Regardless of the resource limitations, a small business must jump onto the tech bandwagon to survive. You have to review all critical decisions and rule out those that seem to consume the most finances. However, hoping to thrive without a bunch of essential tools could be a huge mistake.
Why entrepreneurs resist using small business tools?
The adoption of emerging tools and tech equipment across most small organizations is less than optimal. When owners try to keep the old legacy alive, it hinders organizations from achieving their full potential.
Nonetheless, many small companies are resistant to change. According to the SMB Group, 27% of small businesses do not have IT support. It also discovered that 80% of small companies are still using manual integration tools.
Here are two reasons why they choose to playold school:
- Affordability Issues
The cost of buying new tools is unacceptable. Even when they expect benefits in the future, they hesitate from making hefty investments. Though with online subscription software, this perception is slowly changing.
- Limited Time
It is hard to keep up with updates and new trends if you aren’t tech-savvy. Connecteam states that 80% of small business managers use a pen, paper, and spreadsheets to lead their workforce. Implementation of the latest tools can help eliminate taxing management tasks.
New businesses that adopt emerging tools will leap ahead of their competition. Thus, every small business needs to plunge into the marketplace and find the best tools. Once done, it is highly integral to modify the tools and stay atop the updated versions.
Five Essential Tools for Small Businesses
Below, we have rounded up the list of must-have tools for every small business trying to make ends meet in 2021. Let’s take a look:
- Online accounting software
By investing in efficient online accounting software for small business, you can save a ton of your time. The hassle of maintaining bills and watching over the finances is way too burdening.
Look for a smart accounting software for small business that caters to all your business needs. A viable software tends to simplify all your accounting needs and gives you a clear picture of your financial situation. You can find plenty of resources to understand how it works and take a few trials to examine its aptitude.
According to the Journal of Accountancy, 90% of accountants say that soon cloud accounting and digital business processes can be the key differentiator among companies. Ideal accounting software for small busines will help with the following tasks:
- Track stock and inventory
- Prepare and send invoices
- Handle payroll
- Recheck transaction against your bank account
- View profit and loss reports
The accounting software for small business market shares has witnessed steady growth in recent years. More companies are adopting this technology to stay on the competitive edge.
- Content management system
The purpose of a content management system is to help you schedule your digital content. It is software that allows users to design, manage, and change content on their website without the need for specific technical knowledge.
Instead of building your own system for storing images, creating web pages, and other tasks, the CMS handles the basic infrastructure stuff. Meanwhile, you can control the forward-pacing parts of your website.
A CMS tool like WordPress simply requires you to write content on an interface that resembles Microsoft Word.
Some reasons for its popularity are:
- Easy to use interface
- You can create your own website
- It provides a vast choice of plugins to optimize the site
- There are online instructions on how to achieve goals on this platform
A few other popular content management software include Drupal, Magento, Wix, Squarespace, and Joomla. Browse and research more before you opt for one.
- Website Analytics
As a small entity, numbers matter a lot. You should know how much traffic your website generates? Where does the most traffic come from? What are the demographics of interested prospects?
Tracking each of these numbers is not an easy feat. Google Analytics is a tool that acts like a knight in shining armour when watching numbers. It has made it to the list of Top 1 Million Sites in Application Performances.
Deploying this tool helps you view the countries your site was seen in, the percentage of traffic drivers, and their key figures. It can help you identify the segments of your website that aren’t working well. It also allows you to peak into factors that viewers appreciate the most. You can measure marketing campaign, monitor SEO, and figure out how to devise a winning SEO strategy.
- Google Workspace
Google Workplace is a collection of enterprise products like Docs, Gmail, Sheets, etc. Google offers a monthly subscription to the entire package.
It is a Software as a Service (SaaS) product that combines all cloud-based collaboration tools developed by Google. One can’t help but think using these apps in the free version doesn’t make any difference. However, here are some defining features of Google Workspace:
- Unlimited cloud storage
- Shared calendars
- Advanced admin controls such as two-step verification
- Mobile device management
To get started, decide how you will use each of these features and choose a package that befits your company needs. Also, do not forget about protecting your data with Cloudally Google Workspace backup or another third-party saas backup solution.
- Project Management Software
As per Constant Contact, 66% of small business owners rely on mobile devices to manage operations. Even in a small business, working in several segments is quite challenging. A project management software can enable the business owners to track and operate in different windows simultaneously.
According to PMI, only 23% of organizations use standardized project management practices across the entire organization.
A project management tool like Trello can be your best friend when it comes to overseeing several company departments. Trello allows users to:
- Create boards for each project
- Make lists within the board
- Create tasks for each team member
You can sign-up for a free account or pay for a subscription if you are willing to access advanced features.
Final Thoughts
Statista reported that spending on business services and software would rapidly grow for small businesses. We witnessed how the corporate world took a wild turn during COVID-19.
Companies were forced to jump on the tech wagon. And many closures happened because business owners didn’t have enough skills or resources to operate virtually. If you are starting just now, it is essential to equip yourself with all the needed tools.
We hope our blog helped you gain some insight in this regard.
