Business Tools Every Company Needs To Have
Every minute counts in the fast-paced world of small businesses. It doesn't take a very long time to fall behind competitors, and it can be very difficult to regain lost ground.
That’s why it’s so important for a business owner to use the proper tools at their disposal to maximize their efficiency and squeeze the most productivity out of every minute they can. Trying to find the best and most effective of these tools can be somewhat of a challenge.
There are plenty of options available to small business owners, but some of them are just flat-out better than their competitors. These are a few business tools that you should look into to help your company reach its maximum potential.
Slack
Every company needs to have a solid method of communication between employees. Without a simple and speedy way to collaborate, it’s easy for people to fall behind on their assignments and delay the progress of important projects.
Since making the jump to the internet, most companies have been using email services in order to maintain correspondence with their team members quickly. However, the median response time for business emails was measured to be 1.78 hours or almost 107 minutes.
It’s important to note that a substantial amount of emails were responded to within two minutes of being sent, but there weren’t enough to bring the median time to a more acceptable level. Instead of using email, most businesses have made the transition to the messaging app Slack.
This app provides plenty of features, but most importantly is a median response time of 16.3 minutes. When looking for ways to increase your overall communication, it’s hard to argue that email is the most effective option anymore.
Google Drive
Regardless of the size of the business or the industry, there will be a ton of documents that will need to be easily created, shared, and stored. In the old days, these files would physically be created, copied, and distributed to the people that needed them.
This would not only take a considerable amount of time, but it would require resources and could only be done in person. Today, the process is much easier, cheaper, and faster as many businesses have utilized cloud-based services such as Google Drive.
When using this collaboration tool, you will have the ability to create, share, and store all of your important documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Using Google Drive will make the sharing of anything important much easier and faster than printing memos, sending emails with huge attachment files, or scheduling meetings.
With Google Drive you get:
Google Docs
Google Calendar and meeting tools
Video Conferencing
Online meetings
Google Sheets
In fact, a lot of companies often use Google Drive and Slack together to collaborate on projects in real-time. Google Drive is a borderline essential business tool for its storage features alone. However, it’s a must-have for businesses of all sizes by including various types of file creation and simple sharing techniques.
Zoom
The coronavirus pandemic has forever changed the way that the world operates in countless ways. One of the more unexpected ways is that it has spawned a need to host virtual meetings and video calls online. The virus led to months of quarantines and social distancing, resulting in record-shattering amounts of people working from home.
Although these numbers will go down a little as the pandemic gets more under control, there will still be a higher number of remote workers than ever before. Using real collaboration tools such as Slack and Google Drive has helped to keep workers up to date with the latest information and tasks about their jobs, but something seems to get lost in the texts sometimes.
That’s why the program Zoom has exploded in popularity over the last two years. Hundreds of millions of people have used this communications app since the pandemic started for business meetings, a virtual school for students, and even recreationally to spend time with loved ones.
Meetings will always be a crucial aspect of business, and using Zoom can make them much easier to manage, even after the pandemic has ended. The best thing about Zoom is you can use it on your desktop, laptop, or mobile devices.
Dialed
Being well organized is a critical factor in the business’s success, which includes all aspects of your professional life. As a business continues to grow, the list of important phone numbers and contacts can often get pretty overwhelming. There is no limit to the number of partners, employees, customers, supplies, vendors, retailers, and many others you will need to contact often.
Trying to remember these numbers and important details is virtually impossible unless you engage in the concept of contact management. An app like Dialed specializes in this method of organization and will help you keep all of your contacts and their information together in one easily accessible place.
One of the features of this app is the creation of contact sheets that will allow you to see all the previous calls and texts that were exchanged in the past. You will also have the ability to create customizable labels, groups, and filters for your contacts so you can easily find the number you need.
Another feature is that you can prioritize these contacts, so you’ll be able to answer calls from VIPs as quickly as possible. As a bonus, Dialed will even block out spam calls and robocallers so that you can keep your line clear and eliminate annoying distractions.
Keeping your phone strictly organized can help you look more professional, increase your productivity, and improve your business relationships.
QuickBooks
The majority of this list has focused on the people involved with a company, but it’s important not to forget the numbers. Accounting plays one of the single most important roles of a company, and if not run properly, it can quickly result in failure.
Not only does accounting help you to track your financial standings, expenses, income, and current cash flow, it will also be responsible for creating budgets throughout the company, paying employees, and keeping up with taxes. It can’t be overstated just how important accounting can be, and that’s why using software like QuickBooks can be so essential to a business.
QuickBooks is routinely found at the top of accounting software lists for a good reason. It’s considered to have one of the more user-friendly interfaces and can help with all of the accounting requirements listed above. The software is cloud-based which will make it easily accessible to all the members of your accounting department and even comes with a mobile app in case it’s needed on the go.
The integrations with third-party applications are another incredible feature that will make it easy to upload files and information relating to business finances. There are a lot of options and choices that businesses have to separate themselves from one another, but every single one of them will require superb accounting to stay operational.
QuickBooks is one of the easiest ways to keep your financial books organized and accurate.
Other Helpful Business Tools to Consider
LinkedIn for networking
Social networks like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for advertising
Mailchimp for email marketing tools
Google Analytics to dig into your site data
Gmail for company email
Trello or Asana for project management tools
Dropbox for file sharing
Skype as an alternative to Zoom
The Takeaway
The business world is often leading the charge for innovation and changes to technology. As a business begins to demand tools that will help them run more efficiently, tech companies are typically quick to respond.
The list above is a few examples of tech companies creating essential tools that will help businesses operate more efficiently and maximize their overall potential. Organization and efficiency are extremely important characteristics of a successful business and should be applied at every level.
There should be no part of a business that is overlooked. Even organizing the contact list on your phone can be very beneficial and help you run your company more efficiently. Download Dialed now to get your business tools and to get organized.
SOURCES:
Responding To a Business Email | Polymail
What’s Better Than Slack? These Companies Have Some Ideas | wsj.com
What Is Google Drive? a Guide to Google's File Storage Service | businessinsider.com
