10 Great Android Apps For Collaboration
The best mobile apps are not just for iPhone and iPad anymore. These collaboration-minded apps help turn your Android smartphone or tablet into an essential business tool.
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The menu of available mobile devices seems to grow longer by the day, thanks in large part to an increasing number of Android phones and tablets. But what makes those devices true business tools? The apps, of course. Take tablets: Apple's iPad may have led the way, but now a new wave of Android devices using the Honeycomb version of the operating system, such as the Motorola Xoom or Samsung Galaxy Tab, are giving businesses more choice in their mobile arsenal. The tablet is clearly finding its way into the enterprise, whether on a corporate purchase order or as a personal device brought into the office. No matter its origin, the range of productive--and hopefully profitable--uses for both tablets and phones is rapidly expanding, as business-ready applications continue to roll out and mature. That's perhaps most evident in the collaboration world. The inherent mobility and diversity of Android-based devices make them weapons for efficient, effective collaboration--provided they're armed with the right apps.
These 10 apps help Android-based devices become just that: weapons for enterprise collaboration. They cover a variety of business functions including productivity, mobile analytics, video conferencing, file sharing, project management, social collaboration, and more. These apps foster collaboration across teams and companies--not just for the sake of it, but to produce bottom-line results. Sometimes collaboration extends beyond the organization--the same apps become tools for connecting with partners, investors, customers, prospects, and other business-critical groups.
The occasional catch with Android apps is whether they're strictly for smartphones or if they're optimized for Honeycomb-based tablets, too. Where applicable, we've called attention to that in the descriptions. No doubt the evolutionary cycle of these devices--and the apps that power them--is still in its early stage, and their enterprise power is poised for growth. But these apps prove that Android--tablet or phone--can mean business today.
Social media has become a serious channel not only for communicating with the general public but also for internal collaboration. That's especially true on tablets and other mobile devices, where brevity--often codified by rules such as Twitter's 140-character limit--is almost always a virtue. But there are many social applications, each with its own pros and cons. Enter Seesmic, a Web, desktop, and mobile interface for managing multiple Facebook, Foursquare, Chatter, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media accounts. Seesmic also supports most popular video and photo sites, too. The free Android app is currently available, and the developer has a version optimized for Honeycomb-based tablets.
The free Android app for Fuze Meeting allows users to conduct or attend meetings directly from their Android phone or tablet. Ideal for participants with front-facing cameras on their devices, the app enables multi-user HD video conferencing from just about anywhere. The "Fuze In" function automatically dials attendees and ensures on-time starts; it also gets rid of the need for conference bridge PIN codes. Enterprise teams will want to look at Fuze Meeting's Pro package (or look into custom corporate licensing), as it includes Webinar and branding tools for presentations on Xoom or other tablets, plus unlimited conference recording, unlimited storage, and other extras. Comparable apps for iOS and BlackBerry devices--not to mention that old reliable Web browser--grant access to a broad range of mobile meeting attendees inside and outside of the company.
Soonr rolls up project collaboration and document management with file syncing and online backup in a single platform--reducing the need to go to multiple sites and vendors. Its free Android app recently added integrated editing on Honeycomb-based tablets for Microsoft Office, Excel, and PowerPoint files--whether connected to the Web or not--to improve mobile collaboration. Those edits are backed up, stored, synced, and shared with your team. Soonr's cloud basis means virtual device interoperability, so enterprises contending with consumerization--or those that intentionally support a variety of hardware and operating systems--stand to benefit. The Workplace app for Android is free, but enterprise teams will likely want to pony up for one of Soonr's premium plans.
Virtualization vendors like Citrix are upping the security-oriented volume of their pitch to IT departments, particularly those dealing with the apparently endless array of mobile devices entering their corporate networks. With the rise of the tablets and smartphones, there's a collaboration play, too--true mobility requires the ability for teams to accomplish nearly everything they can do on a desktop just as well on an tablet or other mobile device. There are certainly tablet-specific apps that mobile users will find indispensable. But if you can access your virtualized Windows applications or virtual desktop from your Android phone or tablet, that simplifies things, doesn't it? If your organization already runs XenApp or XenDesktop, the free Citrix Receiver app is a must-have for Android users.
Any organization with its own Web domain can set up a free, private social network with Chatter from Salesforce.com. Think of it as an internal Facebook for your company. The native Android app--also free--extends desktop social collaboration to Android phones, enabling mobile access and collaboration across distributed teams. There's no Honeycomb version yet, but iPhone, iPad, and BlackBerry smartphone apps deliver solid device interoperability. Chatter boasts around 80,000 businesses already using the platform. It's definitely an internal tool--users must have an email address on the same, single domain to be invited to connect. That limits sharing outside the company's virtual walls, but protects sensitive information far more than public social sites; none of the content is available to anyone beyond the domain, making collaboration confidential and secure. A few examples among the myriad potential uses: Knowledge and work sharing, project management, team building, corporate news and communications, and idea generation and capture.
