Useful Apps used by members

Great session this morning which, for those who missed it, was all about different useful apps and technologies that people in the room are using to make their business easier to run.

I  promised to summarise these, though as far as what they do, I thought it would be good to just give you a vague idea and then you can either try them out yourself or arrange a one to one with the person using it to see what they use it for and how it works.

Here is the list:-

1. Timetrade – For scheduling calls and meetings with clients automatically.

2. Xero – a few of us use this for accounting and we have an official provider as a member. Another option is Clearbooks which Andy uses.

3. AirBNB – To find accommodation when visiting places like London. I have used it too. If you have a spare room, you can make money from it too! You have to try it to see how it works.

4. Facebook Pages Manager – A few people use this for managing their Business Facebook pages – it runs separately (at least on Android) so you can use a separate ID from your personal Facebook app.

5. Google Maps – Lots of people now using this as a Sat Nav and it has built in traffic, streetview, reviews, and is voice operated on many phones too!

6. Filemaker – Used this across Mac and iPhone – it is a database application and the dominant database software for Apple devices.

7. Nimble – Used for CRM. It imports all the social network data automatically for anyone you add to your database as well as all sorts of other stuff. There is also a free version.

8. OneNote – Recommended this for storing things you come across throughout the day to come back to later on, rather than get distracted.

9. Echosign and Docusign – A few people are now using this for getting contracts signed. They are actually more enforceable than offline signatures in many cases. You get 5 contracts a month free on echosign and 5 more if you connect to Twitter (and in my case, set up a ‘special’ twitter account with no followers to connect it to…)

10. GoCardless – Used for setting up Direct Debits at low cost.

11. Stripe – Used for taking card payments with no fees and low cost per transaction. It also works on iPhones and integrates with Xero.

Lots of others including Linkedin, though that probably needs a session to itself!