Online education portals like Udacity and Coursera are really changing the world of remote learning in significant ways. By making free and high quality education accessible to a global audience, these platforms are opening up undreamt of possibilities for communities around the world to improve, grow, and prosper in the digital economy of the 21st century. Education at top tier colleges and universities has traditionally been a social and economic privilege, but now anyone can join in the learning revolution by sitting in virtual classrooms with the world’s best and brightest educators. Whether this involves learning how to code and build smart phone apps, or starting up a new business, or learning about public health literacy, the sky is the limit of what’s now possible.

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Top 7 mobile apps for your small business

by | Sep 25, 2014

They say that “the future is Mobile and Mobile is the future.” This especially holds true in the world of business. When it comes to building and running a thriving small business in the 21st century, you have to be fast and agile – and do what others are not willing to do – in order to stay ahead of the competition. And in order to conquer the digital age you have to be in lock step with the latest mobile apps and technologies to make your work more productive and efficient.

 

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Business owners today are expected to be constantly connected whether commuting, in a meeting, or waiting for an elevator. More and more businesses today are finding the convenience afforded by running everything from apps. So let’s take a look at 7 innovative mobile apps you absolutely need to have for your small business growth and prosperity.

 

Skype

We’ve all used Skype from our desktops so why not extend the same convenience and accessibility to your mobile device? Skype is a great tool to help small business owners (or any sized business owner for that matter) to stay connected with their contacts whether they’re in Boston or the Philippines. The basic version of Skype is free. But what’s better yet is that Skype just recently decided to make group video calls free for everyone. International calls might carry a fee depending on where you live, so check out the prices for those. The Skype app works on all devices and operating systems.

 

Evernote

Evernote is basically a suite of software and services designed for notetaking and archiving. A “note” can be a formatted text, a webpage, a voice memo, or a handwritten “ink” note. All of these notes can be collected, sorted into folders, tagged, annotated, edited, searched, and exported. Evernote helps to boost productivity and team collaboration through the collection of ideas, lists, or just notes in general. With apps for all devices, Evernote is a great all-around tool for helping your team stay organized and productive.

 

Expensify

Expensify is on almost everyone’s list of must-have business apps and for good reason. This free app takes the headache out of tracking your business receipts and doing your expense reports. Expensify syncs your credit card transactions with receipts scanned by your phone’s camera. Better yet, you can even link up your credit or debit card to your Expensify account so that charges are directly placed on an expense report. Expensify is free for individuals and costs $5 to $10 per active account for team and corporate users.

 

Asana

If you’re getting tired of email then you need to get Asana. Asana is a project-oriented teamwork app that your team can use to assign tasks, follow status updates, set due dates, and visualize goals. It can be used to delegate tasks on-the-go and members are immediately notified via their mobile and desktop apps whenever they are assigned a task.

 

Basecamp

As one of the world’s most popular project management tools, Basecamp has provided solutions for millions of projects and has developed a great reputation through word-of-mouth for its reliable, agile, and easy-to-use platform. This app will help keep everyone on your team synched up. You can post new tasks, mark others complete, and note new milestones all from the mobile app. A concise dashboard will break down where you and your teammates stand on your projects.

 

EchoSign

In this digital age signing documents on the fly is increasingly important. EchoSign is Adobe’s mobile e-signature solution, which you can use to send, track, e-sign, and file documents. EchoSign has over 5 million users and 50,000 customers including Google, Facebook, Groupon, and Twitter – which says something about its power as a secure solution for e-signage.

 

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Dropbox

Everyone wants to be able to store, organize, send, and retrieve documents anywhere and at anytime. Seven years and 300 million users later, Dropbox has proven itself to be the most popular cloud storage solution on the market. Dropbox’s extensive cross-platform versatility and networking is what makes this tool the first choice for many. Dropbox offers free trials and works on all devices and operating systems.

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About Jeffrey Walker

Jeff is a business development consultant who specializes in helping businesses grow through technology innovations and solutions. He holds multiple master’s degrees from institutions such as Andrews University and Columbia University, and leverages this background towards empowering people in today’s digital world. He currently works as a research specialist for a Fortune 100 firm in Boston. When not writing on the latest technology trends, Jeff runs a robotics startup called virtupresence.com, along with oversight and leadership of startuplabs.co - an emerging market assistance company that helps businesses grow through innovation.