5 Essential Software Solutions That Every Small Business Needs

Finnegan Pierson

If you plan to run a successful new business, you are going to need the tools to operate effectively. While there are many pieces of equipment and software that are industry-specific, there are also some tools that you need no matter what field you are in. The following five types of software are must-haves no matter whether you run a marketing agency or manufacture plumbing parts.

1) Bookkeeping

Keeping your books can be time-consuming and difficult to master, especially when you are new to it. Using accounting software can help you run your business more smoothly. You don’t want to have errors in your books. The right tool can ensure that you are error-free. That is especially important come tax season.

Your software can help you keep track of your sales and expenses, send out invoices, track your cash flow and much more. Whenever you go to apply for a financial account, you will likely need to provide your books. Plus, reports such as your balance sheet and income statement can help you make better decisions.

2) Customer Management

No matter what industry you are in, selling to your customers is the most important activity for your business. If you can’t convince people to buy your product or service, you don’t have much of a company. Keeping track of your current and potential customers can help you to increase your sales and improve conversion rates.

The right small business CRM software makes it easy to keep track of all that contact information. This can be helpful even if you are selling B2C. For example, you could capture the email of every customer and organize them to track how often they buy, send out emails and more.

3) Project Management

If your team is like most teams, you likely need to get things done as a group. To do this successfully and consistently, you need the right project management toolset. Like a great project manager, the right software can wear different hats. It can work well with your other software and remind you whenever something needs to get done.

Consider how your team works. You may employ a very formal project management style or a more casual one. Similarly, you may be more of an agile methodology or a waterfall one. Finding the tool that best fits your approach to managing projects will help your team integrate it better.

4) Collaboration

Communication is at the heart of every business. Your people need to work with each other to get things done. They can’t do that if they have a hard time communicating and collaborating. Tools like instant messaging and document collaboration will help you operate more smoothly and productively.

It is growing increasingly popular to have work-from-home team members and outsourced freelancers. These people outside of the office need tools to help them work with people in the office and each other. Every small business should find the right software to allow easy, remote communication and superior collaboration. Although everyone needs this type of software, the right product for you depends on your style of work.

5) Creative Tools

Marketing your business is essential to enjoying lasting success. You will need creative tools that let you bring together amazing marketing collateral. This may be a brochure, flyer, business cards or any other types of promotional materials. While you may want to hire a designer to do these for you, having some basic tools to let you create items in-house will help you get more done.

Most people are not experienced at creating these types of documents. So, finding a tool that does a lot of the work for you is a must. Fortunately, there are a number of free options that you can try out until you find the right one for you.

Finding the right software from a CRM to collaborative tools can help you run a better small business. Start exploring your options today.