Mobile apps can help you improve your client service — and improve the way you conduct business outside the office. There are apps that can help you serve your clients better and even help your clients manage their spending.
Michael Newton, a Toronto-based portfolio manager with ScotiaMcLeod Inc., recommends three apps that help him at work and in his personal life:
1. Mint.com (www.mint.com)
For advisors who are comfortable saving their financial information online, Mint.com, from San Diego-based Intuit Inc., is a great way to organize and track your finances, according to Newton.
This app connects your various financial accounts in one place. You can access that information using one password, as opposed to visiting the individual websites of the various financial institutions.
The app claims bank-level security and is supported by many major Canadian financial institutions, such as Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia and Royal Bank of Canada.
Newton tracks his expenses through the app. Purchases made by credit card are automatically logged and can be categorized. For example, once you have classified a purchase at Petro-Canada as “fuel,” all future purchases made form that retailer will be automatically classified that way. You can even record purchases made using cash.
Newton recommends Mint.com to his clients as a cash-flow planning and budgeting tool. It automatically does much of the homework involved in determining cash flow.
“Mint.com is a painless and brainless way to figure out what your [client’s] cash flow is,” he says.
This free app is available for iPhones and Android smartphones.
2. Uber (www.uber.com)
Newton uses the ridesharing service Uber to pick up clients who are unfamiliar with Toronto or have mobility issues. Using this app, he can request a vehicle, even specifying an SUV, to pick up those clients for meetings, and has the service charged directly to his credit card.
The app is free but each trip requires payment.
A word of warning: While San Francisco-based Uber started out as a taxi-locating app, its new program, UberX, may involve vehicles and drivers operating outside the regulated taxi industry.
The app can be downloaded onto Android, BlackBerry and Windows smartphones as well as the iPhone, the iPad and the iPod Touch. Check Uber’s website to see if the service is available in your community.
3. OpenTable (www.opentable.com)
The OpenTable mobile app enables users to make restaurant bookings online. Newton uses OpenTable for his personal dining as well as for meals with his clients. The program has a rewards system through which frequent users accumulate points, which can be redeemed at any restaurants that participates in the program.
The app allows you to narrow your restaurant choice by criteria such as location, available dates and party size. You can then select the best option for you.
“What I love is that you can have it printed, time-stamped and confirmed in one second,” Newton says. “Then you get the confirmation from the restaurant and you forward it to the client.”
The free OpenTable app is available for Android, BlackBerry and Apple devices. Check the OpenTable website to see if restaurants in your city have signed on.