Competition is cutthroat nowadays, and organizations are always looking for resources to keep them ahead of their competitors. Not every task can be done manually, and using the right software or tools has become a necessity for small businesses.
A report states that more than 85% of all business applications will be SaaS-based software by 2025 end. As technology evolves, so does the software, and it can be hard to choose the ones for your needs and requirements. Further, we’ll talk about 10 game-changing tools that are sure to take your business to new heights of success.
Using the right software for your needs can transform your workflow by improving collaboration, optimizing marketing, streamlining communication, and more. Let’s go through each tool one by one and learn how they can help small businesses grow.
Note for readers: All #### Pricing information related to the software are actual and correct at the day of the publication. However, this information may be outdated when you read this article on a later date. So, don’t consider this #### Pricing to be a fact and check on the official website.
pascom provides a robust cloud-based phone system for small businesses that improves teamwork and communication. Companies can enhance internal communication and consumer relations with VoIP phone systems, video conferencing, instant messaging, call management, and more.
It is a great tool for small businesses thanks to its cost-effective price, scalability, and ease of integration with current systems. You can improve customer service by utilizing pascom and increase productivity, lower communication costs, and scale operations.
- 30-Day Free Trial
- €8.90 per licence/month
2. Canva (Best for graphic design)
Small businesses can use Canva to create high-quality, professional-grade graphics even without advanced graphic design skills. It is possible to make engaging visuals quickly because Canva has a wide variety of templates for flyers, presentations, social media posts, and more.
Users can access millions of stock photos, fonts, illustrations, etc. Canva’s simple drag-and-drop interface streamlines the design process. From creating presentations to marketing content, it saves small businesses time and effort.
Pricing
- Free Plan
- Canva Pro - €12 / $12.99 per month
- Canva Teams - €9 / $10 per month (minimum of 3 members)
- Canva Enterprise - Contact Sales Team
* Annual plans including discounts are also available
3. Ahrefs (Best for SEO)
One of the most powerful SEO tools, Ahrefs helps small businesses enhance their online presence. It offers backlink analysis, keyword research, site audits, content exploration, rank tracking, etc. Organizations get insightful data to help increase their SERP ranking.
Ahrefs has a vast database with accurate information that is perfect for optimizing content and to find growth opportunities. There are several ways in which Ahrefs helps small businesses increase efficiency and growth. Organizations can track their website performance, improve their SEO strategies, analyze their competitors, and more.
Pricing
- Lite - €119 / $129 per month
- Standard - €229 / $249 per month
- Advanced - €419 / $449 per month
* Annual plans including discounts are also available
4. ProofHub (Best for project management)
Small businesses should use ProofHub for user-friendly project management and team collaboration. Its top features include task management, file sharing and proofing, time tracking, customizable workflows, and real-time communication. Organizations can stay productive and organized using it, as everything is on a centralized platform.
ProofHub’s easy-to-use interface ensures a minimal learning curve. You won’t require multiple tools, which enhances efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The software’s flat fee for unlimited users is the best part for small businesses operating on a tight budget.
Pricing
- 14-day Free trial
- Essential - $45/month (billed annually)
- Ultimate Control - $89/month (billed annually)
5. Google Analytics (Best for website analysis)
If a business does not have a responsive website and a respectable online presence, it’s bound to fail. Even though it’s free, Google Analytics is a powerful tool to monitor your website’s performance. Website traffic, real-time data, traffic sources, conversions, user demographics, etc., are some metrics that help enhance your marketing strategy.
Another reason to use it is its smooth integration with Search Console, Ads, and other Google tools. Small businesses leverage Google Analytics to get insights about user behaviour and customizable reports about their marketing campaigns. As a result, organizations can focus on their target audience and improve their website’s user experience.
Pricing
- Google Analytics are Free-to-Use with a Google Account
6. Loom (Best for screen recording)
Loom is a screen recording and video messaging tool for efficient and effective communication among team members. You can record your screen and webcam footage and easily send them as videos. It’s perfect for explaining complicated ideas and educating new team members.
Loom has a simple interface and eliminates the need for long meetings thanks to instant video sharing. You can access it across several devices, and it integrates with many popular tools. Small businesses use Loom for better internal communication and personalized customer service.
Pricing
- Starter - Free
- Business - $15/user/month (billed annually)
- Business + AI - $20/user/month (billed annually)
- Enterprise - Contact sales team
7. ChatGPT (Best for generating AI text)
OpenAI’s ChatGPT is an advanced large language model that can respond to human queries through natural language processing. Small businesses can enhance communication, create content, automate customer support, and do much more with it. Users can write emails, draft blogs and articles, etc. Basically, any type of business writing online, in real-time.
Using ChatGPT, organizations can reduce their response times and automate repetitive tasks. From content creation to customer support, it’s a great tool for small businesses. It can reduce effort, save valuable time, and accelerate business growth.
Pricing
- Free Plan
- Plus - $20/month
- Team - $25/user/month (billed annually)
- Pro - $200/month
- Enterprise - Contact sales team
8. Mailchimp (Best for email marketing)
A great tool to help organizations with their marketing efforts is Mailchimp. Businesses can conduct personalized, targeted campaigns through it. It helps engage with customers and boost conversions through customizable email templates, performance tracking, automation, audience segmentation, and more.
