Just like a lot of business owners, financial advisors need to find ways to streamline their digital business management. Luckily, developers understand and therefore continue to roll out apps designed to make all of our lives easier.

Here is our list of must-have apps to simplify your day-to-day transactions:

 

Evernote lets you take notes and sync files across devices. While it’s true there are other cloud solutions for keeping and syncing notes, Evernote acts as a one-stop shop. We love how easy it is to make a checklist of things to do for a particular client, and the ability to make comments on saved files too.

“The key aspects of Evernote to me are the ability to record anything anywhere and access it on any computer/device, and the ability to share some of those notes/notebooks with others to collaborate.  Just a few of the ways I use Evernote include: keeping a running list of open personal To-Do items; a personal reminder list; an ongoing list of blog ideas (recorded on my mobile when they occur to me, and then loaded up for writing inspiration when I sit down); and a shared notebook with a list of business policies/procedures for my virtual assistant to access and have handy.”

– Michael Kitces, Partner and Director of Research for Pinnacle Advisory Group, and publisher of the financial planning industry blog Nerd’s Eye View.

“I get lots of great ideas all the time. Any idea worth remembering is typed or copied and pasted into Evernote. I can arrange my notes many ways. I have access from all of my devices and computers.”

– Tom Diem, President at Diem Wealth Management

 

HootSuite is a social media management system financial advisors can use to collaboratively execute campaigns across multiple social networks from one secure, web-based (or app-based) dashboard. Key social network integrations include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+, plus a suite of social content apps for YouTube, Flickr, Instagram, Yammer, Tumblr and more.  Hootsuite not only helps you stay on track with your social media management, the dashboard also offers a robust analytics report module.

“Hootsuite allows me to manage all social networks through one site. The simplicity of responding to posts and tweets from one app saves time and effort-especially when I can’t be at my desk all day.”

– Meaghan Scott, Marketing Associate, First Affirmative Financial Network

 

“Hootsuite has made our social media lives a lot easier.  The ability to schedule many of our posts ahead of time keeps us consistent throughout the month.  This way we are still free to add that ‘in the moment’ content that we feel is interesting without the daily pressure of having to find something to post.”

– Dan Elliott, Edgewood Financial Network

 

The LinkedIn Pulse app is a newsreader that allows you to get up-to-the-minute updates from across the web, from other financial professionals, and about what’s trending. You can save articles to read later, share insights and sync across devices.

“LinkedIn Pulse is a game changer for financial advisors. It offers easy to read news bites of the professional content and insights that matter. Advisers can personalize their feed by selecting from hundreds of trusted sources including LinkedIn Influencers. Using Pulse, advisers can see what’s trending among professionals worldwide and join the conversation by liking content, commenting or sharing articles with their networks.”

– Dan Swift, Director Financial Services, LinkedIn

“I’m a news junkie, so I’m a big fan of LinkedIn Pulse. It’s great how the stories are broken down by publication and by theme. You can also easily share the articles to all of your social media channels right from there.”

– Amy Sitnick, Senior Marketing Manager, SEI Advisor Network

Sign-N-Send is a fantastic app for doing business on the road. Developers use a cutting-edge app technology that makes it easy to sign legal documents with your finger on an iOS device and instantly send via email. Not only can you sign and modify a PDF on the go, you can also access it from desktop programs such as Mail and Safari.

“Traveling to conferences, events and client meetings is a regular part of doing business in the financial services industry. We’ve found Sign-n-Send convenient because business doesn’t stop when we are on the road. We’re able to comment on or sign off on documents in real time, keeping things moving forward.”

– Alana Kohl, President, Advisor PR

 

Buffer is similar to Hootsuite in that it is a social media management tool. Whereas Hootsuite focuses its features on the ability to access a variety of accounts with in-depth metrics and a preschedule feature, Buffer makes it incredibly easy to schedule them so that they drip out at the perfect time for the specific network.

“Bufferapp – both the free and paid versions – make it easy for communication pros to schedule and share info with their audiences. I use it both personally and professionally to spread out my updates. I might be uber creative at 10am and craft 20 updates on a variety of topics. Bufferapp allows me to spread out those tweets/updates and avoid inundating my followers and friends.”

– Jeff Cutler, Content Specialist at JeffCutler.com

 

CamScanner turns your mobile device into a scanner with the click of a button. Simply take a photo of a document and the technology converts it into a digital file that you can send electronically. Even better, CamScanner recognizes the text contained in the document so that you can easily search for it later. Additionally, features such as password protection, watermarks, and sharing features make it ideal for any financial office.

“I use CamScanner when I’m not in my office and need a copy of a client document. I take a picture of the document and it’s instantly a PDF. Then I can email it to my office or place it right in our electronic document file.”

– Leonard Raskin, Owner, Raskin Global

 

Hands down one of my favorite apps for financial advisors! Easily-Do is fairly new to the app scene and is already getting a ton of press for its ingenuity. This app connects with Facebook and LinkedIn and acts as a personal assistant by alerting you of important events taking place in the lives of your social connections. Similar to Hearsay Social’s “Social Signals,” you’ll receive notifications for birthdays, job changes and posts that are gaining significant engagement such as the birth of a child, graduations, selling a house, etc. You can even reply and comment directly within the app. Between Facebook and LinkedIn, I have over 8,000 connections and Easily-Do helps to make sure I don’t miss an important life event for any of them.

 

These are just seven of our favorites! What apps have you found work well in your company?

About Amy McIlwain
Author, speaker, and President at Financial Social Media, Amy McIlwain speaks at events around the world ranging from audiences of 1000 to small executive boardrooms. She’s appeared on FOX, CBS, ABC, and NBC as a social media expert and her book, The Social Advisor: Social Media Secrets of the Financial Industry, has been featured as a best-seller in the Amazon business category. Hire Amy to speak at your next event! Visit www.amymcilwain.com