Successful businesses use a variety of resources to optimise productivity, reduce workflows and increase profitability. From human resources and financing to tech hardware and cybersecurity, there are numerous solutions that can enhance your operations. When it comes to saving time and effort, however, the right business software can have a transformative effect on your business.
To find out which solutions you should be using, take a look at these seven software tools every business should explore to save time and effort:
1. HR Software
Every company needs good HR practices, regardless of the size of the business or its sector. When you’re building a workforce, it’s essential to comply with relevant legislation and meet your obligations as an employer, and HR software can help you to achieve this. Furthermore, HR software, like myhrtoolkit.com, streamlines your HR practices to save time and increase automation. As a result, HR professionals can spend more time focusing on higher priority tasks and less time dealing with basic admin.
As HR covers a wide variety of areas, it’s important to choose HR software that encapsulates these functions and integrates multiple features. When you can access document management functionality, absence management data, performance management strategies, employee training resources, and reporting and tracking features, for example, your company’s entire HR functions can be simplified and automated via a single software platform.
2. Accounting Tools
Whether you’re operating as a sole trader, running a limited company, or managing a partnership, you’ll need to submit annual accounts to HM Revenue & Customs so that your tax liability can be calculated. Although many business owners wait until the last minute to collate and submit this information, this approach can lead to inadvertent miscalculations, late submission penalties, and even subsequent fines.
By using software-based accounting tools, you can avoid a last-minute rush and keep your company’s accounts up to date throughout the year. With the ability to upload receipts, for example, you can track business expenditure quickly and simply every time a transaction is made. As well as increasing the accuracy of your accounts, using accounting tools regularly can actually reduce the amount of time you spend preparing accounts too.
However, achieving regulatory compliance isn’t the only benefit associated with using accounting software. When your accounts are consistently up to date, you can access financial data in real-time and use this information to make business decisions and create long-term growth strategies. As a result, you’ll be able to govern your business with extra insights, reduce your tax liability and increase your company’s profits.
3. Time-Tracking Platforms
It’s important that every employee makes the best use of their time if you want to generate as much value as possible. From administrative assistants and secretarial staff to directors and executives, every member of your team can optimise their performance and outputs when they track their time accurately.
Time-tracking software provides an easy way for staff to monitor their activity, but this data can also provide valuable information regarding workflows and operational inefficiency. If an inordinate amount of time is being spent on a particular task, for example, this can quickly be identified via time-tracking software and steps can be taken to streamline the workflow and increase efficiency.
Additionally, time-tracking software encourages staff to assess their own time management and implement effective strategies to increase outputs. By using the software in this way, you can empower staff to optimise their performance and use the data captured to enhance operational performance too.
4. Communication Software
Effective communication strengthens teams, increases efficiency, and delivers better project outcomes but businesses are facing new challenges when it comes to facilitating communication between employees. As many companies switch to flexible, hybrid, and homeworking arrangements, many employees are operating from separate locations, which means that face-to-face communication is impossible.
Fortunately, business communication software can provide an alternative way for staff to collaborate and connect with one another. From private instant message channels to video conferencing, secure communication software enables your workforce to communicate in a meaningful way in real-time. This ensures that teams can work optimally, regardless of where individual employees are working from or how far apart staff are based.
5. CRM Software
Customer relationship management (CRM) software is often seen as a database to store customer information but, in reality, a CRM platform can be so much more. While you can certainly input and retain customer data to create an accurate record of customer interactions, CRM tools can empower your business to deliver a better customer experience (CX) too.
When customer communication, behaviour, and actions are tracked via a CRM system, for example, you can analyse this data to identify patterns. This will give you an insight into what motivates your customers or clients to increase their spending and enables you to replicate these strategies to maximise revenue.
With the right features, a CRM platform can also unite your workforce and break down barriers between different departments. Sales and marketing teams can often be fairly separate despite the symbiotic role they play, for example. When both teams can access the same data and collaborate via a CRM, it strengthens inter-departmental bonds and enables different teams to work together more effectively.
6. Website Management Tools
In today’s digital world, every company needs an engaging website to communicate with its target audiences. Even bricks and mortar businesses can benefit from having an up-to-date site and good SEO rankings for relevant keywords, so don’t overlook the importance of keeping your website well-maintained.
Although you might hire a web designer and developer to create a new site for your brand or to make significant modifications to your site, minor updates can usually be made by in-house staff – providing you have the right tools at your disposal.
Website management software gives you control over your online profile and enables you to add, modify or delete content at any time. From sharing new business information, such as updated opening hours, to launching promotions and publishing blog posts, website management software can reduce the time it takes to maintain your site and give you the functionality you need to reach your target market.
7. Marketing Platform
As most businesses rely on digital marketing to attract customers and boost sales, it follows that marketing software is a must-have tool for today’s companies. Whether you’re launching a PPC campaign, sending marketing emails, or working on your SEO performance, the right marketing platform can consolidate and streamline your marketing processes.
What’s more – marketing software can be used to automate marketing activities and drastically reduce the pressure on staff. When you can rely on your marketing platform to send or publish content in response to user behaviour, for example, your marketing teams can spend less time on repetitive activities and more time on high-value tasks.
Choosing the Right Software Solutions
Although software can save you time and money, selecting the right software solutions is critical for business success. While there are plenty of options to choose from, it’s important to consider which features are most important to organisation. From there, you can analyse reviews, seek recommendations, and trial software to find the best solution for your business.
