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The Best Apps Your Small Business Does Not Know It Needs

Today’s business world is inundated with technology solutions. From hardware to software to mobile devices, it is easy to grow overwhelmed with how much is available to you and to your small business. However, it is still important that your small business take advantage of this technology and utilize it in the context of several everyday business dealings. We have reviewed a few apps that we believe will help your small business in its organization, budgeting, growth and employer/employee relations.

 

Google Drive

To put it kindly: if your business does not utilize all that Google has to offer in terms of its apps, jump on the bandwagon ASAP. Besides, it is free with your Google account. Google Drive allows you to store any documents created via Google Docs, Sheets and/or Slides — and grants access to all files saved to anyone whom the Drive folder is shared with. Sheets can be utilized for budgets, expenses, employee benefits (if applicable) and any other numerous reasons to need a spreadsheet within the confines of your small business. Docs are essential to any group collaboration — as multiple team members can add to a meeting agenda or project notes. Slides is just as it sounds: a place to store and create your presentation. Additionally, you can store images in a Drive folder, and start any Sheet, Doc, or set of Slides from within a Drive folder. All you have to do to start a new file is right-click. And, Drive comes equipped with 5GB of free storage. 

 

Google Hangouts

Hangouts is also free with your Google account. It provides both text and video chat, and it is far easier to use than a software-based platform for inter-office communication — which you would need to download. Google Hangouts works for larger companies, but it can definitely be utilized in a small business setting. If you are at your work location and you have an employee working from home, it is easy to set up a video hangout or a chat.

 

Mint

While Google Sheets is a great platform for creating budgets, Mint comes equipped with numerous features that are budget-specific. It can be personalized for your needs, is easy to set up and syncs across devices. It also monitors your spending, keeps track of bills and credit cards and deals with your investments for you. You can sign up for Mint free of charge.

 

FileApp

According to its listing in the Apple AppStore, FileApp “is a file and documents manager for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch,” “reads many file types such as PDF, Microsoft Office documents and plays multimedia contents” and “will let you store files and folders on your iOS device just like Windows Explorer or the Finder on the Mac.” While Google Drive allows you to save files in a cloud- based platform, FileApp can serve as a supplement to Google Drive as a result of its additional features — including its capability to read HTML files, open email attachments and edit photos with “filters and enhancements.” It is also a free download on the AppStore.

 

Square

For retailers, Square is nearly essential — considering that according to a 2014 poll from CNBC, one in ten Americans no longer carry paper money. Square users are required to attach a small card reader attachment to a phone or a tablet, turning the mobile device into a register for credit and debit cards. And while Square keeps 2.75 percent of each payment taken via swipe and 3.5 percent of each payment taken manually, it is free to download, and the upfront fee for the card reader comes in at $49.

 

MailChimp

MailChimp is not a mobile app, but is a user-friendly online platform for email marketing. It is free to send up to 12,000 emails per month to under 2,000 subscribers. You can drag and drop and edit photos inside MailChimp, link to outside websites, create HTML-based email templates or stick to simple plain text and re-arrange premade templates. Additionally, MailChimp releases additional features to you the more that you use it, and provides statistics including open rates, how many people unsubscribed from your mailing list and how many clicks to your website came as a result of the email.

 

Online Payroll for Employers

 

Created by Intuit – the same company behind Mint (as Mint does not support payroll accounts) — Online Payroll for Employers is free to download on the AppStore. While a small business may not consist of a large staff of employees, keeping track of payroll is still imperative, and this app does just that. While these apps provide many great small business solutions, there are even more apps out on the market meant to meet your needs. Small businesses — while “small” is part of the name — are large undertakings, and you need to utilize all of the resources available to you.