Top Tech Tools for Small Businesses to Boost Productivity

 Here is some information about Tech Tools for Small Business to Boost

Small business management has been revolutionized by use of advanced technology and the market has been made available to the businessman as a powerful tool to manage his business. The right tech stack empowers small teams to achieve more in shorter time, deliver value to customers, and grow the business.

In this article, the author identifies the ten must-have technologies every small business needs to harness to improve efficiency, order, and expansion. From the project management software to the email marketing platforms, these tools help manage crucial operational tasks to enable business owners to focus on growth strategies.

1. Asana - Project Management

Having many projects with a limited number of employees creates problems with organization and time management. G Suite – Asana is a great online project management tool that can be used to organize and schedule the workflows, assign tasks, due dates, and track the progress of the project all at one place. There is no need for the business owners to sit through long status update meetings because they can see what everyone is doing at any given time. Asana works with more than 100 third-party apps, including Slack, Dropbox, and Office 365, to ensure data is in sync.

Key Features:

• - Customizable project dashboards
• - Tasks and sub-tasks can be dependent on one another.
• - Commenting & file attachments
• - Project templates
• - Reporting (workloads, timelines, custom)

2. Slack – Team Communication

It appears that as companies grow, team communication becomes critical, yet emails and their threads turn into message black holes where significant conversations disappear. Slack transforms corporate messages by dividing the internal communication into specific channels based on topics, projects, teams, and others. All messages, files, and data are stored in a single location, which can be easily searched by the user. Slack also has strong integration and automation features that can help small businesses be more efficient and increase the level of visibility.

Key Features:

• - Organized channels
• - Direct messaging
• - Video conferencing integration
• - Task bots
• - All the notifications and permissions are fully customizable.

3. Trello – Task Management

Trello is a program that allows small business to arrange its projects in boards, lists, and cards to have a picture of what needs to be done. It works as a corporate checklist to which companies can enter from anywhere to always obtain an updated list of important tasks and their progress. Trello helps in sharing files between departments with features such as comments, due dates, labels and checklists among others to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Key Features:

• - Kanban boards
• - Custom fields, labels & automation
• - Mobile offline access
• - Third-party Power-Up integrations
• - Multiple board templates

4. Mailchimp – Email Marketing

It is evident that email marketing as a marketing communication channel generates higher brand recall, greater marketing returns and optimum customer loyalty than any other marketing communication channel. Mailchimp offers simple drag and drop design, custom templates and powerful automation tools, enabling any entrepreneur building stunning, high-converting email campaigns in no time. Classifying the user list based on their activity and interest makes it easier for Small Business to focus its content.

Key Features:

• - Pre-designed email templates
• - Using tags, Auto tagging based on actions or Auto tag based on task actions
• - Landing page and form builder
• - Campaign reports
• - People and groups

5. QuickBooks – Accounting Software

Accounting and bookkeeping tasks such as managing company finances, creating invoices, tracking inventory and payroll management become very cumbersome processes for growing small businesses. QuickBooks consolidates all accounting activities in one place to assist the entrepreneurs in managing bills, expenses, payments and cash flow in much lesser time. To ensure that staff members work together and at the same time in a secure manner, the user permissions are based on roles.

Key Features:

- Invoicing

• - Expense tracking
• - It is also reported by projects departments or any other organizational structure which is convenient for the organization.
• - POS for retail business
• - Payroll management
• - Multi-user access

6. Hootsuite – Social Media Management

The right social media strategy is a vital aspect for any modern business seeking to establish a strong brand and follow a target group. Hootsuite offers one social media management panel to control complex social tasks. It gives users the option of posting content to multiple networks, tracking keywords and campaigns, communicating with followers, analyzing statistics and more from one convenient place that can save hours.

Key Features:

• - Content scheduling
• - Customer relationship management
• - Competitor monitoring
• - Automated publishing
• - Specific team work and permission

7. Office Suite Applications of G Suite

Previously known as Google Apps for Work, G Suite is an office suite for documents, spreadsheets, presentations, email, calendar, storage, etc., all in one easy-to-use package. These solutions integrate and are available to be accessed anytime anywhere to support the work-from-home concept and work in progress. Second, no hardware is required and thus no costs for installation and security, no servers, and no bug fixes in the software.

Key Features:

• - Google Docs
• - Google Drive cloud storage
• - Google Hangouts video conferencing
• - Shared calendars
• - Custom email for business-domain
• - 24/7 support

8. Square - Payment Processing

Dealing with numerous systems for payment acceptance and processing results in excessive workloads and, at the same time, it becomes challenging to monitor related metrics within a single platform. Square transforms payment acceptance for merchants, allowing them to accept credit card payments on the go with a mobile card reader. Receipts, invoices, inventory, and other financial information are all integrated and updated in real-time through Square’s dashboard.

Key Features:

• - Allow customers to make payments through the mobile option.
• - Invoicing
• - Payroll management
• - Employee management
• - Reporting and analytics

9. Evernote – Note Taking

No small business can operate without implements that help gather information and take notes and sort documents while on the move. Evernote enables users to capture – typed and handwritten notes, web pages, images, scanned documents, handwriting – across a device and access those from any other. Extremely useful for research, planning of projects, taking notes during meetings, idea generation etc.

Key Features:

• - Document scanner
• - Offline access on mobile devices
• - Organization with stacks and tags can be noted.
• - File uploads & media integrations
• - Contextual search

10. Dropbox – Cloud Storage

Unlike most storage solution providers, Dropbox simplifies the process of storing, sharing and synchronizing files by providing users with an access to data stored in the cloud through the internet. Small teams dealing with several files and versions as well as various sources benefit from this approach to backup data and avoid “version confusion”. Besides, additional security features make business information safe from unauthorized access or theft.

Key Features:

• - File version tracking
• - Document collaboration
• - Mobile offline access
• - Secure file sharing
• - Cloud apps integration

Conclusion

There is a plethora of software options for each business function; however, the ten tools discussed above make up a solid tech stack for most small business teams to increase effectiveness and productivity. Through taking time and resources to seek and incorporate the right solutions in project management, communication, accounting, social media, payments, and others, the entrepreneurs establish workflows that supports scalability. The smaller the amount of pressure that is put on the logistical side of a small business, the more that the owner and his employees are able to channel their thoughts towards expansion.