Maybe a salesperson talked you into buying a smartphone the last time you qualified for a phone upgrade. Maybe you succumbed to peer pressure because other business owners you know have them. Maybe you even bought several for your staff and got a tidy little tax deduction for the purchase of this new business equipment. But what are you really using smartphones for in your company?
Spending a lot of money on a smartphone and then only using it to make phone calls and play Angry Birds can lead to buyer's remorse. A smartphone should be treated like any other new piece of business equipment. You need to research its potential and take the time to learn how to actually accomplish work-related tasks with it. You must also take the time to train your staff to use their smartphones productively.
Uses Big and Small
Most likely you've heard the expression, "There's an app for that." Well, there's a lot of truth to that when it comes to everyday business tasks and procedures. Here are a few practical uses for a smartphone that your company may not be taking advantage of:
Networking: There are apps that allow you to simply bump your smartphone into someone else's smartphone loaded with the same app and exchange contact information instantly with no typing whatsoever. QR code readers on smartphones also can be used for instant transfer of information from marketing materials to your phone's contact listings. Even manually inputting information as soon as you meet someone beats having a bag full of stray business cards when you return from a tradeshow or networking event. And remember the days when you'd have to check your cumbersome paper day-planner, or worse, call the office to see when you were available for a follow-up meeting with a new client? Now your smartphone calendar is always with you and always in sync with the one "back at the office."
Business presentations: When you are carrying a smartphone and run into a potential client you have the ability to do a slick impromptu sales presentation. All the information you need is at your fingertips, including facts, figures and photos. You also can create an estimate right on the spot and email it from your smartphone.
Receiving money: Create and email invoices directly from your smartphone or go one step further and utilize a mobile payment service that allows you to accept credit card payments anywhere. For a fee, these services provide a credit card reader that attaches to your smartphone. Merchant fees are often lower than with traditional payment processing methods.
Keeping track of inventory: Inventory apps keep track of supplies in real time, reducing the chances of being caught short because no one took time to enter information at the office.
Saving money: There are apps to tell you which service station has the lowest fuel price and how far it is from where you are. If the cheapest one isn't too far out of your way, this could save you a few pennies. Deal-of-the-day websites like Groupon and LivingSocial also have smartphone apps that can be useful when you're looking to save on lunch.
Keeping track of spending: There are apps to help you track business travel expenses on the road. You'll cut down on paper clutter on the trip and reduce the time spent trying to recall expenditures once you get back to the office. You can use a scanner app or your phone's camera to capture an electronic copy of receipts rather stuffing them all in your wallet.
Make the journey smoother: Map the most efficient route with a smartphone GPS app and use your phone to log your mileage and fuel purchases too. You also can get useful live information sent to the device when you travel, including traffic updates, weather, news, and flight arrival and departure updates from airports.
Be more social: Use your smartphone camera to take photos or videos on the jobsite and post them immediately on social networking sites.
Explain a breakdown: Don't waste time driving around until you can find someone to fix or replace broken equipment. Take a picture of it, and send the picture asking, "Hey, do you have one of these in stock?" Or, "Can you tell me how to fix this?" You could have an answer in seconds.
Do it yourself ... better: If you like to fix things yourself, snap sequential pictures with your smartphone as you take something apart. Viewing the pictures in reverse order will help you get things back together.
Change course: If you arrive on a work site to find the lay of the land is not as the client described, a few quick pictures sent to the client could explain why you can't locate restrooms where you said you would. And you may, thanks to the pictures, quickly determine a mutually agreeable alternate site.
An emailed photo from your smartphone also might convince a vendor to reship if you receive supplies that are damaged or poorly packaged.
Other handy apps
Once you start exploring, you'll find lots of apps that make owning a smartphone smart for your business. There are flashlight apps and bubble level apps, which can mean fewer tools to lug around. There also are apps to provide emergency first aid information, which could prove useful if someone is hurt on the job. There are apps that track the maintenance of multiple vehicles, logging repairs and fuel economy. There are apps to convert weights and measurements, translate languages and track packages from major shipping companies ... and that's just to name a few.
Losing it
Of course, owning a smartphone puts you at risk for losing that smartphone or having it stolen. But, there are apps for that too. Most smartphones can be password protected by the owner and this should be done on any phone that holds information about your business.
Remote location, which works primarily through GPS, can help you narrow down where a phone is and help you determine if it's simply lost or if it may have been stolen. For example, if your phone is traced to 123 Main St. and you were at a meeting at that address earlier in the day, chances are you inadvertently left it behind. If it's in a part of town you've never been to, it may have been stolen.
Software and services with the ability to remotely lock or wipe your phone are a good investment. These services can give you the option to display a customized on-screen message with return/reward information, but if getting your phone back is unlikely, you can wipe its data clean with a remote command.
All data on your smartphone should be backed up regularly to a computer, or stored on a cloud so wiping it remotely won't result in the loss of much information. It will, however, prevent someone else from accessing that information.
