Are you looking for new ways to improve the way you work? Are you searching for strategic tech tools that can help you grow your business? Or let's say you're simply curious about what the new technology in the business environment has to offer? If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, then you’ve come to the right place. Here, we will look into the top ten tech tools for growing businesses, with each tool featuring its own unique function.
From convenient document sharing apps to platforms that help you dominate your email marketing strategies, right down to a tech-infused notebook that will transform the way you take notes, we’ve got it all here for you.
If you’re looking for a convenient and efficient way to manage your documents, then look no further than Dropbox. This tech tool has gained a ridiculous amount of popularity amongst entrepreneurs and working professionals. Dropbox is essentially a cloud storage and file synchronization tool that allows you to store all your data and documents and access them on any of your devices, anytime you want.
More than that, this tool also allows you to share the files stored in your Dropbox cloud drive with other people. As such, you can collaborate on a document with other members of your team. The great thing about this tool is that it eliminates the need for physical and, most times, expensive storage devices like USB sticks. Dropbox offers you a 2GB storage space on a free account. To upgrade for more storage you will be required to pay a fee.
Evernote has managed to revolutionize the way people take notes today. If you’re running a small startup, then you are already familiar with the constant inflow of tasks that need to be handled daily. To keep track of all these activities and remain sane, you need to take notes throughout the day. But instead of going the traditional route of using regular paper and pen, use a notebook that is both tech efficient and environmentally friendly?
The Evernote syncs with all your devices, allowing you to access all your notes, from any device. This tech tool ensures that none of your ideas, projects, or to-do lists are ever lost in the chaos. It features a downloadable app that stores all your notes, and it comes with free and paid versions.
3. Gusto
When beginning a startup, there are a couple of things you probably already know you can handle. For example, you know what your business does, and the products and services you want to offer on the market. You might even know the direction you want to take with marketing your products and have a couple of connections in the industry to help you handle production and distribution. However, when it comes to HR matters, it's easy to get stuck.
Often, one of the hurdles that small businesses face is dealing with legal and human resource-related issues. This is where services like Gusto comes in. For a small fee, this platform offers you all the help and advice you may need when it comes to legal matters, handling payroll and benefits; basically, all your HR needs. It makes this part easy for you so you can shift your focus to other core elements of your business.
Marketing is a vast spectrum, encasing things like advertising, branding, and public relations. As a small or medium business owner, you may not feel the need to use every single one of these aspects of marketing and so, you are at liberty to choose to focus on a select few. If one of the few options you concentrate on is email marketing, you should definitely be using MailChimp. MailChimp is a platform that offers you a great way to do your email marketing.
It helps you build emails, social ads, landing pages, and much more, all from one platform. There are several benefits of using this platform. For one, it is cheap, so, you're sure to save a bit of money. It also delivers good reporting and automation. In addition to that, it can handle necessary A/B tests to ensure that you get the most results from your email campaigns.
For project managers, best believe that Trello is the creme de la creme of project management tools. Combining a sleek and attractive design with functionality, this platform can simplify all your project needs and tasks into ‘cards,’. As such, you can visualize your progress as the tasks go through the pipeline. With other project management tools, you face a sea of texts and buttons with complex functions to comprehend. But with Trello, you can count on its simplicity, as it uses language that is easy to understand and follow. If you love great designs and intuitive functionality, then Trello is the project management app for you.
Sometimes, the best time to post on social media to reach a considerable percentage of your audience is not always the most convenient time for you. You obviously have a life outside work and may be involved with other tasks at the time. With Hootsuite, this issue is a thing of the past. The tool will help you transform the way you post and advertise on social media. Altogether, it is a social media management tool that doubles as a scheduling tool.
Hootsuite allows you to track and manage all your social media accounts in one space. You can equally schedule your posts conveniently on three of your social media accounts while using a free account with this tool. A paid version allows you to schedule posts for all your social platforms. Hootsuite ensures that you get maximum social media engagement while saving you a lot of time.
If you struggle with productivity, then you should be looking into getting a tool like Pomodoro Timer. It is widely recognized as one of the most effective ways to increase productivity on all fronts. Pomodoro Timer basically uses a timer that breaks down your work tasks into intervals. The most common duration is 25 minutes, followed by a short break, and then back to 25 minutes of work.
One of the great things about this business tool is that you can download it as an app on your mobile device or use the website to set your timer. Research has shown that using a timer like this can help you get through a large number of tasks in a much shorter time period. Besides, this approach is a great way to overcome the problem of burning out.
Do you find yourself constantly forgetting important meetings and appointments? As a business owner, there is probably always a lot on your plate and stuff you have to juggle in your mind. So, you might find yourself forgetting significant dates somewhat regularly. What if we told you that you don’t have to remember a single date because Calendly will remember for you?
Calendly is the tool you need to ensure that you always meet up with your significant appointment. This tech tool helps you manage your schedule and can be synced with your Google and Outlook calendar so to remind you of all the events there as well. With this tool, you can be confident that you’ll never forget another professional commitment ever again.
Everyone knows that doing expense reports is one of the most challenging and time-consuming tasks an entrepreneur has to manage, especially when they have little to no experience doing them and cannot afford to hire a tax accountant. If you have found yourself struggling with your expense reports, and are looking for an easier way to do them, then Expensify is your friend.
Expensify allows you to easily track your business expenses and income. Via this platform, you can input every amount spent on your business and the inflow of money the company has received, allowing you to manage your reports better and within a shorter time. Expensify attracts a monthly subscription, but it also offers a six-week free trial period so you can test it out.
There are times when you have so much work to do but can’t help getting distracted by the internet and social media. We’ve all been there. Time Doctor is your friend if you're looking to combat this very common issue. This platform acts as an incredible tool to help eliminate any external distractions so you can actually get some work done. It comes with a time block feature that sends you an alert whenever you spend too much time on a distracting website, like Instagram or Twitter.
It ensures that you stay focused and even provides you with information on how you spend your time online. With a breakdown of how your time online is allocated, Time Doctor can help you make the necessary improvements to be more productive at work.