The market for business software is positively saturated. If there’s a task a business needs to accomplish, chances are there’s a software solution designed to assist with that. Investing in too much software can easily become expensive, and difficult to determine which are crucial and which are extraneous. Below are some important pieces of software that any businesses of any industry should integrate into their model.
Online Meeting Software
Skype has become synonymous with business meetings, and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon. Their video and audio conferencing services are undoubtedly the centerpiece of the platform. Also, they offer a broad ecosystem that includes file sharing, instant messaging, and screen sharing. While Skype is best known as an office tool, it can work for traditional retail outlets and restaurants as well. Its conference services can minimize the hassle of getting all your staff in one place and improve productivity in the process, and the fact that up to 25 people can engage in a conference with the free plan makes it a no brainer for modestly sized businesses.
Accounting Software
Whether you’re looking to forego your financial advisor or simply automate your bookkeeping, there’s software that can handle that. Keeping your books in order is essential for businesses of any size. QuickBooks is the name to be beat here, but they come with some distinct disadvantages for smaller businesses. Between their complicated interface, their extraneous wealth of features, and the cost of buying into new upgrades, this platform may simply be too powerful for some small businesses. If that’s the case, you may want to check out some of the alternatives.
Dispute Management Software
There’s little doubt that online transactions have made life easier for merchants and consumers, but this new form of payment comes with its own difficulties. Whether you’re a brick and mortar retailer or an online company, you need to have protections in place for when there’s a problem with a customer payment. Software like PEGA and Concourse provides automated dispute management solutions that make it easy to coordinate with the bank, deal with the disputes through every stage of their life cycles, and make sure that all behavior is within the confines of federal regulations. It may not be the most exciting software solution, but it’s a practical necessity for any business’ financial security.
Email Marketing Software
Traditional marketing is quickly becoming irrelevant, and any business that wants to stay competitive in the years to come needs to start developing an email marketing plan. Not only is it more effective way to reach your targeted demographics, but it’s also eminently cost-efficient. Mailchimp is hands down the leader in this field, and their basic services are completely free to use. They also offer a range of paid features that you can mix and match to accommodate the unique demands of your business model.
Office Suite Software
No matter the type of business, chances are that you’ll need the components of an office suite at some point. Compiling together a word processor, spreadsheet tool, presentation creator, email client, and more, programs like Microsoft Office are something of a Swiss army knife for business owners. And while MS Office 360 is justifiably the leader for these platforms, the new subscription model can become pricey. If the scale of this platform is more than your company needs, you may want to look into cheap or free alternatives like Google’s G Suite or the open source LibreOffice.
Customer Relationship Management
The best businesses make the most of the data available to them. This provides actionable data on their customers and allows them to use that to create a better overall experience. A CRM platform like Freshworks can offer far more information than you could find by traditional means. A good CRM compiles together information from all of your important communications channels. Also, it provides business owners with the analysis they need to build a plan around the needs of their customers.
