As a small business owner, you probably wear many hats – human resources director, head of accounting, sales associate, marketing rep – this list goes on. With so many responsibilities, you need all the help you can get. Fortunately, the range of tech tools available now has made streamlining these jobs easier than ever. Here are few priorities you may have on your to-do list with some solutions to address them.
I need a way to track our finances.
Sending invoices, tracking expenses, processing payroll, preparing taxes…the hours spent staying on top of your finances can easily consume the time you need to actually work.
QuickBooks offers a variety of programs to organize your money and can connect to your bank account to automatically import and categorize transactions.
Xero, marketed specifically to small businesses, provides online accounting software that gives a real-time view of your cash flow.
FreshBooks automates invoicing, expenses, tracking your time and following up with clients with a simple and intuitive format.
Xpenditure helps keep track of expenses easily by allowing users to snap a picture of a receipt and have data like merchant name and dollar amount extracted and filed.
I’ve got to get a handle on our HR issues.
Managing your company’s human resources needs encompasses a variety of tasks – and many tech tools can address virtually all your requirements.
Namely is a web-based platform that covers payroll and benefits administration, performance reviews, time tracking and employee data record keeping – and is structured to be adaptable and user-friendly for smaller businesses.
PeopleMatter is connected to Snagajob and markets itself as an all-in-one sourcing, tracking and employee scheduling software for smaller companies.
Cezanne is cloud-based and offers a range of HR management tools accessible to smaller businesses and is designed to scale with a company’s growth and advancement.
I want to make my website mobile-friendly.
It’s no surprise that people often visit websites on their phone rather than their computer, making the need for a mobile-friendly site a top priority to remain competitive.
Bing and Google Mobile Friendly Test can assess how mobile-friendly a website is.
Microsoft PowerApps allows non-technical users to create mobile apps easily.
Merchant Account Solutions makes mobile credit card readers available to small businesses.
I need to keep in touch with my remote workers.
Having employees work from home is an increasingly popular option, but without face time in the office, communication can slip.
Microsoft Teams provides a virtual, chat-based workspace where employees can collaborate in small group or team meetings.
Skype offers skype to skype video or voice calls, group video calls, instant messaging and screen sharing.
Slack can build a searchable archive of your team’s conversations and integrates with other productivity products easily.
Facebook offers a way for coworkers to stay connected with Workplace, designed using the tools that people are familiar with on Facebook.
Although you are likely pulled in all directions as a small business owner, investing some time to research what types of products, services and platforms best address your company’s tech needs can ultimately save time, money and sanity in your everyday work life.
Susan Bryant is a writer and editor who enjoys working on diverse subject matter and collaborating on interesting projects. She can be contacted at susanbryant7@gmail.com.