Standard Chartered bankers in Asia told Reuters that the London-based lender was giving its corporate Blackberry users the option of switching to the iPhone, with the company agreeing to continue to pay monthly billing for business-related telephone and data services.

“It’s a group-wide initiative involving wholesale and consumer banks globally,” said a Singapore-based spokeswoman for Standard Chartered, told Reuters.

With 75,000 employees worldwide, Standard Chartered’s acceptance of the iPhone may mark the beginning of a shift away from exclusive use of Research in Motion’s BlackBerry smartphones in the banking industry.

The report notes that security and other technical issues make it somewhat difficult for companies to pursue the necessary testing and implementation to make such a switch, but that Standard Chartered is a significant entity to come down on the side of allowing iPhones onto its business networks.

But what about the iPhone as an essential business tool? For mission-critical enterprise applications that require a robust and secure operating system.

To help launch your quest for mobile productivity, here’s a list of useful tips, applications, sites and more to keep you moving forward while you’re moving around.

1. Stay organized. The Economist magazine wrote, “Zoho is the most comprehensive suite of web-based programmes for small businesses …”.  Now that it’s available for the iPhone, you can bring your office wherever you go. Torch also offers a project management app that lets you organize all of your communication, files, tasks and more in one place.

2. Send email. The iPhone supports both Web-based and corporate email systems, including Microsoft Outlook, so you can stay connected no matter your location. You can even sync your iPhone with your PC email by using the IMAP application. And if you get frustrated by having to compose emails in portrait view, turn things around with one of the apps in this review of wide-format email apps. Wide Mail Keyboard and MailType are additional offerings in this category.
3. Manage tasks. Strange but true: the iPhone doesn’t come with a Tasks app. But you can create to-do lists in your notes, or you can use apps like 43 Actions (allows updates via email, Twitter or Jott) or do.Oh.

4. Leverage productivity tools. Create and manage charts using Charts; create, view and share presentations with Keypoint; and export your PowerPoint slides to your iPhone using Mac Office 2008.

5. Track time and expenses. The iPhone version of Harvest allows you to track your time, enter expenses and more.

6. Calendar your time. If the iPhone calendar doesn’t do it for you, try Google’s or 30Boxes’.

7. Take notes. There are lots of choices here, including GlueyNotes, Evernote, RemoteNote, Thumb Jot and of course the one that comes standard with the iPhone.