It’s the side business that prompts most of the posts on this site because I actually use or at least try out the apps I write about.  Today I’m looking at MobileBiz Pro which is an invoicing/crm app for Android.   Invoicing and CRM functions are vital for a small business and especially for freelancers like myself.  MobileBiz Pro aims to let you run your business from your smartphone or tablet.   This is a lofty goal but I think they may have accomplished it…or are extremely close.

When you first start MobileBiz Pro you set up your company.  This includes entering company name, address, contact email, website, slogan and you can even create custom fields.  You can also import a company logo.  There are many other settings including the ability to create multiple companies.

The initial setup actually takes a few minutes but you only have to do this once per company so it really isn’t much of a pain.

You then add your customers to MobileBiz Pro.  You have two options here you can add them one by one manually or import via CSV.  The good thing is that most applications on the market today offer a CSV export.

I don’t carry inventory so for the “Items” section I put in the services I offer and the rate at which I charge.  So I ended up with several items such as “General Support”, “Custom Development”, “Website Development”,”Web Hosting”, etc.

After this initial setup you can then add a new quote, invoice, sales order, or cash sale.   You can also record any payments received.

The real draw of MobileBiz Pro are the quotes and invoices for me.   The default templates are very professional an includes the company logo that you specify in the company setup.   You have the option to make changes to the default templates by enabling or disabling sections and entering you own custom text.  With a little work you can create your perfect template.

Once you have generated an invoice you can view the invoice on screen or email the invoice to the client.   After the client pays you can then change the status of the invoice in MobileBiz Pro.

With MobileBiz Pro you can run a variety of reports such as Monthly Tax Report, items sold report, customer profitability report and more.   There is also a reminders section which shows you a quick glance of how many expiring quotes, orders to bill, and unpaid invoices you have.

You can certainly run and keep track of your business on the go using MobileBiz Pro.  But if you are a Quickbooks user and can’t cut the cord, MobileBiz Pro features the ability to export sales transactions to Quickbooks and import data from Quickbooks.

This is certainly a complete and feature rich app.  The cost is $22 which may seem like a lot at first glance, but considering how many features are included and the fact that it is in active development, it is a great deal.    See the detailed feature list below.

Google Play Link

Sales transactions
* Create estimates, sales orders, cash sales, invoices
* Invoices can be emailed, sent by sms, or printed
* Send customer statements
* Recurring invoices
* Create your own reports
* Import data from Quickbooks
* Multiple pricing feature
* Capture signature on invoices
* Convert estimates to invoices
* Flexible tax setup (No tax, single tax, or two taxes)
* Add your own tax codes, payment methods, or sale statuses
* Auto tax setup for selected countries
* Apply discounts (body or line level) and shipping charges
* Use your own transaction numbers
* Get customers from phone contacts
* Can lock app and open by PIN
* Attach files to transactions

Printing
* Use your company logo
* Very professional looking printouts (PDF or HTML)
* Print/preview invoices (portrait/landscape orientation, letter/A4/legal page sizes)
* Send payment receipts
* Print invoices directly to wifi printer (use external apps)
* Change print color themes
* Print almost any information on invoice

Communications
* Send invoices by email or sms, both use templates that can be customized
* Cc or blind copy yourself when sending invoices by email
* Include PayPal links to pay invoices

Tracking
* Reports for sales, taxes, profitability, and inventory
* Alerts for estimates, bills and due invoices
* Track payments (cash, credit cards, checks or your own payment method)
* Track customer balance
* Track cost of goods sold per invoice
* Take notes for invoices, customers, and even items
* Inventory level tracking

Customization
* Customize print templates, email templates, sms templates
* Add custom fields for your custom data

Inventory
* Maintain your own catalog of goods and services
* Supports barcode scanning
* Out of Stock Items report

Data management
* Automated scheduled backup
* Restore from backup (Dropbox or sdcard)
* Import/export by CSV (Dropbox or sdcard)
* Import data from Quickbooks