Your business uses software to function, but we would like you to consider the role that each of your applications fulfills for your business. Do you have the right amount of software for your company’s needs, or do you have a lot of redundant solutions that only complicate your infrastructure and operations? Today, we’ll discuss the different types of software your company might use so you can make educated decisions about applications you might implement for your needs.
Your Mandatory Software
Any piece of software you implement for your organization will need to fulfill a certain need. That said, there are some software solutions that we think all businesses have a need for, including the following:
Accounting
Managing day-to-day finances is important, and accounting software makes it much easier to do so. This software will let you keep your taxes in check, manage your payroll, and manage general accounting needs. Here are some of the features for applications you might expect from accountancy software.
Tax
Nobody likes taxes, but tax software helps you make it as minimally frustrating as possible by helping you track and manage your tax liability. You’ll be able to pay your business taxes on time in accordance with your local, state, and federal laws. Taxes aren’t optional, so you should consider tax software mandatory as well.
Payroll
Your employees are what help your business keep the lights on, so make sure that they get paid on time with payroll software. A system using this will help you ensure that payroll processing occurs efficiently, including direct deposit, tax filings, and other compensation features.
Bookkeeping
Maintaining your records to ensure there are no errors or inconsistencies is critical to keeping your business running. Your bookkeeping solution should have invoicing options, asset amortization, bank reconciliation, and report generation to keep your business in-the-know about how it spends its capital.
Time Tracking
Managing time is also important for companies, as it has become synonymous with managing productivity. Tracking how much time is spent on projects will also help you determine the return on investment, total project costs, and other decisions that might impact your company.
Project Management
You can consider your project management platform to be your all-encompassing tool to help you share files, communicate with other project members, and provide project managers the oversight of tasks and resources required to work toward completion.
Productivity
You’d be hard-pressed to find a business that isn’t using a productivity suite that includes word processing, spreadsheet building, and presentation tools. There are many great cloud-hosted productivity suites these days, too.
CRM
A solid customer relationship management platform will help you interact with your clients and customers in an easy and efficient way. It provides your workers with the knowledge they need about your business’ clientele to continue building and fostering relationships, making it essential to any organization that provides a service.
Security
You cannot forget security, not in today’s online world where threats run rampant. A good security solution will include antivirus software, content filtering, and firewalls to minimize exposure to potential threats and mitigate the damage done by those that do make it through.
Of course, there are many other types of software your business might use, depending on its niche and industry. Here are some of the other options you might consider:
Communications
A business’ communications strategy will only go so far without the tools to actually pull it off. A combination of email, telephone, video conferencing, and online collaboration is the ideal way to approach business communications, and finding the right platform is paramount to success and customer satisfaction.
Marketing
To ensure that your business gets its name in front of potential customers or clientele, marketing is essential. You can take advantage of several tools and resources out there to maximize the reach of your marketing efforts, whether they include social media, email campaigns, or otherwise.
Sales
Similarly, sales teams can use dedicated software to help them track leads, schedule appointments, or keep track of contacts with prospects.
Miscellaneous
This category includes everything else that your business uses, like operating systems, networking systems, Internet browsers, and so on, all of which also need to be maintained and secured to keep your business operational.
Let Us Help You Get the Tools Your Business Needs
Does your business need a hand with procuring the tools you need to succeed? North Central Technologies can help. To learn more, call us today at 978-798-6805.
