Small business owners sometimes feel they do not have enough daily hours. They use most of their time to market, draft proposals, meet clients and manage operations. As a result, they most often get overwhelmed and exhausted on such days. Fortunately, some technological advances in software and apps can help streamline your business operations.
These technological software and apps have several benefits associated with their usage. These tools can help you save time for other important things like improving your products and services, speaking with clients, and other strategic endeavors. They can also help save money, for instance, a backup solution can keep your data and make sure you never lose them.
With these benefits of using tech tools, it is important to thoughtfully and carefully select and use tech tools for your small or start-up business. Here are some options available to consider.
1.     Project management tools
Project management tools allow members involved to see and know the happenings in the business. It allows you to track your deadlines, activities, and appointments. It can create automatic reminders with details for upcoming events and tasks. They are mostly mobile-friendly and work on every platform.
Their messaging function keeps everyone updated. Managing multiple projects can get tricky, especially when many people are involved, and even harder when staff work remotely. Some examples of project management tools are; Monday, Trello, and Asana.
2.     Electronic signature/ E-signature tools
E-signature tools allow you to sign contracts and agreements online documents. The process is quite easy; you first upload the document, add the e-mail addresses of those who sign the document, and then send it to them. Furthermore, most e-signature tools allow you to assign due dates and send automatic reminders for the signatures.
This process is paperless, environmentally friendly, and supports a geographically remote and dispersed workplace environment. An example of an e-signature tool is DocuSign. It is one of the best and most popular e-signature tools.
3.     E-mail marketing
An e-mail marketing tool is essential for every small business owner. It is quick and easy and allows you to keep your e-mail subscribers up to date on promotions and special offers you run. In addition, it auto-generates newsletters to your social network channels, easing the load of making some on your own. One leading e-mail marketing tool is MailChimp.
4.     Customer relationship management(CRM) tools
A customer relationship management (CRM) tool is very important when managing a small business. Since customers are the main point in every business, CRM tools provide a central repository that helps you manage, track and measure all touchpoints in your relationship with your customers.
It gathers and analyses data to provide you with relationship checks, and sometimes recommends steps for engagement with current and potential customers. Using CRM tools can reduce marketing costs and improve usage growth. Zoho, Salesforce, Pipedrive, and Hubspot are examples of CRM tools.
5.     HR management tools
HR management tools come in handy for small businesses which can not hire a dedicated human resource administrator. HR management tools handle things like payroll, distributing company announcements, benefits management, shift scheduling, and all associated data. Goco and Trinet are examples of HR management tools.
6.     Accounting software tools
Accounting software tool is considered a computer or online accountant or bookkeeper. It tracks and keeps your income, expenses, invoice, and other related documents. It also generates documents for your tax returns. QuickBook Online is a popular example of an accountant software tool. It is user-friendly and integrates easily with other apps.
7.     Website monitoring tools
As a small business owner, there is no doubt that a huge amount of resources were invested in creating a website since it is the main means of access to your business. But monitoring your website to know who and how it is used and which parts are getting the most or least traffic is essential to keeping your website active and efficient.
In addition, it helps give an insight into the areas which need improvements. Google Analytics is one of the small businesses’ most used website monitoring tools. It gives a detailed report on the source of traffic on your website.
Other tools, such as downtime monitors, can also come in handy. Downtimes are something we despise and never wish to experience. They do, though, happen sometimes. It hurts when a client or consumer contacts you to alert you that your website is down. This is when server monitoring comes into the picture.
You receive accurate downtime data through email or SMS, allowing you to react quickly. Time is of the essence, and our technologies are built to provide it to you. Faciotech’s server monitor is one of the best website downtime monitoring tools. It is reliable and user-friendly.
8.     Password management tools
A password management tool allows you to securely manage all your accounts by creating passwords to lock those accounts. It keeps your passwords and prevents you from using passwords that are easy to guess.
One popular choice of password management tool is Dashlane. It automatically syncs all your devices and has other free features but is costly compared to others.
9.     Data backup tools
Losing or accidentally deleting data once in a while remains a normal thing that occurs when managing a business, but how to restore that lost data is a very critical point. Small business owners, therefore, have to make sure they have a technological tool that can give them full access and control to their critical data whenever they accidentally delete or lose their data with just a few clicks. Rewind is a favored data backup tool.
10. Communication tools
Using telephone calls to market and interact with customers is a thing of the past and not effective enough. Modern technology has introduced modern communication tools that small business owners can use to communicate with their customers. Social media handles like Twitter, Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn can be very effective in communicating with customers and marketing.
These technological tools for small businesses are not the only tools available for use. Many more tools can be selected based on the industry, maturity, and size of the business.
