When you’re starting a new business, the last thing you want to do is spread yourself too thin and waste your energy on tasks you can automate or outsource. There’s usually so much you can do and this means seeking help from all possible quarters including systems and automation tools.
For today’s post, we’ll share nine handy apps that every new business should be using to manage critical operations that matter the most in the success of a business.
QuickBooks
QuickBooks is a popular software designed for accounting purposes and which allows businesses to closely monitor their financial health. It tracks your sales, expenses, and other financial activities that influence the success of a business particularly on its take-off stage. With it, you can generate profit/loss reports, view status of invoices, manage vendors, and track tax deductions. Moreover, the tool can be integrated on multiple platforms including your mobile devices. It also allows you to connect to sources of your finances while obtaining activity data from them for easier tracking and accountability.
Xero
Often considered by many to be an alternative to QuickBooks, Xero is mostly recommended for small businesses or those just starting out. It allows you to create professional recurring invoices and learn when your clients open them. Besides, it helps you file tax returns easily with its inbuilt GST F5 tax calculator. Unlike most accounting tools, Xero supports multiple currencies with the app updating exchange rates every hour. If you’re unsure how your cash is flowing, you can use it to automate payments and supplies for more transparency. It also connects with major banks as well as online payment processors.
Read this Xero Vs QuickBooks comparison guide to discover the differences between the two financial apps above and determine which one best suits your business model.
Addappt
This is a communication tool that facilitates easier management of contacts. When a business is establishing itself and trying to spread out the word to its target market, owners collect lots of contact details from prospects. With this app, you’ll be able to organize, update, and erase contact information using multiple devices. You can sort the contacts into groups to allow easier follow-ups of promising leads up to when they convert into customers. Addappt also supports batch texting and can be fused with apps that harvest contact details from websites, surveys, and social media platforms.
G-Suite
Developed by Google, G-Suite is a collection of intelligent business apps that assist in document management. These apps allow you to compose, store, and share important files that your business generates. These can include documents, presentations, reports, and spreadsheets which you create on a daily basis. The G-Suite package is available in two variations namely basic and business editions. Some of its common apps that form part of this pack include Gmail, Google Drive, Cloud Search, Hangouts, Office Suite, and Hangouts.
Survey Monkey
Survey Monkey is important for understanding what people want in the market you’re targeting. The tool helps you formulate surveys that engage customers into speaking out their needs. You can configure the app to ask customers to rate your products, provide recommendations for improvement, and generally gather any information leading to discovery of customer satisfaction.
Unifyle
As your business continues to grow, you’ll need a secure place to store your files. Unifyle is a cloud solution that offers unlimited storage for all kind of files. One of its outstanding features is its ability to work with existing cloud storage providers including DropBox, SugarSync, Google Drive etc. This way, you can access all your files irrespective of the platform or storage provider that you prefer.
Square
Often competing with PayPal, Square is great app for a business that wants to establish a new point-of-sale system. It provides a portable card reader that allows you to get paid on the go. The gateway works best for businesses that are yet to find a permanent operating base or those that are always moving from one place to the other. They include retail shops, food trucks, and beauty salons whose payment systems need to be portable.
Proven
When you’re starting out or even in the course of operating your business, it’s likely that you’ll need to employ some people to assist you with some tasks. Proven is a handy tool that helps you organize your hiring lists to make it easy for you to follow up on the most suitable candidates. It does this by helping you sort out job applications fast while also making it easy to respond to applicants within a short time.
Mailchimp
This application will come in handy if you’re looking to build and manage mailing lists. It also helps you to design, review, and share your newsletters with your contacts. Additionally, you can use Mailchimp to track responses to your email campaigns and generate performance reports. Using this information, you can quickly identify users interested in your products and services and target them in your marketing campaigns.
Are you using any of the nine tools above? What’s your experience and how are they helping you meet your business goals? Share with us in the comments below.
