Improve your consultancy's productivity with these iPhone apps

enough said...in the title

I would add Docprinter to any serious productivity list. Pulling up documents with Dropbox is a good thing - however, being able to print them out whereever you are is great.

Great Article, I use the Google app specifically for GTalk, LinkedIn, and FedEx Mobile

Great article Erik. I am a consultant I use dropbox (but not on the iPhone yet). Can anyone tell me if Dropbox will only sync a certain folder OR will it sync all of the folders on my account and potentially fill my iPhone with data?

I can't live without Evernote. Here's brief article I wrote on why. http://www.toddjob.net/evernote-personal-and-business-solution-for-notetaking/

Thank you for this article. I just got the iPhone after fighting it for over a year. I am constantly looking for apps that will help me and my business. Most of my clients use Exchange/Outlook and the iPhone has been the easiest to use. As for focusing too much on Outlook and being tired of the iPhone, come on. I'm sick of Desperate Housewives, American Idol and Survivor. This is one article out of thousands, which means there are plenty others focusing on Blackberry and non-Microsoft products. As for me... I need to hear about more iPhone apps that people are using to make life easier.

While I see the value of the facilitating connectivity to Exchange/Outlook, I didn't expect half of this article to be about extending Microsoft's apps, especially using built-in apps.

Okay? ENOUGH! You know I am really tired of hearing about the iphone, and its apps. Almost all those apps that you have mentioned I have most of the same functionality built into my Samsung jack with windows mobile. Look I know that there are some people out there that love the iphone. But guess what? There are a few of us that want to use or need to use something else. How about apps for the consultant that can be run on the droid, or the palm, or windows mobile? Or apps that have versions for more than the iphone? I am not saying that I hate the iphone but I think it has gotten more than enough attention already.

Are you using other iPhone apps (such as Log Me In's Ignition) in your daily IT consulting operations? I'd enjoy hearing of other apps other consultants find useful, certainly.

My first thought was also, "gee, the iPhone as an extension of Outlook." Which is nice if you work with Exchange, but I don't. I use a Blackberry, not an iPhone, so I'm looking for good reasons to switch. The other apps help but I'm going to need more convincing.

The iPhone and these app recommendations aren't Outlook centric. Mail and Calendar, for example, mate with many other email and calendaring platforms. My office just happens to use Exchange, hence the Exchange link. That said, these items definitely aren't Outlook centric. My office's users run off Linux and Mac OS X as much as Windows. Toodledo provides much more functionality than just syncing tasks; that just happens to be how I use it. Dropbox doesn't touch Exchange/Outlook at all, nor does Around Me. Neither does Free Wi-Fi have anything to do with the Exchange/Outlook platform. What applications do you prefer on the iPhone?

I used to be one of those people that needed something else. But you know what I discovered? The iPhone is a great product, has a boat load of apps many of which i have found useful and their success is being probably related to the overall experience of the app store. I am a developer of apps, now working in mobile apps and understand why people are not investing into the other platforms. With that, Droid is on our list, but not windows mobile. Windows lacks a good store and a concentrated policy of what/where/how. iPhone and Droid are more then likely the future and the one stop fits all app store which Google made available for the droid shows apple cracked the nut on that one. The phone is not perfect, but it is close. I look forward to the future. My apps that I find useful are: wikipedia, red laser, app box pro and eWifi. I have yet to find the perfect manager for tasks and projects as I want this to integrate with a few other things and those people in the company that don't have an iPhone. Until then, I am happy and have found a lot that works for me.

Thanks for the list of apps for consultants. For those who resisted the switch to and iPhone I can relate. I did as well but eventually gave in and just recently upgraded to my 2nd one. It is such a neat device that unless someone tops it I doubt I will switch to another phone. I've played with the Droid and there is no comparision. These are great devices for the road warrior. I use Urban Spoon during my travel for places to eat. I use Units to convert currency. I also use The Weather Channel for obvious reasons and there are others that just make life easier to navigate -- Mark the Spot, Skype, airline and rental car apps such as Avis, and Trip Case. During my wait times I use Barnes and Noble's eReader or play games such as Wild West or Paper Toss. All free. That being said, my favorite non-utilitarian app -- Zippo Lighter -- while, granted, it is useless it is also fun. I've had two instances where new iPhonians wanted help setting up their apps and it was the first one they asked for.

Erik, I have been using Srini for past couple of weeks and it is awesome. It is similar to AroundMe but has voice recognition and is great for road warriors. I am very impressed with this app and above all, it is free.

Hello I have found the following applications very handy as a consultant: Things: A bsic project and task management application that allows you to schedule when tasks are to be completed. The only drawback is there is no Gantt chart of timeline of such. Either which way I find it simple and to the point. Billings: Nice simple application for calculating time spent to further invoice clients with. also simple and to the point. BC Reader: An excellent business card reader reader. This application eliminates the requirement for a library of business cards. It simply scans a business card via a photo you take, and saves the card details to your contacts. Excellent tool. Dictionary: Always handy to have a dictionary on hand when dealing with specific meanings of words.

In my consulting business, which lists some 3,000 clients served, we're seeing many small business users migrate away from Blackberries to iPhones. In fact, our last remaining internal engineer on a Blackberry (we maintain a BES within our office) is moving off his Blackberry, too. This isn't a conversation about favorite personal preferences, at least not for me. Rather, it's an observation of what we see most small businesses using in the real world.

I wish Mail and Calender mated with many other platforms. I'm using Thunderbird with Lightning on an XP box, and there is no simple sync solution. I guess I expected more of a focus on external apps as opposed to the ones that are already built-in. Apps I use include Mocha VNC, Mocha Remote Desktop, YouNote, iCatchall (neat file storing app with other functions), Snapture, MobileTerminal, SBSettings, Categories, Tether and Winterboard. I also use Dropbox, but I find it to be sometimes slow.

Things is an absolute necessity even if you don't us any part of David Allen's GTD. It is a wonderful way to manage one's self. And Billings, particularly if you don't already have time tracking or invoicing software, is really handy if you need to log much more than after-the-fact guestimates. (who does those?? ;)