10 Fantastic Apps For Business Travelers

So you are all set to embark on your next business trip.

You meticulously make a note: Travel light. Pack Small.

You made those calls and confirmed all your meetings.

Great! Fantastic! But here’s the thing, this is just the beginning.

There are flights to catch, rooms to book, cabs to hail and the most dreaded job of all, preparing the expense report.

Now, you don’t want to end up being unprepared for any of it. That’s not only going to cost you a lot of money but also make you lose your sanity.

With a handful of apps, life on the road can get really smooth. Here are 10 fantastic business apps that will save you a lot of hassle and let you travel with ease.

Apps For Business Travelers

1. TripIt- Keep your master travel itinerary at one place

How does this brilliant app help you?

It’s quite simple. All you have to do is forward all confirmation emails to your TripIt account and the app takes care of everything. TripIt keeps all your travel information at one place. From hotel bookings and flight schedules for all your car rentals and meetings, TripIt organizes all information systems.

There’s another plus point; this app lets you share this information with your friends, family and co-workers. Moreover, it lets you access your travel plans on any device and even when you are offline.

Imagine how sorted your business trip can get!

Availability: iPhone, iPad, Windows Phone 7, Android, Blackberry

2. Yelp

Looking for good places to eat, while dreaming about scrumptious burritos or maybe that earthy Italian wine?

Yelp is your ideal solution.

The app helps you find restaurants and shops by categories or search terms. So all this information is in the palm of your hand!

Important piece of advice: Don’t blindly trust the reviews. The online word of mouth in this case might be misleading as the reviews are written by anyone and everyone. So, they need to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Availability: iPhone, Android

3. Google Translate- Breaking the language barrier

When going to a different country for a business trip, language barrier can be one of the biggest hurdles. In fact, it is one of the most common challenges in the international business environment.  A little conversation starter can lighten that uneasiness.

With its two new incredibly excellent features: real-time voice and sign translation, Google Translate works effectively. The app will help you navigate your new surroundings in no time.

Availability: iPhone, Android

4. FlightTrack Pro- Track flights in seconds

FlightTrack Pro offers all your flight details at your fingertips and that too within seconds. You can track your flights worldwide with big beautiful maps. (Bonus: They are available offline too.) The app provides you with all the information such as gate numbers, delays and real time departure.

Also, if your flight gets cancelled, FlightTrack Pro is right there to help you find an alternate flight with a swipe and tap.

Availability: iPhone

5. Evernote- Makes you more organized

Photos, screenshots, texts, voice notes or any other piece of information- you name it and Evernote will make sure you capture and organize it systematically. From short texts to detailed research, the app lets you write and save notes of all types.

Evernote helps compartmentalize all your information that matters, thereby ensuring you don’t forget the important details of your meeting or your travel arrangements.

Availability:  iPhone, Chrome OS, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, Microsoft Windows, webOS, OS X

6. Google Maps

When it comes to location services, Google Maps is one of the most remarkable apps that instantly come to your mind. The app is undoubtedly the king of digital maps. That’s perhaps the reason why the app sees an average of more than 79 million unique users per month. With constant improvements and the addition of new features, Google Maps remains the market leader in map apps.

Availability: iPhone, Android

Price: Free

7. Expensify- Track your expenses with ease

Keeping a track of all the travel expenses can be a hassle. It’s very easy to lose a receipt or to forget how much you paid for a dinner the other night. But with Expensify by your side, you need not worry any more. The app allows you to keep track of a variety of expenses. You can enter the expenses manually, you could scan your receipts with the SmartScan feature, or you could simply mail these receipts to receipts@expensify.com. And then you can instantly catalog them. With Expensify, you can now stay on top of your finances as you travel along.

Availability: iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Windows

8. HotelTonight- Booking last-minute rooms just got convenient

With HotelTonight, you are just five clicks away from booking your hotel anytime, anywhere. Yes, you read that right! In case you forgot to book your hotel in advance, HotelTonight acts as your savior. The app lets you find amazing places to stay and even book a room on your very day of arrival. Booking hotel rooms at the last minute and that too the ones that fall in your price range can be an arduous task. But now with the HotelTonight app, you can put those worries aside.

Availability: iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone

9. Kayak- Your travel agent

From car rentals and flight bookings to currency conversion, Kayak helps get your hands on all kinds of travel information in no time; and with the newly added feature Price Forecasts, you can choose the best flight deals on Kayak. With Kayak on your device, you wouldn’t even need a travel agent.

