Last updated on January 9th, 2023 at 07:51 pm
There are many personal qualities that are commonly associated with successful business people. Drive. commitment. Confidence. Passion. But in this digital age, even the best of us need a little help running our companies. And when we have so many useful, efficient, data-driven tools and solutions for online business at our disposal, why should we take the burden of doing it all ourselves? In this article, I will talk about 5 types of online business tools that modern businesses need. When used correctly, the best online business tools can free you from pursuing your passion and channel it into productive areas of your business, saving you hours, money , and unnecessary stress.
Project and task management software
Unless you’re a Luddite who aspires to manage projects and tasks with nothing more than a notebook and pen, you’re probably already using some kind of project and task management tool —and that’s a good thing. Small business tools like these help processes run much more smoothly by allowing you to keep all your prospect and customer data in one place . Project planning and monitoring , resource allocation, real-time budget management.
All of these areas can benefit from specialized small business software, providing insight, potential money savings, and ensuring that tasks are completed. completed on time and within budget. Smart business project management tools help you see the big picture and quantify project success by taking the guesswork out of the equation. Finding a project management solution that meets your business needs and can truly help you add value to a project should be a top priority going forward.
And if your current software doesn’t work, consider replacing it. Software Advice has put together a long list of task management software you might want to check out, with star ratings, cost comparisons, and compatible networks. Some of them are available in the cloud, while others work over the network.
Trello
One of the best free business tools is Trello . It allows you to collaborate with your teams around the world and helps you organize your tasks as well. You can use its boards to create tasks and assign them to your team members. The platform also has many integrations called “Power-Ups”. To use more integrations, you need to subscribe to one of the paid plans.
Communication tools
Communication is the backbone of business. And whether you’re communicating with employees, customers, or other outside parties (suppliers, contractors), you should be able to get your message across to them in the most convenient way. Internal and external communications are simplified with VoIP (Voice over IP) technology .
This allows you to connect a telephone line to an Internet Protocol network. The benefits of using this form of communication are quite extensive, but include the ability to make calls to anywhere in the world (and from anywhere in the world) at the same cost, the ability to organize conferences for the entire team, low-cost hardware and software (sound card, microphone, etc.), flexible infrastructure and data transfer in the middle of a conversation. Moving to a more resilient and cost effective communications platform such as VoIP is a no-brainer.
GetVOIP
Use GetVOIP to get a personalized quote from a VoIP provider. As with mobile networks and car insurers, there are countless providers vying for your business, so it’s worth taking a closer look.
Slack
Another online business tool you might want to consider — this time, especially for internal communication — is Slack . This streamlined and easy-to-use messaging platform allows you to track projects and share files with internal and external parties. It has many integrations such as time trackers and project management tools. They will help you manage your team and optimize your work. Slack also has a mobile app with which you can chat on the go. It’s also free for small businesses and startups that want to use it to communicate.
Skype
You can also use Skype for Business to collaborate and communicate with your team from anywhere.
Accounting tools
If there’s one business tool that’s a little more important than the others on this list, it’s about accounting. After all, if your numbers don’t match reality, you won’t be able to do business for long. What could be more important than making sure the numbers match up? From Sage Accounting to FreshBooks, digital accounting solutions help businesses large and small track expenses, manage taxes, prepare reports, payroll, bill clients, and tick off all key financial management processes. In this way, much of your bookkeeping will be simplified. They also allow you to get an idea of the financial performance of your business, forecast cash flow, and more. Many of them offer integration with other major applications CRM and customer service applications to give you more functionality.
There is no shortage of such tools for small businesses. In many cases, accounting software can be used on a variety of devices – computers, iPads, and even smartphones. The net result is faster data entry, time savings by automating reports (profit and loss, forecasting , etc.), and reduced human error. Conveniently, many account management programs can be integrated with other systems such as online banking and electronic filing. If you forcefully recalculate numbers without using accounting software, you are missing out on valuable insights and cost savings. Just make sure you choose your package carefully to make sure it has all the features you need.
Read also: How to Manage Successfully a Small Business
Software for HR
Recruiting can be an expensive process, especially for small business owners. Think about spending time and money on background checks, references and credit histories, not to mention degree checks. Using recruiting consultants takes a lot of the work off of you, but it’s expensive in and of itself, and turnover can be high.
Good Hire
Luckily, there are dedicated business tools to help you streamline your hiring processes. Good Hire is one of them. Used by over 75,000 employers, Good Hire is known for its user-centric, mobile-optimized workflows and ease of use, helping business owners to hire better and faster than ever before – without the paperwork. The company’s enterprise platform automates background checks to improve the speed, accuracy, and scalability of complex business processes. The company also specializes in resume screening, credit screening, drug screening, international screening and identity screening.
