Abhishek Chauhan
If you run a small or medium sized business, you’re probably aware of the saying that there are not enough hours in the day. Your days include writing proposals, interacting with clients, responding to emails, and performing administrative duties. It’s simple to feel worn out and overburdened.
The great news is that there are numerous digital solutions available today to assist you in optimizing your operations and reducing the stress of your work, thanks to technological advancements in software and applications.
Several products on the market claim to offer everything a small business requires.
However, the reality is that no tool or piece of software can give you everything you require to run a business successfully. Instead, you must select and construct the best combination of tools for each purpose (within your financial resources).
Finding the best appropriate tool for your daily company operations can be difficult and time-consuming when thousands of options are available.
The top tools for managing your daily company activities are listed below:
- For Project Management: Trello
A project management tool prototype was introduced in 2011 by a business called Fog Creek Software to address complex planning problems. The program, which was later renamed Trello, saw a rise in users from 50,000 in only one year to 4.75 million by 2014. Because it provides a free, adaptable, and visual way to manage projects, it is regarded as the best project management software.
Trello simplifies managing both one-off projects and continuous workflows using Kanban-style boards for task and project management. Users may construct unique boards and lists with cards that can contain photos, links, files, due dates, checklists, and more due to its user-friendly and easy design. Trello offers mobile apps and interfaces with Slack, Dropbox, Google Drive, and hundreds of other third-party systems to facilitate collaboration and processes.
Trello’s free plan includes unlimited personal boards, lists, and cards in addition to many other features. The free plan has a 10MB file attachment limit, 10 team boards, and one Power-up (third-party integration) per board limitation.
- For Bookkeeping and Accounting: Wave
Wave is a great choice if you’re searching for a small company accounting program. Wave makes it simple to manage your accounts with its user-friendly design and features like spending tracking and invoicing tools. Additionally, Wave is an excellent choice for small businesses on a budget because it is free for companies with a certain number of employees and income thresholds.
- For Productivity: Google Workspace
Google Workspace is a productivity package that comes with a number of tools for companies of all sizes. You can make and modify spreadsheets, documents, and presentations with Google Workspace from any location. Since Google Workspace is integrated into the majority of modern computers and most businesses rely on Gmail and Calendar, this platform has a slightly lower learning curve (and cost) than its rival Microsoft 360.
- For Communication: Slack
Slack is an excellent communication platform for small enterprises. Slack’s real-time chat tools simplify communicating with your team and maintaining departmental transparency. You can use Slack to make sure that all of the company’s internal and external collaborators have a location to receive immediate feedback because it can interface with other software applications.
Slack can also be integrated with a VOIP program. You can collaborate on every communication in one location by connecting your VoIP system, which will integrate voice calls into the platform.
- For Expense Management: Fyle
Fyle is a market-first expenditure management program that lets you monitor expenses in real-time on cards you currently own. It also eliminates the need to swap cards during card reconciliations and hassle-free cost reporting. Fyle also offers automatic compliance, easy spending tracking, and connections with popular accounting programs like NetSuite, Sage Intacct, QuickBooks, and Xero.
- For Logo Creation: Tailor Brands
Any business needs a well-designed logo, and Tailor Brands provides many options from which to choose. You may quickly and easily design a logo that precisely encapsulates your company. Additionally, you can have a comprehensive online presence that looks great and performs flawlessly with the help of their website builder and LLC creation services. All of this is provided at a reasonable cost and is catered to the requirements of startups and small companies.
- For Customer Engagement Management: Trengo
A smart platform for client interaction called Trengo allows you to centralize all of your customer discussions. With the aid of this software, you can track client interaction and maintain a clear overview of emails and live conversations on platforms like Shopify, Salesforce, and other options, as well as messages sent through popular messaging services like WeChat, WhatsApp, Telegram, and more – all without switching tabs.
Trengo can aid your company in providing effective support assistance through automation, rules, and connectors, irrespective of whether you outsource support services or have an in-house workforce. Trengo has been approved as a WhatsApp Business partner. Before switching to a plan that is customized according to your company’s needs, you can test Trengo for a period of 14 days with a free trial.
- For Task Management: nTask
You and your team can track and control daily productivity with the help of the task and project management application nTask. Additionally, the program provides management tools that may be used to effectively coordinate your team members as the project is being developed. To-do lists, start and finish dates, time estimates, subtasks, and dependencies can be made. Achieve easy team collaboration by allocating tasks to various team members and including documents and files with comments.
