If you are one of the 22 million small businesses in the U.S., you’re always looking to do more in less time. Whenever you can save time doing routine tasks, you have more time for the important things, like planning and forecasting. These apps will save you time and often give you more visibility into how your business is performing.
Working with the cloud
Forbes sees cloud computing as a must-have for future business success. This technology was once restricted to large corporations because of cost. Now, through cloud software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers, you can use the same tools to manage your business.
Zoho CRM lets you see your complete sales cycle from initial customer contact to the close of a sale. Mobile apps from Zoho let you work with this data on your smartphone and tablet. You’ll be able to track communication with customers and watch the impact of sales campaigns. Reward customers for their loyalty and monitor those who are slow to pay.
Complete work, get paid
Small businesses can’t afford to leave money on the table. That’s what happens when you forget to record or bill for time worked for a client. The Office Time app helps to track all of the time that you spend on a project so you have an accurate record of work for a client. and categorize your time for better visibility on your smartphone or tablet. Download the data to your desktop or laptop into a spreadsheet for further analysis. Don’t miss out on getting paid for time spent doing emails, writing letters and making phone calls for your client.
Quickbooks invoicing is another tool you’ll need to invoice for that time in a professional manner.
Better contact management
Networking is important for the success of your business. You probably have a stack of business cards on your desk and little memory of where you got them. CardMunch is an app for organizing those little pieces of paper. Take a picture of the card with your smartphone or tablet and it will scrape off the data and create a contact for you. This is a simple app but one with great value when you’re looking for that one resource you need but can’t remember which card it is.
Voice-controlled small business
Voice recognition has made it’s way into the small business mobile space. Dragon Dictation, available for your smartphone and tablet, is a leader in voice recognition technology and has been around for years. Dictate notes, texts, emails, letters, documents, and whatever comes to mind.
When you have a thought, dictate a memo to yourself instead of fumbling with the phone’s keyboard. Use the time driving between clients to dictate notes about the work you completed. By the time you stop to write something down you may have forgotten that business epiphany. Dictate a note to yourself to pick up that thought later and expand on that idea.