Enterprises packed with smart people probably forget countless good ideas before they ever have a chance to become profitable innovations. That's especially true when all the voices on a collaborative team are clamoring to be heard, whether in a real or virtual meeting room. And that's where Evernote can help: In simple terms, the service helps ensure those ideas don't go to waste, letting you capture them as text or audio notes. A host of sorting and search functions help keep notes organized. The premium version comes with, among other upgrades, enhanced collaboration features such as the ability to edit a coworker's notes. Evernote's free Android app (and its other mobile versions) mobilizes the brainstorm.
True mobile productivity often requires the ability to not only read but also create and edit Microsoft Office documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Quickoffice's Android apps do just that, delivering an easy-to-use interface for Word, Excel, and Powerpoint for both phones and tablets. The Quickoffice Pro HD app supports high-definition touch displays on Samsung Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom, HTC Flyer, and LG G-Slate. Both smartphone and tablet users can access files via email and a variety of online applications, including Dropbox, Box.net, Google Docs, MobileMe, and SugarSync. Quickoffice Pro HD for tablets runs $16.99 in the Android Market, while the regular Pro app for smartphones runs $9.99. The vendor offers volume licensing for organizations with 50 or more users.
Mighty Meeting combines cloud storage with online conferences and in-person meetings, enabling business users to access and display their videos, presentations, and other files from anywhere with a Web connection. The free Android app turns phones into conferencing managers. You can start and conduct online meetings from your mobile device or Web browser; participants can likewise join either by mobile or desktop. The Android app also becomes an instant presentation tool for in-person meetings: Connect to a projector and you can show any of your stored files on the big screen.
KnowledgeTree's new native app for both Android phones and tablets extend the vendor's secure, collaborative document management and workflow platform to Android users. In addition to Web-based file sharing and storage, KnowledgeTree adds a variety of a compliance-oriented process controls, such as document aging and other alerts, access rules, and custom workflows. That makes it a potential match for collaboration in industries dealing with heavy-duty regulatory landscapes, such as legal or finance. With the Android app, the vendor also introduced FolderSync, enabling selective, automatic two-way synchronization between a user's desktop and KnowledgeTree account, to help keep everyone on the team keep working with the most current files. The app itself is free; KnowledgeTree itself is not (beyond a two-week trial). Custom pricing for enterprises includes unlimited storage, dedicated account management, and other upgrades.
TappIn enables anywhere, anytime access to files saved on any of the user's hard drives, all from an Android device -- without having to upload, sync, or store files online. That could raise the hackles of security pros, but mobility and consumerization elsewhere within the organization already requires heightened attention on this front. In TappIn's infancy, those pros would have been right: The service wasn't quite business-ready. It recently took significant steps to change that, adding key security and collaboration features. The latter enable teams to co-author and edit shared documents without keeping them in the cloud. Files stay on your local drives -- which should appeal to those skittish about storing sensitive data online -- and are available on any browser or mobile device. Its free Android app is complemented by comparable versions for other popular platforms, ensuring good interoperability for large teams. New tools for restricting file access to selected team members ensures data is kept confidential as needed. There are no limits on file size or storage beyond the user's own capacity.
TappIn enables anywhere, anytime access to files saved on any of the user's hard drives, all from an Android device -- without having to upload, sync, or store files online. That could raise the hackles of security pros, but mobility and consumerization elsewhere within the organization already requires heightened attention on this front. In TappIn's infancy, those pros would have been right: The service wasn't quite business-ready. It recently took significant steps to change that, adding key security and collaboration features. The latter enable teams to co-author and edit shared documents without keeping them in the cloud. Files stay on your local drives -- which should appeal to those skittish about storing sensitive data online -- and are available on any browser or mobile device. Its free Android app is complemented by comparable versions for other popular platforms, ensuring good interoperability for large teams. New tools for restricting file access to selected team members ensures data is kept confidential as needed. There are no limits on file size or storage beyond the user's own capacity.
The menu of available mobile devices seems to grow longer by the day, thanks in large part to an increasing number of Android phones and tablets. But what makes those devices true business tools? The apps, of course. Take tablets: Apple's iPad may have led the way, but now a new wave of Android devices using the Honeycomb version of the operating system, such as the Motorola Xoom or Samsung Galaxy Tab, are giving businesses more choice in their mobile arsenal. The tablet is clearly finding its way into the enterprise, whether on a corporate purchase order or as a personal device brought into the office. No matter its origin, the range of productive--and hopefully profitable--uses for both tablets and phones is rapidly expanding, as business-ready applications continue to roll out and mature. That's perhaps most evident in the collaboration world. The inherent mobility and diversity of Android-based devices make them weapons for efficient, effective collaboration--provided they're armed with the right apps.
These 10 apps help Android-based devices become just that: weapons for enterprise collaboration. They cover a variety of business functions including productivity, mobile analytics, video conferencing, file sharing, project management, social collaboration, and more. These apps foster collaboration across teams and companies--not just for the sake of it, but to produce bottom-line results. Sometimes collaboration extends beyond the organization--the same apps become tools for connecting with partners, investors, customers, prospects, and other business-critical groups.
The occasional catch with Android apps is whether they're strictly for smartphones or if they're optimized for Honeycomb-based tablets, too. Where applicable, we've called attention to that in the descriptions. No doubt the evolutionary cycle of these devices--and the apps that power them--is still in its early stage, and their enterprise power is poised for growth. But these apps prove that Android--tablet or phone--can mean business today.
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