There are many tools and apps out there to help someone start a business. The trick is figuring out which tool you need and what type of app will make your life easier. From my research these are the top 5 apps, software and tools you need to kickstart your business.
How Does the Type of Business Affect What Software is Needed?
It is important first to identify what kinds of software will be most suited to your particular business needs. The operation of a small business works has vastly different needs to that of a larger corporation. Furthermore, each industry holds its own unique and essential requirements to ensure smooth business operation. A business with a large employee base will need a more comprehensive payroll software than a smaller business operating on the efforts of only a few individuals, while a business with a large base of clientele will need an accurate time tracking application to keep detailed documentation of which work is being done for which clients. Identifying and understanding what kind of business software is going to be most effective in adding value to your business practices is essential in making smart executive decisions.
Specific industry needs are also important to consider. The goods and services offered by your business will have a huge impact on your software requirements. Keeping a comprehensive track of client interactions or stock rotation can be more or less important depending on specifically what it is that your business is selling, and the market in which you are operating. Nevertheless, there are a number of software options that are essential for business operation.
1. Accounting Software
Accounting is, as everyone knows, an integral part of operating any business. Choosing the best accounting software for your business needs is highly important. But there are many types of accounting software which cater to a variety of different needs. Understanding what’s on offer will allow operators to select the best accounting software for small businesses, helping you to make more efficient use of your time and facilitating the monitoring of cash flow, expenditure, tax filing and other essential business data. Keeping your books accurate and up to date is integral to smooth business operation, and companies such as Xero, QuickBooks, and FreshBooks provide streamlined, easy to use accounting software for small businesses.
Payroll Software
One of the best accounting software options for small businesses to use is payroll software. A quality payroll software application, such as Xero software, will allow small business users to accurately and efficiently process payroll, pay slips, superannuation payments, year-end bonuses and a host of other payroll concerns common to any business operation. Easy to use payroll software can be a lifesaver for over encumbered small business owners, allowing smooth daily operation of business activities and making sure that employee satisfaction and morale is kept high through competent pay management. The ability to use streamlined software services like QuickBooks payroll software can take the hassle out of otherwise complicated and problematic processes and allow you more time to spend on what’s important for maintaining a successful business operation. Making sure your employees are paid correctly and on time, as well as keeping a comprehensive track of the expense of paying workers is a vital part of making sure your business is running smoothly. With companies such as FreshBooks competing to provide the best accounting software for small businesses, there has never been a wider array of tools available to make the lives of small business owners easier.
Tax Software
A comprehensive, easy to use and easily implemented tax software application can provide exactly what business owners need in order to navigate the complexities of any nation’s tax framework. It is well known that fulfilling legal tax obligations and calculating the best tax outcome for your business is one of the most important aspects of maintaining business integrity. The best accounting software programs on the market are those which provide small businesses with the ability to easily accommodate and deal with the complexities of different international tax regulations. Software applications such as Xero allow users to make efficient use of valuable time resources in dealing with tax.
Bookkeeping Software
Streamlined and easy to understand bookkeeping software programs are the lifeblood of any successful business of any size. The ability to have easily understood critical bookkeeping information at your fingertips is crucial to making sensitive business decisions for your company. When it comes to accounting software for small businesses, the ability for layman business owners to have important accounting information delivered in an easy to use, easy to understand format can be absolutely essential, allowing business owners to focus less on understanding complex accounting mechanics and more on running their business. When combined with tax and payroll services the best accounting software will allow smooth and uninhibited business operation.
2. Time Tracking Software
Time tracking software allows users to engage in effective time management through the detailed documentation of work performance on different tasks. Time is one of the most important resources a small business owner has, and the use of an appropriate time tracking tool allows businesses to better quantify their use of this precious commodity. Understanding how your and your workers’ time is spent by using time management software can let you identify areas of your business where you may be focusing too much or too little. Software from a company such as MinuteDock lets small businesses accumulate comprehensive data surrounding their time management, allowing you to record time spent on specific tasks or projects, by specific workers or groups, and therefore allowing you to better understand where your business can improve its use of time, to comprehensively document work effort spent on particular clientele, and also to better manage your charging of clients by quantifying the time resources spent on their projects. One of the most important things you can do as a small business is to check out a trial of free time tracking software from companies like MinuteDock: the value that can be added to your operation from time management software cannot be overstated.
