Softwares Every Business Should Have

Almost every business need or operation can be handled by professional business software. There are many software in the market to take care of each such need – right from Microsoft Office to computer-aided design (CAD) or financial trading software. These needs vary as per the sector in which a business operates. There are eCommerce solutions for those who are online retailers, and there is also a time-tracking software for professional services providers like cloud kitchen businesses. There is niche software designed for a specific purpose and area, such as prisons, nail salons or funeral directors, etc.

However, there are a few software that every business, irrespective of size and the sector, must have. Here is a list of must-have software solutions for each type of business:

Office Applications

Most of us know or have used software to take care of office spreadsheets, presentations, word processing, email, browsing on the internet, etc. Software such as Office 365 and the Google Workplace help in basic office task management activities. These applications let you create documents, acquire information, communicate with stakeholders and employees, etc.

Accounting Software

Account software is a necessity. Every business performs bookkeeping to record income, and expenditure, track VAT, manage receipts and payments, and build vital financial reports. All of this, if done with the help of perfect accounting software, will take the burden off the shoulders of your staff, and all the repetitive tasks will get automated. Less laborious work will bring more accuracy and speed to the process, making it more efficient.

CRM Software

This software is used to organize and manage customer data. Your sales professionals can track potential customers throughout the sales funnel, manage appointments, and record the results. Advanced CRM systems can help you identify the best targets so that you can plan a follow-up accordingly.

CRM software helps you manage your sales pipeline, providing you with an in-depth profile of your prospects and customers and your contact history with them. The insight it delivers can help to drive sales.

Marketing

There are many types of marketing software in the market-

Email marketing software such as Mailchimp, which lets you manage your contacts and interact with them through suitable email campaigns.

Social media management software like Sprout Social or Buffer makes it super easy to share posts on different social media platforms and to schedule them in advance. These applications also let you track the social media presence and activities of you and your competitors.

Marketing automation software such as Salesforce Pardot, HubSpot, and others are sophisticated solutions that link with your website, manage it – right from managing landing pages, blog posts, and social media. You can track inbound leads and get insightful analytics on marketing activities and campaigns.

HR Software

The basic of any HR activity is to record and maintain data on your employees. HR software maintains records on the human resource, along with managing payroll and tracking leave requests, and recording absences, etc. You can enjoy a streamlined flow of data. There are a few HR software that can conduct 360-degree feedback sessions to manage the staff onboarding.

ERP Software

Enterprise Resource Planning software helps you manage the entire business. Rather than installing separate software for each business operation like CRM to manage customer data, HR software for staff-related purposes, eCommerce, supply chain management software, and so on, you can use a single comprehensive system to manage all of these and more functions. Businesses rely on ERP Software as it can manage your complete business flow and offer you a clear picture of your business. Using a comprehensive system is better than integrating multiple separate software provided by different vendors.

Project Management and Collaboration

Meeting deadlines and tracking projects are two of the crucial tasks that project management and collaboration software help you perform. Project management tools can help you boost productivity by allowing you to deploy the agile mechanism and breaks down complicated business projects into doable, smaller tasks. Every team member can monitor the status of own and others’ activities. This brings in better accountability, making sure projects are completed on time and meet the quality expectations.

Communications

Communications software like Microsoft Teams or Slack makes internal communications easy and seamless. These features like quick messaging and file sharing help remove cumbersome email chains and slow the pace of back-and-forth interactions. Communication applications provide a centralized and simple medium to quickly communicate with each other irrespective of geography and distance.

Software like Teams comes with video conferencing features. However, there are softwares like Slack that does not allow you to call externally using. This is where Zoom comes into the picture. Zoom lets you interact and connect with multiple stakeholders of the business. This enhances collaboration, offers better access to data and business insights. Businesses can manage employees, and customers easily.