4 Types of Software Every Startup Should Take Into Account

An adequate tool can significantly simplify any task. Startup owners often find themselves juggling numerous responsibilities simultaneously, making the selection of appropriate tools and types of software a crucial step in lightening their workload. As a software development company, we recognize the pivotal role of selecting and implementing the right tools and software to enhance productivity and efficiency across all business functions.

Business tools are meticulously designed to achieve several key objectives:

• Increase Productivity: Streamlining workflows and automating repetitive tasks can dramatically boost the output of a startup team, allowing them to focus on strategic initiatives rather than mundane operations.

• Provide Competitive Advantage: Leveraging advanced tools can give startups a competitive edge by enabling faster response times, superior customer service, and innovative product development.

• Reduce Waste of Time: Effective tools minimize time spent on manual processes, thereby optimizing resource allocation and minimizing operational inefficiencies.

• Boost Revenue: By enhancing operational efficiency and customer satisfaction, the right tools can directly contribute to increased sales and revenue generation.

• Increase Transparency: Tools that offer real-time data insights and analytics promote transparency within the organization, facilitating informed decision-making and fostering a culture of accountability.

The choice of tools depends significantly on the specific industry, business model, and even personal preferences of the startup founders. Here, we outline the top four types of software that we believe every startup should carefully consider integrating into their operations

1. Accounting Software

The majority of startups handle their expenses through online payments. So, picking accounting software and integrating it with all these payment services seems simple enough. Still, this is just the tip of the iceberg of all the perks you get from using accounting software.

Billing and Invoicing

Keeping all the invoices is important for legal purposes, tax purposes, and even inventory matters. By using accounting software, this process is made automatic. Most payment services have their own quick invoice templates, saving you a tremendous amount of work. According to a report by PayStream Advisors, 81% of businesses use some form of electronic invoicing.

Tracking Expenses

Keeping track of all your expenses is difficult, even for an individual or a small household. However, this is a huge challenge when it comes to business, especially when multiple parties have access to corporate funds. Fortunately, accounting software can help increase transparency. For example, QuickBooks allows businesses to track expenses in real-time, reducing the chances of errors and fraud.

Tax Compliance

This brings us to the most important reason small businesses use accounting platforms and hire accounting services – tax compliance. Keeping track of local tax regulations can be complex. You’ll deal with more than one tax rate if working across states (or even internationally). Fortunately, accounting software can help clear these things out. A survey by Accounting Today found that 56% of small businesses rely on accounting software to manage their taxes.

2. CRM Software

Customer relationship management is vital for anyone in the retail or service industry. You are responsible for shaping your business around your customers’ needs; to do this, you need to understand them. This task is a lot easier with a CRM platform. Among the various types of software, CRM systems stand out for their ability to enhance customer interactions and streamline business processes.

Inter-departmental Alignment

Usually, customers get in touch with several different departments in your industry. The key thing is that you make an impression of a unified team. Your sales, marketing, and customer service must work together. In fact, with chatbots becoming a bigger and bigger factor in customer support, IT needs to be included as well. Salesforce reports that businesses using CRM software see a 29% increase in sales and a 34% increase in sales productivity.

Data Sharing and Syncing

When reached out to by a customer, you need to have all the data of their previous interactions with your brand on demand. Your customer service needs it to provide adequate support and earn you a PR win. Your sales team needs this data for their post-sale follow-ups, upselling, and cross-selling. Lastly, your marketing needs it to present you in the best light. All of this is easily accessible via a CRM. According to Nucleus Research, CRM applications can deliver a return on investment (ROI) of $8.71 for every dollar spent.

Task Automation

There are a lot of tasks that are repetitive but consume a lot of time. This means hours of labor that you’ll have to pay for, which will take your staff away from more creative tasks. With a good CRM platform, you can automate many of these tasks without compromising the quality of the software development service. For instance, HubSpot’s CRM can automate email campaigns, saving businesses up to 23% of the time spent on repetitive tasks.

3. Document Management System

Keeping track of all your data and compliances is arduous work. Finding the exact thing you’re looking for, even with structured data, can sometimes be tricky. With the right document management system, this problem can become a thing of the past. Among the types of software every startup should consider, document management systems are essential for maintaining order and efficiency.

Reducing Costs

Abandoning paper-based document management and switching entirely to a document management system is incredibly cost-effective. It’s not just the money you save by not buying paper/printing. About 7.5% of all documents are lost, while 3% more get misfiled. While it’s easy to see this as an isolated problem, the truth is that it’s incredibly costly. AIIM reports that businesses implementing document management systems can see a 30-40% reduction in paper usage.

Making New Materials by Combining PDF Files

Making your resources and materials can help you make manuals, facilitate onboarding, and keep all your legal paperwork in one place. For instance, instead of having documents in several different files (even folders), you can combine PDF files to create more comprehensive materials. Adobe Acrobat DC is an excellent tool for combining and managing PDFs.

Enhanced Safety

Retrieving lost files is a lot easier when they’re in a digital format. A good document management system always has a disaster recovery feature, meaning nothing is ever truly lost. The security of these platforms is often ironclad. For instance, M-Files, a popular document management system, offers robust security features, including encryption and access controls.

4. Communication Tools

The main reason remote work and hybrid workplaces are possible in 2023 is the incredible improvement in communication tools. Traditional or remote, without communication tools, a modern workplace would be impossible to imagine. Of all the types of software that facilitate a seamless work environment, communication tools are indispensable.

Sharing Content

The key to collaborating on a project is sharing information and content quickly and effectively. The truth is that sharing content via a collaboration platform or an IM tool now takes less time than downloading it on a USB drive and carrying it across the office floor. In other words, everything is simpler, faster, and more convenient. Microsoft Teams and Slack are prime examples of platforms that facilitate easy content sharing.

Separation of Private and Professional

Another thing you need to understand is that people use social media platforms for both work and social interactions. It’s easy to get distracted by other chats if you communicate with your supervisor via Instagram. However, things tend to be more efficient and professional with a specialized platform like Slack. According to a study by Stanford, using professional communication tools can increase workplace productivity by 20-25%.

Saving on Meeting Time and Travel Expenses

According to some estimates, an average office worker wastes about 31 hours every month on unnecessary meetings. Zoom meetings tend to be a bit more time-efficient. Moreover, a communication tool can save a fortune on travel expenses if you have multiple parties working in multiple locations. A report by Global Workplace Analytics found that businesses can save up to $11,000 per year for every employee who works remotely half of the time.

FAQs

Conclusion

Improving your digital arsenal is the key to improving your corporate efficiency. Since the dawn of time, humans have used tools to save time, gain more functionality, and improve their productivity. Digital tools, on top of all these perks, have an easily measurable ROI. In other words, you get all these incredible benefits and get to see exactly how much you’ve benefited (saved). Remember that picking these tools is not all there is to it; you also need to use them the right way.

Savvycom is a leading software development company dedicated to providing innovative solutions for startups and enterprises. Our expertise spans various industries, ensuring that our clients receive tailored and effective software solutions to meet their unique business needs.