5 Types of Business Tools You Need to Use in 2024

There are many personal qualities typically associated with successful business people. Drive. Commitment. Confidence. Passion.

But in this digital age, even the best of us need a little help running our companies. And with so many helpful, effective, data-driven, online business tools and solutions at our disposal, why would we shoulder the burden of doing it all ourselves?

In this blog post, I’m going to talk about the five types of online business tools that are essential for modern businesses.

When used properly, the best online business tools can free you up to pursue your passion and channel it into productive areas of business, saving you man-hours, money, and unnecessary stress in the process.

1. Project and Task Management Software Solutions

Unless you’re a Luddite keen to manage projects and tasks armed only with a notepad and pen, you probably already use some form of project and task managing tool – and that’s a good thing.

These kinds of small business tools help processes run much more smoothly, letting you keep all your prospect and customer details in one place.

Project planning and monitoring, resource allocation, real-time budget management ー you can streamline all of these with dedicated small business software solutions. These tools can provide valuable insights and help ensure you complete tasks within the timeline and budget.

Here are some project management tools that can help you see the bigger picture of what they can do for you to streamline your work processes:

HubSpot

HubSpot is an all-in-one CRM platform that helps you with website management, marketing, sales, operations, and customer service. You can use it to manage your projects from end to end.

Its content management software (CMS) helps you create and manage content and build your website to suit your audience’s needs in one place.

Its interface is easy to use and adapt. You get a unified view of your customer’s journey and interactions with your company. This helps you deliver seamless customer experiences.

And the best part? It helps perfectly align your marketing, sales, operations, and customer service teams, empowering your brand’s growth.

ClickUp

ClickUp is a powerful project management tool that helps you create and manage multiple projects, tasks, task statuses, Docs, forms, and whiteboards. It is the perfect software for planning your project timelines, assigning responsibilities, breaking it down into tasks and subtasks, and tracking progress.

Your team members can also track time spent on each task and subtask. ClickUp lets you see collective and individual time spent on each task and project, across the day, week, or month.

You can also automate workflows to auto-delegate tasks to the next person in the queue. It brings teams together to work collaboratively, increasing team efficiency and speeding up project deliveries. Try using it for free!

Trello

One of the best free business tools out there is Trello. It allows you to collaborate with your teams around the globe and helps you organize your tasks as well. You can use its boards to create tasks and assign them to your team members.

The platform also has loads of integrations called “Power-Ups.” To use more integrations, you need to sign up for one of their paid plans.

2. Communication Tools

Communication is at the heart of a business. Whether you’re conversing with employees, customers, or other external parties (suppliers, contractors), you should be able to get your message across in the most hassle-free manner possible.

Internal and external communications are made easier with VoIP (voice over IP) technology, allowing you to have your phone line on an Internet Protocol network.

The benefits of using this form of communication are extensive, but features include an ability to make calls to (and from) anywhere in the world at the same cost, the functionality to set up whole-team conferences, inexpensive hardware, and software (sound card, microphone, etc.), flexible infrastructure and mid-call data transfer.

Switching to a more fault-tolerant, cost-effective communication platform like VoIP is a no-brainer.

GetVOIP

Use GetVOIP to obtain a personalized quote from a VoIP provider. As is the case with mobile networks and car insurers, countless providers are vying for your business so it pays to shop around.

Slack

Another online business tool you might want to consider – this time, particularly for internal communication – is Slack. This streamlined, easy-to-use messaging platform lets you track projects and share files with internal and external parties.

It’s got loads of integrations such as time trackers and project management tools. These can help you manage your team and streamline operations.

Slack also has a mobile app through which you can communicate on the move. It’s also free for small businesses and startups that want to use it for communication.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams has replaced Skype for Business as a professional online business meeting solution. You can use it for instant messaging, video calling, and also working on collaborative documents for project planning.

Microsoft Teams is popularly adopted by many top companies in the world for team communication.

