Essential Software Tools Every Small Business Needs

October 1, 2020

If you’re a small business owner, you know that running your business requires much more than just providing a great product or service. You also need to manage your finances, communicate effectively with customers, and streamline daily operations. The good news is that there are software tools available to help you do all this and more.

So, what software tools should every small business have? A comprehensive accounting software to manage your finances, a customer relationship management system to track customer interactions and improve communication, and a project management software to streamline daily operations and keep everyone on the same page. Keep reading to learn more about each of these essential software tools.

Software Tools Every Small Business Needs

Financial Management Software

Running a small business requires proper management of cash flow and expenses. This is where financial management software comes in handy. Several accounting options are available to help you track your finances. For instance, QuickBooks is a popular cloud accounting software that provides a plethora of features to manage invoices, track expenses, and run financial reports. Also, FreshBooks is another accounting software that enables small business owners to monitor expenses, time tracking, invoicing, and receive online payments.

Benefits of Financial Management Software

Financial management tools can assist you in creating a budget, identifying significant costs, and forecasting boost financial outcomes. These solutions also have the benefit of working with your bank accounts, credit cards, and other company financial data. Furthermore, automation reduces human errors and saves time, allowing business owners to concentrate on core tasks.

Project Management Software

Small business owners have to juggle multiple responsibilities, including managing workflows and deadlines. That’s where project management software comes in to simplify tasks. Trello, Asana, and Monday.com are some popular project management tools available on the market. These tools help in creating tasks, assigning them to team members, and setting deadlines. Additionally, the software offers a dashboard that lets you track employee progress and project milestones.

Benefits of Project Management Software

Project management tools boost collaboration and offer a centralized location where team members can share documents and communicate better. Moreover, by breaking down projects into smaller tasks, project management software helps businesses stay organized and boosts productivity.

Communication Software

Smooth communication is vital for small business success. Having effective communication software saves time, streamlines operations and enhances teamwork. Slack and Microsoft Teams are popular instant messaging tools that help teams collaborate in real-time. Also, email marketing software such as Mailchimp assist businesses in creating and sending marketing content to their customers.

Benefits of Communication Software

Communication software can improve communication between team members and clients, which is essential in keeping stakeholders aligned. This software fosters alignment of stakeholders and reduces errors and misinterpretations in collaboration.

Data Backup and Recovery

Your small business should always be prepared for unexpected data loss, which could have devastating effects on your operations. That’s why implementing a data backup and recovery strategy is essential. Cloud backup solutions such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive are popular options due to their ease of use and accessibility from anywhere. These tools automatically protect your files by syncing them to the cloud, ensuring that you always have a backup copy even if your computer crashes or gets stolen.

Disaster Recovery Software

In addition to cloud backup solutions, disaster recovery software is designed for small businesses that need an extra layer of protection. Disaster recovery software, like Barracuda and Carbonite, can create a complete backup of your system, including applications, data, and operating systems. This makes it possible for you to quickly restore your entire system to normal operations in case of a disaster or system failure.

Customer Relationship Management System (CRM)

Managing customer data and providing a personalized approach to customer relationship management is crucial to any small business’s success. With a CRM tool, you can keep track of all communication, purchases, and preferences, and use that information to improve customer engagement and increase sales. Using a CRM system such as Salesforce, HubSpot, or Zoho will provide you with a better understanding of your customer’s needs, preferences, and buying patterns.

Organize customer data

One of the key features of a CRM system is the ability to store and organize customer data in a central and secure location. This enables you to access all the information you need in one place, allowing you to provide a better customer experience and assist your sales team in closing deals.

Social Media Management

Social media is a powerful tool for small businesses to connect with customers and build brand awareness. However, managing and keeping up with multiple social media accounts can be time-consuming. That’s why using a social media management tool is essential. Tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, and Sprout Social can help you schedule posts, monitor engagement, and analyze your social media performance.

Scheduling Posts

A social media management tool allows you to schedule posts in advance, helping you save time and consistency in your social media marketing. With these tools, you can plan and create content at your convenience and schedule it to post at the most optimal times for maximum engagement.

