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Software can help you boost your work performance. Choosing the right technology amidst a huge selection can be quite the challenge. Especially for small and medium enterprises, which need digital transformation tools to stay competitive. We have looked at the smartest and most useful tools for SMEs and listed our top choices from accounting to communications and sales: Here are our top picks.
The days ofthe corner store are long gone. Auntie did her accounts on paper and always knewher inventory without even keeping a list. Pickles? The second row, behind thebeetroot, € 3.50 a jar!
Suchdinosaurs may still exist, but they are certainly a relic from the past. Fromsmall retailers to large retail chains, most SMEs today use modern software todigitize their business. How could it be any different, it's the 21st century?
Since implementingsoftware at the right time and place can have an immense positive impact onsmall and medium enterprises. Most importantly, these tools can enable you tomanage and maintain all areas of your company with fewer resources, are usuallyvery easy to set up and to use with an appealing intuitive interface. Thisfrees your employees from tedious routine work, so they are able to take careof more important tasks.
The hugeadvantages of automation probably never occurred to Auntie and it mostdefinitely had never been so easy to scale up a business and make a biggerrevenue with the use of software as it is today.
The list ofbenefits of software for SMEs keeps extending and since such tools are usuallyend-to-end solutions, they are well thought out when it comes to functionality,depth and integration with other applications.
Software can automate many accounting processes. Folding, punching, and filing was yesterday. Digital invoices, payment reminders, and transfers are faster and cheaper. If you add up the costs for paper, printing, postage, and salaries, a paper invoice costs between four and 13 euros. According to a study by consulting firm Capgemini, software solutions can reduce invoice processing costs by up to 75 percent. Popular software suites for SMEs include Quickbooks or Zoho Books. Several specialized providers focus on specific industries and are therefore well suited to the needs of your business.
Communication is crucial in any business, especially if employees are working from home.There are many apps to help communication; Slack is the most popular one. It allows for quick communication via chat. You can also organize group chats and share documents. Slack is especially useful for quick messaging when an email would take too long. A great alternative is the cloud-based tool Flock. It offers special prices to smaller businesses and offers everything around video and audio communications throughout the company. The surface of the application is very user-friendly, and it is a great base for sharing documents and assigning tasks.
Do you want to organize projects digitally? Asana or Monday are your friends. You can create tasks for team members, agree on milestones, chat on specific issues, share documents and agree on deadlines. Both offer a small free package to try out its most popular features and experience the advantages of such a tool, which makes it a great software for SMEs.
For slimmed-down project management, simple lists may be enough. That's what Trello Boards do. Here you can create any list, for example, to-do lists for specific projects, and assign items to individual team members. Another great tool to bring more efficiency to the company is nTask. It is a perfect fit for small business or start-ups since it offers a “forever free” account to those. In addition, its amazing intuitive user interface makes it easy to get started right away, without losing more time learning how to use the tool.
Storage space will be the least of your problems. Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive - there are more than enough providers.These cloud-based solutions will give you and your employees the possibility to work remotely without any big effort. Make collaborative work standard in your business.
Print, sign, scan, send via email? Don't waste your time! With DocuSign, you can easily sign documents digitally. The signature is legally binding, and the basic package costs only 10 euros and allows five digital signatures per month. Perfect for every small business. Or, in case you are already using Dropbox, you can simply add their new service Dropbox Sign for digital signatures. It offers a free version with three signatures per month or an endless number of signatures for one user, starting at $ 15.
Did you know that you can automate your social media postings? The best apps for this are Hootsuite and Buffer, which you can use to schedule and pre-set posts and run analyses. If you are looking for a simpler and more affordable tool, you could also go for Sprout. It is easy to use and helps you plan and organize all your social media tasks. All of the above are well-suited as software for SMEs.
Larger mid-sized companies might consider ERP systems which are much more extensive. The leader here is SAP. Especially the SAP Business Suite and the new application S/4Hana are suitable for SMEs. But it does not always have to be the top dog. Microsoft Dynamics 365 or Sage X3 are also worth considering. Don’t underestimate investing in an ERP system, even as a smaller company. It can help you reduce inventory costs, eliminate purchasing errors as well as improve production efficiency.
And then there is sales, a very important and critical division for smaller companies. Finding the right tool to support and drives sales can be somewhat frustrating since many market players are quite expensive or too complex. Let’s Connect by PATHADVICE is the leading sales and video consulting solution for small and medium-sized businesses. It integrates effortlessly into your website, no matter what content management tool you are using. The set-up only takes a few minutes and you will see results within the first month.
With Lets’s Connect, you get much more than "just" a live-chat software. With the feature-rich backend, you can easily communicate live via chat, phone or video with your website visitors, coordinate appointments for later, use screen sharing functionality and improve your whole sales performance. This tool offers a whole range of benefits and is especially valuable for companies who sell products in need of explanation.
Not convinced yet? Try Let's Connect free of charge for 30 days. You can register here.
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