A Momentem in Time (and Expense) Management

I'm a BlackBerry user - as the advert says "Love your BlackBerry"; and I do love mine!

I wasn't one for jumping on the Apple bandwagon, although I can see the benefit of an iPhone, to me it's more of a toy than a business phone.

Now, I just know that some will vehemently argue with that, and cite all the exciting applications that make the iPhone a great choice for business.  I also can't disagree with the popularity of their App Store.


On the other hand, the BlackBerry (I have a Curve 8900) has all the benefits for business (plus the multi-media options available as a secondary feature).
The screen isn't touch screen, and the navigation is via a small trackball, but it has a high usability and user friendliness.
It does, indeed, boast a slightly better camera (at 3.2MP) than the iPhone, and video recording too; with 2 settings; one of which can be MMS, so you can send the video via the network.
It has built-in WiFi, wireless email, browser, calendar and a host of features that really lend this to business use.
I am always discovering something new too; like the short-cut that acts like Alt+Tab on a PC - it allows you to move seamlessly between open applications, so you can cut and paste from documents to emails, etc.
Included are applications such as word, spreadsheet, presentation type software, GPS and maps - the list goes on.  You can see the full specification here.

However, writing about the Curve 8900 is not the purpose of this article.

In the past I have reviewed an application called Viigo - you can see that review here.

Today, I am looking at Momentem - Mobile Expense Management and Call Tagging for BlackBerry.

This is a somewhat unique application that enables you to tag phone calls, emails, expenses and activities, in real time.  Add notes, action items for reminder, mark your billable time and generally make sense of your mobile phone bill.

I have an all-inclusive mobile package, however, when the minutes have been used up, just by tagging the calls, I can download a report that shows who I spoke to, and I can easily submit an expenses claim, fully backed-up, for the additional calls.  On average, I am able to claim back an extra £10 per month.
Not a fortune, but that's over £100 per year that I might otherwise not have got.

Also, for people who charge for all calls, this could, quite literally, be a time-saver.
Not to mention logging expenses and the activities (like meetings) that are chargeable.  It's even possible to email the details direct to the contact, so they have a record of the charge too.

There are tons of reasons for using this, and on their website Momentem lists them in the following groups:

1. You need to account to others for your mobile time and cost
2. You need to bill your professional time to others
3. You need to claim part of your mobile bill from your employer or clients
4. You have lots of calls and you need to keep track of them and follow them up
5. You need to make sense of your mobile bill when it comes
6. You need to keep a count of your mobile minutes to stay within your allowance

It's very simple to set up, and uses a contact list that is separate from the BlackBerry contacts.  These are stored centrally, so if you ever have to change your phone, you can re-sync, saving more time.

I'm not being paid for this review, I just believe that when you find something good, then you should tell people about it.

Take a look at their website and look at what this application can offer you.  It costs nothing to look, and you could end up re-claiming more than you currently do.