Over the last few years, the need for software integration in any organization has rapidly evolved from “what’s that” to “it’s good I have this software” to “I must have this software” scenario. It is unimaginable that any business, regardless of the scale or industry, can operate in the modern world without combining various types of software.
The software industry, on the other hand, has been responsive. Today almost all operations in an organization have been simplified by software. Irrespective of the size of your business, you can be assured to find something that’s made to offer solutions to your exact business problems.
Nevertheless, at times, it can be challenging to determine what software you need. In this simple guide, we provide an overview of software types each business should invest in.
Contents
5 Types of Software Your Business Needs
Customer Relationship Management Software (CRM)
CRM software help in managing sales and building robust relationships with clients via interactive platforms. Having a CRM tool ensures effective processing, analyzing customer information, automation of sales, marketing, and strategic planning of business decisions.
The right CRM should ensure ease of contact management. It gives you the option of categorizing contacts, relating them, and communicating with them individually or as a group. Besides, the most efficient CRMs are easily integrated with a variety of other marketing and accounting software.
Zoho is an example of a CRM that is used by more than 150,000 businesses from different parts of the world. Companies such as Amazon, Netflix, and Suzuki, use it for its outstanding features like CRM phone integration that make the conversion of leads, customer engagement, and revenue growth quite effortless. These features are essential if you do substantial business over the phone.
Accounting Software
Most businesses, especially small and medium enterprises, often rely on Excel for all their accounting tasks. Even worse, some business owners do not bother having accounting software at all. However, the challenge comes when the year ends, and you have to consolidate all your transactions.
There is numerous downloadable or cloud-based low-cost software that you can adopt for your accounting purposes. While this is always a good alternative, finding one that suits your specific business needs can be difficult. As a result, most businesses are opting for custom accounting software.
However, the uniqueness and suitability offered also comes with high custom accounting software costs associated with the development process.
One of the best accounting software commonly used by businesses of all sizes is FreeBooks. It is compatible with different payment methods, including PayPal, Google Checkout, AMEX, Visa, and MasterCard. Its flexibility simplifies and makes financial processes quite efficient.
Marketing Software
Marketing is an important department of any organization. The right marketing software should help to grow your client base. The software needs to incorporate a variety of tools aimed at enhancing the marketing experience, such as website design services, automated machine learning, and automation tools.
Such tools are necessary for the launch of marketing campaigns and reaching the ideal audience for your business. Today, there is a variety of marketing software available. For example, HubSpot is more than just a marketing software that is used in more than 120 countries and by companies such as VMware, Subaru, ClassPass, among others.
It offers you robust inbound solutions to substitute the traditional marketing approaches and increase your reach, and lead conversion. Like any other business tool, good marketing software should align with your specific marketing needs.
HR Software
The management of human resources in any company can be a challenging affair, especially when the company is growing rapidly. You need to have the right employees and manage the associated activities effectively.
The right HR software will make recruitment and selection a seamless process. In addition, with such software, management of employee leave and benefits, and payroll gets simplified. This will not only save time and money but also ensure that you streamline all your process for higher productivity.
Zoho Recruit is one of the most commonly used HR software today. It is web-based and ideal for small and medium enterprises. It helps in tracking applicants and enhances peer-to-peer collaboration for high productivity. Numerous companies such as Yokohama, Spicejet, and ONEPLUS use this software to streamline their human resource processes.
Instant Messaging Software
The dynamics of modern business have changed extremely. With most businesses embracing remote work, it is becoming more important for organizations to embrace instant messaging. IM software enhances peer-to-peer communications among team members.
Instant messaging software also allows the integration of different business solutions to ease communications and actions. The majority of such platforms allow members to access all files and work plans seamlessly, making teamwork collaboration and decisions easy.
A good example of such platforms is slack. It is a significant platform for organized conversations, looping everyone in, as well as maintaining the focus you need within the organization. Slack is now used by both small and large organizations such as Lyft, Airbnb, Shopify, and Intuit.
How Do You Settle for the Necessary Software?
As indicated earlier, there are numerous types of software available in the market today. While this might be a good thing, it can also be a challenge. How do you tell what type of software is best for your company? Here are a few tips to help you with that.
Size of Your Organization
The number of people who will use the software is a key factor in establishing the type of software to go for. For example, if you need marketing software but your team is small, it is ideal to go for an all-in-one software with task automation capabilities.
Evaluate Your Company’s Needs
The first thing should be to isolate the needs of your company. Usually, these needs will fall around categories such as HR, CRM, marketing, and sales, among others. However, each of these categories has several subcategories.
You will also have to check on the scope of needs that the ideal software should cover. For instance, if you are looking for a sales software, is it one that can also track emails or will you also need CRM software to remain updated with the sales process. Figuring out all these specific details will help you settle for software that covers as many needs as possible hence saving on costs.
Your Clients’ Needs
Often, most companies fail to consider the needs of their customers when acquiring any software. While you may have great software for internal communications, you may be missing a platform where the customers can engage with your organization.
Before you can settle on any software, make sure that you find out what your customers want. Considering both your needs and those of your clients ensures that you can get an all-inclusive software that enhances all users’ experience.
Conclusion
Now that you have a general idea of what to look for when looking for software for your business, the next step is to sample what does emerald city tech have to offer. With software firms competing to keep their customers, it is very probable that the supplier you choose will try to upsell you.
While this is a good thing on their end, it is advisable to consider a variety of options. A large number of efficient companies mix various software from different providers.
Do not get tempted to choose your software hurriedly. Carry out enough research based on the specific needs of your business as well as those of your customers. This way, you will be guaranteed to get value for your money.