13 Tech Tools to Help Run a Smoother Small Business Operation

With more and more people opening small self-run or family-run businesses, it is important to take advantage of every tool available to help run that business smoothly. With often no time to spare, finding the right tech tools to help run a smoother business operation is essential for saving time and money.

The good news is, from office communication to customer service, there are a number of tech tools designed to help every aspect of your business.

13 Tech Tools to Help You Save Time and Money

Here are thirteen tech tools that can help you put time back in your pocket each day and streamline your business operation processes.

General Solution Apps and Tools

Every successful business has figured out a way to operate smoothly. Trello is a project management utility that organizes and manages an entire project from start to finish by helping the user assign deadlines, add comments and track each step of the project.

PandaDoc is another tool for general operations. It is document management software that helps you organize and work with documents digitally. It allows you to send and track documents, gives you the option to e-sign documents, and in general, makes the hassle of relying on paper disappear.

As a business owner, you probably have a packed schedule, full of crucial meetings. To stay on schedule, you can use Calendly. The tool helps schedule meetings and appointments by allowing easy communication to avoid back-and-forth email scheduling.

Another tech tool, specifically to help with international business is ExxpertApps. It handles country, language, time zone, and currency. ExxpertApps can be an easy solution for your international customer base.

Customer Service Apps and Tools

Providing excellent customer service is more important than ever. Business as competition is fierce, and a customer’s ability to ‘out’ your horrible service is easier than ever (and those negative marks are hard to remove once sent into the world wide web). How we provide customer service has changed immensely with the growth of technology and the ability to service people on social media or through immediate chat functions.

One such area is Mobile meal ordering, which is growing in popularity. Today, with smartphones a part of our everyday lives and routines, apps are helping us use our phones in new ways, including ordering food on the go. Pizza Hut, Chipotle, Taco Bell, McDonald’s, and others are using mobile ordering. This tool also appeals to a younger crowd — according to one popular mobile ordering tool, MenuDrive, 74 percent of consumers between the ages of 17 and 34 say they would order takeout and delivery through their mobile devices. If you are a small restaurant or food-oriented business, you can use tools like MenuDrive or Chownow to increase sales and appeal to a larger demographic.

Another tool to help with customer service and satisfaction is called ZenDesk. ZenDesk is a helpdesk solution that ensures customers are happy with their time at your business. It allows you to connect with customers on one dashboard. It helps make every interaction between business and customer a successful one.

Booker is another tool that helps manage the business-customer relationship. The tool focuses on managing each part of your customer’s experience. It helps a business lock in repeat customers by finding and knowing what gets them into your business and what makes them leave positive reviews.

Workplace Communication Apps and Tools

Communication is key to every successful workplace. Luckily, in our constantly connected world, there are plenty of ways for employees to stay in touch — even if they don’t all work in the same office.

Many workplaces have adopted a tool called Slack for a faster way of communicating. Slack gives users the opportunity to chat and stay in contact all day if need be. You can create groups and conversation threads among employees working on the same topic or project. Slack allows for easy collaboration in the workplace.

When you need to get everyone together for a group conference or training, tools like join.me or Zoom allow you to conference with multiple members of your team and either screen share or use video to communicate for training or collaborative means.

Financial Apps and Tools

As a business owner, you likely think about finances constantly. The National Association of Small Businesses conducted a survey that revealed economic uncertainty is the No. 1 challenge facing those running a business.

Freshbooks is a safe and user-friendly way to manage finances. On the tool, you can track your expenses, send invoices, and manage your books.

Another great accounting tool that is gaining popularity in the small business market is Wave. With this free app, you can track your expenses, send invoices, get paid, and balance your books.

Here are six more accounting tools you can consider for your small business.

Marketing Apps and Tools

If you run a business, you know marketing is an important aspect of managing your brand and promoting yourself. Though marketing may be challenging to handle alone, there are tools to help make it easier.

ActiveCampaign is an all-in-one CRM and Marketing system that not only helps you manage your customer and lead database but also allows you to handle email marketing, lead generation and opportunities, and automated nurture and sales email flows.

MobileMonkey makes it easy to build chatbots and automate marketing messaging and communication across online platforms, including websites and social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook. And the best part is you don’t need coding knowledge!

If you want to stay active on social media but don’t have a lot of time each day to publish new content and posts, Buffer is a great tech tool that allows you to schedule content in advance and share curated content from sources you choose right from your browser.

Tech Offers a Sweet Advantage

In today’s ever-changing, constantly improving technology landscape, it is easy to get distracted by the next big thing or to get lost in all the shiny new devices on the market. However, there are numerous resources available to help with your most important priority: your business.

By using just a few of the suggested tech tools above, you can manage your schedule more easily, stay on top of project progress, help your team stay connected, and get a better grasp on your finances, marketing, and sales.

With these tech tools, running your business will not only get easier, but it will be more organized.