3. Project Management Software
The best project management software can provide an invaluable logistical asset to your business operation. This type of software provides users with the important ability to organise complex projects by breaking them down into specific task segments while still allowing a comprehensive overall view of the project. Companies such as Trello allow the organisation and management of projects into easily understood segments, letting you increase your business efficiency by making the organisation of your complex projects a cinch. Not only will this kind of free project management software allow you to improve your organisational management of your business but it will also ensure that you know exactly how, where and why your resources are being expended toward the completion of a given project. A professional and well organised plan is furthermore essential to providing clients with the assurance of their project being completed in a timely, organised manner. In combination with a timekeeping program like MinuteDock, your clients will be able to understand exactly what is happening on their projects, allowing for simplified invoicing and payment processing. With the comprehensive documentation and organisation provided by these kinds of software services, a small business can remove hassle and make resource management easy.
4. Customer Relationship Management Software
One of the best ways to better understand your relationship with customers and to drive business growth is to use a CRM software tool in order to better analyse the ways in which your business interacts with its customer base. Small businesses are able to successfully manage customer relationships through the best CRM for small businesses. Companies such as Zoho provide users with a straightforward interface and present data in an easy to understand fashion in order to allow small business operators to gain valuable insight into business relationships, increase customer retention and drive the growth of sales. CRM software is able to provide vital and valuable assistance to small businesses which are trying to gain a better understanding of their interactions both with current and potential customers. The ability to identify valuable data trends within multiple interaction channels can add an innumerable amount of value to the operations of your small business. Better understanding the interactions you have with customers in your market is vital to the growth of your business, allowing you to identify appropriate areas to expend marketing resources and make the best use of the tools you have available to improve the performance of your company.
5. Communication Software
Effective and efficient communication, both internally within the business and externally towards customers, is vitally important to the successful operation of any small business. It is important to identify and make use of competent workflow software in order to maximise the efficiency of your business communications. Communication software, such as the likes of Skype and Slack, will allow your team to communicate and collaborate more effectively on all projects and allow your business to engage with customers and workers regardless of their locality. The ability for a modern small business to engage with global markets through the use of modern communication technology is almost unthinkable. Effective use of workflow and communication software will allow your business to expand the horizons of its market and help the organisation and communication between members of your team as much as any other software on this list. When used effectively in combination with streamlined management and timekeeping software applications, even the simplest of communication programs can allow your business to remain highly organised and efficient when working on any given project, as well as allow easier flow of communication to your customer base. Regardless of what industry you operate in, communication will remain an important part of your operation, and the choice of a suitable software to facilitate this can undoubtedly improve your business.
6. Website Building Software
The right website design/building software app can make building a professional and attractive website a breeze. This type of software can help the layman in efficiently editing or creating attractive and clear web pages for their site, or help the experienced web designer to add that cutting edge to their design which will set it apart from their competitors. Building feature rich websites from the ground up is a complicated and painstaking process, one which can require a lot of different areas of expertise when attempting to work without outside help. So unless you have the artistic and IT skills required to make a worthwhile effort, you’ll likely be much better off just using one of the myriads of great website building services around. Innovative companies like WordPress and Squarespace provide a great variety of professional and visually versatile templates which can be used as a launchpad for creating unique and sleek looking web pages for your brand.
7. Payment Transaction Software
Automating and streamlining your payment transactions can be a huge benefit to our overall workflow and make your billing process so much easier. If you provide a subscription-based service, this sort of software will be a must! Automating monthly invoicing and automatic payments can massively reduce your workload when it comes to billing. It can also make any necessary refunding process easier as well as help to keep a detailed record of all of your payments and keep a tally of any account credits or customers who are behind on payments. Automating payments can help reduce the likelihood of your customers forgetting to pay their invoices. While this sort of software can come with its own issues, such as customers forgetting to unsubscribe and overpaying after they no longer use your service, the benefits will usually heavily outweigh the costs. Ultimately, how suitable this sort of software is for your business will likely depend on how your payment and billing processes are structured – if every job you do is unique to the customer, every invoice will be unique as well, and automating things won’t be as possible or worthwhile.
