5 Business Tasks You Can Accomplish More Accurately and Effectively With the Right Tech Tools

Managing a team is different today. Where once employees sat at desks cluttered with adding machines, typewriters, calendars, and mugs of pens, today these items have disappeared. (Well, there may still be mugs of pens.) Even the concept of a designated desk is waning, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic launched a worldwide experiment in remote work. With a laptop and an internet connection, you and your team can work from almost anywhere. 

But what hasn’t changed, at least in most cases, is the work that needs doing. Customers must still be courted, content created and managed, and numbers crunched. It’s how these tasks get accomplished that will determine your company’s success — or lack thereof. 

Fortunately there are tools that can facilitate nearly any job your business has that needs doing. The right software not only reduces the time you spend on tasks, it can also reduce mistakes. Calculation errors and typos are minimized, and you are freed from the shackles of your sloppy handwriting.

To achieve your business objectives more effectively and efficiently, consider adopting tech solutions for these five tasks: 

1. Content Management

Whatever business you’re in, you almost certainly require clear, comprehensive, and consistent content. Engaging SEO-optimized content can draw customers to your site, and how-to guides and explainer videos can ensure customer success after the sale. With your content needs potentially ranging all the way from social media ad copy to product documentation, consistency can become a challenge. The last thing you want is to be sending current and potential customers mixed messages. 

Implementing a component content management system is a great way to prevent that. Rather than store content as full documents, these systems manage content in a finer-grained way. Each image, video, paragraph, or what have you is stored as a separate component that can be plugged in wherever necessary. Cut-and-paste errors are eliminated, and version control is automatic, as the CCMS becomes your content’s central source. Having a centralized place to store reusable content components is much more effective than emailing multiple versions of documents back and forth.  

2. Communication

Regardless of the size of your business, team building is crucial. While remote or hybrid work is increasingly popular, it can result in a lack of coordination and cohesion. Luckily, new communication tools are available to help keep in-office and remote workers connected as one team. Instant messaging platforms like Slack provide both a quick way to get questions answered and a means of promoting camaraderie. Never underestimate the team-building power of sharing silly dog videos, birthday greetings, and funny memes.

Meanwhile, the remote communication tools that came to prominence during the pandemic continue to evolve. Online meeting platforms can be customized according to your team’s needs, including features such as screen sharing and breakout rooms. Interactive whiteboards can improve collaboration during meetings, and some can turn action items into assigned tasks. Even post-pandemic, companies recognize the benefits of these platforms and continue using them to keep teams together.

3. Project Management

Good leadership involves monitoring the status of work without micromanaging your team members. As a team leader, you are responsible for ensuring project deliverables are ready on time. On the other hand, you don’t want to be the boss who constantly sends reminders and asks for updates. So have software do the job for you.

Project management software helps keep your team on the same page throughout a project’s timeline. You can create a central dashboard with all members on board and then assign tasks to individual members. Team members update the status of the work as they complete it, reducing the need for in-person status report meetings. With real-time updates, you can get and give instant feedback. Project management tools can boost productivity and improve team dynamics with less nagging and more transparency and accountability.  

4. Customer Relationship Management

The ultimate goal of every company is to build long-lasting relationships with its customers. As most businesspeople know, acquiring new customers is more expensive and less profitable than continuing to sell to existing ones. To foster strong customer connections, having notes on customer details is good. Having notes on customer details with live updates, previous history, and automated data flow is even better. That’s what customer relationship software can give you.

Clients need to feel valued. Using CRM software, you can ensure their queries and concerns are addressed and any change in status is updated promptly. Potential customers are tagged, and a dedicated team member can be assigned to close the deal. It’s a win-win situation, in which clients are pleased with the service and the company is pleased with its bottom line. 

5. Accounting

Small business leaders can be tempted to place all their focus on their product or service and leave the bookkeeping for later. That’s a mistake. Cash flow problems are one of the top reasons startups fail, so ignoring the books is not an option. If you are a creative entrepreneur who finds accounting intimidating, online accounting tools can quell your fears.

Accounting software offers myriad capabilities, with income and expense reconciliation being the bare minimum. Added features can allow you to generate financial reports, project expenses, and handle payroll. Some tools go so far as to turn pictures of receipts into cataloged business expenses. Timely identification and prompt correction of downward trends can help save resources — and even the business. Having the right tools in place to monitor financial status can help ensure the well-being of your company. 

Invest in the Best

Just like hiring qualified team members, implementing business tools is also an investment for your company. Study all options available and select those that meet your organization’s needs. There are plenty of tech solutions available for every budget and company size. By streamlining these business tasks, you can relax a little — while still remaining in control.