platform: Android and iOS - Desktop
- Trial: Free 15-day trial
- Cost (Premium): £90 plus tax per month
- Purchase: Google Play and iTunes
Best Business Apps For Productivity
Rescuetime – Business Management Apps That Save You Time
Online activity takes up a large part of any business manager’s day but it can be difficult to work out how much of this activity is productive. RescueTime can help you understand your online behaviour by tracking and reporting on time spent on different websites and apps. If you want to find out where all the time goes, this is one of the best business apps to help you do that.
Main Features: Tracks time spent managing emails and in meetings, provides highlights of your day’s activity, blocks selected distracting websites and sets time alerts for activities. Free lite version available.
Kanbanflow – Business Management App For Workflow
If you find lists a struggle and spend a lot of time staring at your calendar then KanbanFlow might just be the business workflow app for you. Each Kanban work board is divided into columns giving you a visual representation of your current work situation. Tasks can be controlled, shared and sub-divided. Free version available.
Main Features: Customised workflow representation, work in progress limits to encourage you to finish tasks, filters to increase focus, management of repeating tasks, completion date records and file attachments.
- Platform: Android and iOS - Desktop
- Trial: Free 14-day trial
- Cost (premium): $5 USD per month
- Purchase: KanbanFlow
Tripit – Business Travel Apps
Travelling for business can waste a lot of time and so can business travel planning. TripIt gathers together your travel plans and combines them into one central itinerary. It also allows for departure time and delay checking.
Main Features: Organises multiple travel plans into one place, allows for plan editing and sharing, receives flight alerts and centrally tracks travel loyalty points. Free lite version available.
Todoist – Checklist App For Business
It could be suggested that the business world turns on a list but lists can become unwieldy if left unmanaged. Todoist is one of the best apps for checklists as it remembers everything for you and not only that, it can recall deadlines, help you to map out projects and allow you to delegate tasks.
Main Features: Customised task lists, repeated task management, productivity goals and task delegation. Free lite version available.
- Platform: Android and iOS - Desktop
- Trial: 30-day money back guarantee
- Cost (Premium): £28 per year
- Purchase: Google Play and iTunes
Basecamp – Business Apps For Outsourcing Work
If you regularly work with freelancers or have a remote workforce, you will be well aware of the need to communicate and organise your team. Basecamp have been doing this for a long time and have enough messaging, to-do and scheduling features to keep the most globally separate of organisations together.
Main Features: Project and team management, task assignment, message board discussion, task deadlines and completion monitoring, team communication and automatic check-ins.
- Platform: Android and iOS - Desktop
- Trial: Free 30-day trial
- Cost: $99 USD per month (no user limit)
- Purchase: Google Play and iTunes
Best Business Management Apps
Quickbooks – Easy Business Accounting
Finding the best bookkeeping app can be tricky and the choice of both iOS and Android apps for business owners bewildering. Quickbooks is an accounting software package that will do the financial donkeywork at the same time as giving you a great overview of your current and projected financial status. Quickbooks also allows you to control stock, track mileage and complete a self-assessment.
Main Features: Cashflow insights, expenses categorisation, mileage tracking, VAT, payroll and CIS.
Wave – Bookkeeping App
Specifically designed for smaller businesses, the Wave set of apps (Receipts by Wave and Invoice by Wave) provides accounting, sales tracking, automatic reporting and expenses management via a simple and intuitive platform.
Main Features: Professional invoices, income tracking, receipt scanning.
- Platform: Available through the website
- Trial: n/a
- Cost: Free (percentage-based pricing for some services)
- Purchase: Google Play and iTunes
Paypal Here – Mobile Payments
Collecting payments on the go is a necessity for most businesses and a seamless mobile/card reader connection a must. PayPal Here offers one of the best business apps to address this issue and the PayPal card reader works as a compact register when attached to a mobile device.
Main Features: Manageable card reader, card or contactless payments, including Apple Pay and Android Pay, money paid into account within seconds, world-class security and price reductions for higher sales volume.
- Platform: Android and iOS - Desktop
- Trial: n/a
- Cost: Percentage based on sales (2.75% for monthly sales up to £1,500)
- Purchase: Apply via your PayPal account. Google Play and iTunes
Best Business Apps For Communication
Fuze – Business communication app for videoconferencing
As your business grows into wider markets, BYOD videoconferencing will become an almost daily necessity. Fuze specialise in the hosting of online meetings via their ‘Fuze Unified Communications’ ecosystem.
Main Features: PBX-like functionality, calls via VoIP, mobile or both, ad hoc conference calls, simultaneous multiple calls and video meetings.
- Platform: Android and iOS - Desktop
- Trial: n/a
- Cost: Subscription-based services
- Purchase: Google Play and iTunes
Pushover – Multi-device Management Business Communication
In a busy world, most of us work with more than one communication device. Pushover has eliminated inter-device confusion with an app that will push messages through to multiple devices and organise all of your incomings and notifications into one area. Pushover also offer a monthly service designed to facilitate team communication.
Main Features: Useful in API development, this app integrates with web apps and network monitors to send multiple device alerts. Can also send push notifications to Android Wear watches.
Google Chat – Team Communication App
Google Chat doesn’t just provide messaging, voice and video calls, although it does all of these very well. It is a fully integrated, team communication tool that will sync to multiple devices and facilitate a smooth transition from chat to phone call to video call making it one of the best business apps for team communication.
Main Features: High definition video calling, voice calls, instant messaging, group conferencing, intelligent muting and built-in screen sharing.
Mention – Business App For News Monitoring
If you are already active in the world of social media then you may be having trouble keeping track of all of your social media and website references. Mention allows you to track your brand mentions across a variety of social networks, blogs, forums and news sites.
Main Features: Real-time monitoring, multiple platform tracking, connection to social media accounts, online reputation monitoring, influencer research and report creation.
- Platform: Desktop
- Trial: n/a
- Cost (Solo Plan): $29 USD per month
- Purchase: Google Play and iTunes
As you can see, the app market is a burgeoning one and there are plenty of tools out there to help you grow your business. We hope that our compilation of the best business apps will prove useful and give you more time for those strategic business activities to secure your future success.
If you require any help building your client base, we are the experts. Call us now on 0800 110 5923 or send us a quick email to find out how we can help you gain clients and move your business forward.
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Shane McEvoy is a seasoned SEO and inbound marketing expert with nearly 30 years of experience in advertising. He established Flycast Media, a specialist B2B digital agency, and is a published author of two well-received guides while contributing to several industry publications - read his complete profile here.
