Finding The Best Business Applications (and staying up to date!)
Modern businesses are run on software, no matter the scale. If they’re not, they are undoubtably headed that way. Companies can use software to help with nearly every aspect of operating and serving their customers. Accounting? There’s amazing stuff out there. Project management? Yep. Customer service? Of course. I dare you to think of something that a business does and I can all but guarantee there is a software tool out there to help do that better.
In fact, there are so many flavors of business apps out there that it’s not a trivial endeavor to just be aware of what’s available, let alone be up-to-date with the latest and greatest. Once you know what’s out there these various softwares need to be pieced together because your business is unique and will require a one-off mix of software, established processes, and (don’t forget!) good people to execute and deliver on your companies core value proposition.
At Buoy Ventures we help Small and Medium sized businesses solve this problem with our Innovative Business Subscription. We’re also working on scaling this solution to enterprising individuals with our Creator Subscription for YouTubers and other Content Creators (sign up here for more info). Our typical pitch centers around the notion that just a few years ago a typical business needed a dedicated team of 15–30 people to operate. Nowadays, in most instances that same company can operate with a core team of just 3–5 people and be far more effective, nimble, and scalable if they need to meet increased demand. All it takes is putting in place the right tools and workflows so the business can be laser-focused on their true product or service offerings.
What’s key is to not get tied up in the monotony of processing paperwork, putting out fires, or any of the other myriad of tasks many folks find themselves stuck trying to get done every week.
Establishing base-line business processes, documenting them, and making continual improvements using intuitive data is now business critical. In addition to making standard operating procedures work more efficiently, leveraging the power of software enables entirely new things. For example, Having a remote work-force by communicating primarily over the internet. Or, offering a product to customers across the globe or in another timezone using on-demand order processing and delivery.
So, how can you find what tools are best for you? Let’s take for example a tool nearly all businesses use, Excel. I find myself diving deep into Google with queries like, “Excel vs” and seeing what other tools people are talking about and selling. When and how are people using them? What are the big-ticket benefits? What does it integrate with? That can take a ton of time, so there are also some great curated collections of the business apps that are out there. See below for some go-to resources to explore the awesome world of business apps. Over the coming weeks I will be writing additional posts expanding on some of the larger categories of business apps that all businesses need to be aware of; like marketing, accounting, design & development, sales — and more! So, don’t forget to follow this blog and show your appreciation 👏🏼🎉 Thanks!
💬If you’d like to incorporate these types of tools into your business, or just want to discuss the awesome power of technology + business, let’s chat!
