Life as a mobile employee undoubtedly requires lots of focus, energy, attention to detail, and patience. You’re a sales rep for a large pharmaceutical company. Or you’re stocking shelves from one grocery store to the next. Regardless, you’re certain every day challenges are sure to surface and stifle your ability to conquer. The reality is, we now live in a society that is dictated by technology. There seems to be an app for everything nowadays, helping us navigate life with more at our fingertips. The workforce is becoming exponentially more mobile. Employees have opportunities to stay more organized, resourceful and increasingly more productive in the field. Here are five apps for mobile workers that are absolutely essential to mobile employee’s success.
YourMechanic (Free – Android and iOS)
Let’s say you’ve just started your day and your car breaks down as you hit the highway. That’s gonna stop you from conducting early morning business. What do you do? Look no further than YourMechanic. YourMechanic, in a nutshell, provides drivers with easy access to car maintenance and repairs by providing on-demand repair shop options (over 600!), specific repair estimates and more. Drivers have the ability to find the best mechanics around, eliminating the possibility and apprehension of being overcharged for daunting and burdensome car maintenance.
GasBuddy (Free – Android and iOS)
There is truly nothing worse than cruising down the road and glancing over at your dashboard, only to notice your gas tank is nearly empty, all the while being clueless as to where the closest gas station is located. Enter Gasbuddy. Gasbuddy could be thought of as the RepairPal for gas. In essence, GasBuddy uses GPS functionality to assist drivers in finding the most affordable gas at the nearest location. It’s that simple.
Wunderlist (Free – Android and iOS, Pro – $4.99/month or $49.99/year)
It’s no secret, mobile employees face the everyday dilemma of multi-tasking. Driving from stop to stop and being out in the field to carry out business can be overwhelming in and of itself. Never mind the fact that employees also must manage administrative tasks such as maintaining a book of clients, scheduling meetings and more. This is where Wunderlist comes in handy. Many consider Wunderlist a personal to-do list assistant. With Wunderlist, mobile employees can keep track of and prioritize their everyday activity by setting due dates, creating reminders, and even sharing activity with coworkers or family. Even better, Wunderlist immediately syncs data between devices. Mobile workers are now better suited to crush the immediate task at hand and accelerate productivity thanks to the good folks over at Wunderlist. Even cooler, the TEDBlog has recommended Wunderlist as one of the best apps to stay organized.
Mint (Free – Android and iOS)
Keeping manual track of finances and spending habits can certainly be a time of stress for the mobile employee. Look no further than Mint. Apps such as RepairPal, GasBuddy, and Wunderlist serve as personal assistants for the purposes of cheap gas, affordable repairs, and personal organization. Mint performs a similar function – for personal finances. Drivers using Mint can monitor bank accounts (which includes their vehicle reimbursements!), track spending, debt and more. With less time focused on the management of personal (and perhaps) business finances, mobile employees are able to stay in motion and get more accomplished in the field.
Waze (Free – Android and iOS)
Let’s just say, hypothetically, you’re on your way to your first business stop and there’s a ton of traffic, a police stop, and a dead animal smack dab in the center of the road. Not the ideal way to start a work day, right? Well, fortunately, there’s now a way to avoid all of this. Enter Waze. If there were the proverbial “Renaissance Man” for mobile applications for mobile workers, it would undoubtedly be Waze. Waze gives drivers the ability to view traffic data and share real-time road incidents with the use of GPS technology. Overall, Waze can enable mobile employees to improve and expedite their commutes by a long shot, ultimately leading to the utmost efficiency out in the field. Certainly high on the list of apps for mobile workers.
