Tuesday, May 1, 2012

How important is software to small businesses?

By Jill O Alsop


For a business to grow these days they need to be able to make the absolute most out of what they have. One way of doing this is using software that enables staff to work more efficiently, or software that can automatically do things that would be very time-consuming if a human were to do them. How important is software to small businesses? It can be the difference between growth and going out of business.

Take a piece of software like Clear Books for example. This piece of accountancy software can take care of many of the tasks that otherwise eat up the valuable time of your employees. This includes sending out automatic, professional-looking invoices (and sending late payment reminders when clients don't pay). It does a lot more besides, and the minimal monthly fee will save man-hours that cost much, much more than this.

If you're looking for a way for staff to collaborate online and in real-time then Google Apps for Business is a great solution. As well as collaboration, the software contained in Google Apps for Business includes online, sharable calendars so staff will know when colleagues are scheduled for meetings and be able to organise their time more effectively.

The most famous of software packages is probably Microsoft Offices - many small businesses would claim they couldn't do without it. Microsoft Word is the world's most popular word processor while Powerpoint is a great way of developing presentations. Excel, a spreadsheet application, rounds off the most integral parts of Microsoft Office.

It is very likely that there is software that will be really important to helping your business grow. But any small business owner knows that every cost needs to be justified. Take advantage of the free trial offers that many developers offer and find out if the software you think will be useful is actually making a difference to your bottom line.




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