10 Nifty Mobile Business Applications

Following Apple’s lead, Microsoft, Nokia and Blackberry are launching their own online apps store for mobile devices. Here are Channel Insider’s choices for mobile apps that these vendors should stock for mobile users.

Afaria is a mobile management security application that automatically updates and locks down mobile devices. With Afaria, a company can manage and secure multiple device types, applications, data and communications through the IT staff, freeing mobile workers from performing software and security updates and ensuring each device is both up to date and secure.

Smartphone users who need access to the data on their enterprise servers are in luck. Aton Connect for Windows Mobile Smartphone uses variations of the TELNET protocol to communicate directly in TN3270, TN5250 or VT220 formats, allowing users to access mainframes, AS 400s and UNIX/Linux servers using their company’s existing infrastructure.

BusinessObjects Mobile allows users to access business intelligence reports, metrics and real-time data in an easy-to-read format optimized for the mobile device. Less sexy than most iPhone apps, this BI workhorse is indispensable for users who need such information at a moment’s notice.

The mbPointer for iPhone is a PowerPoint slide show remote control for Windows, allowing users to advance slides, add annotations, scroll, write on the slides using the pen/cursor and more. It works with both Microsoft Windows XP and Vista and PowerPoint 2003 and 2007.

Network issues happen anytime – and most often at the most inconvenient times. Mobile Admin enables network administrators to reset passwords, reboot servers, manage users, services and print jobs and much more from their smartphones. Mobile Admin manages numerous platforms and applications, including Windows, Active Directory, Exchange, Domino, Citrix, Oracle and Novell.

My Eyes Only is a password and personal data encryption program for the iPhone that stores information in 512-bit or 256-bit RSA encryption depending on the size of the entry field. The information is stored only on the mobile device, not on a server. According to the company, the encryption is so strong it needed government approval before the app could be sold in the United States.

Pivotal CRM for Blackberry is a full CRM solution for road warriors, allowing them to input customer information on the fly so their managers have up-to-date metrics on every deal, enabling them to grant approvals promptly, push deals forward at every stage and help close business sooner – a neat trick if your bonus depends on how quickly your sales are logged.

Search 2GO for the iPhone is a search tool for Salesforce.com, enabling users to find contacts, leads, accounts and opportunities. The read-only tool allows users to view record details. It works with all Salesforce versions except Personal and Group.

This nifty program for the iPhone is a comprehensive spreadsheet program that has all the bells and whistles of its distant cousin Microsoft Excel at a fraction of the cost. It’s compatible with other spreadsheet programs that support the XML format, such as Excel.

Vettro 360 for ITSM enables technicians to dispatch, update and close out incidents dynamically via BlackBerry. Vettro 360 allows users to handle the entire Incident and Change Management process virtually, enabling them to close more trouble tickets quickly, enter new ones on the fly, ensure service level agreements (SLAs) are met and capture the performance data to prove it.