It can be costly to run a small business. While you might be one of the lucky entrepreneurs who can take risks, it is more realistic to assume that you are like most small-business owners.
This means you must carefully consider all decisions made by your team. It doesn't matter if you choose or use the best software for your company.
Small business owners are likely to be familiar with the phrase, "There are not enough hours in a day." This refers to everything you do, from drafting proposals meeting clients, and managing emails.
It is easy to feel overwhelmed and exhausted.
Thanks to technological advancements in software and apps, today's digital tools can help you streamline your business and make your job easier.
Benefits of Small Business Tech Tools
Let's first look at why investing in technology tools for small businesses makes sense. Technology can help you save time and allow you to concentrate on what matters most.
Instead of spending your time on manual administrative tasks like data entry or invoicing, you can now spend that time talking with your prospects and clients, improving your products, and other strategic endeavors to grow your business.
Second, technology tools can help you save money. A CRM tool, for example, can identify areas where you may be "leaving money on the table" with certain customers.
Accounting software may reveal insights that indicate you have been paying too much tax. Backup solutions can help you avoid data loss or unwelcome downtime, which could lead to revenue loss or customer churn.
You can avoid missing a deadline and incurring penalties by using a robust project management system. Digital signature software can help businesses to automate the process of signing documents.
Third, digital tools support the post-pandemic paradigm where people and businesses seek to minimize in-person interaction due to enduring regulations and health concerns.
Because tech tools are digital, people can do most of their business-as-usual activities from anywhere and on any device.
These examples show that smart selection and effective use of technology tools can make a small business more profitable.
Let's now discuss some possible solutions in each category of tech tools. We will also discuss their potential drawbacks and limitations.
Small business ownership requires a team effort. Before making a purchase decision, aligning your business and team goals is important.
Small business software and tools are becoming more popular as remote work and virtual workspaces evolve. They can help your entire business achieve faster results by organizing your work, keeping your teams in sync, boosting your business, and keeping you and your employees happy.
Productivity
Software and tools that facilitate productivity help teams work smarter rather than harder. Productivity tools can tremendously impact your overall performance, empowering momentum and conquering procrastination.
Find out how productivity can be improved in the workplace
- Digital workflows can be created
- Automate recurring processes
- Teamwork and performance can be optimized
- Divide and conquer tasks, projects, and to-dos
Communication
Software and tools that facilitate communication can help boost teamwork and productivity. Good communication skills can foster a culture of collaboration and contagious chemistry.
When you are always connected, there is no need to miss a beat.
- Incentives for meaningful conversations
- Encourages thoughtful dialogue
- Encourages deeper engagement
- Drives cohesive decision-making
Collaboration
Software and tools that facilitate collaboration are vital to every aspect of your business. This is especially true for small businesses.
Modern collaboration software allows teams to collaborate better, no matter where they may be.
- It creates a network of knowledge sharing
- Cross-functional ideas exchange
- Ecosystem of common resources
- Problem-solving and team alignment
Marketing
With powerful tools that give insight into your customers, marketing software can help you become a great marketer.
This will allow you to generate qualified leads. Learn more about marketing tips and tricks for small businesses.
- Automate scheduling
- Create a website
- Employee performance is affected
- Organise tasks and to-dos
Accounting
Modern accounting software and tools allow you to keep track of money coming into and out of your business. You don't have to be a financial expert to start.
- Keep track of revenue and expenses
- Pay taxes and handle payroll
- Generate custom reports
- Forecast and analyze finances
Operations Management
Software for operations management helps to monitor employee satisfaction and engagement, as well as establish quality control.
- Top talent can be hired, onboarded, and trained
- Set up accountability and align your goals
- Prioritize support and streamline feedback
- Increase employee confidence and team morale
E-Signature Tool
E-signature tools are useful when you or others need to sign agreements and contracts. Upload your documents and add the email addresses of those who need them.
The recipients will receive the documents in their mailboxes.
Many free electronic signature software tools allow you to set due dates and send reminders to parties who haven't yet signed.