Small business teams don’t need deep technical expertise to create emails through Mailchimp because of its user-friendly interface. For marketing optimization, the tool has advanced features like E-commerce integration, data analysis, metric tracking, and A/B testing.
Pricing
- Free
- Essentials - €12.05 / $4.39 per month (billed annually)
- Standard - €18.54 / $6.56 per month (billed annually)
- Premium - €324.41 / $131.16 per month (billed annually)
9. HubSpot (Best for customer relationship management)
The all-in-one CRM tool, HubSpot helps businesses streamline their customer service, sales, and marketing efforts. Its top features comprise lead generation, email marketing, recruitment process outsourcing, customer relationship management, social media management, etc. This allows small businesses to track their performance, automate workflows, and offer personalized experiences to customers.
Startups and small businesses appreciate HubSpot’s user-friendly interface, seamless integrations, scalability, and more. It enhances operational efficiency and business growth for small businesses, whether they want to improve customer retention or manage their leads.
Pricing
| Plan |
EUR |
USD |
| Free |
- |
- |
| Marketing Hub Starter |
€15/user/month |
$15/user/month |
| Starter Customer Platform |
€15/user/month |
$15/user/month |
| Marketing Hub Professional |
€792/month
Includes 3 users, additional users at €45/month |
$800/month
Includes 3 users, additional users at $45/month |
10. QuickBooks (Best for business accounting)
Businesses can streamline their financial management and accounting using QuickBooks. It’s a cloud-based tool with features like payroll management, expense tracking, invoicing, time management, etc. Organizations can stay compliant and organized thanks to the tool’s user-friendly interface and seamless third-party integration.
QuickBooks provides customizable insights and reports, allowing small businesses to grow rapidly with data-driven decisions. It is an excellent tool for improving a business’s financial operations’ productivity and efficiency.
Pricing
- Simple Start - €9.50/month
- Essentials - $13.50/month
- Plus - €19/month
- Advanced - €35/month
We talked about the top 10 tools that small businesses should use in their day-to-day activities. However, it is not necessary for organizations to stay limited to these. There are thousands of tools and resources in the market that can be as useful as the ones mentioned above.
As technology advances, new and updated tools come up that can help organizations reach the next level. However, how do you find the best tools and differentiate them from the bad ones? Here are some features you should look for before investing in a tool.
User-friendliness - An intuitive and user-friendly interface is really important for a small business tool. Every team member should find it easy to navigate and use the tool even without lots of technical expertise. A tool that has a minimal learning curve enhances team productivity through its accessibility and simplicity.
3rd-party integration - Most businesses already have a set of tools they use. Any new tool should offer seamless 3rd-party integration with popular tools like Google Docs, QuickBooks, Mailchimp, etc. This ensures organizations don’t need to alter their existing workflows and processes too much. They can transfer data across different platforms smoothly.
Customization - Every business has its own workflows, goals, and objectives. Therefore, a tool should be flexible and customizable so that an organization can tailor it to meet its requirements. Right from personalized dashboards to accessibility permissions, customization ensures that a tool can match a small business’ unique workflow efficiently.
Scalability - As a small business grows, it expects its tools and other resources to scale up. A good scalable tool handles increasing users and tasks without compromising performance. You should search for tools that offer flexible models that allow you to add features as your business scales up.
Data security - No matter the size of an organization, data is vital for everyone. Any tool that you use should prioritize data security with the latest techniques. Some crucial security features include multi-factor authentication, HIPAA or GDPR compliance, backups, encryption, etc. Tools with strong data security protect both business as well as customer information.
Customer support - Responsive and helpful customer support is a must for any tool or software. There should be proper documentation or a guide to help users get familiar with the tool and its features. Businesses rely a lot on customer support when they are new to a tool. Responsive support channels like email, phone, and website chat are a must.
There is heavy competition in the corporate world, and organizations can’t succeed if they do everything manually. Being productive and using resources correctly is a must to gain an edge over competitors.
Let’s read about the advantages that small businesses get through using the right tools and software.
Better Collaboration - Productivity tools help small businesses with efficient teamwork and collaboration. Teams can work on tasks in real-time, communicate seamlessly, share and track files, and make actionable decisions quickly.
Actionable analytics - Most business tools offer data analysis and insightful reports. Organizations can identify trends, track performance, make data-driven decisions, and improve team efficiency.
Saves time and effort - Manually performing repetitive and low-priority tasks wastes time. Tools allow businesses to automate such tasks and streamline their workflows to boost productivity. This reduces errors and saves time as well as effort.
Quick business expansion - Tools allow organizations to add more users, projects, and services. This smooth transition and scalability help with faster business expansion.
Conclusion
Leveraging the right technologies is essential for small businesses looking to boost productivity and spur expansion. The tools we talked about above all offer crucial features that improve productivity, streamline processes, and enable data-driven decision-making for businesses.
Right from pascom for cloud phone systems to ProofHub for project management and collaboration, every tool tackles a crucial field like communication, accounting, marketing, etc.
By using the right software tools for particular requirements, small businesses can save time and money, scale effectively, maintain competitiveness, and set themselves up for long-term success beyond 2025.
Author Bio:
Meet Nandini Sharma, the creative force behind ProofHub’s marketing success! As the company’s marketing manager, she’s passionate about all things SAAS, project management, marketing, and teamwork. When she’s not at work, you’ll find her indulging in her love for arts and crafts or reading up on the latest trends in work management.