In conclusion, incorporating data backup and recovery, CRM, and social media management tools into your small business operations can streamline your processes and boost overall productivity. By utilizing these tools, you can better protect your business data, improve customer engagement, and build brand awareness through social media.

Inventory Management Software

Running a small business often means managing inventory, sales, and purchasing all at once. This can become overwhelming and time-consuming without the right software tools. With inventory management software, you can track the stock levels of your products, set up automatic reordering, and analyze data trends to optimize your purchasing patterns.

Track Your Sales and Inventory

Inventory management software gives you a clear picture of your inventory levels in real-time and enables you to track sales trends. With features like barcode scanning, you can maintain accurate records and ensure that stock levels are up-to-date. This will prevent you from overselling products that you no longer have in stock, which can lead to dissatisfied customers.

Predictive Analytics

Predictive analytics helps small businesses to anticipate client needs and predict demand. By analyzing past sales data, inventory management software can suggest to you when to restock your inventory, make purchasing decisions, and offer insight into what items are selling best. These insights can help you make better business decisions and prevent retail out-of-stocks, resulting in customer satisfaction while keeping inventory-related costs in check.

Tax Preparation Software

When it comes to filing taxes, small businesses have many documents to keep track to ensure that all transactions, expenses and earnings are accurately recorded. Tax preparation software helps small business owners to file taxes efficiently and securely.

E-file with Ease

Tax preparation software makes the process of filing taxes easier for small business owners. With e-filing options and step-by-step guides, you can organize your financial information and get your taxes organized quickly. Furthermore, tax preparation software allows you to review your entire tax return for errors and provides a comprehensive breakdown of your federal return to ensure that your taxes are filed correctly.

Integration with Accounting Software

Tax preparation software also integrates seamlessly with electronic accounting software like Quickbooks. With integration capabilities, you’ll have no trouble transferring data files, transactional information, and journal entries from your tax return, making the filing process much easier.

E-commerce Platform

An E-commerce platform helps small business owners to build an online store and expand their businesses. E-commerce platforms often offer features like customizable templates, payment processing, and integration with popular shipping options.

Customizable Templates

The majority of e-commerce platforms offer customizable templates with pre-set designs to integrate with the look and feel of your brand. Additionally, these platforms empower you to alter your web design, make edits, and streamline shopping experiences with marketing tools that boost visitor conversions.

Payment Processing

E-commerce platforms allow businesses to process payments simply and reliably. With different payment solution providers like Stripe and PayPal, you can integrate your payment gateway and accept various types of payment online, guaranteeing your customers a user-friendly experience, as well as one that is secure.

Integration with Shipping

E-commerce platforms offer integration with shipping solutions like DHL, FedEx, or USPS as well. This ensures that your business can provide comprehensive shipping solutions, tracking, and convenient delivery time estimates, all within your online store. With these features, small business owners can have a competitive edge and deliver exceptional customer experiences.

Human Resource Management Software (HRM)

Managing human resources is an essential part of running a small business, and HR software can help streamline and automate many of these tasks. Here are some software tools that can help you manage HR tasks:

Payroll Software

Payroll is one of the most critical tasks in human resources, and it can take up a lot of valuable time. HR software can automate payroll and do calculations for taxes, overtime, and other deductions. Tools such as Gusto or QuickBooks offer payroll services with automated tax filing features that can save you time and headaches.

Employee Benefits Administration

Employee benefits management can be complicated, but there are software tools that can make it easier for you. For instance, Zenefits offers HR software that helps with benefits administration, including offering employees online access to benefits and automating open enrollment.

Recruitment Management

Looking for the right candidates can take a lot of time and effort. With HR software such as Indeed or LinkedIn Recruiter, you can easily manage job postings, apply filters, and review resumes of potential candidates. With these tools, you can also schedule interviews and track the hiring process.

Business Intelligence Tools

Business intelligence tools can help small businesses make data-driven decisions. Here are some popular options:

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is one of the most widely used business intelligence tools. It allows you to track website traffic, conversion rates, and other metrics, making it easier to make informed decisions and improve your website’s performance.

