Are you struggling to get everything done in a day? Are your files in one place, your contacts in another and your invoices all over the place?
Personally I'm always on the lookout for t for apps and software which will save me time and streamline all the essential jobs I have to do. Happily I did a bit of research this weekend and wanted to share with you just a few of the best time-saving apps available for small businesses:
#1 Meetings for Management or HR Consultants
If you have a team of employees and you need to set up meetings, email your team, record accurate Minutes and so forth, I think you'll find the "Meetings App" incredibly useful. It's had some very good reviews and seems to do an awful lot.
Here's what they say about themselves, "Write meeting minutes with ease, setup meeting agendas, manage action items, take attendance, set up reminders and quickly prepare meeting related emails ... Everything is set up so that you can use the app with only basic set of features, or manage every aspect of running a meeting through it. Features get enabled only if you use them, otherwise they stay out of your way."
You can sync all your data with iCloud or DropBox so everything gets stored remotely and securely.
The only obvious downside at the moment is that it's only available for Mac, iPad and iPhone users but most of us have at least one of these so it's fairly inclusive.
The app costs £2.99 from the iTunes store.
URL: www.themeetingsapp.com
#2 Accounting
Do you dread dealing with your accounts? If so, I think you'll find FreeAgent is probably one of the best online accounting apps available at the current time. It's fantastic for small or home-based businesses and has some fabulous reviews.
I read some of the reviews and what people are mostly saying is that FreeAgent saves them a whole lot of time, which is what we want, and it's very user-friendly, which is always a big plus when it comes to accounting. It also integrates with other financial apps and add-ons, such as PayPal, GoCardless, Google Apps, Quote Roller and lots more. You'll need to read up about it on their website.
There is a trial version available so you can test it out and see how you get on before your commit yourself to monthly fees, which range from £15.00 for a sole trader to £25.00 for a limited company. I think that's very reasonable considering the pain and suffering they will save you!
You'll also find FreeAgent on Google+ where they provide you with even more help and assistance with Q&A sessions on Google Hangouts, for example.
#3 Customer Relationship Management
Here's what they say, "Insightly is a great tool to help small businesses deal with the vital task of managing your contacts, organisations, partners, vendors and suppliers."
Insightly integrates with email, Google Apps, Office and Mail Chimp.
It can search to see if a particular contact has social media profiles and will list every one.
Amazingly you can open a free account, which will allow up to 3 users and 2,500 contacts (very generous). Paid accounts range from $29 per month - $99 dollars a month so they cater for the very small to the very large business.
There really is an awful lot it can do so I'd recommend that you click over to their website yourselves and have a look, or have a look at their Google+ profile for up-to-date information.
#4 Surveys
If your business involves having to send out client or product surveys, you might want to try Fluid Surveys. You can create a professional looking survey in just minutes (always a bonus) using their 'drag & drop' editor. I can see from their website that BMW and Coca Cola are listed as some of their clients so that's quite an endorsement.
Users are provided with a good choice of templates, a selection of themes so you can personalise the appearance of your survey. There is also a bank of questions available which you might want to consider. It really is very simple. Results can be read and analysed within minutes; reports are produced using attractive graphs and charts.
Again, there is a free version to use which is slightly limited but will suit a small business very well. At the current time Fluid Surveys are offering a 25% discount on their Pro and Ultra packages for the entire year. As always, click over to their website for full details.
These are just some of the apps which I felt were worth mentioning. I mentioned a few others in a blog post a little while ago, such as Harvest (my personal favourite as a virtual assistant when it comes to really accurate time recording).
I hope you found this post helpful - I'll be sending out a survey shortly!
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