For how much you try to stay focused and to motivate your employees, there’s a limited time you can spend in the office. The key is to come up with innovative solutions to old problems.
Thanks to technology, now you have an app or software for everything. From implementing an invoicing software and scheduling emails, all the way to managing your logs, you can automate most of the processes inside your company. Which leaves you with more time to concentrate on things that matter the most – creative solutions to grow your business.
You can create a digital workplace, where your employees can work faster and meet deadlines. Modern tools improve workflows, make communication between departments easier and skyrocket your customer relationship management. Here are five of the most popular business tools that can help you increase productivity this year!
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Customer Relationship Management Software
CRM is an essential component of any business large and small. So, having a CRM software helps you track interactions with your customers and prospects, improving the way you do business.
Practically, you put all the data about your customers in one place. This allows you to centralize the information, analyze your efforts and measure results. Plus, it helps your employees to manage communication with business partners in a professional and efficient manner.
In the long run, you’ll be able to cover a larger number of customers, working fewer hours and providing better results – as higher customer satisfaction and increased sales. In simple words, you’re doing more with fewer resources. And the difference reflects in your revenues.
Inventory Management System
Inventory loads your balance with huge costs. It’s money you keep locked in your warehouse. Money that, instead of bringing in benefits, adds up more costs – rent, maintenance, insurance, employees that move and control goods, among others.
You need to optimize the quantities of stocks, to keep costs low and to optimize production and sales. An inventory management system helps you keep track of all your inventory costs, besides allowing you to optimize operations.
Better than that, you get to control orders for your providers depending on sales. As you know your stock levels at any time, you don’t overload your warehouse with excess inventory, only to make sure you have enough materials to meet your customers’ expectations.
Project Management Tools
Projects have a 70% failure rate due to inefficiency, bad management, communication errors, and lack of professionalism. These failed projects increase your costs, generate organizational problems and slow down your growth.
Depending on the scope of your business, a project management tool can help you increase efficiency and facilitate processes inside the company. Such tools have little ROI on small projects, but they’re essential when you’re working with multiple teams across a large number of projects at the same time.
Project management tools increase productivity, as they allow users to work on their tasks more efficiently. They also create an environment where departments communicate easier and share information in real time. Plus, these tools have useful features to help you control the budget, set milestones and track progress during every step of the project.
Even better, you have analytics and measuring tools that give you in-depth insights about workflows and performance. In the long run, you can use this information to improve future projects.
Business Communication Tools
When internal communications are failing, your entire company is at risk. On the other end, a well-organized business is far more efficient and delivers high-quality services to its clients, in any industry.
Implementing business communication tools, such as Intranet, internal blogs, or discussion forums, can generate significant changes inside the company. Effective communication improves employee retention rates, generates higher employee engagement and motivates your staff to become more productive.
Internal communication creates solid bridges between employees and senior management, as well as new connections between departments. In the long run, this can have positive effects on your company.
When employees have the possibility to express themselves inside the company, they work at full capacity and come up with innovative solutions for their tasks.
Digital Marketing Tools
Every small business must market its products and services to sell. Using marketing tools, you get to boost sales spending less. As many of these apps and software come with free packages for small businesses, you can take advantage of many growth opportunities, spending a modest part of what you would pay for traditional marketing strategies.
When it comes to digital marketing, there’s an app for everything (more like hundreds, actually). From social media management and email marketing to content creation, you can master your skills in every niche using modern tools.
You can set objectives and milestones, assign tasks and analyze results during and after each marketing campaign. Most tools allow you to improve strategies, depending on intermediate results.
In the digital era, not investing in this field means missing important opportunities to convert internet user into clients. Whether you’re selling to businesses or directly to final customers, you should consider investing some resources in digital marketing.
Make Your Business More Efficient!
Used wisely, any of these tools can improve workflows and make your company more productive. Yet, too much technology can generate the opposite effect. Analyze your needs depending on your industry and choose those apps and software that can make a positive change in your company.
About Carson Derrow
