5 Helpful iPhone Apps for Firms and In-house Counsel
Weeding out the Best of the Best in Office Apps
The Apple App Store has literally hundreds of thousands of applications in its library. With so many to choose from, how do you know which apps are relevant to your work? You certainly do not want to pay and download one, only to have it be a big FAIL.
Here are five iPhone apps recommended by Entrepreneur Magazine that could be quite useful for busy firm attorneys and corporate counsel.
This expense-tracking app is particularly useful for small firm lawyers, or solo attorneys.
Users can manage their expenses on the iPhone using the app's options and features, or export the data to QuickBooks, an Excel spreadsheet, a CSV file, or in XML format. Since CSV data is also ASCII text data--with the fields separated by commas--you can export an expense report to any text-based application on any platform. You can use predefined expenses or add your own; choose from expense, mileage, or time; then just add the data requested by the other fields, such as vendor, category, date, description, and then watch the running total. Touchscreen buttons provide options to sort, export, save, and restore backups.
The Receipt Reader service, which takes a scanned or photographed receipt, deciphers the text on that document, and sends it back to your iPhone.
Free (optional ProOnGo Receipt Reader has subscription fees based on number of scanned receipts).
2. Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite
The primary advantage of this app is the capability to view, create, open, and edit Microsoft Office files on your iPhone.
$9.99.
Don't let the funny name fool you. This app can be quite useful. It is an excellent time saver for lawyers who deal with lots of people, in person, on a daily basis.
Setup is easy; just follow the application's prompts. When you meet another "Bumper," both users must open the app on both devices; bump hands while holding the phones, abd then confirm the exchange. The application checks for duplicates, and it compares contact lists for shared entries.
Free.
4. Workday
Workday allows management to review, approve, and sign off on employees' expense reports, time sheets, and vacation requests. It also provides a quick method for HR and purchasing departments to secure approval for new hires, terminations, requisitions, purchase orders, and other such documents. Plus, it's a breeze for remote workers to secure approval on any document.
Be aware, however, that although Workday for iPhone is free, the core application, Workday Solutions, is not. This program requires a subscription to Workday.
This is an ideal app for small firms that contract out payroll to another payroll management service.
SurePayroll provides a long list of features, including calculating wages and deductions, managing payroll taxes, issuing checks or direct deposit funds to your employees, providing 24/7 online access to files, sending alerts, and providing labor law information. The service also includes tight security protocols, employee self-service options, HR tools and support, time clock options, and accounting software integration with programs such as QuickBooks, Peachtree, and MYOB.
Price is based on payroll frequency and number of employees.
All of these apps are available now at the Apple iPhone Store.
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