5 Awesome Apps for Small Business

As small business owners we are always looking for tools that make our lives easier. If there was an hat-rack hat we could use to manage the different hats we wear to the office every day-- think Director, Sales, Marketing, HR, Accountant-- we would be all up in that. Today I thought I'd share some of the best bits of software that have made MY life easier, that will hopefully help you out, too.Genius Scan - this little app is available on your iPhone, and I guarantee it will be your tool of choice when it comes to scanning receipts and documents. Closet-sized photocopiers and scanners are a thing of that past (thankfully) clearing up your office space for an extra desk, or maybe even a tire swing.Developed by "The Grizzly Labs" in France, Genius Scan's claim to be a "Scanner In Your Pocket" is absolutely true. With an intuitive interface, you can take photos of documents, then quickly crop and straighten them. It works so well that you won't even be able to tell it was done on an iPhone.Invitbox - Developed by a start-up in Sydney Australia, Invitbox is fast becoming a major hit with lean startups and small businesses alike.Invitbox's tagline is, "Invitbox is the world’s first online automatic data-extraction mailbox for receipt, approval and storage of supplier bills".The premise is this:

• after joining Invitbox, you'll receive a dedicated email address to which your suppliers will send their invoices
• bills and data are extracted from the email, including line item information (including scanned bills and receipts)
• Invitbox appliers default general ledger codes, labels and categories to the invoice
• the bills are presented only to those responsible for approving them, letting you choose between 1 and 4 'approvers'
• you'll be able to export the data to major accounting systems such as MYOB or Xero

Invitbox is cloud-based and allows secure storage of bills filed online for 7 years. Pretty cool.