E-signature solutions can be paperless and are, therefore, environmentally friendly. They are also suitable for remote and geographically dispersed workplaces.
eSignly is one of the most popular esignature tools.
- You can also set up an administrator responsible for assigning and supervising all document signing activities.
- Sign up for certain tasks with signature groups
Top Online Tools For Start-Ups In 2023
Start-ups can be busy. But that's only when they are productive and focused. You can find many affordable tools to help manage your start-up's productivity.
However, locating them on your own would be a tedious task.
We've compiled a list of the top tools to help you and your team get the most out of your start-up, even if it is growing quickly.
Productivity Tools
Choosing which is best for you and your team can be difficult. This is why we created this list of top software productivity tools to help boost productivity in your start-up.
1. Asana
Asana allows your team to brainstorm ideas and manage projects without sending everyone a flood of emails and follow-up calls.
Asana has templates, team pages, and task lists. You can also assign responsibilities directly from Asana. Asana's basic plan is available for up to 15 members. The premium plan starts at $10 per member per month.
2. Buffer
Buffer allows you to manage your startup's social media posts intuitively. You can schedule posts on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn in bulk.
The Buffer analytics are easy to scan and include tools for sharing your most popular hits. Buffer offers an individual plan for free. Other plans are available starting at $102 per calendar year.
3. Canva
Canva is a quick and easy way to create desktop designs such as brochures, report covers, social media posts, cover letters, graphic-heavy documents, and more.
Canva has hundreds of fonts and lots of images. Drag and drop tools make it easy to create stunning work. Canva is free for groups of 10 or more people and $13 per month per user for larger groups.
4. CoSchedule
CoSchedule, an all-in-one tool for marketing, helps you and your team manage your content marketing schedule, social media shares, and marketing strategy.
CoSchedule offers advanced tools such as Headline Analyzer or Click to Tweet, which can help you optimize your content for SEO. Starting at $60 per month, team plans are available.
5. Elevio
Elevio provides end-user support for your site, reducing ticket loads and increasing user engagement. Elevio makes it easy to locate what your site visitors need by drawing from all of your support materials.
Elevio makes it easy to reach customer support via your website. Plans start at $41 per Month
Communication
Businesses have come to rely on instant messaging to communicate with their customers and colleagues. While the IT industry is constantly improving its messaging tools, we are focusing on the most important ones.
Continue reading to learn more about instant messaging apps.
1. Zoom
Zoom is one the most widely used web conferencing software on the market. Zoom makes it easy to host an online meeting or webinar.
It supports audio/video quality, screen sharing, and screen sharing. Zoom has a handy feature that allows you to create recurring meetings using the same URL. This is great for hosting team meetings within your company.
2. Google Meet
Google Meet is an excellent option if you're looking for a free video calling service. You can create and join video calls for up to 250 people using Google Meet.
Live-streamed events can be viewed and presented by up to 100,000 viewers.
3. WhatsApp
WhatsApp is the best messaging app that start-ups need to consider. According to a recent Statista survey, WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app worldwide, with over 2 billion users.
It is free for start-ups to download on their Android, Windows, and Mac devices.
4. Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams, which supports Microsoft 365 products and is trusted by start-ups, can be used as a messaging tool.
It's the best group chat platform for Android, Windows, and Linux.
5. Discord
Discord, an instant messaging and VoIP platform is also available in 28 languages. Discord was launched in 2015 and had 150 million active monthly users.
Collaboration
It can be difficult to choose the right tools for your arsenal. You need to strike a balance between functionality and cost-effectiveness.
But don't worry; we've got you. There are many great tools available that you can use for free, and they provide all the features you need.
These are the top 5 collaboration tools that can make entrepreneurs' lives easier.
1. Trello
They say that sometimes less is better. Trello, a web-based project management system that is minimalistic and easy to use, can be found here.
It's a web-based project management tool that helps you organize your team and track your tasks. And it does a great job of it. It is simple to use and very easy to learn. It is based on Kanban principles, which allow you to organize tasks visually like a pinboard.