8. Sales, Marketing, and PR Software
Perhaps the best benefit of using software applications to organise and optimise your workflow is that it allows you to work in a very structured manner. Sales, marketing, and general PR software can help you stay organised, which leads to greater efficiency, a better ability to collect and analyse your sales/marketing data, and therefore more rapid improvements in your sales and marketing processes. Being able to use marketing software to analyse your sales conversion data is a huge boon in being able to make rapid and substantial improvements to your sales/marketing practices. These software apps can help you to get the most possible value out of your marketing budget, and to improve your sales conversion. More than this, the right app will make data collection for future analysis much easier, by automating the collection and keeping the data well organised to make interpreting the information easier.
. Wix
The beauty of Wix is that it offers you templates, so you don’t have to come up with an idea from scratch.
The templates are interchangeable and have customisable options, so you can design exactly what you’re looking for in terms of your online presence.
How this tool empowers your start-up:
- Hundreds of templates that help you to choose from a large selection of designer-made options
- User-friendly designs allow you to drag and drop pieces into your design. You can change, customise or add anything to your website
- You can create a professional online presence with a custom domain name
- This website tool also offers mobile responsive site options to ensure your website looks great on every device.
10. WordPress
WordPress started out as the go-to spot for bloggers, but has since grown into a powerful website builder and content management system.
The tool is easy-to-use and flexible enough to make your website unique and different.
How this tool empowers your start-up:
- WordPress is free software. It’s free to download, install, use and modify.
- This tool is easy to customise with thousands of themes and plugins.
- A lot of people using WordPress aren’t web designers or programmers; many users have no website design experience at all and they can still create great websites using WordPress.
- To improve your traffic on search engines like Google, you can use a technique called SEO. WordPress is very SEO friendly, and you can even add a plugin to improve your SEO ranking.
WordPress isn’t just for start-ups. Many top international brands use WordPress including: Time Magazine, Facebook, The New Yorker, Sony, Disney and The New York Times.
11. Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free tool you can use to track the traffic to your website. It can tell you how many people came to your website, where they came from, how long they stayed and which pages they visited.
It can show you:
- Where your visitors click the most
- How many new visitors you have
- Which countries they’re coming from
- When you start using SEO techniques, you can track how much traffic is coming to your pages and if your SEO is performing properly.
How this free tool empowers your start-up:
- You can pull powerful customisable reports that can tell you even more about the performance of your website
- You can track any marketing campaign that is driving traffic to your site
- Google Analytics shows you how effective your social media campaign is in driving traffic to your website.
Project management tools for entrepreneurs
12. Trello
Trello is a free project management tool that helps you see at a glance which projects are being worked on, how far along projects are and who has been working on them.
Trello lets you organise and prioritise your projects in a way that’s fun, flexible and rewarding. All data is stored together and can be accessed from anywhere, at any time, helping your teams to collaborate on projects.
How this tool empowers entrepreneurs:
- Real-time updates ensure that your team are always on the ball
- You can easily add new tasks and assign them to your team members.
13. Zoho Projects
Zoho Projects is a project management software that helps you manage your projects in a social way. It offers a project feed that gives you a quick overview of the latest activities from your team.
How this tool empowers entrepreneurs:
- Zoho Projects offers a project calendar so that you and your team members can easily see their tasks, milestones, meetings and deadlines for the next month.
- Keep track of how many hours you’re putting into each task, making it easier to bill your client.
- You can easily integrate Google Apps and Microsoft project files.
- Project tasks, task lists and subtasks help you and your team keep organised and ensure everyone delivers on their projects.
Zoho Projects offers a 10-day free trial before you’ll need to start paying the subscription fees.
Online research tools for start-ups
14. SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey is a web tool that helps you launch surveys on the web.
These can help you to conduct in-depth research about a specific market, employee or customer feedback as well as launch quick polls to help you make better, customer-centric decisions.
How this tool enables your start-up:
- SurveyMonkey offers quality survey templates, so if you’re looking for a great survey covering a general topic, you can use their templates to save you time.
