Business owners have always had their work cut out for them in staying ahead of the trends while still managing a successful business and the daily demands of employees and customers. These growing pressures and unique ways of working might even have you researching how much app development costs so you can engineer your own personal tool for success. Fortunately, a number of apps exist to take the edge off these responsibilities, many of which have actually changed the way businesses operate and subsequently manage. If you’re a business owner looking to streamline some of your work or are building a business and looking for support from the start, here are some of the must-have mobile apps that will contribute to your productivity.
Accounting apps
Revenue management is one of the more time-consuming priorities for a business owner and tends to be more manual than it is automated, even in 2021. Accounting, payroll and invoicing apps have been embraced globally for their responsive design and real-time accessibility, taking any ambiguity out of your financial standing. These apps are available across desktop as well as mobile, allowing business owners to conduct business from anywhere in the world and never miss a pay cycle or invoice. The best part about these apps is that they are designed to be used by CEO’s through to administrative assistants, and so the presentation and user experience are incredibly straightforward.
Workflow apps
Workflow is an especially hard concept to nail down for a business owner, as each day tends to take on a new issue with little opportunity for a rigid routine. This is where workflow apps can be hugely helpful for you, but also the professionals who work closely with you and require line of sight over greater projects. There are a number of great workflow apps out there that make task management visual and accountable to each of your employees, with many also having instant chat functions and video conferencing which can be great for collaboration. Setting up tasks and goals at the start of the quarter or month and distributing out these supporting tasks to your team will reduce the need for double handling and reiterating these jobs over email or face to face.
Loyalty programs
Loyalty is a marketing and sales channel that does not get enough credit, as users are known to stick to the brands they are loyal to and continue to give their business to those they are aligned to. The cost of acquiring a new customer and client far outweighs the cost of building a loyalty app that your audience can interact with, so consider how an app could be serving you and your business goals. Hotels, restaurants and retail have really set the precedence in this space, having a direct line of contact to their users which can save on other marketing initiatives that don’t yield the same cut-through.
Inventory management
Whether you are in the goods or service industry, you will likely have an inventory that requires close management to ensure you don’t over or under the order. Instead of managing such a task with a clipboard and spreadsheet, you can actually download a number of apps that will manage this without you having to intervene. Each time you use a product, this will alert the inventory management app and a subsequent product will be added to the reorder list, leaving you with a clear order direction to execute at month’s end. These smart apps can be used for small businesses or global entities, so try a few to find the best one for your unique operational needs.
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We are only as good as the tools and resources available to us, and business owners need to be more confident in utilising these app technologies that have been designed to relieve pressure and manual tasks. Start with these four core areas and try reputable names in each of these areas until you have the perfect system, each of them integrated with one another to create a succinct system.
