The technological advances of the 21st century have made our lives easier, more comfortable, and unconcerned. It allows us to keep track of time, communicate with people far away, manage our activities, etc. The same goes for managing businesses with so many small business tools available today. However, many business owners still favor paper and pen over tools that could make their jobs easier.
Be it team management, task scheduling, analytics, or something else, there are plenty of tools you may be missing that help with managing small businesses. In this article, we’ll show you what types of software are helpful for small businesses.
Evernote is a specialized application that helps with taking notes, organizing, task management, and archiving. Available for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS users, Evernote stores content in various formats. You can save your ideas in a text, drawing, photo, audio, or web content formats. This software comes in handy when you’re in a hurry, want to keep track of your competitor’s social media activity, or save ideas for further consideration.
Regular e-mail communication is essential to form stable, long-term relationships with your customers. While often companies send out e-mails manually, it is not the best practice. To retain customers, you will need an e-mail marketing service, such as Mailchimp. Mailchimp helps you store and manage vast amounts of e-mail addresses, group and segment them and send scheduled newsletters. Last but not least, Mailchimp is an easy-to-follow platform, which users can use without much design experience to create eye-grabbing e-mails.
A communication tool that doesn’t feel outdated and is separated from traditional online chatting spaces like Facebook or WhatsApp is invaluable for business. That’s exactly what Slack is – a workplace communication tool for business that’s intuitive, packed with essential functionalities, and informal enough. For example, the functionalities to create group chats and add personalized emojis to your workspace often helps inject fun into daily routines to keep your spirit alive.
A tech giant, Google has the software of all sorts for everyone, small businesses included. It offers a unified ecosystem of products that enable managing teamwork. The essential tools include Google Docs, Sheets, Forms, Slides, Drive, etc. Each of these comes with functionalities of traditional tools like Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc., but with the added bonus of having all your data online. On top of that, most of them provide the full version history on the files. You could call it an all-in-one small business management software with so many functionalities on hand.
Customer Relationship Management is one of the most beneficial business tools that brings together marketing, sales, and customer service. It enables business owners to track, manage and measure every interaction with their clients from a single software. Hubspot’s CRM comes with both free and paid versions. If you start with the basic package that’s indefinitely free, you can upgrade to more sophisticated functionalities as you test the software and grow your business.
Everyone who has managed a project knows how disorganized huge projects can become. However, there are some tools small businesses need to effectively take care of complex tasks with varying deadlines and details. ClickUp is one of them. It’s a project management tool with a straightforward and user-friendly interface for all types and sizes of teams and businesses. The software is customizable and helps solve various business problems, such as process management, task management, time management and collaboration, and reporting.
If your small business provides products that can be delivered and handed indirectly, you would most likely benefit from CayPilot, a delivery management software. The software automates most of the manual tasks and comes with many functionalities, from assigning tasks to your drivers to analyzing your monthly activities in-depth.
If your business is in the early stages and you’re selling from temporary sites, you could do with Square. Square is a credit card reader that can turn your mobile phone or an iPad into a POS tool. You can carry it with you and let customers pay anywhere you go. The company provides cash advances as well to prevent locking merchants into payback schedules.
All this said, there are lots of paid and free tools that help you optimize your operations and grow your business without being a tech expert. Incorporating the right small business tools will save you time and energy to focus on your strategy and long-term plans for success.