2. Baluu
Baluu, a scheduling tool for start-ups, allows you to create a schedule to meet potential clients or customers at a time that suits you best.
Then it sends you a link detailing your availability. Baluu's dashboard makes it easy to manage your entire team and start-up. Baluu gives you all the tools to manage your business, from creating events to assigning members to them.
3. Monday.com
Monday.com, primarily a project management tool, puts equal emphasis on communication and planning. It is a great resource for project-led businesses in the design and marketing industries.
Thanks to its traffic-light structure, you can see where your team members are at once. This is also useful for sharing project progress via dashboards and reports.
4. ClickUp
SME owners must consider cost when choosing a project management platform. ClickUp, a relatively young project management platform, has made a name for itself with its extensive features and affordable pricing plan.
It uses a company hierarchy to allow different departments to work together virtually without having to step on each other's toes.
5. Wrike
Wrike's minimalist design allows for an easy and intuitive user experience. The platform also scored well in our testing of usability.
The interface is simple and clear, with visuals emphasizing information at a glance. This makes it easy to update stakeholders and guests about the status of milestones and tasks.
Marketing
You might be wondering how to tell the world about your amazing product. You're probably here because you are. We will show you the best marketing tools to help start-ups.
The paid tools are priced so start-ups with limited resources can use them.
1. Google Analytics
Your marketing strategy is dependent on data. Google Analytics is our top pick, as it comes at no cost. Google Analytics is a powerful tool that will give you insight into your website's traffic source, its activities there, and many other things.
It should be a tool every start-up should own.
2. Hotjar
Hotjar can help you fix those problems. It's a web analysis tool similar to Google analytics. Hotjar provides data about visitors' actions on your site, such as clicks and scrolls.
Hotjar provides insight into user interactions and where they go.
Hotjar is a paid service, but it's still affordable at $89 per month for websites with more than 20,000 users daily.
Are you not ready to commit? Sign up for a free 15-day trial. Hotjar is a great marketing channel to invest in if you have a little bit of capital.
3. Emma
Emma is an effective email marketing tool that makes it easy to build an email list and connect with your audience.
It also allows you to create targeted campaigns. It is easy to use and has powerful features, such as advanced segmentation or analytics tools. You can get up and running no matter how fast you want.
Emma's high deliverability means that your emails will be delivered to the correct inbox almost 100% of the time.
4. KWFinder
Another important (and cost-effective!) marketing strategy is content marketing. Content marketing is creating content that helps people find your products and you online.
You need to do keyword research to get the desired results. This allows you to identify the ideal customers searching for your solution in search engines.
5. Leadpages
It is crucial to create high-converting landing pages to grow your business. A landing page is a great tool for lead generation if it's well-designed and constructed.
Leadpages is an easy-to-use landing page creator with hundreds of optimized templates.
Accounting
Any start-up must choose the right accounting software. We have reviewed the top accounting software to help you choose the right accounting software for your start-up.
1. Melio
Melio helps small businesses manage supplier payments better, decreasing time and costs while maximizing cash flow.
It streamlines payment workflows, allowing businesses to concentrate on their customers and not their back offices. The Melio bill payment solution helps accountants manage all their clients' payments from one location, which saves time and money.
2. Plooto
Plooto, an all-in-one account payable (AP) and receivable platform (AR), is what Plooto stands for. Plooto's vision for financial operations is to simplify and automate complex workflows by unifying payments and processes.
3. QuickBooks
QuickBooks, a cloud-based financial management tool, is designed to help you save time managing your business finances.
Businesses can create estimates, and invoices, track sales and cash flow, manage suppliers and customers, make tax returns and monitor tax, and keep up with performance.
4. Bill.com
Bill.com, a leader in cloud-based software, simplifies, digitizes, and automates complex back-office financial operations for small to mid-sized businesses.
Bill.com's AI-enabled financial software platform connects businesses with their clients and suppliers. It allows you to manage cash inflows as well as outflows. Customers can handle all aspects of financial workflows, including processing payments.