However, there are many options to choose from; it’s important to do your homework and use software solutions that suit your needs and fit your small business’s budget. Some business tools are designed specifically for the recruitment agencies themselves, while others are designed exclusively for small business owners. Zoho Recruit is another useful recruitment platform for businesses.
It helps you find, track and hire candidates from multiple sources right from your dashboard. In addition, you can create and post job alerts to premium job boards directly from the platform. You can also create previews to help you automate your process and workflow. The best thing about this online business tool is that you can get detailed analytics and recruitment reports . This will help you understand what needs to be done differently to attract more candidates.
Email Marketing Tools
Email marketing remains a great way to reach customers. In 2017, the number of email users in the world amounted to 3.7 billion people, and by 2022 this figure will reach 4.3 billion. Sure, email marketing can come and go, but getting your strategy right will build brand loyalty and deliver a high ROI . There are a range of email marketing solutions available to help you keep in touch with your subscribers, send out newsletters and offers, set up autoresponders, generate leads , and use statistics (such as metrics ).open/unsubscribed) to improve retention and brand awareness.
While we all complain about receiving spam emails, the reality is that consumers love to receive messages from their favorite brands. Indeed, 49% of consumers said they enjoy receiving weekly promotional emails from their favorite brands (Statista, 2017). Do you use MailChimp , Constant Contactor some other email marketing service, it’s important to start building a contact list and make your name known.
These online business tools are easy-to-use, cost-effective and essential elements of modern marketing campaigns. The best thing about these online business tools is that they help you automate your email marketing processes. They offer pre-built templates, one- click automation, and even pre-made segments. As a result, you can easily create email marketing campaigns and quickly send out newsletters to a list of addresses.
Frequently asked Questions
What are the different business tools?
The following are the types of business instruments:
- Communication media
- Accounting tools
- Social media management tools
- Project Management Tools
- Email Marketing Tools
- Recruitment Tools
- Collaboration tools
What business tools are most important today?
Key business tools needed today include:
- Communication media
- Email Marketing Tools
- Project and task management tools
- Human resource management tools
- Accounting tools
What are the best online tools for small businesses?
Based on functionality, below are some of the best software solutions that small businesses can use:
- Microsoft 365 : For Office Online, Microsoft Teams , email, calendar, file sharing, and cloud storage.
- Sage Business Cloud Accounting : For accounting, HR software, payments, and banking.
- Bitrix24 : For CRM, communications, tasks and projects, chats, video calls, contact center, sales analytics , online store, analytics, sales and marketing automation, etc.
- Slack : For communication, collaboration, messaging, voice and video calls, file transfer and chat.
- Salesforce : CRM, customer service, sales and marketing.
- Trello : For task management.
What software do most small businesses use?
Here are the most popular business software solutions based on functionality:
- Gmail : Email software
- YouTube : Video hosting
- WordPress : Content Management System
- Amazon CloudFront : Content Delivery Network
- Mailchimp : Email Marketing Software
- Marketo : Marketing Automation Software
- Zendesk : Customer support
- Moz : SEO
- Sales force : CRM
- Optimizely : A/B testing
- Google Analytics : Web analytics software
- Sage Business Cloud Accounting : Accounting and HR
- Trello : task management
What’s better than QuickBooks?
Some alternatives to QuickBooks include:
- Xero US
- Sage Business Cloud Accounting
- freshbooks
- Kashu
- wave accounting
What are business intelligence tools?
Business intelligence tools are applications that collect and process unstructured data from external and internal systems. These include medical records, videos, documents, magazines, books, files, email, images , and other business sources. They offer companies a way to collect massive amounts of data, prepare it and turn it into actionable insights that they can use to make better decisions.
What are the best free business tools for startups?
Here are some free business tools your startup can use :
- Google Workspace
- Google Analytics
- Trello
- asana
- Yoast
- mailchimp
- Buffer
- Bitrix24
- WordPress
- hunter
- mozbar
What is the difference between business tools and methods?
Business tools are devices or platforms used to perform or assist in a specific task. Techniques are actions or methods used in implementing a tool or performing a task.
Are you ready to save money and grow your business with online business tools?
Start using the online business tools at your disposal and your results will definitely improve. These five types of small business tools are just the tip of the iceberg. If you haven’t already, you should look into apps and platforms for social media management, meeting scheduling, content marketing, graphic design, file sharing, and customer relationship management (CRM).
Checkout : Top 5 best CRM software for your business in 2022
