Written by: Kevin Gardner
When running a business, it’s important to have all the best tools on hand. Originally, that meant having the best production line, equipment, or office. Now, however, businesses must keep technology in mind in order to thrive. Business owners either purchase or find software that can help streamline business processes, balance the books, and improve communication. Whether your tech-savvy or less so, there are countless programs designed that can help you specifically. While this may not be a comprehensive list of all software available to businesses, it’s a great starting point for anyone looking to boost business performance through technology.
1. Take Notes (and Don’t Lose Them)
Work often requires lots of note-taking . Efficient work means keeping tabs on what clients or fellow employees ask you to do. If you’re in a client meeting or a board meeting, you should have a least a pen and paper out, so you don’t forget anything crucial later. Programs like Evernote are ideal because they help you both create and store notes. Evernote is user-friendly and intuitive because it basically functions like a digital stack of notebooks you can drag and drop to organize.
2. Communicate Remotely
If your business is spread out across the country and you need to communicate, try video calls instead of phone calls. With Skype for business, you can screen share and have multiple people on one call. Working remotely is a great opportunity for employers who want to hire high-skilled people who specialize in your business needs, but it’s important to make sure and hold regular meetings. Meetings help get everyone on the same page, even if it’s just through video calls.
3. Work on Team Projects in Real-Time
For companies that manage a lot of team documents, consider getting software such as G Suite set up. G Suite allows you to create and manage team drives where groups documents can be stored and edited. It has many of the word and data processing software businesses need including Google Docs and Google Sheets. One of the best parts of software like G Suite is that employees can simultaneously edit documents in real-time and all changes will be saved. Google Sheets also allows users to write and edit code that will organize data within the sheet.
4. Store Your Files
Storing files can become really inconvenient really fast. There are always concerns about privacy, data loss, and disorganized PC’s. Concerns over data loss and privacy are especially important for accounting firms but also for all business in general. For accounting firms where privacy and backups are a major concern, consider getting accounting document management software . For other businesses, your G Suite or Dropbox might work just fine.
5. Design Professional Documents
Designing professional documents can get expensive, especially with programs like Adobe. While Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign are arguably the best possible options for editing photos or creating spreads, programs like Canva are cheaper alternatives. Canva does not have all of the professional capabilities of Adobe, but it is arguably more user-friendly and requires less training. The designs and templates are aesthetically pleasing and comprehensive. Try out both and decide which works best for your business needs.
6. Make a Plan as a Team
If your business works on teams, then they need to be able to plan as a team in real-time. Ideas, concerns, and tasks need to have the same home. A good software option for organizing ideas and tasks is Trello. Trello allows users to make digital cards and boards and then organize those cards however they would like. It’s especially useful for businesses where a lot of little processes make up the whole.
Again, there are other options for businesses looking to implement more software. These are a great starting point, however, and are all user-friendly and priced. The one guarantee is that more software can only help so long as you make sure all your employees are on the same page.