8 Business Tools To Help The Busy Business Owner

With today’s technology and an abundance of applications, small business owners can run and manage their businesses at the tip of their fingers. From organisation to increase of productivity, these apps can make life a bit easier for entrepreneurs:

1. Slack (www.slack.com)

Dreaming of a world with less emails? Maybe all you need is Slack. This communication app connects you to your team members via direct messaging through different channels (May it be a project, topic, random, etc.). See it as a virtual meeting and collaboration which can then help cut your email count. Slack also allows voice or video call plus screen sharing and file sharing, both of which can be very useful for remote training.

We use it here at Fox & it is a godsend. If it’s an internal message – it goes on slack. A massive help in the sometimes never-ending battle with email. This will significantly improve the speed & effectiveness of your internal communications.

2. Process Street (www.process.st)

Organising and setting up procedures, especially for recurring work, is vital in every business process. Who wouldn’t want an efficient and simple way to train, manage and adapt procedures? Process Street helps with just that. This app helps you to identify and produce recurring checklists and procedures for an efficient workflow. Documents systems that have been installed into a solution such as Process Street will save you time, reduce mistakes and allow you to scale your business. If that’s not enough, it will significantly increase the value of your business.

3. Evernote (www.evernote.com)

If you’re feeling overwhelmed with information and ideas, Evernote can help you organise and de-clutter your life. Collect everything that matters, house them in Evernote, and find what you need, when you need it. There’s a free version which works on two devices or you can try the paid version to have access to it on everything.

4. Xero (www.xero.com)

Those that know us know we love Xero here at Fox Group & encourage all of our clients to use it. A small business owner MUST have an accounting software that can help them track cashflow, productivity and business progress, with a click of a button. Xero is THE best solution in the field. It will change your life. From real-time viewing of cashflow (minus all the paperwork) to creating invoices and organising your inventory, Xero is quite literally Beautiful Accounting Software.

5. TINYpulse (www.tinypulse.com)

Employees are the lifeline of your business. It is important to be aware of how they feel and their needs and expectations. TINYpulse is an employee engagement platform that gives business owners tools to measure and improve company culture. May it be collecting employee feedback through surveys or frequent coaching, it is vital to give importance to your employees’ welfare, make sure to let them know that someone is paying attention and that they are heard.

6. Udemy (www.udemy.com)

For a growing business, learning is as important as the day-to-day management of the business. If you wish to study a course that you want to improve on or train a team member for a specific skill, Udemy offers a variety of high-quality courses on anything you and your employees need to learn. You can enroll at any time and learn at your own pace.

7. Blinkist  (www.blinkist.com)

Always had that book sitting on your shelf that you promised to read but never had the time to pick up, let alone open? Blinkist offers to summarize that weekend read and transform it into a pack you can read or listen to in just 15 minutes. With thousands of non-fiction books, you’ll surely find the perfect read, condensed down to the best parts, that you can learn from.

At Fox Group we subscribe to the theory Readers are leaders. In our view – Blinklist is not designed to replace the reading of a book. What it does do very well is give you an overview of what to expect and allow you to then learn enough about the content to determine if the book is worthy of the investment of your time.

8. Last Pass (www.lastpass.com)

With all these amazing apps, how convenient would it be to house them in one central page where you can automatically log in to your preferred app and have your username and password saved? Last Pass is just the ticket. Avoid the hassle of remembering all your different passwords. Just produce one master password and let Last Pass do the rest.

This app also lets you manage and share your access details to team members without having to disclose your passwords. Last Pass will make your life so much easier, you will wonder what you ever did without it.