What if we said the most important thing you can pack for your business trip is free, weightless, takes up no extra space, and can easily impress your boss? No, we're not trying to be funny – it's all about the apps on your phone. While thoughts of downloading yet another new app service may stress you out, don't worry about these: They are designed specifically to take the stress out of your next business trip, and we'll show you how:
There’s an App For That?
TripCase: TripCase exists to help you manage your trip with as little effort as possible. If you don't have a secretary to handle these things for you, TripCase can organize your itinerary, import tips, and use your confirmation emails for things like tickets, reservations and more, automatically building a snapshot of your trip you can access on any device. Even if you have a secretary, get TripCase and have her do something more productive than check your departure times.
Concur: One of the most boring and time-consuming tasks involved in a business trip is recording all your expenses. Concur helps make this much easier: The app lets you take a photo of your receipts, upload compliant images into your expense reports, and add car mileage the moment you come to a stop. Managers can also use the app to approve expense reports.
Skyscanner: If you find yourself booking a lot of flights for your business, you may want to consider switching to the aggregate app Skyscanner, which allows you to quickly search for available flights without any fuss. The app also offers updated news on travel conditions and important travel industry facts, along with some entertainment pieces.
YapApp: Communicating with peers and managers at a distance can be challenging on an active trip. YapApp is a free video calling & conferencing app that allows you to immediately speak in live video with your business associates. It's great for working on large projects or tricky contracts where you need an immediate answer on something – and the encryption keeps your data safe.
TripIt: TripIt is a complex itinerary manager that takes an active role in your trip. Give it the right information and calendar syncing abilities, and the app can show you confirmation numbers, give you directions to your next destination, and generally act like your personal valet in real time.
Toggl: Toggle is a more specific expensing tool that's basically an advanced time tracker, a little like a business-oriented stopwatch. Turn it on with a tap and it starts recording time, which can be used to track time covered by business funds or just have a fun little contest on who’s worked the most over a trip.
Handshake: Handshake is an excellent little app for trade shows. It allows you to immediately create orders on the fly, send information, create shipments, check your inventory, and much more. If you plan on finding new business on your trip, give this one a look.
Apply The Apps At The Right Time
These are only a handful of the apps that may be useful to you on your trips, so we suggest doing some of your own research as well. Focus on apps that are particularly connected to your industry for the best results.
Like we said above, If you’re looking for more ways to keep in touch while out of the office, make sure to download YapApp from the App Store, or Google Play. You’ll have instant access to video conferences, group chats, file sharing, and everything your employees need to start collaborating. 