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We’ve all been there. You’re on the road, traveling for business and your smartphone battery dies. Nowhere to plug in, and you’re stuck in a meeting until 5. In addition to the prescribed laptop and smartphone is a battery charging pack—and these eight other tech tools every business traveler needs.
- External battery pack.
Major airports have gotten much better at putting charging stations in terminals, but keep an external battery pack charged and loaded just in case. A few great options are this one from Sentey or this cool solar-charging version from SunJack.
- Cloud conferencing app.
You’ll need to join meetings and conferences on the road (obviously), so make it easy to connect and collaborate from your phone while you’re in a taxi or hotel room. iMeet and Skype for Business are great on-the-go options. If your company already gives you a conferencing line, check out iMeet Agenday, which helps you connect to any conference automatically with a single click.
- IFTTT.
“If This, Than That” or IFTTT lets you “connect the apps you love” and do it automatically. For example, I could choose the following IFTTT recipe: Save my handwritten note to Evernote. I could then take a picture of my latest customer meeting doodle and IFTTT would automatically save it to Evernote, where I could then share it out to my team.
- Microsoft Office mobile suite.
Get the free Microsoft Office suite for your mobile device, giving you redundancy in case your laptop breaks or simply for ease of use if you’re a whiz-kid on your iPad.
- Enterprise-class cloud file sharing.
You probably use a file sharing app already, but get the enterprise version from your employer to avoid security breaches while you’re on the road. Box.com for Business is a great option and includes file sync and share, alongside your enterprise’s IT helpdesk support.
- Wi-Fi finder app.
Especially useful when you want to avoid overseas roaming fees, the Wi-Fi finder app helps you locate free or paid Wi-Fi locations in over 144 countries. Get it here for iOS and Android.
- Expensify.
Avoid the back-in-the-office expense report pain by tracking your expenses on your road. Expensify automatically creates expense reports based on your credit card spending.
- Tracking gadgets.
Lose your baggage or laptop bag, and business travel becomes a nightmare. New tracking gadgets make it possible to track down lost items, such as your luggage, backpack, handbag, smartphone and laptop. Great options are the Nokia Treasure Tag and Tile.
- Translators.
If you’re traveling overseas, you can skip the translation guide and opt for a digital translator. These handy gadgets, like the Franklin 12-language Translator, are gaining ground in the biz travel market. Or you could opt to use Google Translate on your smartphone.
What must-have business travel tool should be our #10 on this list? Share your favorite devices, apps and gadgets in the comments below.
For more insights and analysis on the future of working on-the-go, download our free eBook The Future of Business Collaboration: 2015 Edition today.
This post originally appeared on CIO.com‘s Collaboration Nation blog, sponsored by PG
