5 Platforms and Services to Improve Your Small Business’s Operations
You might be surprised by just how much time and money you can save by incorporating the right software tools into your small business’s operating strategy. Furthermore, by using free online tools, you can land new clients without spending an extra dime. Here are some suggestions on a few digital services and platforms that could be a boon for your business, from LLC formation services to PDF document storage.
Time-Saving Support
As a business owner, you don’t want to get bogged down by time consuming, tedious processes — you’d rather free up more room in your schedule for creative, interesting projects. Therefore, you need to optimize your existing workflows and delegate rote tasks to save time. You can create templates to quickly prepare internal and external communications, organize your digital documents for easy access, and eliminate low-impact meetings from your schedule.
You can also outsource administrative tasks. For instance, if you’re thinking about starting an LLC (limited liability company) for the legal protections and tax benefits but you aren’t sure how to get started, a formation service can quickly (and affordably) register your business. With LLC status, you’ll have to deal with minimal paperwork, and registering with a formation service will help you avoid high lawyer fees.
Digitizing Your Documents as PDFs
These days, we’re surrounded by more paperwork than ever — and that’s especially true for business owners. To avoid stress and clutter, try digitizing your documents by uploading them as PDFs. Working with digital files facilitates better organization and sharing, and will be especially helpful when filing your taxes. Here’s a solution if you’re looking for a handy tool to help you convert your documents to easy-to-use PDFs.
Internal Communications Tool
Do your employees email each other throughout the day to touch base on important developments? Streamline these conversations and centralize the point of contact by onboarding your team to an internal messaging system. Make sure you can integrate the system you choose with other apps that your team already uses.
Customer Service Chatbot
You may not have enough dedicated customer support specialists to attend to every customer comment or request in a timely fashion. A chatbot can help your team handle simple inquiries without personal interactions. Nimble recommends determining your specific customer service needs first, and then picking a chatbot program that specializes in processing and fulfilling those particular requests. By answering your customers’ questions on a faster timeline, you can boost customer satisfaction while allowing your support specialists to dedicate their time to complex issues.
Project Management Software
With project management software, you can ensure that everyone involved with a particular project stays on track with submitting deliverables and communicating important updates. If project communications take place over email, it’s all too easy for certain employees to feel siloed.
How can you select the best project management tool for your company? Nifty recommends looking for a software program that allows you to designate team members with different project roles, implement timelines with clear deadlines, integrate collaboration features, manage a budget, track time, and produce reports with clear analytics. Ensure that the programs you’re considering are designed for the right size team.
As an entrepreneur, choosing the right tools to run your business can dramatically enhance your operations. But with so many software programs available, it can be hard to determine what would benefit you most. With this guide, you’ll be able to gauge the benefits of PDFs, marketing automation software, and other helpful programs.
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