- Even the smallest companies can benefit from accounting software. While a business owner may think it's simple to keep track of their finances on paper, accounting software allows you to analyze your business in a much more thorough way, from looking at sales trends, forecasting demand for products and keeping inventory levels consistent. Accounting programs like QuickBooks and Peachtree are relatively inexpensive and allow you to integrate expenses, receipts and payroll into one automated system. Other services offer a more robust suite of functions like customer management and inventory control, but can be more expensive to implement. Making a list of your accounting needs will help you choose the right accounting software for your business.
- Using software for emailing and communicating with employees and customers is essential for small businesses. Microsoft Outlook allows users on the same network to not only email one another, but to share calendar information, create tasks and assign them to users in the system and set reminders for project deadlines. In addition to Outlook, Microsoft offers a Communications software that users install on their computers to have instant conversations with one another. For businesses looking to reduce the cost of software applications, there are a number of free email and communication tools available online, however, if you are concerned about security, it's better to use a software that can be maintained on your company's servers.
- Another essential software that small businesses should use to be more productive is an office productivity suite such as Microsoft Office or Open Office. The components to an office productivity suite include a word processing software, presentation building software, spreadsheet software and even database software. These simple tools can allow you to create memos, presentations, proposals, project charts, customer contact databases and more. Additionally, these software programs typically come with templates for the most commonly used business documents.
- As businesses grow, so does the amount of information the company needs to store. Using a software to store your documents and keep accurate records will assist your business not only in holding on to records for legal reasons, but keeping items handy in the event you need to reference them. Various human resources software programs exist, such as Peoplesoft, to manage employee files and records. Additionally, tracking and archiving customer orders and information can be made simpler through software programs such as Mozy, that allows you up to 2GB of online storage for free.
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