Five Simple IT Tools That Will Save Your Business Time and Money

Five Simple IT Tools That Will Save Your Business Time and Money

By Kelly Martin, The Eisen Agency

As a business owner, you juggle many tasks. You have to be in “marketing mode” when creating a new, innovative campaign. You wear a financial hat when organizing expenses. And, you probably don a different hat when holding meetings and discussing ideas with employees.  No matter your focus, smart business technologies can streamline these processes -- and they’ll save you an incredible amount of time and money. You need simple, effective productivity tools to do just that.

Yes, there are many different types of platforms you can use. You can search for hours online to find the “perfect tool.” But, there are different systems for different needs. And, at marketing and public relations consultancy The Eisen Agency, we understand what it takes for a small business to succeed within different areas—marketing, finances, etc. That’s why we’ll list some of the top ones we love the most – and, most importantly, the ones we know every small business owner needs in order to stay competitive. Here are five simple and effective IT tools that will save you time, money, and countless headaches.

SmartSheet: Track your projects all in one place.

We absolutely recommend you organize projects within one system, and that’s where SmartSheet comes into play. It’s easy enough to assign tasks – but how far along are they? Who is working on what? Where is the latest file that needs to be reviewed? SmartSheet allows you to track the progress of every project and know who is working on what. It holds people accountable, increases visibility, and keeps everyone on the same page. You know who is able to take on certain tasks.

And, there are so many other things you can do here that would normally require IT assistance. You can automate repetitive actions by creating automated approval requests, create a centralized portal with your team’s information, and use other productivity suites seamlessly (Google G-Suite, Box, and others). SmartSheet is a no-brainer when it comes to keeping tabs on how you’re managing your resources.

Itemize: Manage your expenses easily.

This area is a huge opportunity to spend less time on administrative tasks and focus more on running your business. Many businesses still manually track expenses and use stacks of paper to do it. Itemize eliminates this manually entry and instead takes a digital approach. Why does this matter? Eliminating paper reduces clutter, eliminates waste, and perhaps most importantly, can save you about five hours each week. Time adds up quickly. We’re now talking about 20 hours each month, and over 250 per year!

We also really like that they have industry-specific solutions for all business sizes. Whether you’re in the legal or real estate industry, for example, there’s a way they can tailor it to your specific needs. If you have certain regulations to follow within your field, Itemize can make sure they’re followed, too. This tool is all about working with you instead of against you, and that’s what makes this tool so irresistible.

SharpSpring: Automate your marketing.

This is not only a marketing tool that’s with great value, but it’s also one loaded with features. Let’s face it: It’s easy to go overboard when searching for this kind of tool. You could be paying for things you don’t need just because “it looks nice.” But, quite frankly, you just need something that does its job and does it well. You will be surprised at how many powerful options exist that won’t break the bank.

SharpSpring is one of the best options here. It provides a full-featured platform at a very reasonable cost. It has behavior-based e-mail, reporting, analytics, and so much more. It’s also simple to use and will work with your current CMS, CRM or form. No need to migrate off of your platforms. It just works. Not only that, but it doesn’t lock you into any long-term contract. It’s all month-to-month billing. You should always be in control with any tool, and you get complete flexibility here.

Slack: Communicate seamlessly.

Establishing clear communication protocols is often overlooked within businesses. Once you use Slack, though, you’ll wonder why you haven’t done it sooner. Slack is a collaboration hub where you can have conversations, store and access information, and make important decisions. But it’s not like other instant messaging services. It allows you to organize conversations by channels. Think of them as labels, identifying the topic of conversation in that channel.

This means you can have separate channels for different projects, teams, or ideas – whatever makes sense for you. Conversations are organized and the tone is set. You can also privately message coworkers or hold group chats with select people. Slack also allows you to store files in channels. Think of any handy documents that a certain team may need at any given time. You can also set reminders in Slack – a newer feature – that makes sure you stay on task.

Agora Pulse: Simplify your social media management.

You know you must update your social media channels – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to name a few – but how do you do that without spending hours on end each day? Enter Agora Pulse, a popular alternative to Hootsuite. Essentially, this platform moves away from multiple columns as a means to manage social media conversations. It instead has a social media inbox to house every conversation – one per social profile. It works a lot like e-mail.

You don’t have to go to multiple places to view different messages, but at the same time, it doesn’t overload you with each profile in one place. And it has filters for sorting through what’s most relevant to you. It’s just a cleaner, simplified interface compared to other similar options. You don’t have time to toggle between different places to answer the simple question: ‘where are the important conversations I need to know about?’ It also has super flexible scheduling options.

If you’re on board with working more efficiently, give these five tools a try. In the end, you’ll be able to focus on what matters most to you and your business: serving your clients.