- The first level of SurveyMonkey is free, but if you need more options then opt for the paid editions. SurveyMonkey also offers reporting options to help you pull meaning out of all the data you’ve collected.
Although the basic options are free, here are the prices for the upgraded options.
Online business training tools for entrepreneurs
15. MoneyVersity
We’ve listed some software that will help your business, but your personal finances may also need attention.
MoneyVersity is a personal finance tool offered by Old Mutual. It’s designed to help you make the most of your money.
How this tool empowers entrepreneurs:
- MoneyVersity offers interesting and practical videos, calculators, infographics, articles and games to help you master your personal finances.
- This tool offers a variety of courses and topics to help you understand your finances better.
You can use all these tools in your business, and they can help you work towards your dreams.
16. Coursera
Coursera offers over 124 courses across 17 categories and is the largest open online course education site in the world.
It offers the option of taking a course for free, but you have to pay for the certificate at the end of the course.
How this tool empowers entrepreneurs:
- Although you may think only a newbie entrepreneur would need to take online courses, the biggest secret to entrepreneurial success is ongoing learning.
- Each course is an interactive textbook with pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.
- You can connect with thousands of learners online and discuss the course material and debate ideas.
- There are also over 1 700 companies using Coursera to upskill their employees, which is something you can also look into as your business grows.
17. Udemy
Udemy is another online course education site. It offers over 65 000 online video courses, with new additions every month.
Udemy also offers ongoing learning specifically for businesses that you can offer your team.
How this tool empowers entrepreneurs:
- The content is taught by industry experts and real-world practitioners, so there’s nothing theoretical about the knowledge you and your team will be learning.
- The courses cover a variety of topics including programming, development, business and design. All of these can help improve your business and your teams’ skills.
Although not all the courses are free, Udemy frequently has discount sales, converting courses that could cost over R1 000, to R100.
Business insights & inspiration tools for start-ups
18. Evan Carmichael
Evan Carmichael offers personal success and business tips for entrepreneurs on his website.
His site is free and offers eBooks to help you improve your skills and self-development. You can also use these resources to upskill your team.
How this tool fuels entrepreneurs:
- Evan Carmichael’s website is a one-stop-shop for all your self-development needs.
- He has videos, resources, online quizzes, books and more to help you achieve success.
- He not only shares his own thoughts and resources, but has collected helpful tools from other famous and successful entrepreneurs, which you can use to keep striving towards success.
19. Brian Johnson
You can learn to optimise every aspect of your life with the help of Brian Johnson’s website.
He offers three free ‘PhilosophersNotes’ as eBooks to get you started and if you want to learn more you can sign up for the full experience.
How this tool fuels entrepreneurs:
- In the full experience you have access to Brian Johnson’s coaching masterclasses to help optimise yourself and your team, as well as thousands of summarised philosophies to help you reach your dreams.
- The paid for module also offers new videos, mp3s and worksheets on a daily basis, with monthly optimal living masterclasses.
Although not everything is free, the cost of joining is low. Find the prices at the bottom of this page here.
20. Blinkist
Blinkist offers you key action points from the world’s best nonfiction books in text and audio.
The team at Blinkist summarises non-fiction books, which enables you to understand key insights in 15 minutes or less.
How this tool fuels entrepreneurs:
- You still gain the benefits of the book, without having to spend days reading it.
- The app is free to download and use, and gives you access to the daily selection.
To access the site’s full service and its features, you’ll need to pay for Blinkist Premium. This will allow you access to over 3 000+ book summaries in over 27 different categories, from politics to entrepreneurship and small business.
A 7-day free trial is available to try out Blinkist Premium.
conclusion
Whether you are an entrepreneur aiming to start your own business, or you are a small business owner looking to expand, there is software designed specifically for this purpose. Below is a list of what I found to be the best business startup software in four popular categories.
You’ve come up with a great idea for your startup. You know what you want to be doing and can see the potential in it to make you a lot of money. At this point you might think, “I just need some good software!” While this may be an attractive thought, there is quite a bit more to starting your own business – even if it is just a part-time side hustle. This guide covers some of the key software tools I recommend for entrepreneurs starting their own business.