Ask anyone who has tried to establish a small business, and they’ll tell you that it’s tough out there. There seem to be too many things to do for a small business owner on a limited budget. Think accounting, marketing, dealing with irate customers, and data analysis among many other tasks, and you will get an idea of the magnitude of the challenge.
Added to this is the need to create a new website for small business because any business doing without one is selling itself short. Since managing your own tools for the many tasks in your small business could be costly, you may want to consider the top five Software as a service (SaaS) tools below.
FreshBooks: Accounting
Look at any FreshBooks review, and you will notice that the software always scores above 4 out of 5. One of the reasons why this software is the preferred service for small businesses is its affordability. Despite an array of features, customers can access the software for as low as $15 a month.
Apart from just presenting the numbers, FreshBooks helps users to process the data they have entered into the system. Some of its features include tracking monthly costs, generating the profit and loss report, and dealing with tax issues.
Ning: Creating Websites
The growth of the internet has placed massive power in the hands of the customer. Any company that still doesn’t have an online presence will find it a challenge to compete in the future. Ning is the largest SaaS platform in the world when it comes to creating websites.
One of the features that have made Ning different from its competition is the focus on social integrations. As a company that has been creating online communities for over a decade, users of this software have access to a social network service that takes the unique requirements of every client into account.It’s no wonder that by 2011, more than 90,000 social websites were already running on the Ning Platform.
BambooHR: Human Resources Management
One of the most demanding tasks any small business has to deal with is managing the recruitment of new staff. This involves advertising positions, managing hundreds, and sometimes thousands of applications as they come in, and replying to prospective candidates. BambooHR brings everything that has to do with recruiting and new employee engagement into one place.
Once you have identified the employees you want to join your organization, BambooHR will help you manage the onboarding experience. The software provides a small business with a central place where the details of any employee in the company can be accessed just by clicking their profile.
HubSpot: Marketing
The introduction of the internet and the linked smart devices have radically changed the process of marketing. Gone are the days when a company was the source of information that customers consumed without question. Today, customers have become part of the process of generating the message.
What this means is that companies have to change the way they approach marketing. This is where HubSpot comes in. The software automates the marketing process so that campaigns move more effectively.
Wrike: Project Management
Wrike may not be the first company that comes to mind when you think about project management software for a small business. However, meet anyone who has used this software, and you will soon have an idea of how good it is.
What makes this software the preferred choice for many is the visual timelines that give you an idea of where a project is at a glance. Like all useful project management tools, this software ensures that communication about parts of a project happens within those parts and not by email.
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