Having the right software for your business needs is essential to getting things done. While every small business is different, there are similarities for what you’ll like to manage. Software can handle everything from payroll, inventory management, data storage, and can even assist with collaboration.
If the software doesn’t meet your needs you’ll spend more time fighting with it than you will working with your clients, products, and employees. You want software that will allow you to manage the large amounts of data efficiently however, selecting the right option can be daunting. With so many options available, how do you decide which one is right for you and your small business?
Read on to discover our top picks for your essential small business software.
Small Business Software Your Business Needs
Accounting
Money is what keeps your small business alive, so you need to make sure you choose the right accounting software to help you keep track of yours.
For solo entrepreneurs running an entire business yourself, Zoho Books is our top choice. It’s online accounting software syncs directly with your accounts, allowing you to invoices, track time and expenses, and generate tax reports. Best of all, it’s designed to grow with your business.
If you’re a larger businesses, Freshbooks wins out for its ease of use at handling invoicing, billing, expense tracking and more. Its cloud-based software also offers a robust mobile app for both Apple and Android, allowing you to keep track of your accounting needs on the go.
Online Database
Even small businesses can handle large amounts of data, but unfortunately that data is useless unless it can be filtered and analyzed. It’s impractical to do this manually so you need a tool to help you manage it more efficiently.
Kohezion is a flexible database tool that allows you to create your own online database. The database can pull from multiple sources and uses pivot tables to change how you sort and analyze data. No programming or special knowledge is required, enabling you to set up the perfect customized system that fits your exact needs even if you’re not a developer.
Collaboration Tools
Communication and collaboration are an essential aspects of a successful small business, especially if you employee a remote or distributed team. Slack is an instant messaging and collaboration system that helps you focus the discussion by separating messages, discussions and notifications by purpose, department or topic. You can easily up load files, pull important people into necessary conversations, and even archive channels when they are no longer needed
Document Sharing
Whether you’re collaborating with colleagues at the desk next to you or half a world away, you’ll find that document sharing becomes a constant way of life. Emailing Word documents back and forth takes a long time and you’re never really sure which version is the latest version.
Google Drive is a great solution for small businesses where multiple people will work on the same document for a single project. It allows you to create and store spreadsheets, text files, and slideshows with tracking turned on to see who made the most recent edit.
If you’re not sharing documentation creation duties and simply need to have access to documents across the company, Dropbox might be the option for you. You can upload and store any type of file to a shared drive and your colleague can view or download it as needed.
Project Management Software
A good project management tool can help you easily meet your business intent and goals. For company wide management, Asana’s software is effective at tracking projects, tasks, and conversations across multiple teams. It’s able to keep up with multiple workflows at once, making sure you never miss a deadline.
If your team is hooked on Kanban, than Trello is the best option for you. This software works best for creatives and software development companies who need freedom and agility in project planning. Trello’s moveable boards make it easy to shift items between projects and teams.
Small business owners tend to wear a lot of hats and having the right software for each different hat could mean the difference between getting things done and having a half completed to-do list. More and more software providers are targeting small businesses market programs uniquely designed to meet their needs and help you hit your goals!
