Apps and Digital Tools That Can Give Small Businesses a Boost

Being a small business owner will always involve a certain level of multitasking. And you probably wouldn’t have been attracted to entrepreneurship in the first place, if you weren’t the kind of person who enjoys meeting new challenges and wearing different hats. But good business management also entails the constant pursuit of ways to streamline processes so you and your teams can work smarter instead of harder. One of the best ways you can do this is to make use of the many apps that can help you be more effective, productive, and efficient in your small business management.

Apps can help you write a great business plan.

From the very beginning, the success of your company hinges on your ability to create a good business plan. Your business plan will give you a layout of every aspect of your business and be a handy reference for you as you proceed to build and grow your company. But you also need to have a business plan if you intend to approach investors or loan agencies to seek funding.

Your business plan is evidence that you know what you’re doing, and that your idea has real substance. So clearly, putting together a good plan is a sizable project and one you want to be sure to do correctly. Using a business planning app or program like nTask, Bizplan, or GoSmallBiz can help you craft a plan that will provide you with direction and vision, as well as impress potential investors.

Use these helpful apps to help you communicate with your team or clients.

Communication is essential to good management. Without good communication, you waste a lot of time, frustrate your employees, and fail to give good customer service. Your employees should always know what’s on the agenda and be immediately updated about any plan changes. And your customers should never be wondering when you’re going to get back to them – or if you got their messages at all.

Using the right apps will help you stay on top of communication, whether you need a messaging app, a group video conference program, or screen sharing. Zoom, Slack, Google Meet, and Flock are some of the preferred programs that can help you keep all team members on the same page.

Apps to help you with scheduling.

Staying on top of your project schedule, as well as your day-to-day agenda, can help you avoid a lot of confusion and lost time. Scheduling apps can help with this. When looking for scheduling programs for your company, look for features like calendar sync, to avoid double booking, notifications to keep you on schedule, and flexible options so you don’t get stuck dealing with limits on use.

Calendly, Zoho, and Picktime are just a few of the programs that can help you maintain good business scheduling.

Apps to manage meetings and event engagement.

Event management apps are essential for organizing successful meetings and events. They offer comprehensive tools for scheduling, attendee management, and communication. An effective event app ensures streamlined event coordination and enhances participant engagement.  

These apps also provide real-time interaction features. This includes live polling, Q&A sessions, and networking capabilities. By integrating these elements, an event app makes meetings more interactive and engaging. It creates a dynamic and inclusive environment for all attendees.

Apps to improve productivity.

Project management apps like Basecamp or Asana can make a significant difference for your business’s overall efficiency and productivity since they will organize all your business tasks around a central communication hub.

Or try Trello if you want a more visual-based approach to project management since it allows you to create boards and move tasks around according to category and priority. You can increase the efficiency of your teams using Slack with the help of Workast, which will allow you to organize your work and run meetings, as well as provide visibility of the project network as a whole.

Apps for managing your documents and records.

Keeping your records well organized and easily accessible will help you maintain a well-run and efficient company. You don’t want to be storing different documents in different places, forgetting where to find them, or pointlessly duplicating records. One way you can avoid this is by using apps like Google Drive and DropBox for storing all your files in the same secure place.

If you have different team members working on the same documents for different aspects of a project, you can avoid getting them mixed up, having to deal with multiple versions of the same document, or leaving out information, by using a tool to help you combine PDFs into one file or use offline PDF Combine solution to merge PDF files.

Apps to help you with your finances.

Financial management is an important component of business management. Your business will suffer if you don’t keep meticulous track of your finances, your budget, your cash flow, and more. Some business owners find the money side of things tedious, while others find it exciting.

Either way, whether you are a numbers person or not, track your finances and avoid costly errors with the help of budgeting programs such as Money Manager, Expensify, or Wave.

Apps to help you at tax time.

One of the most stressful aspects of managing your business is making sure you are keeping up with your taxes. This is an area where you simply can not afford to mess up – but, there are so many little details where you might slip up or go wrong. That’s why it’s such a boon for small business owners, that so many handy digital tools are now available for helping to track expenses, manage accounts, run reports, manage payroll, and stay on top of banking.

Depending on your business nature and needs, you may need a simpler program or a more comprehensive one. Decide what you need, and check out some of the more highly rated accounting programs, like IRS2Go, Turbotax, or Quickbooks.

If you’re not used to using tech, don’t worry. Many of these apps and programs are extremely user-friendly. And once you’ve gotten over the learning curve, you’ll find yourself getting increasingly comfortable with digital applications for business management. You may find yourself wondering what you ever did without them.

This is a guest post submitted by Andy Hughes.