- For Domain Registration: Namecheap
In addition to being among the finest domain registrars, Namecheap offers a wide range of tools for creating and enhancing your website’s online presence. Start by looking for and purchasing a domain name, then pick a host for your online presence. Before building your website with an intuitive website builder, you must first sign up for an SSL certificate. Additionally, you will be able to design your own business emails as well as branding materials like logos and images. Namecheap offers a knowledge base with various how-to articles as well as explanations of how everything functions.
- For phone calls: Dialpad
Any business must have effective communication, and Dialpad’s unified business telephone network gives you an edge over your competitors. An AI-powered tool called Dialpad enables small companies to phone, message, and meet all in one convenient location. The virtual phone system gives you the option to use a VoIP phone system or PBX system, allowing you to do much more than simply make and receive outgoing and incoming business calls. Call routing, call forwarding, in-call security, and voicemail are among the features.
While keeping team and client conversations private and secure, the platform enables you to use real-time analytics to monitor usage and performance. Additionally, thanks to cloud-based capabilities, you can stay connected from any device, anywhere.
- For digital logo creation: Free Logo Creator
Free Logo Creator is an AI-powered graphic tool that generates aesthetically pleasing logos, making it ideal for those starting their companies, having a restricted budget, or lacking design expertise. With a fresh branded picture, give the website, social media accounts, and online business a professional appearance.
Free Logo Creator offers customization through an easy-to-use interface for businesses in all sectors. All skill levels can efficiently utilize the solution, and in less than ten minutes, you are able to get a free logo ready. However, prices start at $37 if you want to obtain high-resolution, print-quality vector graphic logos.
- For QR code generation: Beaconstac
One of the most advanced and business-ready QR code solutions is the one provided by Beaconstac. Whether creating digital business cards, unique landing pages, or contactless menu cards, the QR code generator is designed for any use scenario.
Using your brand’s color scheme, adding your company’s logo, adding frames, adding CTA text, and customizing the backdrop are all possible with this solution. To make sure that all of your marketing efforts are covered, Beaconstac offers a variety of QR code kinds, including video QR codes, picture QR codes, app QR codes, etc.
The QR code generator from Beaconstac is likewise simple to use; it just takes four steps to produce a QR code. Whether you are a sole proprietor, a medium-sized firm, or an enterprise, the software is equipped with the functionality to meet your business needs at any stage. In order to keep your data with the highest level of security, it is also GDPR and SOC Type 2 compliant.
- For remote team collaboration: Ringblaze
A cutting-edge communication tool for small enterprises is called Ringblaze. It provides groups with all the resources they need to operate an online office. Ringblaze combines all communication channels, including internal dialogues as well as calls and texts sent and received between clients and staff. It is simple to keep track of communications between the company and its clients when there is a common inbox. You may assign unresolved issues to team members who have the necessary expertise while swiftly determining which questions have been resolved and which still require assistance.
- For customer support: Zendesk
With the aid of the helpdesk ticketing system Zendesk, small business owners can provide their customers with excellent service. It simplifies support inquiries and gives organizations a centralized platform to monitor, handle, and effectively deal with client issues. The solution has several features that simplify managing customer support requests, including email management, automation, reporting, and analytics.
One of the primary features of this platform is Zendesk’s ability to interact with other corporate programs, such as CRM systems, automated marketing tools, and social networking platforms. Paid options for the program start at $49 per agent each month, invoiced annually, and a free trial is available.
- For Email Marketing: Mailchimp
It has developed into a complete marketing platform that offers websites, landing pages, postcards, and more. Because it provides small businesses with high-level email marketing through both free and reasonably priced paid plans, it is the ideal email marketing software.
Mailchimp’s free email software makes getting started simply for company owners new to email marketing. The platform provides audience segmentation, rudimentary personalization, opt-in popups and signup forms, predefined email templates, and other features. Users also receive a mobile application that enables them to send emails and evaluate campaign results with just a few clicks.
Users can create expert, branded emails using Mailchimp’s drag-and-drop templates without having any design experience. Based on user behaviors, users may set up automated targeted email campaigns to send out messages like “welcome” to new signups or “related product recommendations” to recent buyers. With Mailchimp’s free plan, the majority of small businesses can get by quite well.
