Are you a small or medium business enterprise struggling to manage business operations? Are you tired of juggling between multiple things and not having success at any? The best solution here is to invest in the right software that would automate the tasks, streamline the operations and help businesses grow.
According to Finances Online, 80% of businesses use at least one SaaS application for simplifying their business processes. In this blog, we will discuss the top 13 software tools that will increase productivity, improve communication, and quicken your business operations.
Top 14 Tools for Manage Business Operations without Any Hassles
- Google Drive
- Calendly
- Zoom
- Slack
- PIM Tool
- Scribe
- Basecamp
- DocuSign
- Buffer
- Wix
- Canva
- FreshBooks
- SendPulse marketing automation
- Titan
#1. Google Drive
Source - Google Drive
Every business runs on documents. Creating these documents, storing them, and sharing them with the required personnel require a tool that is easily accessible.
Google Drive is one such tool that lets you store all important documents, spreadsheets, contracts, proposals, and other business documentation.
You can create multiple folders to upload documents in an organized manner. Sharing these documents happens at a click of a button. All you need to do is simply add the email address of the recipient and the document will be shared in no time.
Furthermore, you can also work on the edits in these documents with your team members simultaneously. Thus, Google Drive makes real-time collaboration easier.
You can use Google Drive free of cost. It offers a storage space of 15 GB for the free plan users.
#2. Calendly
Source - Calendly
Scheduling meetings and appointments are part and parcel of any business. With Calendly, you can cut off unnecessary emails and phone calls for scheduling meetings.
Calendly, an online meeting scheduler, connects with your work calendar and reserves the meeting spots accordingly. This way, you have a clear picture of your schedule, and booking the meetings is a breeze for you and the team.
You can also embed Calendly in your emails and website. This will allow your connections to schedule a call with you automatically without any additional emails or phone calls. Calendly takes away the hassles of meeting scheduling and thus, contributes towards speeding up the business operations.
Calendly is free to use. However, if you wish to avail of premium features like automated scheduling, calendar customizations, and other features, you will have to opt for paid plans.
#3. Zoom
Source - Zoom
Zoom is one of the best tools for video conferencing for businesses.
You can host unlimited meetings with a maximum limit of 100 participants. You can conduct business meetings, host webinars, give product demos, conduct team meetings, and much more using this application. The excellent video and audio quality are some of the amazing features of this software.
Like the other software, Zoom also is free to use. You can sign up for a paid plan if you wish to host a meeting for a larger group of participants (up to 500 participants) or increase the time duration of the meetings.
#4. Slack
Source - Slack
Slack is one of the most preferred apps for team communication today. This messaging tool provides a personalized and fun approach to communication.
You can connect with team members, create a message bank for yourself, and set task reminders using Slack. Further, you can also connect apps like Google Docs, Trello, Calendly, and other software applications and get notified when any activity occurs.
Slack offers its basic plan free for all users. The premium plans offer additional capabilities like group calls, access to message histories, collaborating with connections outside of the organization, and many other incredible features.
#5. PIM Tool
Source - Plytix
PIM, short for Product Information Management, is a single source of truth for all your product data. It allows teams to collaborate seamlessly, without the need for messy excel sheets.
This means that all your product information is readily available in one place and it can be edited with ease. This allows you to get your product to market faster and easier and also saves you time and, more importantly, saves you money.
This was previously thought to only be available to enterprises, but not anymore.
Plytix has built a PIM specifically for small-to-medium-sized (SMB) businesses because it is user-friendly and affordable. In today's eCommerce environment, a PIM is no longer a luxury but a necessity.
#6. Scribe
Source - Scribe
Scribe turns any process into a step-by-step guide, complete with text and screenshots. Whether you’re with Sales Ops or HR supporting internal teams or are ensuring customer success, Scribe saves you hours of manual documentation and training.
Read more about customer service.
Simply click “record” and go through your process. Scribe will automatically generate your how-to guide.
Once you create an invitation, you can easily customize the text and combine steps. Share your Scribe with a quick link, email, or easy embed into any CMS. Scribe is a secure and efficient way to get things done, fast!
Scribe offers a free basic plan and pro plan for $29 a month that includes additional features like a desktop app, branding, and extra customization, and engagement insights. There’s also an Enterprise plan with a customizable cost and experience.
#7. Basecamp
Source - Basecamp
Basecamp is an intuitive project management tool that can be used by any team - sales, marketing, admin, or customer happiness team to manage their work seamlessly.
You can set goals, track your projects, and carry out any operational tasks with ease. In addition to this, you can also create to-do lists for yourself and set reminders for the timely completion of tasks.
Further, you can communicate with your team and clients to keep them updated about the progress of the project. Basecamp's free trial of 30 days gives you access to all features. Once the trial is over, the account is migrated to a free plan with limited capabilities.
