7 Online Tools That Can Improve Your Business - CareerAlley

7 Online Tools That Can Improve Your Business - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Continual improvement is something that every business wants to maintain. For small businesses, in particular, growth is important. However, growth can come at a cost, and many business budgets may not allow for heavy investment in different tools and opportunities. The good news is that there are many online tools that could help you to grow your business and make it easier to manage, with some free options that are particularly effective for small businesses. Take a look at seven different online tools you can start using today to improve your business. 1. Social media Social media is one of the most important tools for businesses today. Social media not only helps you to increase your business presence online, but it is also an extremely valuable, and free, marketing tool. By reading up on how to use social media for your business, you can learn how to create a successful digital marketing strategy that could grow your business significantly. Social media has many benefits, and aside from being a space to promote your products or services its also a place where you can engage with your customers and find ways of delivering better services to them. Make social media one of your marketing priorities and enjoy exploring the different possibilities it can offer your business with little or no budget. 2. Project management tools Project management tools help make it easier to assign tasks and deadlines within a team, providing a co-working space that can help to deliver results. Tools such as Slack are free to use and many top businesses like Airbnb, Ticketmaster and Harvard University are taking advantage of the different features it offers. The great thing about tools like Slack is that they allow you to upload documents and include chat functions to help your team share updates. While there are paid versions of Slack, the free version can be an effective project management tool for small teams and businesses. Project Management Absolute Beginners Guide (4th Edition) Price: $21.63 Succeed as a project manager, even if you’ve never run a project before! This book is the fastest way to master every project management task, from upfront budgeting and scheduling through execution, managing teams through closing projects. Buy Now from Amazon We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Last Updated: March 2, 2020 Other great project management tools include Asana, Trello, Wrike, and Basecamp are other well-known tools that are helping teams to overhaul the way they work. 3. File sharing systems File sharing is an important tool that can help to improve the way your business shares files. Email attachment sizes continue to be limited, which can be difficult for businesses that deal with video, images and other large files. Cloud storage systems such as Dropbox and Box are ideal for sharing multiple documents in a secure place, allowing them to be accessed anywhere by your teams. WeTransfer is another great tool for sending single large documents from one user to another and being a secure system, it offers peace of mind to both you and the recipient. 4. Cloud office programs More and more businesses are using cloud computing to improve their business. There are many benefits to using cloud computing that make it a worthwhile investment. Office 365 is becoming more widely used by businesses as a way to keep work up to date and easily managed, while its also more affordable than buying multiple licenses for different computers. Adobe and Google offer some effective cloud software solutions that are allowing teams to deliver their projects wherever they are something thats becoming more important in the world of agile working. Microsoft Office Home and Student 2019 Download 1 Person Compatible on Windows 10 and Apple macOS Price: Buy Now from Amazon We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Last Updated: March 2, 2020 Whether youre sat at your desk, traveling, or youre working in a different time zone cloud computing makes it possible to continue to work, interruption-free. If youre considering taking advantage of flexible working benefits for your business then adopting cloud computing could help to ensure a seamless working operation, wherever your staff is based. 5. Online scheduling applications If you own a business that relies on scheduling to run smoothly, then online scheduling applications can be a great tool. Many businesses suffer because of poor scheduling systems, with too little staff, too many staff and confusion over rotas leading to problems that could have easily been avoided. If youre interested in learning how to create the perfect work schedule for your team, then tools like Sling could help you out. Online scheduling apps provide you with the perfect portal for managing your teams schedules, as well as other functions like managing leave requests. Employees will be able to access their work schedules easily online, limiting the excuses available to them. 6. Online accounting systems Online accounting systems are a great tool for businesses looking to make it easier to manage their finances and make payments simpler. Having online systems for finance functions reduces the amount of paperwork required, and also ensures that your business has a central, secure record whenever you need it. For an online accounting system to be effective, youre going to need to improve your online security. Online accounting tools can help save your business money, while also making it easier to manage money. QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2019 with Enhanced Payroll [PC Disc] Price: $319.00 Buy Now from Amazon We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Last Updated: March 2, 2020 7. VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) VoIP communication tools are transforming the ways that businesses work. VoIP systems not only save money compared to traditional telephone systems, but they also offer a range of other features that make communication simple. Video conferencing, instant messaging and flexible working are made even simpler with VoIP tools, and they can be very beneficial to your business when used correctly. VoIP has many different providers, with companies like Skype proving particularly popular with businesses. If your business manages staff in several different locations or your clients are sourced from all over, then VoIP can be the simplest way of streamlining communications. Todays economic climate is tough, and if youre serious about expanding your business, then youre going to need to look to new ways of improving it. If youre looking for ways you can improve your business then its worth exploring some of the tools above to get inspiration and to find solutions that work for your business. Even with a limited budget, there are still plenty of great online tools that can be used to your advantage. Take charge of your business by introducing some of the many tools that are out there to help it grow. What's next? Ready to take action? Choose the right tools to help you build your career. Looking for related topics? Find out how to find the opportunities that help you grow your best career. Subscribe and make meaningful progress on your career. It’s about time you focused on your career. 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