Does the Smartphone Herald the Computerless Office?
Remember the 1980’s dream of a paperless office? One where electronic records would replace printed documents, thereby saving the environment? Although that dream may not have materialized, use of paper has levelled off since the millennium, as Smart phones and cloud technology (remote storage of digital data that mitigates against technology failures) have found their feet.

It’s these technologies, rather than the desktop PC or in house server that have really impacted on the way we communicate, allowing always on Internet connections and multi user access to documents anywhere, anytime.
So, does the smartphone, with its apps and gadgets, spell the end of the office PC? Probably not. The benefits of a large screen, fast broadband and higher processing power will probably allow the PC (or Mac) to hold on to its place on the desk, just as the filing cabinet still has its part to play in most businesses.

What it does mean, however, is small businesses can take advantage of new technology to make the most of their enhanced agility in the marketplace. It’s now cheaper and easier than ever to stay connected, organized and coordinated, on the go.
Here are our top five uses for the smartphone in business:

1. Voice Over IP
While it’s great that mobile call costs have fallen in recent years, particularly while roaming abroad, stray over your contract allowance, and call costs add up rapidly. VoIP apps allow you to make local and international calls much cheaper than landline or mobile service providers. Add a Skype, Viber or Fring app to your smartphone and you can even make video calls, reducing the need to travel to meetings.

2. CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
Zoho, Zendesk, SuperOffice, even Microsoft is getting in on the mobile CRM act with Dynamics. Although you could keep track of your customer relationships using the native calendar and contacts functions on your smartphone, shopping around for a CRM app that suits your needs can take the headache out of the job.

3. Social Media
Most smartphones come with Facebook, Twitter and other social media apps preinstalled these days, for good reason. If you’re not on social sites, you’re not part of the conversation about your brand. Smart business owners don’t use all these individual apps to keep track, though, opting to install a multi-site aggregator to make social interaction across multiple platforms a simple process. Apps like Tweetdeck remains the best app for managing multiple social accounts and profile, even allowing you to schedule tweets and Facebook status updates for personal and fan pages in the future.

4. Admin
Time management, billing, mileage, whatever your admin needs you’ll find an app that helps you keep track of all your important information. Evernote is particularly popular, allowing you to view and store PDF files on your mobile tablets, which would normally need you to view the live PDF rather than be able to save it.

5. Document Retrieval
Share a single copy of important documents across sales and back office teams using remote storage services such as Dropbox and GoogleDrive, so you know you’re presenting potential clients with the most up to date information even if it’s been edited while you’re en route to a meeting.

Whilst businesses are taking full advantage of new mobile technology it could be some time before data download will reach the same speed as your office or home based broadband, couple this with a tiny screen its going to be a while before you throw your desktop pc or laptop out for recycling.

Dean Williams

Dean Williams is a design and marketing blogger working for Print-Print Limited, promoting business and building brands through quality print marketing. If you’re interested in small business promotion then please get in touch hello@print-print.co.uk