Insights
Top 6 tools that you need to consider for your business
As the world gets more digital, all of us need help from tools that can do things faster than we as human beings can. Business tools even have a lower margin of error because of their automation process, and guess what? Human beings don’t!
Human beings will tend to make more mistakes whenever they are performing repetitive tasks and simply get bored of them at some point. It’s just in our nature, and that’s why technology is there to substitute us where we need it most.
In this article, we will show you the top tools you can use for your business to increase your productivity at the maximum rate.
Let’s dive right in!
6 types of tools you can use for your business
Analytics tools
When you are operating in a business or even when you get started, you will have to deal with data at all times, and when data gets large, you need to provide monthly or weekly reports about it. In the modern digital world, it’s not suitable to avoid using analytics tools. Data keeps getting larger year by year and is much more complex to analyze manually.
That being said, you have two types of analytics tools:
- Open-source
- Commercial
Open source tools
Python: programmers fall in love with Python because it is an easy language to learn and is built with an analytic tool from analytical and statistical libraries. Python is used for the coverage of statistical and mathematical functions.
- Apache Spark: an open-source processing engine that is developed through analytics. Apache Spark was built through massive volumes of data and unorganized ones. It’s a wonderful open-source choice that you shouldn’t disregard for usage.
Commercial analytics tool
Tableau: easy to use and learn, analyzes data very quickly, and builds amazing visuals with those analytics. Compared to other tools like Excel, we would say that Tableau does an even better job at creating visualizations and handling large amounts of data.
- SAS: Simple to learn and solid to use. With SAS, you get many new modules you can add to it and are a popular option for IoT and anti-money laundering analytics.
- Excel: an analytics tool with a big name in the industry. Microsoft Excel works best when used for analyzing more minor data and even has many plugins you can use. Features like Pivottables, Vlookup, charts are premium when using the application.
Travel-management tools
This may sound like a surprise, especially if you own a business that doesn’t have to do with traveling too much. However, using travel management tools is vital in a business, and you never know when you might need them. You can read more about business travel in a business travel management guide to help clarify anything you don’t understand if you’re new to it.
Furthermore, when your business does go on the road a lot, there are many things you have to worry about that are not only time-consuming but accumulate into financial losses as well. Travel management tools can set up booking trips, reserve your stay in the destination you are going to, set up transport before you arrive, and find the best places to stay at. Not only will travel management tools save time, but they’ll also help reduce the stress of having to manually do everything on your own and worrying about what might happen when you and your team go abroad.
POS system tools
POS systems are suites of technology used by retailers, restaurant, and cafe owners to accept payments from their customers. These systems are an easy way of managing transactions for every payment made and save lots of time for restaurant owners and retailers compared to having to manage transactions manually. You can check Lightspeed’s guide on POS systems to learn more about them.
Furthermore, a POS system runs an entire business, from managing and ordering inventory to processing transactions that customers or other staff members make. The POS system and hardware that comes with it give businesses the required tools to accept popular payment methods and understand how their business is running. In other words, you can use a POS system to order and analyze all of your inventory, customers, sales, and employees.
Task and project management software tools
Unless you are some old-school business person that likes to do things the traditional way, task and project management software are the best tools you can have in your business. These tools take care of all your repetitive work and even save you enormous amounts of time
Software like these has tools that help your business run smoothly and more effortlessly. Additionally, they allow you to keep your projects and tasks all in one place. Some helpful features that are included with these types of tools are:
- Real-time budget management
- Resource allocations
- Project monitoring and planning
- Task management
- Projects insights and much more
A popular choice amongst many businesses that use project and task management software is Trello. Trello is a free business tool that allows you to create, manage, and organize all of your tasks. You can easily collaborate with your team across the globe while seeking to complete tasks.
Marketing tools
You can’t ever optimize your business to the maximum level without marketing tools. Popular marketing tools used by many businesses include:
- HubSpot: a popular choice for many businesses across the globe that mainly focuses on marketing, sales, and customer service. Hubspot has many tools that support you in increasing conversion rates and business sales. Additionally, you get email tracking features, sales meetings, live chats, and much more you can imagine.
- Google Analytics: a free marketing analytics tool created by Google itself that allows you to analyze data. Google Analytics is a popular choice and super easy to use. Additionally, you can even customize how you use the tool.
- Buffer: if you’re a social media manager, you most likely proficiently know how Buffer works. It’s a widely used app for creating social media accounts and is easy to learn and use. The platform allows you to integrate social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and more. Buffer allows you to schedule your posting times with many months ahead, the time you will post it, and how many times per week. A high time-saver in the long run and effective.
Communication tools
Communication is the heart of a business, especially in the modern digital age where most people are starting to work remotely. So, wherever you are, communication tools are handy to help you get across whatever you have to say.
Moreover, here are a few popular communication tools that you are already using or can consider using from this point on:
- Slack: if you are working remotely, there is a slight chance you don’t know about Slack. Slack is one of the most popular communication tools out there that specializes in internal communication. It’s an easy-to-use tool and allows you to share files and monitor your projects that you share with external parties. Additionally, you are allowed to video call on Slack and can share all of your business files on it.
- Zoom: Zoom is a popular video calling tool that supports live communication with your chat. It’s free to use and allows many users to join the call simultaneously with an invitation code sent out. No external participants that don’t have the invitation code can join Zoom, so it’s a great and safe communication tool to use.
- Gmail: this may sound obvious, but Gmail has come a long way in email communication. Google mail has over 1.5 billion active users and is simple to use compared to its competitors. It’s an effective form of communication when you seek to send over files, images, and other important information regarding your business.
Wrapping it up
Well, that’s about it for this article. These are our 6 tools that you can use to improve your business strategy and how your business operates. Hopefully, you put these types of tools to use and they make your business operate more smoothly and save you an enormous amount of time.
Always take into account what your business can offer, and seek to take advantage of what kind of tools you can add to your business to make things easier for everyone at the workplace.
Time is a precious commodity, and it directly relates to finances, so seek to always choose the tools that will benefit you the most regarding your time, money, and efforts from your business.
About Author:
Tony Ademi is an SEO freelance copy and content writer. He has been working in the writing & marketing industry for three years now. Since the beginning of his writing career, he always loved to write SEO optimized content and spent many hours researching about his topic before he started writing it. In other words, Tony loves to do in-depth research and write the same way he speaks.
