Business travel

How business travellers are getting smarter

Don’t know your dongle from your Googledocs? Keen to make business trips simpler with a little help from some up-to-the-minute technology? Then let Expotel be your guide, with everything from digital dictation to password-encryption technology.

Sat-nav savvy

Get your bearings quick smart with a sat-nav application. Even if you’re on foot or using public transport, it’ll take the heat out of finding that conference venue or crucial client office – particularly useful if you’re in an unfamiliar city.

CoPilot Live v8 (£25.99), for instance, calculates your route and offers you turn-by-turn navigation on its 3D map on your iPhone, Android or Windows Mobile device. Expotel’s sales and marketing director James Steventon says: “I have an iPhone app for the Tube network that shows me the shortest route, and another that tells me the next train to get home, with the least number of changes.”

Brilliant back up

Minimise the amount of kit you take with you by using online storage for the documents you’re likely to need while you’re away on business. Check out Googledocs, or applications such as Livedrive Backup (£3.95 per month, or £39.50 per year), which allows you to access files online and download onto a local drive at any time.

Protect your passwords

Cases of identity fraud have rocketed by 74 per cent year on year in the UK, making it more essential than ever to keep your data safe. 

According to fraud prevention service CIFAS, cases of identity fraud have rocketed by 74 per cent year on year in the UK, making it more essential than ever to keep your data safe.

Kingston DataTraveler Locker+ USB Flash drive makes sure any info contained on it is encrypted and securely password protected (prices start at £13.98 for the 4GB version), making it perfect for business travel.

RoboForm Online (£19.99) provides a virtual password management application, so you can log in to various accounts through a special online ‘vault’ accessed from any computer or BlackBerry. It’s available as an app for your iPhone or iPod Touch, too.

Take note!

No need to worry about typing up endless notes anymore with the likes of IRISnotes Executive (£149), which uses a battery-powered pen to track your handwriting, which is then transmitted to a receiver. This then acts as a storage device for up to 100 pages of text, readable on your PC or Mac. IRIScan 2 (£109) is a portable scanner that connects straight to a laptop via USB and can be used for everything from documents to photos, even receipts.

The smart technology behind BigHand Digital Dictation, again available for a variety of devices, allows you to record your thoughts to send to colleagues or a PA over the internet using a system similar to Outlook (£14.95 per user per month for a BlackBerry, for example). “Even when you can’t get mobile reception, when I’m travelling on the train, for instance, this is invaluable in being able to instant message colleagues using the WiFi provided,” says Steventon.

Ready reckoner

Never mix up your dirhams with your dollars again with a currency converter. Use this smart technology to keep an eye on your spending, particularly handy if you’ve been given an advance. Work out how much that taxi into town will cost, and maybe calculate how much of a tax-free bargain that MP3 player really is, using applications such as the OANDA FX Converter, downloadable for free direct from your BlackBerry.

When you get to your destination, of course, the smart technology doesn’t stop there. “A number of Expotel hotel partners now have the facility for videoconferencing, and in some rooms I’ve stayed in, instead of TVs they provide iMacs, which also have a built-in camera and can be used for services like Skype, too,” says Steventon.

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