Large corporations themselves are well aware that in the long term, timely automation of internal processes can bring savings of up to 20-40% of the budget. Especially for this, in the financial department, employees are engaged in miscalculations and economic feasibility of such decisions, so that in the end the manager clearly understands the cost of integration, payback periods, as well as the non-economic benefits in the form of more efficient distribution of employee time. Also, such enterprises have resources for the correct integration/acquisition of optimization solutions; they can afford to hire specialists or pay for round-the-clock technical support. Click here If you are eager to know small business automation.
Why is a small business behind?
In turn, medium and small businesses rarely have the necessary tools and resources to purchase or implement automation systems. Also, today entrepreneurs rarely come from a long-term perspective and set most plans and goals for a maximum of one year in advance. In such conditions, it is impossible to evaluate and calculate the real benefits of optimization since it is rather difficult to calculate the same payback for implementing a solution.
Also, in small companies, the head often combines several functions, which means that there is no time to delve into the principles of implementing solutions for automation and staff training. But often the training of employees is not given due attention, not only due to lack of time but also because of budget savings. Ideally, the implementation of the project takes one to two months, after this change, as a rule, take another 4-6 months.
Moreover, automation is often the first experience for small companies, while the internal processes are not formalized and fixated on specific people who personally control everything that happens in the office.
When automation is needed
People need automation tools primarily for repetitive and complex processes. Almost any of the operational, managerial or service processes of small or medium-sized businesses can be automated using specialized solutions. Such processes may include the conclusion of contracts and monitoring of their implementation, making payments, accounting for all actions within the company – be it calls or changes in plans, monitoring the work of employees, document management and others. At the initial stage, you may need minimal functions, such as automatic callback capabilities, customer accounting, or internal operations.
For example, the trend for automation is very pronounced in transport logistics. Fewer companies prefer to use the services of forwarders who perform all operations manually, which means that they are very slow.
With the growing number of free or reduced-cost online services that exist in the market, it is increasingly economical for small businesses to use online tools than to invest in costly enterprise software. You will find a list of the best collaboration tools for small businesses.
Zendesk is creating a platform for service and customer interaction. He organizes work with clients by phone, email, social networks, and other channels. The service helps to improve the support service so that the business grows and expands.
Iterable creates a platform for integrating disparate communication channels into a single system. The service uses artificial intelligence to analyze the digital footprint of each user to choose the best time, channel and frequency of communication for him. The platform takes into account behavioral and demographic information about each client.
Project management
FunctionFox offers tools for tracking projects from concept to implementation. The service reduces the time spent on administrative tasks, freeing up time for creativity and increased productivity. The platform helps keep track of time and to-do lists in one place.
Process Street is a simple and free tool to control repetitive tasks in a team. The app helps you create work tasks, control lists, and track processes.
Report Automation
Expensify has created a system that will simplify the work with expense reports. The application helps to download and receive receipts, and then creates an automatic report. It also allows the finance department to approve and export reports.
PandaDoc keeps track of sales records and helps the company to close deals faster. The service controls the workflow processes using automation and analytics. The platform provides complete document lifecycle management.
FreshBooks makes financial management easy. The design of this platform is as per the needs of small teams. The system monitors the external and internal movement of funds and provides detailed information about accounts.
Creation of sites and applications
Ucraft helps create personalized sites. The service also has an application for creating logos. The peculiarity of the project is that in the free version, you can add your domain name.
Card organizes work with single-page sites and offers dozens of free templates. Most forms, for example, contact, are available only in the paid version.
Shopify offers a platform for creating online stores. The service provides access to hundreds of topics and helps to create a website design completely. The company also has a Shop service that helps set up the store, take into account sales channels, manage products and conduct analytics.
Swiftic offers a wide range of templates for creating mobile applications – for example, loyalty cards, electronic commerce, event organization.
Appy Pie offers a platform for creating mobile web applications. You can add a chatbot, artificial intelligence, virtual reality technology or the Internet of things to the project. Also, you can add in-app purchases, mount databases, and even create a dating app.
The bubble is a powerful visual environment for building web applications. The platform fully customizes the interface without writing code. The project team emphasizes that it can be used by those who do not have programming skills.
Launchaco helps startups create simple websites. The free version has integration with Google Analytics and automatic HTTPS.
Here is the complete list of other software and tools:
1. OfficeMedium
2. Basecamp
3. CubeTree
4. WizeHive
5. SocialText
6. CentralDesktop
7. Onehub
8. PBWorks
9. Zoho Projects
10. Socialcast
Collaboration tools for companies
Call it Web 2.0 or Enterprise 2.0, the truth is that online services are the most natural option for companies with a limited budget. As these applications depend on the network, users can use any computer to access them at work, at home or even during their journeys; This eliminates the need to use expensive software, and long computing time for installation, updates, and patches on the systems.
Taking into account the advantages of these online tools, the collaboration services list is an excellent resource for startups and small businesses that try to save some money while performing their tasks in the most efficient way possible.
The number one on your list is OfficeMedium, a service with various collaboration features included in an elegant design interface. With its live chat, profiles, surveys, and calendars, OfficeMedium is equivalent to a collaborative social network for our company.
Although this service is relatively inexpensive, with costs of only 6 dollars per person and 1 dollar per gigabyte of storage, we can be disappointed by the lack of APIs for mobile applications and development if our Company is always on the move.
Behind OfficeMedium comes Basecamp, a service that we use in ReadWriteWeb daily, and that appeared in our list of 5 organizational applications for startups. Although the two services are more or less comparable in functions, Basecamp appears in second place due to the design of its interface, not very impressive (although it can be customized) and some complaints about functionality. For companies on the move, the Basecamp API has allowed the creation of more than a dozen mobile applications, which could make it option number 1.
Conclusion
These tools will help you kickstart your business success. Behind are CubeTree, WizeHive and SocialText, three powerful online applications that did not reach the top spot for missing some functions, design problems and issues of ease of use.