Tableau

Tableau is a data visualization software that can help businesses visualize and analyze data from multiple sources, including spreadsheets, databases, and cloud services. With Tableau, you can create interactive dashboards and share them with your team to make better decisions.

Virtual Private Network (VPN)

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) can provide an additional layer of security when working remotely. Here are some VPN software options that can help you secure your online browsing and safeguard sensitive data:

NordVPN

NordVPN is a popular VPN service that offers advanced security features such as Double VPN and Onion Over VPN. It also has a strict no-logs policy, providing you with additional privacy and security.

ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN is another popular VPN service that offers fast and secure connections. It has servers in over 90 countries and provides excellent customer service. ExpressVPN also offers a split-tunneling feature that makes it easier for you to choose which apps use the VPN.

Document Management Software

As a small business owner, you deal with a lot of documents on a daily basis. From invoices to contracts and proposals, all these documents need to be managed and organized effectively. This is where document management software comes in handy. With features such as document scanning, indexing and storage, these tools can help you keep track of your documents, retrieve them whenever you need them, and access them securely from anywhere.

Benefits of Using Document Management Software

Document management software eliminates the need for physical document storage, which saves space and resources. With a centralized and secure system for document storage, you can easily manage document access and ensure that confidential documents are only available to authorized personnel. In addition, you can easily track document revisions, set document permissions, and automate document workflows to improve productivity.

Meeting and Video Conferencing Software

The COVID-19 pandemic has made video conferencing and remote work more popular than ever. As a small business owner, you need tools that can facilitate virtual meetings with clients and remote workers seamlessly. Video conferencing software allows you to connect with multiple participants from anywhere in the world in real-time.

Benefits of Using Meeting and Video Conferencing Software

Virtual meetings are cost-effective and save time and money associated with business travel. They are also more flexible, allowing you to connect with clients or employees from anywhere in the world. Video conferencing software comes with features such as screen sharing, chat, recording, and virtual backgrounds that can improve engagement and productivity during meetings.

Website Builder

A business website is a must-have in today’s digital age but building one can be expensive and time-consuming. Luckily, there are website builders that don’t require coding knowledge to help you build a professional business website with ease.

Benefits of Using a Website Builder

Website builders are cost-effective and save time, making it possible to create a professional-looking website in hours instead of days. They are also easy to use, allowing you to customize templates, add pages, images and text without any coding knowledge.

Popular Website Builders

Wix: Wix is one of the most popular website builders that offers a wide range of templates and easy-to-use design tools. It has a free plan as well as paid plans with more advanced features.

Squarespace: Squarespace is another popular website builder that offers high-quality templates, e-commerce features, and design flexibility. It also features a robust analytics dashboard to help you track important website metrics.

Appointment Scheduling Software

If you’re running a small business, you know how hectic and unorganized your day-to-day schedule can get. This is where appointment scheduling software comes in to help you manage your calendar, set appointments, and schedule meetings. Tools such as Calendly, Appointy, and Acuity Scheduling make it easy for you and your clients to schedule appointments and meetings without the hassle of back-and-forth emails or phone calls.

Benefits of Appointment Scheduling Software

24/7 availability to schedule appointments and meetings.
Automatic appointment reminders to reduce no-shows.
Integration with your calendar to avoid double-booking or overlapping appointments.

Investing in scheduling software can save you time and improve your customers’ experience. It’s a win-win situation for both parties.

Marketing Automation Software

With digital marketing being a key part of small business success, marketing automation software can help streamline your campaigns. Tools such as HubSpot, Marketo, and Mailchimp can automate repetitive marketing tasks such as email campaigns, social media posts, and lead generation.

Benefits of Marketing Automation Software

Increased efficiency and time savings in marketing tasks.

Better targeting and personalization of marketing efforts.
Improved lead generation and customer retention.

Investing in marketing automation software can save you time and money, allowing you to focus on other aspects of your business while still delivering effective marketing campaigns.

Cybersecurity Software

Small businesses are not immune to cyber threats. Protecting sensitive data, customer information, and financial records is crucial to the success of your business. Cybersecurity software tools such as Norton, McAfee, and Avast can provide protection against malware, spyware, and other cyber threats.

