On a number of occasions over the past few weeks, I have had discussions with friends and clients about how they use their smartphones to increase productivity. I am getting great use out of mine and would be lost without it. However, others are barely using the capabilities of their phone. So here are some of the features and apps that I find most useful. I am sure they won’t all be of interest to you but I suspect at least one or two will.
Scanning Documents to PDF
This is an app I use regularly. I have an Android phone and I use Camscanner. This essentially takes a photo of a document and converts it to a pdf which I can email or save to cloud storage (Dropbox or Drive). I use it for copying receipts, forms, identification documents and for capturing the flipcharts of meetings. Its a really useful app to have.
To Do Lists
To do lists are great for quickly capturing ideas when you are away from the desk or for reminding yourself about what else is on your list when you get very busy and are in danger of losing sight of your priorities. I was using Wunderlist until recently and I have moved to Trello now. Trello gives me more organisational features and surely improves productivity.
File Sharing
We all know about Dropbox and Google Drive. I keep some key documents in Dropbox and if I need to send such a document to someone, I can send it straight from the phone. This has come in very handy for me a couple of times. For example, once I was away from the office and got a call from a prospect asking for a copy of a document I had mentioned to them previously. I was able to access the document in the cloud and send it immediately, without having to go back to the office.
Managing Passwords
We all know how important it is to manage passwords for the various programmes, systems and websites that we access now. There are several password managers. I use Keepass on my computer and I save the file to a Dropbox folder. I then use Keepassdroid on my phone to access the same file so I always have my passwords available. Keepass can generate random passwords and can hold the various verification questions that some sites need. Keepass itself is password protected and thats the one password that you do need to remember.
As an aside, you would be amazed at the number of companies that have no passwords or else have the password written on a post it note and stuck to the computer screen. You should have a separate secure password for each key service you use.
Capturing Notes
I use Evernote to capture notes. I have a copy on my computer and on my tablet and on my phone. Once I record my note on any of those, it syncs to the cloud and is available to all the others. I now use this for taking notes at meetings and for lectures/talks. I can attach files or photos and email the note with attachments to any of my contacts. I can also record speech to Evernote (like a dictaphone) and attach the recording to a note. I can search all my notes by keyword which is a huge benefit as this means I no longer have the problem of trying to remember what notepad I wrote a note in. Notes can be organised into folders or by assigning tags to them.
Foreign Exchange Rates
There are a number of apps that will provide you with up to date FX rates, this will definitely boost your productivity. The one I use is XE currency but there are loads of them.
Voice Recording
Another very useful, but easy to forget, app is the Voice Recorder app which is usually standard on the phone. It can be used to record meetings or random thoughts that you might have where you don’t have access to a note pad or you want to participate without having to worry about note-taking.
Cloud Accounting
If you use a Cloud Accounting package like Kashflow or Xero they both have apps for the phone that let you access the data. You will not do your accounts on the app but you will be able to check balances etc.I am not going to mention email or calendar. If you are not using those, you won’t be interested in anything else. In summary, there are two apps that I wouldn’t be without – Evernote and Camscanner. I am sure these apps can help you improve your productivity.
Here is an article about the best accounting software to use in your business.
As always, if you have thoughts or questions on anything in this article, let me know.