How Your SME Can Incorporate More Digital Tools for Success

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There are countless online tools and apps available to small and medium-sized businesses in 2022, each serving a purpose and providing benefits. Many of these technologies are free while others are cost-effective considering the positive impact they can have on various operations. Therefore, businesses that don’t take advantage of their options are missing out on significant opportunities.

Don’t miss out on opportunities. We have listed some of the most valuable digital tools for SMEs to consider this year:

Money Management   

Money management is hard. While it’s difficult on a personal level, it can even be more challenging to maintain healthy business finances. And most entrepreneurs are not crazy about handling bookkeeping, invoicing, tax filing, and other financial tasks. Using a top-notch cloud accounting system can transform your daily operations and help you maintain a firm financial footing.

The right software will help you keep your income and expenses organized and easily distribute electronic invoices to ensure prompt payment from clients. You’ll also be able to leverage tax deductions by storing and categorizing all of your business receipts.

Business Processes

If your team is not using business process management (BPM) to your advantage, now is the time to start. Learn how automation tools work with BPM, and start streamlining various business operations to free up your team members’ time to work on more meaningful tasks.

You might be amazed by how BPM can improve your processes and workflows. And as long as you create a solid structure, you’ll be able to monitor its impact and identify how to maximize the process and output.

Video Conferencing     

More companies than ever before rely on video conferencing for meetings and events. If you need to conduct online meetings with team members, business partners, and clients, make sure you’re using a platform that all parties can easily use.

Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams are some of the most popular options. Each comes with unique perks, so do your research to find the appropriate platform for your team’s needs.

For example, Zoom is ideal if you have meetings with hundreds of participants, while Google Meet is known for being one of the easiest-to-use video conferencing platforms on the market. On the other hand, Microsoft Teams works with Microsoft Office 365, offering a wide range of comprehensive collaboration features.

Team Chat      

No one needs to tell you how critical communication is to running a business. Ensuring everyone in your SME is well informed and current on company goals must be a top priority. You can avoid miscommunication issues and keep operations running smoothly by investing in a high-quality team chat app.

Tools like Slack allow large teams to communicate via chat from wherever they are. You can engage in individual or group messaging, and you can categorize chats into different teams and departments. The free Slack plan lets you conduct one-on-one video calls while the Pro plan lets you have up to 15 team members on a call.

Slack comes with a beautiful, simple interface and is remarkably easy to use. It also integrates with all the major calendar, project management, and productivity apps out there.

Project Management

Digital to-do lists and calendars can go a long way in helping you stay organized. But in this day and age, these solutions are not enough if you work with a sizable team. Small and medium-sized businesses can benefit from a more complex solution such as a project management app. Tools like Trello and Basecamp can help you stay organized, whether you work with an in-house, remote, or hybrid team.

These platforms help you to organize to-do lists, plan your projects and tasks by the day or week, keep an overview of projects and resources, and set and accomplish goals. You’ll also be able to organize and share files easily while making notes and comments on your team members’ submissions to ensure everyone is working toward the same goals.

Digital Marketing      

Finally, many digital marketing tools on the market can help you promote your products and services while boosting brand recognition. For example, Mailchimp and other email marketing platforms can help you create and manage email campaigns to move your business forward.

Also, social media management apps like Buffer will automate social media posts to engage users during the best times of the day. And Google Analytics, Semrush, and other SEO tools will help you drive more traffic to your website.

Wrapping Up

It’s critical to leverage the technologies available to your team. As you begin to incorporate tools like those above, you’ll quickly notice more efficiency, productivity, and customer engagement. Keep researching other digital improvements you can make to keep your SME competitive and flourishing for years to come.

Article by Dean Burgess

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