There’s a saying that goes, “A ship is only as good as its crew.” Which is true – you could have a fantastic Black Pearl-esque ship, but without a stellar crew to man the deck, it’s useless. The same can be said for your mobile device(s).
With enterprise mobility strategies and BYOD friendly IT policies, our workforce is increasingly dependent on all things mobile. So much that I worry quantity is outranking quality. Sure, having a high-powered smartphone or tablet is great but there has to be more than just the hardware. The device alone isn’t going to skyrocket your workforce’s productivity or facilitate a transformational mobile strategy.
The Crew
In keeping with this nautical analogy, if the device is the ‘ship’, then the applications are the ‘crew’. These are what unlock the productivity of your devices. So, with that in mind, here are 3 great mobile productivity apps that help keep me productive.
- Expensify- This is a great app for both iOS and Android phones. It’s an easy to use expense report app that allows you to take pictures of receipts, add them to expenses and view the approval flow of submitted expense reports. It can quickly collate all of your expenses based on preset filters and has the ability to integrate with QuickBooks.
- Evernote- No matter what role or industry we are in, note taking is a universal activity. Evernote is deceptively simple and can do just about anything you need it to do. If you need it to be a place to store notes, then it can be a shorthand notebook. If you want to snap a picture of something and record a voice note to go along with it, Evernote has you covered. Plus, it works on iOS, Android, web browser and even as an installed app on your desktop.
- KeepFocus- This Android app is the reason I make the majority of my deadlines. It will block you from using certain time wasting apps (Facebook, Twitter, TMZ) for a determined period of time so you have to keep working. You can even set it to block your Internet and certain contacts in your phone. It also allows you to set up 5-minute grace periods where you are allowed to go in and look at your blocked content. A little treat along the patch of forced productivity never hurts.
These are just a few examples of the multitude of business apps out there that turn your personal mobile device into the productivity tool that we want it to be. Go forth and be productive!
What are some of you favorite mobile apps that aid your productivity?
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