At Present Tense, we aim to help make your life a little bit more manageable. In our blog series, Present Tense Recommends, we've shared our thoughts of significant business influencers and trending podcasts - next up, innovative business apps that will lift your business game.
Why Apps?
In a school classroom, all students learn in their own way; later on in life, those varied learning styles transfer to the workplace. Today, in an attempt to increase productivity, workflow, and communication - apps have entered our world. These babies on the market are designed to make your life more manageable and limit the clutter that floods our inboxes. Apps are here to simplify it all. Work from anywhere, log in from your mobile device, and get what needs to be done completed successfully. These are only a few ways that apps help manage all the things. With so many out there on the market, a quick overview of your business needs will help weed out the nonsense.
Apps for Your Goals
Depending on your goals both at and away from the office, an app that works for you might differ from ones that work for your mates. When deciding on what to implement for your small business, there’s a lot to consider: Is it affordable? Is it user friendly? What’s the commitment required? How do you get help if you need it? It used to be that we’d have to go back to school, take a course, or hire a mentor to up-level our knowledge and continue to grow our business. Today, apps help to teach and learn, improve a business, boost that reach, and even streamline all of those work matters. They allow you to easily transform your business performance, elevate your efficiency, and free up time in those constantly busy days.
Which will you choose?
A selection of apps we like, and a few features:
Salesforce
Mobile app that crosses all sorts of platforms - manage and organize that business from anywhere
Might just be the largest name in all CRM platforms
Plans begin at $25/user/month
Trello
Inviting user interface
Moves cards around as tasks are assigned, delegated, and completed
Includes upgrades and plug ins available
Organizer app directed at visual learners - helps to manage that busy personal and professional life
2 pricing plans - free or $12.50/month
Square
Sell from anywhere; collect payments, get all of those data and analytics you may need and follow up with all of your customers and clients
Considered one of the best mobile payment apps on the market
2.6% + $.10 for each in person payment accepted
Quickbooks
Track those expenses, manage/create/send accounting details and figure out where all of that money is heading
Free trial, simple plan $15/month, essentials $23/month, or plus at $31/month
Connects to multiple accounts
Accounting/financial management app
Freshbooks
Cloud-based software providing accounting and management
Also allows users to take credit card payments and integrates with multiple other apps
Create those invoices for personal and professional use
Offers a free plan, $15/month, $25/month, or $50/month options
Asana
Online productivity app ‘simplifies tracking of projects across teams’
Shifts those streams of communications to within the app thereby decreasing the amount of emails swamping your inbox
Considered the best of the project management software on the market
Manage that workflow across all employees
Free or premium plan $9.99 per person per month
Microsoft 365
Provides Word, Excel, and Powerpoint with the backup of OneDrive
Personal $6.99/month or $69.99/year, up to 6 users $9/99/$99.99, or go the enterprise/corporate one that raises the fee but provides lots of additional items
Paypal
Best in online payments
No monthly fee
Evernote
Organize your planning, tasks, and notes all in one synced/uniform space
Gusto
Move your HR and full payroll team to this platform
Begins at $39 per month plus an extra $6 per person monthly
Move that onboarding process to an app
MailChimp
CRM & Marketing app tool - think automation galore
Manage all of those marketing goals and needs - newsletter, landing pages, forms, ads, and templates
Free or $10 a month
Toggle
Track and manage your time across multiple platforms
Cost begins at $9/month
Proven
Manage/organize your hiring process and needs
Buffer
Manage that social media all in one space
Post, schedule, engage, and influence
Hootsuite
Social media management - track, monitor, schedule across all accounts
1 user $19/month with 5 platforms, 3 users $99/month unlimited scheduling, 5-10 users $559/month unlimited scheduling and 35 social profiles
Skype
Communication/video conference/calling app
Ring Central Office
A phone system app for your business
Cloud based phone system beginning at $19.99/month and tiered from there
Quickbooks Go Payment
A combination of the offerings of both Square and Paypal, this app allows you to ‘swipe a card, scan it with your camera phone, or key in details to accept payments’
Pay per payment processing
DropBox
Upload, transfer, and share files amidst the cloud
Basecamp
Team management software - manage projects, connect, check in, and communicate with clients and staff
Categorizes projects allowing communication, calendar, check ins, and more
Free or $99/month
Zoom
Works beautifully for remote teams
Work, communicate, share, video chat
Hubspot
CRM software all in one spot, onboard and streamline all of your needs - best to organize all of your contacts
Integrates with heaps of other platforms/apps
Free/$50 per month/$800 per month
My Minutes
Manage your task time
Free for users
Wave
Invoice, expense, track, scan, and manage all things billing
Free accounting software (with add ons for purchase)
Technology is constantly changing, adapting, and shifting focus. Which apps you choose to employ to help improve your productivity, management, onboarding, communication, and scheduling can help you find more time in your own schedule to explore your endless potential. So pay attention to that ever encroaching mountain of new apps on the market. Whether they help you budget, pay, onboard, optimize, or organize, the abilities of these new gizmos and gadgets might just elevate your expertise to new heights.