If you own a small business, chances are you are always looking for more efficient, cost-friendly technology to help you. There are plenty of tools and apps out there that can make your life easier. The key is building the right “stack” by finding tools that complement your workflow. This list of five business apps can help you streamline project management and boost productivity, no matter what industry you’re in.
Setapp
When you run a business, there’s no shortage of tools and utilities people seem to need—whether it’s software to help them take notes, brainstorm, or convert a document to a PDF. For most companies, all of these tasks turn into unpredictable costs and time sinks, as they end up paying for multiple apps and software solutions. Setapp offers businesses access to more than 130 top-notch apps across all categories, from productivity to maintenance, at a small monthly fee. Now every time your employees need some extra functionality, all they have to do is search Setapp for it.
Hootsuite
Today, every business is in some ways a media company, thanks to the need to generate and share content on its social networks. But how much time does it take for someone from your team to check what’s happening on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and the myriad other platforms you may be engaging with customers on? Hootsuite lets your marketing specialists manage all your social media channels from one, unified place. Hootsuite lets you create a post in the moment or schedule it in advance, see analytics, and engage in conversations from the same panel, which in turn makes it easier to understand what pieces of content perform best on each platform.
Google Analytics
It’s a well-known fact that you can only optimize what you can measure. So when it comes to trying to improve a certain aspect of your business, you need to know how it’s been performing historically in the first place. Google Analytics is by far the most popular data-gathering solution for websites of all sizes. With Analytics, you can easily identify the source of your traffic, the technology used, and other important stats at a glance. This, in turn, can inform crucial aspects of website design, such as which features to prioritize in mobile optimization and where to place product information for maximum conversions. You can also create custom reports for any date range and instantly compare them to past results.
Slack
There was a time when an email could be the de facto mode of communication. But tracing hundreds of emails for a deadline, a certain file, or an agreed-upon deliverable has become next to impossible in today’s fast-paced workplace. Slack is a unique instant messenger made for businesses right from the start. It comes pre-packaged with features like group and individual chat, conference calls, a quick archive search, and notifications from any web service you use. For communication between departments or within teams, Slack is bound to be the most essential daily tool among your employees.
Online video storage
Have you thought about how cloud-based online video storage solutions can help protect your company’s data and future-proof your business? It might seem surprising, but many businesses still use outdated storage solutions that have a high risk of falling or becoming obsolete, such as using DVDs and external hard drives for important archival materials. Not only are these kinds of systems difficult to access quickly, but they’re also clunky to share between teams or team members. Investing in online video storage from a company like Meet ibi can make it easier for you to share and access important videos and photos.
The Bottom Line
Your team doesn’t just want technology—they want tools to make their jobs easier and smoother. Making a blanket statement about the importance of implementing new technology isn’t helpful. What is important is finding the right technology that’ll improve your employees’ lives at work. This is the type of technology that’s relevant to their needs and valuable to their workflow. If any of these sound like they can increase your productivity or success, then they’re worth finding room in your budget. After all, without the right tools, you won’t be able to achieve success.