After writing last week’s 19th Hole blog about being productive while traveling and then seeing the start of all of the 2015 lists for ‘best this’ and ‘top 10 that’ we decided to put together our own list of ‘Best Apps of 2015’. These are the apps and the programs that have helped us be more productive or solve a problem this year.
1. Tiny Scanner – “The little app that scans everything”. Since we moved to a paperless system for our bookkeeping this app lets as take a picture of any receipt, put the coding into the title and then either email it to our bookkeeper or put it into the appropriate dropbox folder. Good quality readable scans/pics with 2 clicks. FREE Version – no document storage. PAID version ($5.79) – unlimited document storage and batch mode.
2. Handy – So let’s just say up front that yes when we are busy we have someone else clean our 700 sq. ft apartment. The reason we like Handy is not because their service is good (which it is) but because their app that makes managing our bookings and their time so efficient. We can add and remove time in 1/2 hour blocks, change dates, request special services and leave messages to their team members in the app. Meaning that we can do it at 11pm at night when we think of it instead of waiting to call someone the next day. FREE.
3. Dropbox – The dropbox app works especially well on a tablet. You can access all of your dropbox files just as easily as on a desktop. On an airplane this is an advantage because when the seat back in front of you goes down there is not a lot of room for a laptop (even a 13 inch Macbook Air like we have). Editing is still a bit onerous on a tablet but reading documents is a breeze. FREE.
4. Ferry Rush – We have been relying on BC Ferries a lot lately to get us to meetings on the Island on time. We also have an added advantage of being a 20 minute drive from the Horseshoe Bay terminal if there is no bridge traffic and we can see the extent of the bridge traffic out of our window. Ferry Rush is an independent app that shows how full the ferry is for the next three sailings. This allows us to know when we need to leave home to get to the terminal and cut down on the wasted time sitting in the ferry line using the always questionable BC Ferries Wifi. (It is not really that surprising that BC Ferries did not produce the app themselves. Why would they want to help their own customers?) FREE
5. RBC Mobile – Most banks now have an app that let’s you deposit cheqs by simply taking a picture of them. No more trips to the bank. We use this only for our business account. We pay a fee of $0.22 for depositing a cheq into our business account both in the bank machine or on the app – so why go to the bank? FREE
6. theScore – This app is not really about the efficiency of our business but more about the efficiency of following three sporting events at the same time. You can set up customized push notifications by league and team. So in theory you can keep on working and still know the scores of the games of your football, hockey and soccer team all at the same time. Guess which one of us uses this one?? FREE
These apps are all new to us in 2015. There are other tools that we have used for much longer on our Resources page (which is now almost complete).
If you know of an app or a business tool that everyone else should know about leave us a comment below or send us a note and we will make sure to share it with others.
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