Benefits of Cybersecurity Software

Protection against cyber attacks and breaches.
Improved data security and privacy.

Increased customer trust and confidence.

Investing in cybersecurity software can save you from potential financial losses, data theft, and reputational damage. It’s a necessary investment to protect your business and customers.

Time Tracking Software

If you want to keep track of your team’s schedule and monitor productivity, investing in good time tracking software can be a game-changer for your small business. These tools allow you to create schedules, assign tasks, and monitor the progress of every employee in real-time.

1. Toggl

One popular option is Toggl, which allows you to track time for multiple projects, create reports, and generate time estimates. It also has a powerful mobile app that lets you track time on the go. With Toggl, you’ll have a better understanding of how your team spends each day, week, and month, making it easier to improve productivity and estimate project budgets.

2. Harvest

Another time tracking software to consider is Harvest, which offers features like invoicing and expense tracking in addition to time tracking. You can track time on desktop or mobile, get detailed reports, and even integrate with project management tools like Asana and Trello.

Benefits of Time Tracking Software

Here are a few benefits of using time tracking software for your small business:

Improved productivity: By having a clear picture of how your team spends their time, you can identify areas where productivity can be improved.

Accurate billing: Time tracking software ensures you invoice clients for the hours worked.
Increased accountability: By tracking each employee’s progress and time spent on certain projects or tasks, employees become more accountable and productive.
Budget control: Time tracking provides accurate project budget estimates, which help ensure that you remain within your budget.

File Sharing and Collaboration Software

When it comes to cooperation and sharing documents between team members, using file sharing and collaboration software is the way to go. These tools save time by streamlining the process of sharing files and documents and work well for teams with remote members.

1. Google Drive

Google Drive is an online document sharing and storage application that is simple to use and comes at no cost. You can create and store documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, and work on them with a team in real-time from any location. Its built-in sharing function allows you to choose who can access your documents and gives you the option to either edit or view them.

2. Dropbox

Another popular option for file sharing and collaboration is Dropbox. With Dropbox, you can quickly share large files with team members or external clients, collaborate on documents in real-time, and get easy access to your files from anywhere. Dropbox integrates with several other software tools, making file sharing and management a seamless process.

Benefits of File Sharing and Collaboration Software

Here are some reasons why using file sharing and collaboration software can be beneficial for your business:

Easy sharing: These tools allow easy access to shared files, facilitating team collaboration, and saving time.
High security: Many file sharing tools come with robust security features that ensure files remain secure.
Increased teamwork: Collaboration tools can increase teamwork among team members, improve communication, level-up focus on work goals, and enhance the quality of work output.

Cloud Storage Solutions

Cloud storage solutions offer several advantages over traditional on-premise storage, including the flexibility to access files from any location and the ability to scale up or down as needed.

1. Microsoft OneDrive

Microsoft OneDrive is a popular cloud storage solution that integrates seamlessly with Microsoft’s suite of tools. It also provides all the necessary features of cloud storage, including file synchronization, file sharing, version history, and access control.

2. Google Drive

Google Drive is a well-established cloud storage service that offers 15GB of free storage for all users, making it an excellent choice if you are a small business. In addition, it offers seamless integration with other tools like Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides.

Benefits of Cloud Storage

Here are some benefits of cloud storage for small businesses:

Cost-effective: Cloud storage comes with reduced hardware backup expenses and maintenance costs.
Collaboration: With cloud-based storage, files and data can be safely and easily shared and accessed through secure channels.
Data security: Cloud storage comes with inbuilt safeguards and access control measures that protect your business information against unauthorized access and data loss.

Wrapping Up

Congratulations! Now that you know about the software tools for small businesses, it’s time to put them to use and take your business to the next level. Don’t forget to consider your business needs and budget when choosing the right tools. With the right software in place, you can streamline your processes, increase productivity, and improve your business’s overall success.

Remember: Invest wisely and always stay up-to-date with new technologies and trends to stay ahead of the competition. Good luck!