3. Accounting Tools

Digital accounting solutions help you track expenditures, sort out taxes, run reports, handle payroll, invoice customers, and put checkmarks next to all key financial management processes.

In all, these solutions help you simplify your accounting and finance management processes. You also get insights into your cash flow forecasting and other finance essentials.

Many of them offer integrations with other major CRM and customer service apps to give you better functionality.

QuickBooks

QuickBooks is a feature-packed finance management suite for your business, including accounting, payroll, tax filing, and invoicing tools. Its plans start from as low as $15/month. You can upgrade as your business grows, allowing seamless scalability.

It lets you track and manage your team’s work hours, pay them, and handle payroll taxes efficiently. You get to see your business’ earnings, expenditures, and profits at a glance.

4. Hiring Software

Recruiting staff can be a costly process, particularly for small business owners. Think about the time and money you spend on background, reference, and credit checks, not to mention degree verifications.

Using a recruitment consultancy takes much of the legwork away, but it’s expensive in its own right, and the turnover of staff can be high.

Thankfully, there are special business tools to help you streamline your recruitment processes.

GoodHire

Used by over 75,000 employers, GoodHire is known for its user-centric, mobile-optimized workflows and ease of use. It helps you hire better and faster than ever before – with no paperwork.

The company’s enterprise platform automates background checks to improve speed, assure accuracy, and build scalability into complex business processes.

It also specializes in resume verifications, credit checks, drug screening, international checks, and personal background checks.

However, there are numerous options to choose from; it’s important to do your homework and use software solutions that meet your needs and fit the budget of your small business.

Some business tools are built specifically for recruitment agencies themselves, while others have been created exclusively for small business owners.

Zoho Recruit

Zoho Recruit is yet another helpful hiring platform for businesses. It helps you find, track, and hire candidates from numerous sources directly from the dashboard.

Additionally, you can create and publish job alerts to premium job boards directly from the platform. It’s also possible to design pre-screening assessments to help you automate your process and workflow.

The best part about this online business tool is that you can get detailed analytics and reports about your recruitment process, helping you identify ways to screen and hire more candidates.

5. Email Marketing Tools

Email marketing remains a great way of reaching your customers. It ranks in the top five channels that generate the highest ROI for brands, along with SEO, social commerce, paid socials, and content marketing.

The top email marketing solutions help you manage subscriber lists, send newsletters and offers, set up autoresponders, capture leads, and use statistics (e.g. open/unsubscribe rates) to improve retention and increase brand recognition.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is a widely recognized email marketing and automation software with generative AI, list segmentation, and analytics features. It offers pre-built email templates, a drag-and-drop editor, one-click automation, and A/B testing features.

You can track your email campaign’s open rate and total number of email opens and clicks on links in the email. Also, check for unsubscriptions and spam flags.

These insights help you improve your email messages to retain and engage more subscribers.

You can start using it for free for up to 500 subscribers and 1,000 email sends/month.

Brevo

Brevo (formerly known as Sendinblue)  is an all-in-one marketing platform for email, WhatsApp, and SMS campaigns. It allows you to grow your list to an unlimited number of subscribers at no extra cost with easy-to-embed signup forms.

You can easily customize your emails with a drag-and-drop editor. Brevo also lets you save blocks you want to reuse in your email campaigns.

Try it for free with unlimited contacts and up to 300 emails/day.

These online business tools are simple to use, cost-effective, and crucial elements of modern marketing campaigns. Try them out to simplify your work processes, automate mundane tasks, and save time to focus on core business activities.

Are You Ready to Save Money and Grow Your Business with Online Business Tools?

Start using the online business tools at your disposal and your results are sure to improve. These five types of small business tools are just the tip of the iceberg.

If you aren’t already, you should also look into apps and platforms for social media management, appointment scheduling, content marketing, graphic design, file sharing, and customer relationship management (CRM).

Upping your game in business has never been easier. Start today!

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