13 Must-Have Mobile Apps For Business

I'm not sure about you, but I find myself using my smartphone more and more to conduct business, and my laptop computer less and less. As all of us increasingly use our mobile phones for business, mobile applications become not only helpful, but essential, to get work done fast and well. I asked fellow members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) what their favorite mobile apps for business were, and these were their top 13:

1. Contactually

Contactually is my favorite business app. My business is all about relationships, and Contactually makes it dead simple for me to follow up with leads and make introductions between my clients. There have also been many upgrades to the app recently, which makes it best in sales in the CRM class.
- Lawrence Watkins, Founder & CEO, Great Black Speakers

2. Asana

Asana has transformed our business. It connects the technical team with the marketing team. It helps everyone understand the value they are contributing. It's a soft approach to holding everyone accountable to both others and themselves. In startups, there is always more to do. Asana helps us prioritize and organize everything we do. Both the website and mobile app are quite useful.
- Mitch Gordon, CEO/ Co-Founder, Go Overseas

3. Basecamp

If you use Basecamp to manage your team's projects, then the mobile app is a MUST. On the road, you can check in on the status of projects, tasks of key team members, and even review clients' input/approvals.
- Torrey Tayenaka, CEO / Co-Founder, Sparkhouse

4. MobileDay

MobileDay is an essential productivity app I use daily. MobileDay dials in and enters your access code automatically. By pulling meetings from my calendar, MobileDay reminds me when I have conference calls and enters them for me. What a time saver!
- Adam Lieb, Founder & CEO, Duxter

5. SignNow

SignNow is such a simple concept and has become my most-used third-party app. It gives me the ability to sign documents on the go. The team can work quickly and efficiently no matter where I am located around the world.
- Adam Cunningham , 87AM

6. Square

We do a full 80 percent of our sales on the road. We do this with the Square app. It is fast and reliable, and our deposits are done daily with no monthly fees or transaction fees. It is just a set percentage of the sale price, which works out to be much less expensive for us than what we were paying with a merchant credit service.
- Jay Wu, Creator, Best Drug Rehabilitation

7. WorkFlowy

Entrepreneurs tend to be highly creative and, even when focused on a core business, they tend to have lots of ideas and tasks in their minds! The key for me to staying organized is WorkFlowy. It is like exporting your brain to a highly scalable, well-structured app. I keep WorkFlowy open on my computer all day as my to-do list organizer and idea repository. The iOS apps are phenomenal, too!
- Doreen Bloch, CEO / Founder, Poshly Inc.

8. Skype

I do a lot of business internationally and with TONS of freelancers. Skype is a lifesaver. If anybody ever has questions, they just ping me. I can answer it from my iPhone whenever I need to and from wherever.
- Travis Steffen, Founder, WorkoutBOX

9. Yammer

Our team members used to email each other small tasks, but at some point the flow of conversations became overwhelming. We moved to Google Chat, but interruptions from friends take a toll during the day as a little pop-up can disrupt your flow. Yammer allows our team to get the benefits of quick chatting through our phones without the to-do of opening an email or the distraction of a random conversation.
- Aaron Schwartz, Founder and CEO, Modify Watches

10. TripIt

Based in Seattle, life outside of the Valley and Madison Avenue is hardly recognized, so it’s pertinent I make an effort to be present with peers, mentors and investors -- putting my company on the map ... literally. With Tripit, I handle all of my travel details including booking, hotels and meetings. In the spirit of a lean startup, sans human administration, this app is an employee requirement. - Matt Ehrlichman, CEO, Porch

11. Genius Scan

No one could figure out how to use the "all-in-one" printer/scanner in our office, but when we discovered Genius Scan, that all changed. From saving notes to signing legal documents, it's simply the easiest way to scan anything. I paid $2.99 for the upgrade and can sync directly with Dropbox.
- Ryan Buckley, COO & Co-founder, Scripted, Inc.

12. Shoeboxed

I'm terrible -- I mean really terrible -- with receipts. With Shoeboxed, I'm able to take a photo after every business meal or purchase, add a note and then never worry about the paper again. It's a huge advantage, and It has also made compliance and tax time much less stressful.
- Sean Ogle, Founder, Location 180, LLC

13. HipChat

We live in a virtual world today, and our team of eight is spread across four different time zones, with one traveling in the mountains of Canada. To make sure everyone feels close to each other and is on top of things, we've brought in HipChat as our virtual mobile water cooler and private team rooms. Everything from chitchat to strategic discussions has its own place once we've "stepped into the office."
- W. Michael Hsu, Founder & CEO, DeepSky

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Of course, I love the LinkedIn app for business myself - I always use it to check mutual connections with everyone I meet. But now it's your turn. Which of these 13 apps do you use? What are your favorite mobile applications for business? How have they made you more productive and efficient? Let me know in the Comments section below, and please do share this article with your network if you find it useful.

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The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

Dave Kerpen is the founder and CEO of Likeable Local. He is also the co-founder and Chairman of Likeable Media, and the New York Times-bestselling author of Likeable Social Media and Likeable Business, and the new collection, Likeable Leadership. To read more from Dave on LinkedIn, please click the FOLLOW button above or below.

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