15 Apps to Increase the Aerospace Professional’s Efficiency

The aerospace and defense industry is always changing. The technology that serves the aerospace professional continually changes too. The typical business person, engineer, and technician carries a smartphone with them in their pocket nearly everywhere. When attending a meeting, these professionals will often carry a tablet or an iPad. With today’s mobile phones and tablets able to serve you the world’s information with the swipe of a finger, not having the right apps loaded onto your device potentially limits your success.

Also read: Bridging the Lingo Gap for the Aerospace & Defense Newbie

If a phone or tablet only serves the business person as a phone, an email checker, and a gaming console, they are missing the boat. Utilizing a pocket computer for more than simply checking a Facebook profile, texting, or taking and sharing vacation photos can increase the efficiency of the busy professional.

Have you tasked yourself with improving your efficiency at work but don’t know where to start? As you grow in your professional career you bear more and more responsibilities. Getting up and walking away from your desk does not mean you need to cut off contact with the aerospace community, your customers, and your business. With the right additions, your phones, tablets, and iPads can allow you to carry your desk with you into a conference room, on an airplane, or in a chauffeured vehicle without necessarily needing a laptop to communicate, direct, and manage your work.

There are many apps available now that can increase your proficiency. Downloading some or all of these below will assist you in becoming a quicker note-taker, editor of documents, better communicator with your customers, and can even help you learn a new language.

We asked our Duotech engineers, technicians, and business executives what apps they use on a day-to-day basis to improve their productivity. Though many shared some of the same apps in their responses, below is a compilation of 15 Apps to Increase the Aerospace Professional’s Efficiency.

1. Aviation Week – Stay in tune with the aerospace and defense industry with Aviation Week’s app. Aviation Week delivers award-winning content about emerging trends, operational best practices, and more at your fingertips.
2. International Aerospace – A monthly journal that is published ten times a year and covers all aspects of aviation and space technology. Their mobile app allows you to read their publication online.
3. SAE International – This international organization connects aerospace engineers around the world with its award-winning magazine available through the mobile device of your choice.
4. Lastpass – In order to prevent unauthorized access to your many digital accounts, you should create a strong password with random uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and, if available, special characters. Each of your account passwords should be unique. How do you remember all of these individual usernames and passwords? Lastpass lets you create a unique and strong password for each account and then stores those account login credentials. With a plugin in the Chrome browser and an app for your mobile device, when you visit a login page the website’s login fields will be automatically populated with your proper credentials.
5. Google Docs – Get a Google account with an email for your business and establish your Google Apps account to gain access to Google Docs. With Google Docs you can create and edit documents, spreadsheets, and slides, and store them on the cloud.
6. Hangouts – Another app from Google Apps for the busy professional, Hangouts allows the user to communicate with their team and customers by voice, video, or text.
7. Analytics – Monitor your website’s traffic from your mobile device with this app from Google Analytics. This app has an interface similar to Google Analytics’ website.
8. Evernote – Take notes, scan and digitize business cards, and store images quickly to the cloud. It’s a great way to quickly jot down a note like a person’s name and important details you just met at a conference. Also, use Evernote to create a “to-do” list, or collaborate and create presentations from notes.
9. xpensify – A great app for the busy, on-the-go businessman, Expensify allows you to take control of your expense reports, coordinate with your office manager, get approval, and even get reimbursed online from your mobile device.=
10. QR Droid – Your mobile device may already contain a QR Code reader and generator app. A QR Code Scanner will allow you to read barcodes and those odd-looking graphics (see image on right) used to assist you in downloading a media file or drive you to a website landing page.
11. RealCalc – As an aerospace engineer you need a good scientific calculator right on your phone. RealCalc Scientific Calculator is available on Google Play and Amazon. For an iPhone, you will want to check out CalcMadeEasy.
12. Dropbox – Carry your documents and images anywhere with you with Dropbox. Upload your photos, PDFs, and other documents and keep them synchronized on all your computers, not just your mobile device. Dropbox is an easy way to share a file, or an entire folder, with someone else. Dropbox is also a great option for an online backup tool.
13. CamCard – Use your mobile device to take snapshots of the business cards you collect and digitize the contact information so they are easily searchable. You can also manage the cards, input notes and details about the contact, and exchange the electronic business cards with others. With CamCard you can access the electronic contact information from all your devices.
14. Lumosity – Use Lumosity’s 40+ scientific games created to challenge your brain. The training program can be accessed from your mobile devices and your computers at work or at home. If you are going to play a game while you wait, why shouldn’t it be a game created to keep your mind sharp!
15. Duolingo – Have you always wanted to learn another language? Use Duolingo anytime, anywhere, to learn to speak Spanish, French, German, Italian, and so many more languages.

As a businessman, a working traveler, an aerospace engineer, or an entrepreneur, your day-to-day schedule is often busy and complicated. Empower yourself by enabling your mobile device with brilliant apps developed to simplify your daily tasks.

Are there apps you are using for business and engineering but are not listed above? We invite you to share those with us in the comments below.

Also read: Bridging the Lingo Gap for the Aerospace & Defense Newbie