Having a burning entrepreneurial spirit and passion is vital for starting and building a successful business enterprise. That’s great for a start.
But as you get deeper into the small business ecosystem, you’ll quickly realize that it takes time and money to succeed in entrepreneurship.
Thus, it helps you learn to optimize your most important resource as a business owner: Time and Money. That’s where tech tools come in to help you streamline operations, save time, and slash costs.
Of course, you may need to make a substantial upfront investment to integrate tech into your business and build a tech-powered enterprise. But the time and cost-saving benefits are huge in the long run.
If you don’t have enough cash flow to cover the initial costs, you can take advantage of small business loans from fintech lenders. Some business loans are tailored to help small business owners purchase tech gadgets and equipment and build or integrate the essential tech tools to slash costs and improve business efficiency.
Benefits of applying the ultimate technology in your business
The top benefit technology brings into your business is helping you save time and money. That’s because tech tools help streamline business operations, increase efficiency, and boost productivity.
Again, technology offers all manner of online, AI-powered tools that help boost marketing efforts, measure results and ROI on the go, automate repetitive tasks, streamline communication, prevent fraud and theft, manage business revenues, store and analyze business data, and more.
Once you get back much of your time and money, you can focus on reinvesting in areas that help your business grow. Thus, tech is your best friend when building a successful business in the modern age.
Common tech tools every small business must have
There are many tech tools out there made for the different business types. The types of tools that will work for you depend on whether yours is a service-based or product-based business. For example, If you are in the fitness and gym business, the use of gym software systems will surely help gym owners as it allows them to better manage their facilities and members. The software helps to streamline business operations, increase staff productivity, process invoices and payments, align sales and marketing, and so much more.
Therefore, you should carefully explore which technology is best for your business type and needs.
That said, there are standard tools that cut across the board that seem like a must for every small business owner to have. And you don’t have to spend a fortune to have them. They include:
Social media tools
The need for multichannel marketing requires businesses to be present in more than one social media platform. The problem is, managing all your social media accounts can quickly become a headache without the right tools.
Social media tools help you with your social media marketing channels from one place. You can create a social media calendar, schedule posts, automate posting on all social media sites, and measure results by tracking interactions, engagements, and conversions.
Top tools social media tools to help manage your social media accounts centrally include:
- Sprout Social
- Buffer
- AgoraPulse
- Hootsuite
- Sendible
- AgoraPulse
Email marketing tools
Email marketing is known as one of the top online marketing channels with the best ROI. For every $1 spent on email campaigns, a business can expect to realize a $44 ROI.
Email marketing tools come packed with email automation and analytics features to help you manage and measure your email marketing results. They make it easier for you to segment your email list to create relevant and personalized email campaigns that inspire your audience to act.
You create landing pages, edit images, set autoresponders, conduct email surveys, track visitor behavior, and review web analytics to measure the success of your campaigns.
Top email marketing tools to consider include:
- GetResponse
- Omnisend
- HubSpot
- Sender
- Mailchimp
- SendPulse
Project management tools
Project management tools are a game-changer in service-based companies. They help create, monitor and manage projects from anywhere. Team leaders can create and schedule projects, assign tasks to team members, and remotely monitor various projects’ progress.
Again, these tools help automate repetitive management tasks to allow teams to focus on the real work. That results in improved efficiency, productivity, and faster delivery of business projects.
Top project management tools include:
- Asana
- Zoho Projects
- Kissflow Projects
- Trello
- Monday.com
File sharing & storage tools
Printing costs in the office can quickly skyrocket, especially when multiple documents need to be shared across departments.
Web-based office software and file-sharing tools can help you slash that cost. They help your business create, store and share files on the cloud without the need to print documents.
And the good thing is, most of them integrate well with productivity apps like Google docs and Office 365. Thus, workers can share files remotely and collaborate to work on documents and other related tasks simultaneously.
Top file sharing & storage tools include:
- Google Drive
- Dropbox
- OneDrive
- iCloud Drive
Video conferencing tools
Remote work is becoming a reality. Thus, the need to communicate and meet remotely is here with us. Video conferencing tools help businesses communicate “face-to-face” with their workers, no matter where they are. They are also excellent tools to train and manage workers remotely.
Top video conferencing tools include:
- Zoom
- Bluejeans
- Skype
- Google Meet
Financial tools
Cash is the fuel that keeps your small business growing. From time to time, you’ll need to obtain funding in the form of small business loans to fund various business projects and keep operations afloat.
That is where financial tools, like a small business loan calculator, can help you determine whether you are getting a good deal before committing to any loan obligation.
A small business loan calculator helps you determine your loan costs, including the total interest, monthly installment, and other fees before going into debt. Thus, you’ll know upfront whether the loan will bring good ROI to your business.
Reputable online lenders offer small business loan calculators on their websites.
Ultimate tech tools that your small business needs
- Inventory management software
Managing inventory using traditional pen and paper systems is a pain in the neck for product-based businesses. An inventory management software (IMS) helps automate the inventory management process and eliminate costly human errors.
Inventory data is updated in real-time so that you can see stock levels in each product category and products are received or shipped out to customers.
Ultimately, you’ll be able to reduce inventory overheads, prevent instances of lost, misplaced, or stolen inventory, and avoid stockouts or overstocking.
- Accounting software
The ability to track every dollar that flows of your business is vital to building a successful business. That’s exactly what you achieve with accounting software.
Modern accounting software syncs your suppliers’ data and sales data to help automate the bookkeeping process. They also come with budget tracking features to help you plan and budget your business revenues. Some even offer tax filing modules to save you the hassles of filing your business taxes.
Extra technology recommendations for small business owners
Other tech tools and devices can help your business reduce operating costs, boost security, and hire the best talent. The top ones include:
- IoT devices: Smart Locks, Security Cameras, Smart lights, Smart thermostats, and more
- Recruiting software: Zoho Recruit, BambooHR, Recruitee, Build for Teams, and more.
Fund your tech tools with a small business loan
As you can see, many tech tools can help you in different ways to boost your productivity. The good thing is, you don’t have to integrate all of them at once. One step at a time is the key to bringing the ultimate tech into your business.
Visit the link in the intro to see whether a small business loan is a good funding option to get you started.
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Caroline is a dedicated writer with a passion for keeping readers informed. Specializing in providing the latest news updates and unbiased reviews, she strives to deliver accurate and insightful content. With a keen eye for detail and a commitment to journalistic integrity, Caroline ensures that her readers are always well-informed. Stay tuned for her latest articles to stay up-to-date on current events and trends.
