Best apps for small businesses in 2020

Apps have become a staple of modern living. With the ever-expanding range of suppliers and functionality, it’s now easier than ever to find the tool that could transform the way you do business. Whether you’re looking for innovation, ways to speed up your efficiency or a solution to your productivity woes, we’ve pulled together our favourite apps for small businesses this year. Find your perfect match below.

Sage — keep your accounts tidy and organised

Do you find it tricky to stay on top of your accounts? Or are you playing mental gymnastics trying to coordinate a host of mega spreadsheets?

Let Sage come to the rescue. A cloud-based accounting system, it gives a real-time overview of your business’ finances with automated billing and invoicing. With a clearer idea of where your money’s going, you can make it go further. You can tailor your reporting and scorecards, as well as tracking key metrics, to stay ahead of the curve on your financial targets. Sync your information anywhere and everywhere with both mobile apps and desktop software, and keep on top of your accounting, whether you’re on the move or at your desk.

Try it out. Your spreadsheet will thank you.

Evernote — take back control of your to-do list

If checking off items on a to-do list is your secret thrill, Evernote is your new best friend. Seamlessly integrating across all your devices, this app allows you to track all your notes, ideas, lists and reminders in one place, to ensure you never miss a trick.

With offline capabilities and in-built functionality to manage projects, deadlines, clients and meetings wirelessly with your team, it provides a one-stop-shop for productivity. And, best of all, with its comprehensive scanning capabilities, you can search for keywords hidden in PDFs and documents, so you can easily find what you need when you need it most. If only finding your keys was that easy…

Slack — for seamless workplace communication

A star returns from last year’s article, as Slack arrives to reclaim its place as the best workplace communication app. A must-have for those looking to simplify their inbox and manage collaborations with their teams effectively, it allows you to sort ongoing projects into a series of dedicated channels, which can then be accessed by relevant team members. You can then put all relevant project information within the dedicated channel, and share files quickly and easily to everyone on the team.

Other nifty features include the ability to conduct voice or video calls and connect tools such as Google Drive and Dropbox. There are also options for enhanced security and encryption to keep all your data secure.

SagePay — for all your payment needs

Want an all-in-one solution to manage both your online and offline payments? Try SagePay. Developed by the geniuses at Sage from our accounting section, it combines all the best features of other solutions together to bring all your payment tools into one place.

Need portable card machines? No problem. Customisable payment pages? Sure thing. Real-time analytics on your cashflow? Absolutely. SagePay has you covered in all aspects, so you can spend less time counting cash and juggling invoices, and more time managing your business.

HubSpot — stay on top of your sales leads

When you’re running a business, staying on top of those sales leads is absolutely critical to keep the money rolling in. But you also have to focus on customer retention too — and having a good CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system can make all the difference.

Fortunately, HubSpot has you covered. A detailed inbound marketing platform, it offers a range of tools to ensure your marketing, sales and customer service are operating at peak performance. With features such as email automation and tracking, meeting scheduling, ticketing system, knowledge base and detailed analytics tools, you can manage every aspect of your CRM from one central hub. And, if you don’t need all the extra bells and whistles, there’s even a free option available to give you full visibility over your sales pipeline in real-time.

G Suite — manage your documents and data in the cloud

Another returning mention from our previous article, it’s everyone’s favourite cloud-based documentation centre — G Suite. Consisting of a range of tools, including Gmail, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides and Google Drive, it’s a great all-in-one platform for managing your documents.

While G Suite still lacks some of the functionality that competitor, Microsoft Office, brings to the table, being cloud-based gives it other advantages. You and your team can work on the same document at the same time, reducing the risk of multiple versions flying about. Sharing documents in real-time allows your team to collaborate effortlessly. And with changes saved automatically, there’s no more lost work!

Best of all, its intuitive interface makes it a breeze to switch over if you’re used to using the Microsoft Office package. The only thing you might want to purchase is extra drive space if you’re going to be storing all your data there, as the free limit might not be enough for larger operations.

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