Gone are the days when business software are mostly used by big corporations or medium enterprises who can afford to have computers and software licenses. Nowadays, there is free and affordable business software for business of any scale as well as software developers that offer affordable custom-made software for any business. So whether you have a coffee shop or family-owned antique shop, there’s a business software you can take advantage of. But today, we’ll be taking a look at the essentials; non-industry-specific business software that is needed by all types of businesses.
Accounting, Tax, and Finance
Many businesses opt to do their own taxes and finances in order to avoid hiring and paying for an accountant. However, for those who aren’t that well-versed in accounting and taxation, there’s a higher chance of error in computations, and you may even end up paying for more taxes than you should. Which is why it’s important to have an accounting and finance software to help you manage your finances, generate income statements, as well as properly filing your taxes.
Communication
As they say, communication is the crux of any organization, and that includes small businesses as well. You should have communication software to help you better coordinate with your staff, clients, customers, and suppliers. This software can be as simple as an email, messaging, and calling software to cloud-based software that allows you to communicate and access communication archives through any device.
Word Processing Software
In the course of your business, you’ll be writing correspondence, letters, guidelines, contracts, instructions and signs, which is why you’ll need a word processing software. Luckily, almost any computer, laptop, tablet, and phone is already installed with word processing software for your business’ perusal.
Payment Support
Nowadays, people are more likely to pay with a credit card and other forms of cash-free payments. That said, your business should allow multiple options for payment for the convenience of your customers. So make sure you have payment processing software for credit and debit card transactions as well as online wallets such as Paypal.
Marketing Tools
Marketing is an essential part of any business, as it’s important to actively promote one’s brand and products/services in order to attract and entice customers to do business. Marketing software helps you to better streamline and manage your small business’ marketing operations, which could also include creating digital content for your social media accounts and website, as well as generating reports and data from your marketing operations. However, one of the challenges for marketers in any business is deciding the right tools and tech to use as there are hundreds out there, so it’s important to do research and choose one that best applies to your business.
Sales and Inventory
It’s necessary to keep track of your sales and inventory in order to know when to restock, know which product/service is fast-moving, and so on. As such, sales and inventory software can greatly assist you in streamlining and managing your business processes. Even for something as simple as a coffee shop can benefit in this software by knowing which coffee sells fast and should always be stocked. This would also help you detect any issues and anomalies such as missing items upon physical inventory count.
Conclusion
Small businesses can greatly benefit from business software, which is why it’s important to be fully equipped and know which ones to get. There are, of course, more specialized business software for different types of businesses such as Bar and Restaurant Point-of-Sale systems, but it’s best to have at least the basic software at least.