5. Sydner
Sydner provides easy accounting to help e-commerce companies better understand their finances. Sydner allows teams to automate their bookkeeping, connect all sales channels and payment gateways, and view correct sales, tax, and other reports.
Operations Management
Businesses need to be able to manage their organizational resources to complete different tasks. Companies can now use advanced project management tools to plan, monitor, finish, and complete their projects.
1. ProofHub
ProofHub is a project management tool over 85k businesses have used for years.
The platform offers all functions, from project delivery to organization. It is also available for free to start-ups without requiring a credit card.
Major companies like Nike, Netflix, Pinterest, and Netflix use ProofHub.
2. Paymo
Paymo is another project management tool startups should consider. This work management software has been used to manage around 2.12 Million projects and has billed its customers 2.08 billion USD.
3. Kissflow
Kissflow, a digital workplace based in Chennai, offers businesses user-friendly workflow and process management tools.
The cloud-based project management platform offers products in 13 languages. This tool can be used in English but also in Japanese, Russian and German.
4. Zoho Projects
Zoho Projects is a renowned and award-winning project management software that you should not overlook.
Around 200K companies use this cloud-based project management tool due to its user-friendly interface, significant integration capabilities, and simple solutions.
This software is used by major clients such as Dell, TATA, Stanford University, Vodafone Group, and TATA.
5. Hive
Hive is a user-friendly, customizable, and fast project management tool you can use for your start-up. Hive is an excellent choice for both large and small businesses, thanks to its 1000+ app integrations.
E-Signature Tool
The products that fall under the E-Signature umbrella are very similar and can be used to solve business problems of any size.
We understand that small businesses have different needs and may need to use different E-Signatures for pricing, setup, or installation. This is why we match buyers with the Small Business to free digital signature software best suits their needs.
1. eSignly
eSignly allows more than 40,000 customers to easily create, manage, and e-Sign all documents. Our centralized, digital workflow platform minimizes inefficiencies and can increase productivity.
eSignly allows you to focus on the most important tasks without getting bogged down in time-consuming work.
2. Foxit eSign
Foxit is used by over 650 million people worldwide. Over 425,000 people have purchased Foxit. Customers range from small businesses to large corporations in more than 200 countries.
Foxit eSign makes it easy to create legally binding documents and sign them. Upload your document, make a template and add recipients before you can send it. Foxit eSign simplifies workflow by allowing users to sign, track, manage and verify signatures via a browser.
3. Eversign
Eversign's mission helps small and large companies to embrace the digital age. They are guided through each step.
Many businesses are nervous about managing sensitive data in a cloud environment, such as business contracts. We created an eSignature platform that is secure and can be monitored. It's affordable for small businesses and individuals but flexible enough to enable large companies to save time while increasing efficiency.
4. DocSend
Dropbox DocSend lets business professionals securely share and manage content that is relevant to their business.
Dropbox DocSend's link-based technology makes it easy to share and control content. You can assign security preferences to each stakeholder, and you will be notified when someone looks at your file. You can also view page-by-page performance data.
Dropbox DocSend has been trusted by more than 25,000 businesses to share and manage sensitive information.
5. DocuSign
DocuSign allows organizations to connect and automate how they prepare, sign and act on agreements. DocuSign's DocuSign Agreement Cloud offers e Signature.
This is the best way to electronically sign on any device from any location, anytime, any time. Over a million customers, over a trillion users, and over 180 countries have used the DocuSign Agreement Cloud today to simplify lives and speed up business processes.
The Key Takeaway
This list of small business tools is not exhaustive. Your business's size, maturity, industry, and budget will influence the digital tools you choose to invest in.
These tools can automate mundane tasks, which is a huge benefit.
In a post-pandemic environment, they may be able to help you fulfill the desire or need of people who want to work remotely and run their businesses.
We recommend that you start slow. You can try many of these tools for free, so you don't have to pay anything. Ask your team, clients, and partners for feedback about the tools they enjoy and dislike.
Once you have identified a few, you can begin scaling them up.
You should also ensure you are up-to-date with all new functionality and features to maximize your return on investment.
