10 Digital Tools a Small Business Needs to Grow
As any small business owner knows too well, time is valuable and you need to ensure that you can allocate your time to areas that matter, like growing your business.
The right digital tools will help your business grow through increased efficiency provided by value-added, flexible tools putting you on the path to success.
Here are our top 10 recommendations to help your business attain the success it deserves.
Marketing
Creating your own brand and corporate identity, as well as marketing your services and products can be a costly exercise and that is why we love Canva. Canva is one of the best design tools around and with their easy-to-use templates, you will be creating everything from logos and letterheads all the way through to presentations, product documents and social media posts in a flash.
Email Marketing
Email marketing tools are incredibly useful and a great way to save time if you have email subscribers or customers you regularly need to stay connected with. Therefore, they allow you to easily communicate any updates, promotions, and newsletters to your customers. Tools like MailChimp for instance, have added benefits like templates and analytic capabilities that track open and click rates.
Website Tools
With the help of tools like WIX and WordPress creating a basic website has never been easier. Every business needs a website and with the right content, you can easily attract and keep your customers engaged.
Website analytic tools provide that much-needed insight into how your customers are engaging with you online. As a result, they enable you to see who is using your site and which pages are getting the most or least traffic. Google Analytics provides insights as to the source of your traffic and their eCommerce analytics shows you how your products are selling and where you can improve certain processes.
Data back-up and recovery
No matter the size of your business, data is one of your most valuable assets. The problem is most businesses only realise this once they find themselves in a critical data-loss situation. Backup software provides the safety and control you need to recover and restore your data as quickly as possible.
Cloud-based solutions are the easiest way to ensure your data is backed up safely and securely and is easily accessible. Yet another benefit realised by Google Drive.
E-Signature
If there is one thing that can waste time and lead to frustration, it’s running around trying to get signatures. And with the onset of remote working, this tool is becoming more of a priority than ever before. E-signature tools simplify this process by enabling you to upload your documents, add the email addresses of the relevant team members and send them directly to their inboxes. Most tools allow you to assign due dates and set up reminders. Conclude can assist with all your e-signature and e-form needs
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
CRM systems are a must for every business, they provide a central location for all of your customer information. Not only is your customer information securely saved in one place, but you are also able to track all customer interactions, create pipelines and workflows. CRM systems also provide you with analytical reports where you can easily identify gaps within your client engagement. There is a multitude of CRM systems available but some of our favourites include HubSpot and Salesforce.
Human resources
Not every business can afford the luxury of a full-time human resources administrator but fortunately, there are many HR management software tools available to ease this admin intensive but necessary function. These tools manage all your requirements from payroll through to tracking and managing employee leave. Companies like BambooHR, Deel and GoCo are popular amongst small businesses.
Collaboration and Communication
Every successful team needs to be able to effortlessly access, save and share company documents in a central location. For this reason, Google Drive has a cloud-based solution, allowing your team to save and access files conveniently online.
Google Workspace has a comprehensive email and calendar functionality and is high up on our list. Away from email and calendar management, the Google Meet app is great for video conferencing.
Project Management
Trying to manage multiple projects can be time-consuming and inevitably something slips through the cracks if you are using manual processes. Project Management tools allow you to digitally track activities, meetings and deadlines. And can automatically create reminders for the whole team regarding upcoming tasks and meetings. Jira is a great digital product that will enable you and your team to navigate the endless touchpoints of all your projects.
Accounting
Keeping track of your income and expenses, invoicing and all the financial related tasks that come along with any business can be highly admin intensive. Accounting software eases this burden and there are many options available depending on your needs. Xero is a powerful and easy to use platform, which comes highly recommended.