Top iPhone apps for your business

With over 200,000 iPhone apps to choose from we look at some of the best...

Since the iPhone and its apps were introduced to the market in 2007, the idea of using the concept within a business model has excited organisations worldwide.

Founder of IFA Life, Philip Calvert believes this is just the beginning: "This is a market that will grow and grow and grow. It's really exciting and offers huge potential for IFAs to improve their own productivity as well as potential for new ways to engage with clients."

But, with 200,000 apps to choose from however, it is difficult to know where to start. Professional Adviser takes a look...

Business tools:

Scanner Pro:

· Scanner Pro is a handy tool for those meetings with new clients away from the office. Simply point the camera at any required identification documents, click, and the image will be converted into a PDF file, ready to upload, print or email back to the office for instant compliance.

· The app can also be used to document any receipts, business cards and articles or notes for future reference, keeping them all in one place and easy to find.

· Price: £3.99

Dropbox:

· Dropbox enables users to synchronise and share files across multiple computers and devices, meaning advisers will be able to access any documents saved to their desktop computer, on the go.

· Effectively replacing briefcases full of paper and files, Dropbox is useful for any work done whilst travelling and essential for meetings away from the office. Need information, graphs or spreadsheets for a client? Find it on your iPhone and share it with them there and then.

· Price: Free

HT Recorder:

· Perfect for meetings, seminars and conferences, HT Recorder transforms the phone into a handy Dictaphone, eliminating yet another thing for advisers to carry about when away from the office.

· The app records even when the speaker is several feet away. As well as this, it reinforces whispers, skips silences and enables users to email files to colleagues back at the office.

· Price: £1.79

Social Media:

TweetDeck:

· The introduction of smart-phones has meant social networking has sky rocketed, and the business opportunities advisers can take advantage of is a hot topic. Industry commentators agree that the networking, marketing and new business prospects have to be taken advantage of, and are hailing Twitter and Facebook as valuable tools to do just that.

· TweetDeck allows users to update and view their Twitter and Facebook profiles direct from their iPhone, meaning advisers can manage this business tool on the go.

· Price: Free

LinkedIn:

· LinkedIn is the social networking site for professionals, effectively looking to replace face to face networking and business card exchanges. The site enables the users to make contacts, view company and individual profiles and even set up meetings.

· The LinkedIn app means advisers can make use of all of this on the go; ensuring contact with over 70 million professionals worldwide is just a touch away.

· Price: Free

Financial News and Markets:

Bloomberg:

· Bloomberg is a professional's favourite for news on the world's financial markets, and its app means it can be accessed anytime, anywhere.

· It provides news, stock quotes, company profiles, market leaders/laggers, price charts and market trend analysis along with a popular customisable homepage, meaning advisers can pick headlines from any market or Bloomberg category of their choice.

· Price: Free

Yahoo Finance:

· The iPhone's default applications already include Yahoo Stocks, but this upgrade consists of even more.

· Users can navigate to find real-time and after hours stock data, currencies, graphs, statistics and ‘Tech Ticker videos'. It stands out from the crowd with its research section, which enables users to browse broad industry categories, commodities, treasuries and markets.

· Price: Free

Industry:

Fidelity Investments:

· Anyone can download the Fidelity app to chart stocks, research the markets, read the news and maintain a watch list.

· Offering a new way for advisers to engage with clients however, customers have the added ability to trade and manage their accounts. Users can take advantage of the following: track portfolios; trade stocks, mutual funds, ETFs and options; compare stocks and monitor the market with up to the minute streaming news and quotes.

· Price: Free

True Potential:

· Members of IFA service provider, True Potential, have access to this app which offers real time client valuations as well as secure access to data including historic investment performance and fund choices.

· The app has impressed the industry, and AT8's Mark Loosmore describes it a ‘very useful application and a really nice solution'. Available also to clients, it works towards the belief that advisers need to able to provide their clients with information in a number of ways.

· Price: Free

Dynamic Planner - Risk Profiling:

· Distribution Technology (DT) offers this app to profile client risk and acts as a perfect example of how the iPhone can improve the adviser/client relationship.

· The app, a favourite of Informed Choice managing director Martin Bamford, uses DT's core ten question psychometric risk questionnaire and provides advisers with a simple and effective way of educating clients about investment risk and risk profiling prior to a meeting.

· Price: Free

Coming soon...

IFA Life:

· The social networking site for financial advisers, IFA Life, is set to release three iPhone apps within the next year.

· Founder Philip Calvert assures the first will be out within the month and will give users the IFA Life ‘experience' on their iPhone. The second, a consumer facing app entitled Find an IFA, is ‘completely new within the industry' and the third, to come later in the year "will be groundbreaking for the industry and is ‘top secret'," says Calvert.