Availability: iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows 7, kindle

10. Viber- Avoid insane phone bills and stay in touch

So you are travelling outside your country, well in that case Viber is what you need the most to save yourself from insanely large phone bills. Free voice calls, video calls and instant messages over the internet- that’s Viber app at its best.

Just as a search engine is synonymous with Google, free calls are becoming synonymous with Viber.

Availability:  Android, iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Phone, Nokia, Bada, Mac, Microsoft

Having these apps on your mobile device, will help you get through the tediousness and hassle of modern travel. Your business trip will undoubtedly be more productive and hassle free.

The post 10 Fantastic Apps For Business Travelers appeared first on Small Business Can.

Downloadable Excel Financial Spreadsheets

Here’s 8 pretty fundamental financial spreadsheets that every small business needs to have. All are in excel. All are templates and all are downloadable.

Profit and loss

This spreadsheet will help you to prepare a projected profit and loss account as part of your Operating Budget, in a format suitable for inclusion in your Business Plan. Download the Operating Budget Profit and Loss spreadsheet.

Receipts

This spreadsheet will help you to record and analyse receipts made by your business. Download the Receipts spreadsheet.

Overheads

This spreadsheet will help you to analyse the overheads your business is likely to incur, in a format suitable for inclusion in your Business Plan. Download the Operating Budget Analysis of Overheads spreadsheet.

Cashflow

This spreadsheet will help you to prepare a projected cashflow for your business, in a format suitable for inclusion in your Business Plan. Download the Cashflow spreadsheet.

Sales and Profit

This spreadsheet will help you to estimate your business’ likely sales and gross profit, in a format suitable for inclusion in your Business Plan. Download the Operating Budget:Estimate of Sales and Gross Profit spreadsheet.

Expenses

This spreadsheet will help you to record and analyse petty cash expenses for your business. Download the Petty Cash spreadsheet.

Payments

This spreadsheet will help you to record and analyse payments made by your business. Download the Payments spreadsheet.

3 Year Projected Cashflow

This spreadsheet will help you to summarise three years’ projected cashflows for your business, in a format suitable for inclusion in your Business Plan. Download the Cashflow:Summary spreadsheet.

The post Downloadable Excel Financial Spreadsheets appeared first on Small Business Can.

Offaly Gearbox: A Mobile Garage Concept

Every week we feature companies that have been successful in accessing funding from Microfinance Ireland.

Microfinance Ireland gives loans to small businesses and start ups in every sector up to 25,000 Euro. If you are interested in funding, check out the http://microfinanceireland.ie/how-to-apply/

Offaly Gearbox

Offaly Gearbox is mobile garage concept, from, you guessed it, Offaly. Specialising in, you guessed it right again, gearboxes and transmissions. What is particularly unique and interesting is, what is called the Osinski techniques, named after the inventor, Piotr Osinski. The technique is patent pending.

A family business

Offaly GearBox Ltd. is a family company. They have over 25 years experience in the automotive industry in Poland, Germany and Ireland.  They specialise in repairs/recondition and adjustment of transmission and all kind gearboxes using their specialised knowledge/technique.

Piotr Osinski is the principal driving force in the company and he has proven exceptional skill in accurate diagnosis of gearbox problems and the repair of complex defects. Since arriving in Ireland 7 years ago Piotr Osinski has build up a reputation as a provider of exceptional skills in this area.

He has created a recognition of his skills among main dealer garages which is a key factor in allowing him to transfer world-class GearBox repairs to the market place. The company offer one of the most dynamic services and unique offerings in GearBox repairs in Ireland.

Their service

In their own words, their service is professional, based on the highest international standards. They are providing a unique service based on exceptional skill in the diagnostics and repair of defective gear boxes. The company is Ireland’s only service of repairs/recondition and adjustment of gear boxes of cars, vans and light commercial by using an innovative program “Mobile Garage” at the customer’s location.

They are mobile and focused on getting to the customer in a timely manner that is not on offer in the market at present.

Their primary service is the repair/recondition and adjustment of gear boxes of:

  • Cars
  • Vans
  • Light Commercial

In addition they provide complementary services in:

a) Repair and tuning of sports cars.

b) Repairs of rear and front differential

c) Repairs gear boxes of vintage cars

d) Repairs gear boxes of motor bikes

Visit

You can visit their website here http://offalygearbox.ie/

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