The Best Government Mobile Apps for Business… and Your Office

With an increasingly mobile American population, most U.S. federal government agencies have launched mobile-optimized “responsive” versions of their official websites for citizens. A smaller number of agencies have taken the extra step to develop specialized apps for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, and most of those apps are aimed to consumers / citizens. 

But of these federal mobile apps, which are the most useful for business? At BusinessUSA –the federal web portal for all things business– we assessed all of the apps available from the federal government at the beginning of 2016 and identified those that apply to business, from entrepreneurs to industry to economic development. 

• Top 10 Federal Apps for Business Professionals: In this article, I choose the ten most useful general purpose government apps for any business professional, from disaster planning and workplace safety to travel and statistics, culled from the list of ALL business-oriented federal government mobile apps that were available at the beginning of 2016. While some of these apps were developed for home use, they also have valuable uses in the workplace… including our own government offices! As a government employee and business professional, I have all of these apps on my smartphone and tablet.

In addition to this above “best of” general purpose business apps for most workplaces, here are some other lists of government mobile apps you may find useful:

• All Federal BUSINESS & SPECIALIZED INDUSTRY Mobile Apps: This includes BusinessUSA’s complete round-up as of the end of 2015 of ALL federal government mobile apps that could apply to BUSINESS. Note that this comprehensive list includes both:
  • a) General business apps that can be used by most business professionals for workplace safety, disaster assistance, business travel, health, shipping and business-related statistics; and
  • b) Specialty apps for specific industries like healthcare/ pharmaceutical, transportation (aviation, trucking, maritime), retail, agriculture/ food service, and science / technology.
• All Federal Government Mobile Apps: Want to see ALL the mobile apps and mobile websites available from the U.S. government? You can find the master list of all official federal government mobile apps and sites for both citizens and industry on the Federal Government Mobile Apps Directory. A Spanish-language apps directory can be found on the Spanish-language sister site, Gobierno.usa.gov. (Se pueden encontrar las aplicaciones “apps” y sitios móviles del gobierno federal en el Directorio Federal de Aplicaciones [Apps] Móviles.)Federal Agency Mobile App Registration: If your federal agency has not registered its mobile websites and apps yet, you should notify your mobile apps manager to visit the new U.S. Digital Registry. It serves as the authoritative resource for federal agencies, U.S. citizens and developers to confirm the official status of both social media and public-facing collaboration accounts as well as mobile apps and mobile websites from the U.S. government.  This Registry is used to generate the the U.S. Digital Registry API which currently feeds USAgov’s Federal Mobile Apps Directory and Directorio Federal de Aplicaciones (Apps) Móviles page(s).
• All State Government Mobile Apps: Not included in the BusinessUSA list are the many useful mobile apps produced by state governments. To find the mobile apps available for your state– both for citizens and businesses– check out this handy State Mobile Apps Catalog produced by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO).

So grab your mobile device and get ready to download!