When companies send employees on business trips, it’s not just about catching flights and attending meetings. It’s like a dance; they’ve got to strike the right balance to squeeze out every bit of productivity. Ensuring the trip counts.
Increasing the business value as a percentage of the travel costs is a great way to achieve high productivity levels. Let’s dive into this whole business travel thing. We need to roll up our sleeves and dissect the numbers. We’re talking about weighing the costs against the value we get. Those hidden expenses, like ticket changes and that ‘help needed after hours’ scenario? Yes, we’ve got to put those under the microscope.
But here’s the clincher: making travel as smooth as possible. That’s the golden ticket. No wonder the productivity app industry is expected to reach a market volume of $7.22 billion by 2027. To enable the best levels of productivity, here are some of the top apps:
- Triplt: For Hassle-Free Travel
Triplt is a travel planner mainly focusing on business travel but can be used for vacations, too. Triplt can create travel schedules by combining all details of your trip in a single location. You can organize, manage, and track your travel routes without any hassle. Besides working your itinerary, it also ensures you reach your destination promptly and have a smooth time during the travel.
How It Works
It establishes your travel schedule from the details like accommodation, flight, and hotel booking confirmations. You can add the information manually or automatically to the app.
When the itinerary is ready, you can share it with others. You can sync it or make changes if needed. All members should have an account to ensure efficient travel management while group travel.
While the basic package is free, the premium packages have the most features, starting from $49 per year.
- Evernote: Best Data Organizer
Regarded as one of the top productivity apps, Evernote allows you to eliminate the burden of carrying your hard copies. The note-taking app stores your data on the cloud. Imagine having all your ideas, images, notes, audio clips, videos, and documents together in one cozy digital corner.
How It Works
You can write notes, upload images and other attachments, and organize your work and/or personal files. The app allows you to create a space for your essential concepts and work details, which you can access using the search and keyword tags. You can sync the notes to your smartphones and access them offline.
A free basic plan is present but has limited features. Alright, let’s talk money. If you’re eyeing that premium version, it will set you back $7.99 monthly. But hang on because this isn’t your basic package. That’s right. With the premium deal, you get a serious bang for your buck. Think document scanning, emails that hop right into your inbox, scribbling notes on PDFs, and many powerful sharing options. It’s like they’ve thrown in the whole toolbox and then some.
- Expensify: The Best Trip Planner
Planning a business trip can take hours, but with a trip planner like Expensify, the process is quick and easy. For meeting the needs of a small business team, an app like Expensify is very handy.
Okay, so let’s rewind a bit. Expensify started as this nifty tool to sort out the whole reimbursement and accounting deal for your credit card. But hold onto your seat because it’s evolved into something way bigger. We’re talking about a full-blown app that’s like your travel BFF. From mapping out your travel plans to handling all those expenses, Expensify’s got your back.
How It Works
Let us give you the lowdown on this app. Imagine hopping on and instantly comparing ticket prices, hotel rates, and even rides. It can arrange everything from your transportation to booking hotels and flights. The app uploads booking receipts to your account, or you can take snaps of the receipts and upload them.
- Skyscanner: Get The Best Flight Ticket Deals
Skyscanner is where the magic happens if you’re all about scoring killer deals on flight tickets. Who doesn’t want to save some dollars, right?
Let’s get real here – those flight tickets? They’re like the heavyweight champs of your trip budget. They can eat up a chunk. And let’s not even talk about the nightmare of pricey flights throwing a wrench into your trip planning, whether for work or just to unwind.
How It Works
While search engines like Google and Bing provide information on the cheapest online flights, the choices are limited. With Skyscanner, an in-depth search feature is available, enabling you to get spectacular deals.
The search feature has several categories, ensuring easy sorting of the options and finding the right deals for you. Features like a whole month or cheapest month search help find the most affordable flights in and out of a location.
- PandaDoc: For An Efficient Workflow
For simplified digital transaction management, PandaDoc is a good choice. You can automate your workflow, sign documents, and complete other official tasks on the move. Pricing starts from $19 per month.
How It Works
Using the app quickly and efficiently, you can create proposals, contracts, quotes, etc. The app can help boost closing considerably.
Mainly used by marketing and sales teams, the app features include CRM integration, round-the-clock support, editing in-app, reusable templates, and more. You can pick from the available templates for proposals and customize them.
- SignalHire: Boost Productivity At All Times
SignalHire is a cloud-supported app. It provides a multitude of features that have value to companies. If you are looking for improved productivity, the services offered by SignalHire go above and beyond your expectations.
The app offers access to an enormous database with 10 million companies. We’re talking 200 industry sectors and more than 200 million candidates. Whether you are looking to hire candidates or want an integrated CRM application or business intelligence, the service is the go-to solution. It has a free trial available (five credits). The cost starts from $39 per month (when billed annually).
How It Works
SignalHire is like having a treasure trove of contact details at your fingertips. We’re talking emails, phone numbers, even social media profiles – the whole shebang. So, whether you’re tracking down a potential candidate or a prospect, this app’s got your back.
But hold up, there’s more. If you’re in the business of understanding the job market’s vibe, this app’s your secret weapon. It’s like having a crystal ball that reveals the employment mood of professionals.
Marketers looking for factual information on their prospective clients or competitors will find this app useful. Since it provides information quickly and accurately, it is a top-rated service. You can accumulate candidate profiles from public networks or add them manually from sites like LinkedIn.
- Google Translate: Best Free Translation Tool
Language barriers can prevent you from making the most of your business trips. The free app can translate handwriting, documents, voice messages, text in moving or fixed images, and more. More than a billion users worldwide use Google Translate.
How It Works
So, you’ve got this neural machine translation algorithm at play – and yes, it’s powered by the magic of artificial intelligence.
But here’s the kicker: this app does more than word swaps. It’s got a bigger game plan. It uses AI wizardry to offer a translation that’s like seeing the whole picture, not just puzzle pieces. That’s some next-level translating right there.
You can type, write, speak, or even point your smart device at a menu or sign for translation. The interpreter mode uses real-time translations so you can converse with someone speaking a different language.
- WiFi Map: No More Connectivity Issues
Let’s dive into a tech tool that’s like having a WiFi superhero in your pocket. But ugh, there’s nothing worse than hitting a WiFi black hole when working – talk about a buzzkill!
Enter WiFi Map – your WiFi fairy godmother. This app’s like your personal detective, sniffing out those sweet, sweet, free WiFi spots when you’re out and about. So, no more pulling your hair out when you’re stuck without a connection.
How It Works
On setting up an account in the app, the app navigates you to the closed shared hotspots and lets you view passwords to connect to the internet.
Boosting Productivity On The Fly Is Easier Than You Think
Traveling on short notice can disrupt your workflow and impact your productivity negatively. But with the list of best productivity apps mentioned above, you can ensure you manage your business operations efficiently.
Alright, let’s wrap this up with a neat bow! We’ve covered many apps that are your travel companions for a stress-free journey that amps your productivity and keeps your plans in perfect order.