#8. DocuSign
Automating the process of signing the documents such as contracts, quotations, offer letters, increment letters, and many others will certainly speed up your processes. Using an online signature app like DocuSign takes away the lengthy process of printing, signing, scanning, and sharing documents.
DocuSign makes it easy to sign and request signatures from desired professionals. The document is shared with the recipients as a time-secure link over an email. Once the documents are signed, everyone gets a copy of the signed document in their inbox.
DocuSign is a paid eSignature software that offers a free trial of 30 days. The pricing plans of this excellent software start at $10 per month.
Bonus: DocuSign or Proposify
There are more options than ever as businesses transition to a more remote world and focus on cutting down the cost and time wastage on paperwork.
That’s made it a necessity for businesses to be able to send legally binding documents and capture e-signatures in a way that provides a real-time audit trail.
That’s why we have created a detailed breakdown of DocuSign vs. Proposify to help you understand the two solutions, including their similarities and differences, as well as their key features and pricing.
DocuSign is not working well for you? There are many alternatives to DocuSign that offer the same or even better features.
#9. Buffer
Every business invests in social media marketing today. 80% of business executives believe that it is very important for every business to invest in social media marketing. Buffer is a social media post-scheduling app that ensures the company's social media pages are always updated with fresh content.
In addition to post scheduling, Buffer helps you engage with the audience by responding to their comments in real time. It also gives you detailed insights into the performance of your content on various social channels in one place.
You can sign up for a Free plan that allows posting on up to three channels. The paid plans give you additional features such as engagement tools, analytics tools, team collaboration, smart reporting, and a lot more.
#10. Wix
Whether you are an eCommerce store or a restaurant, every business needs a website. Using a website builder like Wix helps you design and build your website with minimal effort.
The easy drag and drop functionality enables you to place and move content blocks as per your requirements. Further, if you need to update your site with new changes, you can conveniently do it all by yourself without the help of a website developer.
Wix also has 100+ free design templates for your website. These templates are ready-to-use and easily customizable. The pricing plans start at $13 per month.
#11. Canva
Canva is the ultimate design platform that any business can use to design everything.
From social media graphics, blog banners, brochures, and presentations to newsletters, Canva helps in creating stunning visual content. It has a free library of free design templates that you can leverage to create aesthetically pleasing designs.
Transform your events with Canva, the versatile invitation maker, offering a free library of design templates for stunning and personalized invitations.
Canva is free to use for everyone. However, you can avail pro plan to get access to premium stock images and videos, background remover tools, and many other tools.
Read more about best SaaS tools.
#12. FreshBooks
Every business has an accounting department that takes care of all finance-related activities.
FreshBooks is excellent accounting software that keeps a track of all invoices and expenses, as well as manages accounts accurately. You can generate professional-looking invoices at a click of a button and keep a track of payments without any hassles.
Further, you can generate intelligent financial reports to understand how well your business is performing. The pricing structure of FreshBooks starts at $6 per month. They do offer a free trial of 30 days where you can identify if the software is the right fit for your business.
#13. SendPulse marketing automation
Marketing is an essential part of any up-and-coming business. Your company might have the best product or top-notch services, but if your potential customers never heard about your brand they can forever remain only as prospects.
SendPulse is a multichannel marketing automation platform that helps small and mid-sized businesses get and stay in touch with their customers. The tools and features available on the platform will cover your lead generation and nurturing needs.
Marketers can automate email and other channels like SMS, Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp marketing chatbots as well as web push notifications. With SendPulse it’s easy to build automated message flows and communicate with your customers via their preferred media.
There is also an inbuilt CRM that can help your sales and marketing teams work together.
#14. Titan
Titan is a first-of-its-kind new-age business email suite that helps you build deeper, more meaningful relationships with your customers.
Titan’s premium email service, designed as a cloud-based SaaS solution, is specifically for professionals and businesses looking to expand their online presence with a custom email address. An email @yourdomain is essential for looking professional, building trust, and strengthening your brand.
Features like Read Receipts, Email Templates, Follow-up Reminders, Send Later, and Calendar makes life incredibly simple to establish a more personal connection between companies and customers.
Titan can be purchased from web industry partners like WordPress.com, Name.com, Newfold Digital, Hostinger, and Namesilo.
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These were the top 14 tools every small and medium business enterprise should invest in. Although these tools seem interesting, some of them might not be required for your business.
For example, a manufacturing unit might not require a project management tool like Basecamp or a Recruiting CRM like Recruiterflow. Instead, it is critical for them to use solutions such as ERP for manufacturing businesses to streamline their operations.
That is why it is necessary to understand your requirements and discuss the same with your team. Once you weigh all the pros and cons, you can sign up for the required software and organize your business operations.
