The iPad's potential for helping out at the office is tremendous. Read on through the following to find out how you can track your accounts, manage your clients, and keep up with the market trends using only your trusty tablet and these handy money, time and energy-saving apps.
iAuditor
Price: Free, Developer: SafetyCulture Ltd
Professional-standard audits direct from your iPad
Rating ★★★★★
Performing audits can often be depressing due to the level of paperwork required as part of the process. Apps like iAuditor provide the ideal solution to such an issue, not only reducing paperwork but also allowing for a more seamless way of carrying out checks. This is due to the app’s various functions, for example, the ability to instantly add explanations to checklists should something not be present, as well as a onetap option to add a photo as evidence. To this end, the app also allows you to add locations to your audits.
There is also a link to the cloud server, which contains templates for business-speci c audits should you ever require them. These have all been rated by other users and come with a description of the nature of each. As well as following set templates in the app, you can also create your own to ful l speci fic needs. In short, this is an app with a very niche market, but those who need it will nd it very useful.
Ovatu Manager
Price: Free, Developer: Ovatu Pty Ltd
Streamline your business appointments and staff rotas
Rating ★★★★★
Whether you’re a small business owner or an independent trader, you’ll undoubtedly nd yourself
needing a simple way to manage appointments with clients. If you’re lucky enough to have people do it for you, you may also nd yourself in need of a way to quickly organise their hours. Ovatu Manager aims to take on all of these admin tasks and more with its iOS and web-based service that makes it easy for anyone to manage employee hours and service appointments in just a few simple steps.
Ovatu Manager’s iOS app is free, but there are a few different account types (both paid and free) to choose from once you fire it up and start the setup process. The free account only allows usage on one device without any of the advantages of cloud-based syncing, whereas the paid accounts (ranging form $10-$50 per month) o er a whole host of professional features such as SMS reminders of appointments for customers. Once you’ve set up an account, the app guides you through the basics of getting an employee’s rota set up, and the rst service type. Everything about this is straightforward, and it seems like Ovatu Manager has every base covered in terms of the details that businesses may need for an appointment booking system.
Once you’re through the setup process, it’s easy to see how scalable this app really can be to suit almost every type of business; it’s easy to add new services to the system, split them over two periods of time, add more employees and build up a database of customers. Everything in the app is fully integrated; create an appointment with a new customer and they’ll be added to your customer database, for example, and there are plenty of ways to take advantage of such databases, such as mass-emailing or social media posting.
Ovatu Manager clearly lends itself best to speci c situations, but it’s fair to say it’s an ideal solution for any company where appointments are the bedrock of the business.
Convo
Price: Free, Developer: Scrybe Inc
A Convo a day helps you work – not rest or play
Rating ★★★★★
Social media doesn’t have to be about posting up pictures of yourself in strange locations and nor does it have to be about networking on sites like LinkedIn. With Convo, you can keep colleagues connected from the same workplace. It calls itself a private social network and that is, in a sense, the gist of it.
To get started you must use a work address. You can then invite other people from your network to join. You do all of this from the convo.com website. When you sign in to the app, you can do all manner of things from writing messages to individual colleagues to viewing the news feed to see what others in your group are up to. You can also view files and images that are being shared by colleagues.
The instant notifications aspect of the app is what makes it most useful, however, because it means you have live communication with people and no excruciating delays. With a great interface that doesn’t overwhelm you with options, it’s an important app for business.
Executive Suite
Price: Free, Developer: Rapid Consulting Services
A specialist business app that really is special
Rating ★★★★★
The SAP (single assessment process) solution is designed to allow companies and employees to work collaboratively and to communicate and complete tasks in a much more e cient way. This app leverages these ideals and brings them to the iPad. It includes features that will deal with every aspect of day-to-day business, from purchase orders to warehouse management, and houses all of this in a professional yet simple interface.
An account needs to be set up to use the app, but this is a straightforward process and, with the right usage pattern, it could save a fortune in both time and admin costs. The real beauty of the service, however, is its exibility, as users can tailor it to suit. A series of subtle graphics lets even complex data shine on the smallest of mobile screens, and at no point did we witness any glitches. For medium-sized enterprises this app can make a huge impact, and enable their workforces to keep in the loop with great ease.
Bills for iPad Free
Price: Free, Developer: iBear LLC
Keep your house in order with this bill tracker
Rating ★★★★★
With an eye-catching and engaging interface, Bills for iPad is a specialised calendar app, focusing on the due dates for various bills. You can set the repeat function for bills should they recur each month, as well as tick them o as you pay them. The app asks that you categorise each bill and it will colour code them depending on their stage of payment, with alerts sent should you miss a payment. You can set up a password lock to protect your info and give peace of mind.
Debt Tracker HD Free
Price: Free, Developer: Blue Tags
A single stop off to keep track of your outgoings
Rating ★★★★★
In this time of belt-tightening and nancial strife, more and more of us are turning to money tracking
software and apps in order to get a better hold of our outgoings and general nancial situation. Debt
Tracker is one such app, that focuses on the repeated outgoings and debt to help you manage repayments and get yourself free of debt quicker. Simply upload all the necessary details and dates into the app and it converts them into progress bars to show you how you’re doing. It’s simple, but effective for a free app.
Citi Velocity
Price: Free, Developer: Citibank NA
Market analysis exclusive to Citibank clients
Rating ★★★★★
This is as serious and as detailed as they come in terms of nancial market apps. Citi Velocity is exclusive to certain customers and users of Citibank services, and the app comprises of not only detailed analysis in the form of text, but also through video and other types of media. Users can stay abreast of all the latest movement and what it means, as well as being able to search for speci fic analysis from specific sources. This is the app that you need if you’re with Citibank and have a vested interest in the movement of the global markets.
IBM Connections
Price: Free, Developer: IBM Corp
Twitter and LinkedIn fused together
Rating ★★★★★
The content of this app is similar to that of LinkedIn in that it is full of the various business connections that you make during your working life. In terms of interface the app looks a lot like
the o cial Twitter app for the iPad, and so frequent users of both should not have too much trouble getting to grips with it. There is of course a wider business depth to this app, with a menu tab for you to quickly share les if necessary. Users can also create ’report to’ chains so you can see
rough employee models.
Snap Mobile
Price: Free, Developer: Snap Surveys Limited
Rating ★★★★★
Conduct a survey and store the answers on your iPad with this application. Templates are provided, but it is not immediately apparent what you have to do from that point as there is no step-by-step tutorial. However, once you’ve got to grips with the settings, you’ll nd you are able to produce great surveys that can be a mix of images, videos and text.
Fileboard
Price: Free, Developer: Fileboard Inc
Rating ★★★★★
Fileboard integrates with Dropbox, Gmail and other services to give you immediate access to all of your sent and received les. These can then be accessed whenever you like, potentially o ering you gigabytes of extra data stored in the cloud.
taken from :
iPad App Directory Volume 5 - Imagine Publishing Ltd
