Small business owners are busy. You don’t always have time to stay on top of technology trends or keep up with new products and services hitting the market at an ever-rapid pace. With so many tech options available, trying to determine which ones can help give you a competitive edge and deliver great customer experiences can be a headache.
To avoid the mental overload and keep your focus on day-to-day operations, we put together a list of tech must-haves for small businesses, from managing your sales pipeline with CRM to meeting customer expectations with inventory management software.
Streamline the Sales Pipeline with CRM
It can be easy to overlook customer relationship management (CRM) solutions out of concern that they are too expensive and unnecessary. In today’s landscape, however, it is more important than ever to build and nurture strong customer relationships – particularly when word of mouth is how most small businesses generate leads, repeat sales, and referrals. CRM software allows you to expeditiously manage all customer data and history and maintain an up-to-date and reliable sales pipeline.
Protect Your Passwords with a Password Manager
While password hygiene has improved over the last decade, it’s still easy to fall victim to classic “bad habits”, like using the same password across many company account logins. Most small businesses don’t have dedicated IT teams overseeing network security, and although reusing a password may not seem like a big deal, it only takes one duplicated password to compromise your network. Password management platforms can help small businesses generate, monitor, and store passwords securely while offering safe and quick password distribution among key team members.
Simplify Productivity with a Point-of-Sale Payment Processing System
Point-of-sale (POS) systems help deliver seamless transactions, but they also offer additional capabilities like schedule mapping and tracking shopping history to increase sales and grow customer bases.
Protect Profitability with Inventory Management Software
For most businesses, efficiently tracking inventory and managing stocking levels is crucial to meeting customer expectations, preventing costly last-minute delivery fees, and accurate accounting. Inventory management software can track stock levels, automate reordering, and reduce waste, significantly impacting profitability.
Save Time and Retain Employees with HR Workflow Software
Small businesses might not have the luxury of a dedicated HR department, and software can help you combine standard common HR tasks like onboarding, benefits management, payroll, and employee performance monitoring with finance and IT processes to create a holistic solution for your business. Pricing packages are typically modular and customizable, so you can select the features and services that are best tailored to fit HR needs.
Increase Your Internet Connection’s Speed and Scalability
Most important of all, every small business needs a fast and reliable high-speed internet connection. Fiber-based internet is faster and more secure than other internet connections and helps you offer superior customer service and communication. In today’s world, operating a profitable small business requires internet and voice solutions that offer flexibility, scalability, and unwavering reliability. Kinetic Business offers worry-free solutions that address current and future business needs and ensure uninterrupted connectivity.
Key Takeaway:
Selecting the right tech tools for your small business is imperative, and certainly not something that should be neglected when making budgeting decisions. Start this process from the ground up by ensuring your small business operates using a fast and reliable internet solution.
Learn more about how Kinetic Business can support small businesses by providing worry-free business internet and business phone services.