They say there are apps for everything, and there are. Apps have every base covered, from accounting and bookkeeping, payroll, forecasting, budgeting, rostering, cash flow and much more.
But how do you choose apps that are great value for money and gives your business an edge over your competition?
Here are our top ten apps based on our own and our clients’ experiences.
Xero – Accounting sofware solutions
This piece of award-winning software is our go-to package for accounting and bookkeeping functions. Xero is a cloud-based digital solution that allows us to keep track of our clients incomings and outgoings.
Because it is based on the cloud, we can do our bit and our clients can get real-time results, regardless of their, or our location.
Xero also offers the benefits of integration with other software so you can have multiple platforms working together for the benefit of your business. Check out our blog post for an in-depth review.
Asana – Task assignment and progress tracker
This is another great piece of software that we use and recommend to all our clients.
Asana is essential an assignment tracker, which allows team leaders to set up tasks and assign them to team members.
Instead of a hundred emails per day being sent back and forth, team members involved in the project can simply comment and let each other know how far they have progressed and any issues they may have encountered.
It really does cut out needless email chatter. You can read our full review here.
Float – cash flow management
Cash flow is the lifeblood of any business and learning how to manage it is a key ingredient to success.
The Float app is actually quite simple. It works by collating all invoices, bills, payments, and other transactions from Xero, Free Agent of QuickBooks Online.
Float will automatically link to the bank account setup that the accounting software platforms are integrated with.
We’ve got our own in-depth review of Float which you can read here.
Zoho – client management and lead generation
Keeping track of existing clients, following up on lead generation and building relationships is an integral part of any business strategy, and Zoho CRM helps you do just that.
The core of Zoho CRM’s functionality is lead and contact management, but also sales pipeline management and purchase control.
Zoho’s functions are scalable and work seamlessly whether you are a startup, small business or large scale enterprise. The software can automate daily tasks, track sales, engage customers and manage social media posts on different platforms.
It also features a mobile app, which allows you to check on things, execute tasks or seal deals in real time while on the move. Read our blog post to learn more about Zoho.
Futurli – A great forecasting and reporting tool
Futrli is an all in one forecasting and reporting tool for business owners and accountants which allows you to keep your eye on the ball and plan for, you guessed it – the future.
With Futrli, you can create detailed forecasts based on historical business trends over any custom period.
With Futrli, you can upload existing budgets, create forecasts from scratch or use historical business trends to quickly and easily generate projections for up to 10 years. You can combine actual and forecast data to monitor business performance versus budget on live dashboards which can be shared with clients and colleagues. Read our full review here.
Time Doctor – employee time use
If you outsource some of your business tasks to freelancers, the Time Doctor App is a must for your business.
Time Doctor essentially keeps track of the active time a person who has installed it spends on a task. The freelancer just enters a task, click play, pause or stop when they are working for you.
It lets you see where they are spending their time and what tasks they are working on. It also allows you to see unproductive time as well as screenshots of what they are working on while logged in.
Time Doctor also offers a handy feature for your freelancers to collate the hours they have worked over a period of time.
Feedly – Any online content at your fingertips
Feedly is for those who like to be in the know. Keeping tabs on the latest news and business developments in your sector is not an easy task. Besides, you can get distracted from other tasks.
Feedly is an RSS app which allows you to chose the topics an industries sectors you want to read articles about. Business development or renewable energy, perhaps.
The choices are limitless. When you log in, the app will aggregate the articles and show you what it has found. Very handy.
Buffer and Hootsuite – Social media scheduling
These two apps essentially do the same thing and are a handy addition for any small to medium enterprise.
Social media presence is becoming increasingly more important, but who has the time to sit on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all day to post updates about their business?
The basic versions of these apps allow you to schedule posts in advance so you can dedicate time to doing it once a day, rather than four or five times per day. The software is intelligent and will tell you the best time of the day to post, as well as giving you reports on engagement and reach.
Bitly
Long and cumbersome URLs, especially on social media posts where space and characters are at a premium, can make them look unappealing.
Bitly is a small app which allows you to shorten that URL. There are plenty of others similar, such as Tinyurl, Snipurl, and Tinyarrows.
Bitly offers plenty of options and even allows you to customise, rather than using a randomly generated address.
Google – All-round tools for any business
Google does it all. It’s suite of tools includes My Business, Webmaster Tools, Adwords & Keyword Planner, Trends, Docs, Sheets, Slides & Forms, Drive, Alerts, Calendar and Analytics.
This set of tools can help any business grow and Google also offers online training and courses to help you understand what it can do and what you can do to harness its power.
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