Planning to use your iPad for work? Here's an action plan for turning your iPad into a productivity machine.
If you've decided to use an iPad for work, you'll
need to treat it a little differently than if you were only going to use
it for personal reasons. Take an organized approach to setting up and
managing your iPad so that you can get the most business use from it.
How an iPad can be useful in a business setting varies drastically by
occupation, and it doesn't make sense for all types of professionals.
For example, I've heard of realtors who use iPads to not only show
potential buyers additional information about a property, but also to
communicate their location with other colleagues while they're out
showing homes. I've even known social services agencies that equip their
employees with iPads for taking notes when visiting clients because
iPads are lighter to carry and generally less expensive than laptops,
yet they still get the job done.
But using an iPad for work doesn't always make sense. If you spend most
of your working hours in one fixed location, an iPad probably isn't what
you need. If your job involves a lot of typing or managing large files
for an extended period of time, you might be better off investing in a
lightweight laptop or ultrabook for times when you need a portable
device. But don't underestimate the iPad's capabilities either. It can
handle some pretty intense work.
Once you've decided to use an iPad for work, here are some pointers for kitting it out.
What to Install on an iPad for Business Use
The apps you'll need for your business-use iPad will largely depend on
your line of work, but a few apply to most professionals across the
board.
An excellent app to install is one that lets you access all the files
and data that live on your primary computer back in the office or at
home.
(free for app, requires $19.95 software installed on your PC or Mac)
enables complete remote control of your other computer from your iPad.
Be sure to install the GoToMyPC software on your computer first.
Office Files
Citrix GoToMyPC
If you don't need complete remote access to your desktop, a simpler solution is to use a file-syncing app such as Dropbox or SugarSync.
These apps will let you get to your files so you can share them with
others, but not necessarily edit them, depending on the file types you
have saved.
To open and edit files, you'll need proper office apps, and, as of
this writing, the 800-pound gorilla of office software, Microsoft,
doesn't have an iPad suite (although word on the street is we could see
one by November 2012). In lieu of Microsoft Office, you can use Apple's
own Pages, Numbers, and Keynote ($9.99 each, sold separately), which
together are known as iWork.
Apple makes its office apps even more attractive by providing syncing
services for you via iCloud, which means you wouldn't need to use
Dropbox or SugarSync for any iWork files (unless you wanted to create an
additional backup of all the files, which I highly recommend).
iWork is PCMag's Editors' Choice among iPad office suites, but two other options worth exploring are Quickoffice Pro HD ($19.99)—which integrates well with Google Docs/Drive, Dropbox, and Evernote—and the inexpensive Smart Office ($9.99), which works with Google Docs/Drive.
Notes Only
Not everyone needs a full office suite when they're mobile and using an
iPad to accomplish work. Heck, some people don't even need office apps
when they're in the office! But most of us do need to take notes, jot
down ideas, or annotate a photo or image. (One of my least favorite
things about iPads and iPhones is the inability to tag, write a caption
for, or rename the file of an image.)
My personal favorite note-taking app is Evernote
(free to $45 per year for Premium) because it has amazing search
functionality, great syncing, and plenty of other apps so you can
continue making more notes on your other devices. Evernote work best, in
my opinion, for plain-text typed notes, photos, and audio memos. A
better choice for sketched notes, like doodles and free-form diagrams,
is Penultimate (99 cents) which happens to be owned by Evernote, too.
For more enhanced typed notes and the ability to markup PDFs, Note Taker HD ($4.99) is the app to download. It lets you change colors, typefaces, point sizes, and also supports finger-drawing input.
File and Database Management
Keeping your business and personal life well ordered (and separate) on an iPad can be challenging. FileMaker's Bento 4
($9.99) aims to solve the problem. This organizational iPad app makes
it simple to create attractive databases in just minutes, thanks to 40
templates, a flexible editing system, and a clean, intuitive interface.
You can use Bento as a standalone app, or in conjunction with the Mac
app Bento 4 ($49) so that all your file-management work is synced
between your iPad and Mac.
For a deeper dive with databases, you can spend a good deal more money for FileMaker Go ($39.99), which syncs with FileMaker Pro and thus is a must-have app if you rely on the latter to get your job done.
Need to access an FTP server from your iPad? Try Captain FTP ($9.99). Captain FTP is both an FTP client and a file manager that turns your iPad into a storage device.
Specialty Business Apps
All the apps mentioned so far work in a wide range of context. These
next apps are more specialized, but if you fit the profile of the kind
of business professional who would need them, you won't want to be
without them.
Power.ME HD
($29.99) is a business task and project -management application
designed to handle "all aspects of life," says its maker. That's a lofty
statement for sure, but this iPad app (also available on the iPhone and
iPod Touch for $19.99) does a decent job of living up to that claim by
helping you manage workflow and share documents from Apple's mobile
devices as well as a PC Web browsers.
If "billable hours" is the name of your game, OfficeTime ($7.99) will do wonders for you by giving you tools that track how you spend your time on the iPad. It records billable hours to the minute and expenses to the penny, and contains tools for managing projects and clients with ease. When coupled with the desktop version of OfficeTime ($47), available for Windows and Mac, which adds an entire invoicing system, OfficeTime for iPad is one of the most valuable apps a busy professional can own.
Travelers who need to track their expenses for reimbursement might use the enterprise-level system Concur, which has its own iPad app so you can enter receipts as you collect them. Concur now also connects directly with TripIt, giving you even more ways to manage your business travel and the associated costs.
Some small business owners would rather give their employees money
ahead of time, rather than reimburse them. A really neat way to manage
how employees spend the company's money is with CSI globalVCard
(free for apps; requires CSI Corporate Card, issued in this case by
Regions Bank). CSI globalVCard is a virtual credit card service that
lets you issue individual virtual credit card from the corporate account
to specific employees. Each card has a specified amount, and can
include restrictions such as types of purchases allowed and number of
uses allowed.
Business Accessories for iPad
Case, Keyboard, and Stand
When it comes to accessorizing an iPad for business use, your best bet is to kill two birds with one stone by getting a ClamCase
($149) (fits the new iPad and iPad 2 only). While expensive, the
ClamCase does double duty by functioning as a protective case and giving
you a full QWERTY keyboard and clever 360-degree hinge that lets you
stand it up as if it were a laptop screen.
Stylus One last accessory: a stylus. We like the Pogo Sketch Pro stylus ($24.95), which is a great addition to the Penultimate note-taking app.
For more suggestions, see "Best iPad Business Apps."
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