Can you run a small business on a smartphone?

Customers and businesses are using smartphones these days to research and purchase goods and services online. Can the small business owner also operate their business entirely from the smartphone? The answer is yes.

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Can you run a small business on a smartphone?

Business benefits-at-a-glance

  • Cloud-based office software apps give business owners the ability to create and collaborate anytime and anywhere on their smartphone
  • Installing communications apps on your smartphone means you can always reply to customers or colleagues
  • A Bluetooth keyboard means business owners can write longer and more detailed responses when required
  • Credit card readers and financial software allow small business to process credit card transactions and keep up to date on their financial accounts from their smartphone
  • E-signatures are legally recognised and can be accepted on smartphones

01 Feb 2019 | SMB, Mobility, Software as a Service, Online Store, Digitalisation | 5-min read

Today’s smartphones have so much computing power that the latest smartphones could have been used to guide 120 million Apollo-era spacecrafts to the moon, all at the same time. In fact, the most powerful smartphones can process 3.36 billion instructions per second – 32,600 times faster than the best Apollo-era computers.

The sophisticated features of today’s smartphones mean people can execute many tasks while they are on the move, which has a major positive impact on productivity. But, could you run a small business from your smartphone? The short answer is, yes.  

Many people are successfully selling their goods and services, answering important documents, sending quotes and signing contracts on the go. All from their handheld device. Here are a few tips for dialling up business success.

Office apps

Work on productivity solutions like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace that you can access from your smartphone. Running from the cloud, these office apps allow you to create and share documents. Collaboration is improved as you don't need to rely on thumb drives or sharing via email.

There's also no need for tracking changes as you're always working on the latest document. The solution then automatically synchronises your files and work across desktop and mobile versions, ensuring you're able to access them anywhere. If multiple employees are out on the road they can all contribute to reports and presentations from their preferred mobile device.  

E-signatures

Use a digital transaction management and e-signature app like Adobe Sign to digitalise and simplify your workflow, saves time and keeps your business moving. Today, e-Signatures are legal and admissible in Singapore's courts. This makes a solution like Adobe Sign - that lets you send, track and sign documents on the mobile device of your choice without having to maintain a traditional paper trail - a viable option to increase your effectiveness on the go.

Payments & Finance

For small business owners who rely on face-to-face sales, a mobile credit card reader allows smartphones to complete card transactions. PayPal has one that is easily integrated into the platform’s system.

If you need easy access to company accounts, Deskera gives you up-to-date financial records on your smartphone. 

Easy Communications

Operating business communications from your phone means you can reply to customers and colleagues in a timely fashion. The great thing about apps like Skype, Google Hangouts and WhatsApp is that they let you stay in touch for free in a secure, mobile environment. 

Many of these communication devices are included in office software packs – Teams with Microsoft 365 and Hangouts with Google products. You can even extend office phone features to your smartphone with Singtel BizVoice Unified Communications (UC). A mobile extension of the cloud-based telephony service, Singtel Bizvoice, includes video conferencing, call transfer, hold music and more.

If you keep in touch with customers through social media, you can download apps for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and so on to keep the channels open. 

Mobile plans

Running your business from your smartphone gives you freedom and flexibility. With this in mind, you probably don't want to get locked into a phone plan that doesn't suit your business needs. Look for a business SIM only plan that gives you the large amounts of data and talk time you need to get your work done.

Consider keeping one phone for personal use, and another for business. Your business phone is your office, not where you play games and chat on Facebook.

Bluetooth accessories

Keep a portable Bluetooth keyboard handy so you can hook it up to your smartphone to type out longer, more detailed responses when required. Longform emails are still part of day-to-day business but aren’t easy to tap on smaller screens. Having access to a keyboard means you can spend 30-minutes in a café focussing on these forms of communication.

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