In today’s digital world, technology and business go hand in hand. Companies of all sizes and industries already rely on technology to streamline their operations.
In 2019, the technology market spending reached over $3.3 billion on a global level. In other words, tech has changed how businesses in the 21st century operate.
Companies have thousands of tech tools at their disposal, which makes it hard to decide which ones will actually help your business grow.
To help you out, we have put together a list of 5 essential tools every business owner should invest in.
Team Communication Tools
When you run a business, you need to communicate with your employees on a regular basis. Whether it’s to ask for specific information or check if certain projects and tasks have been completed, you simply need to keep up with everything that is happening in your company.
Of course, you can simply go to the employee’s office and find out everything you need to know, but what if you need the information after business hours? Or if you have remote workers?
That’s where team communication tools come in. With an efficient team communication tool, you don’t have to look for your employees’ phone numbers every time you need to ask a simple question. If they’re in your group chat, all you have to do is open the app and reach out to them anytime.
Social Media Management Tools
Today, having a strong online presence means more than just having a website – you also need to be present on social media.
According to Hootsuite, there are around 3.8 billion social media users around the world. This means that social networks are a powerful platform to connect with your customers. However, it’s not enough to just have business pages on all major social media networks. You need to be active.
But having a number of accounts can easily become overwhelming. If you do everything manually, you probably won’t have any time to do anything else. That’s why you need social media management tools.
These tools allow you to schedule posts for every social media platform from one place. You can use a single tool to manage all your accounts and ensure brand consistency. The best social media management tools also allow you to optimize your posts for different social media networks in both tone and length. Finally, you can use these tools to manage your Facebook Ads and Google Ads to increase the effectiveness of your social media efforts.
Content Management System (CMS)
Being present on social media is crucial, but it all starts with a good website.
With the decline of brick-and-mortar retail and the rise of online stores, no business can survive without an online presence.
According to Blue Corona, more than 30% of consumers won’t consider a company that doesn’t have a website. In addition, more than 95% of consumers research local businesses online before deciding to visit their brick-and-mortar location.
When it comes to creating a website for your business, you have two options: you can either hire a professional designer (which is quite expensive) or use a budget-friendly content management system.
CMS platforms have pre-designed plug-ins and themes so you’ll be able to create a professional-looking website and update it on a regular basis. Most CMS platforms have drag and drop interfaces, which makes it very simple to customize your website without any coding skills. In addition, more advanced CMS platforms also help with translation into other languages and SEO optimization.
VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)
VoIP telephony enables businesses to make calls via the internet instead of over conventional telephone lines. It offers advanced improved telecommunication, voicemail, and automatic call forwarding, which is a great advantage when it comes to offering good-quality customer service and connecting with clients.
In addition, VoIP offers excellent flexibility, so it can be used to aid office communication and collaboration. So long as your employees have internet access and a mobile device or computer, they can text, fax, and make calls from anywhere in the world.
Last but not least, VoIP phone services eliminate expense concerns over long-distance and international calls, making VoIP a very cost-effective solution.
Still, with so many affordable VoIP options out there, it can be quite difficult to decide which one is best for your company. This VoIP Phone Service Buyers Guide will help you make the decision faster.
Microsoft PowerApps
PowerApps is a tool that allows you to create custom apps, leveraging the many features of the Microsoft and Office 365 platform, drive process automation, and create efficiencies for businesses of all industries and sizes.
PowerApps can be used by non-technical employees in your company, like business analysts; however, people who use PowerApps do need to have some technical training and understanding of the tool and data. In reality, we’re still far from the day when everybody will be able to create their own apps, so you may want to consider hiring a professional Microsoft PowerApps developer to work on more complex functionalities.
Final Words
In this article, we looked at 5 tools every business owner should consider. They range from social media management tools to ensure you build a strong online presence to VoIP telephony which will help you provide high-quality customer service and allow you to connect with clients.
Entrepreneurs shouldn’t be afraid to experiment with tech tools that could make business and life easier for them. Once you find the right tools, there’s no reason why your business shouldn’t skyrocket!
