If you’ve been running a small business for a while, you’ve probably noticed how day-to-day operations depend on computers. Inventory, cash flow, wages, maintenance: if you once needed an employee for each of those tasks, now, there's software for everything. What’s best: most of them don’t need to cost an arm and leg to deliver a good job.
Stay with us and learn how to make the best use of free or inexpensive resources available.
Going Digital
Writing things down on paper is a dying trend. There’s no need or point anymore in relying on old and probably poorly organized books, leading to countless mistakes. However, if you want to keep your budget tight, you won’t find a one-size-fits-all solution.
Commissioning new software tailored for specific needs can be very expensive. The good news is that you can find several online software that can do the job for you, for free or for very little. Here are some situations where those programs come in handy.
Document Sharing
The old fax machines are now the stuff of museums, but companies still need a reliable way of exchanging official documents. So, the archaic machines gave space to eFax services. Although it’s a virtual service, it still requires a fax number.
Communication
So, you want to send fresh content regularly to all your customers, with the latest news and the best offers. However, you don’t have time to go and manually send those emails. Who does it these days? There are programs for that, too. Some tools even allow users to target customers according to demographics, behavior, and more.
Project Management
Meetings cost time, and everybody knows time is money. Fortunately, nowadays, there are other ways of managing a project. Project management software allows for more efficient task division. Additionally, it’s possible to keep track of deadlines, priorities, comments, among other features.
Accounting
Let the computer do the math for you: accounting, purchases, sales, wages. The more information you feed into a computer, the more it can do for you. It doesn’t matter if you have a knack for math: messing around with numbers can be the end of your business. There are software you can use such as business expense tracker that will help you in managing your business expenses effectively.
Shopping Tips
Not every software will be free, though. Some of them will charge monthly subscriptions, offering multi-layered services. There are a few ways of cutting costs and getting more bang for the buck here. Check a few tips below.
Skip the Checkout
This sort of passive-aggressive move often pays off. When you’re shopping online, add stuff to your cart, but don’t finish the purchase, companies understand you gave up the products. Some companies have systems to try to persuade you to buy something, sending emails with special discounts and other offers.
Find Coupons
Everybody loves free stuff, and online coupons sometimes do just that. Some websites concentrate on discount coupons from different companies and products. Finding the right coupons can help you save about 50% with programs you use daily.
Bring a Friend
The old trick of referring friends and family members in exchange for a discount also works here. If you know more people who need to buy the same program, pull together and negotiate better prices.
Conclusion
The first steps of your business can be determinant for its future. Avoid unnecessary expenses, buying costly software with so many budget options around. There are plenty of websites dedicated to reviewing this kind of software so that you can compare and choose the best ones for your case.
No comments:
Post a Comment