Today, integrating online solutions and business apps is the most efficient way to manage your business. There are lots of tools and resources at your fingertips available for tablets, smartphones, and other mobile devices that are designed to help you successfully plan, launch, and run a business, and many are free or fairly inexpensive. Not only do such solutions cut cost and save time, they can increase productivity and growth. In fact, there are over 100 billion apps in the marketplace.
Are you are looking for a way to integrate online solutions into your business, or are you frustrated with searching online for that perfect solution?
Melissa Ambers, who is president and chief administrative officer of Houston-based company Paperless Expert, has compiled a list of what she sees as the best business apps. Ambers is a paperless expert and project manager, with over fifteen years of experience. She and her team offer tools and expert advice to help small business owners produce top quality work.
Here’s a List of Ambers’ Top Five Online Solutions:
1. Google Calendar
(Cost: Free)
Set up this tool on all devices to ensure efficiency.  You can create multiple calendars in this one account and make appointments with yourself as well as with your clients. Use this to increase productivity and time management.
2. BaseCamp
(Cost: Free – $29+)
Working on multiple projects, but need to meet with your team to discuss progress? This project management tool enables you to easily collaborate with team members and clients, which means no more unnecessary meetings.
3. Evernote
(Cost: Free)
Can’t find the
notes from a meeting? Evernote is your solution managing notes, ideas, Web clippings, pictures, and so much more. Download this app on all devices and login to one account.  Conveniently find notes without the frustrations of looking for a pen and a sheet of paper.4. MailChimp
(Cost: Free and up)
Overwhelmed with creating e-mail templates? With this simple solution, you can create newsletters with various templates that are pre-built.
5. Insightly
(Cost $39 and up)
Are you using multiple files to maintain customer information?  Well, Insightly is a one-stop shop.  This online solution is capable of managing your client contact list and leads. It can also connect contacts to the same company, manage emails, and so much more. These are solutions to get your time back.
And from BlackEnterprise.com, here are bonus apps we recommend: