Today’s world is, let’s face it, run by software of various kinds. From our personal lives to our work lives, software is a part of everything that we do. As a business, this is even more important. Having access to certain software as a company will help you to run the day-to-day operations smoothly and efficiently, saving you time and money. In today’s article, we are going to cover the 12 essential types of software that you need as a business. Let’s get learning!

As a prelude, we do want to say that what software you need will likely depend on what kind of business you have, so identify your company’s needs and then take a look through this list to decide which items will be best suited for your business.

Project Management Software

To start this off, let’s talk about project management software. What is and how is it beneficial? Project management software is meant to organize your company’s projects, big or small, by breaking them down into tasks and assignments that can be easily managed and passed out while still being able to see the overarching progress of the project. A great example of this type of software is an online Gantt chart maker like GanttPro. That is a project management software that uses Gantt charts (one of the best ways to track projects, according to many professionals) to help everyone keep track of their tasks and their progress.

Accounting Software

Does your company deal with money in any way? If so, then having accounting software is probably a very good idea. Dealing with the finances of your business can be a very complex task, so having software that can track, audit, and interpret all of that data comes in handy. There are a few different ones to roll into this category.

Tax

Tax software can help track the often-complicated tax framework of your company. If you can find accounting software that has this aspect, then you will have found a definite solid accounting software.

Payroll

Another very important thing to have in accounting software is some way to track payroll. Payroll tracking will help to manage employees and their schedules/expenses, keep track of time, and help the company run a little more smoothly by taking that stress off of you as a business owner.

Bookkeeping

Having bookkeeping software as a part of your accounting software will be the bread and butter of running your company. Having a way to track all of your important bookkeeping info at hand will help to make it easier to make big company decisions.

Customer Relationship Management Software

Also called CRM software, this type of software is an incredibly helpful way to analyze and track customer engagement and help drive customer relationships. Essentially, CRM software takes in information about how your customers, current and potential, interact with your company and use that data to find ways to do it better. This is done by looking at the trends in their interactions from how they purchase to what they purchase. If you can get a good handle and understanding of how these interactions work, you can help grow your customer base and gain better relationships with your current customers!

Communication Software

This. Is. HUGE. Communication within your company should be a priority for any business owner, no matter the size or type of the company. Having good communication software can benefit both your employees and your customers. You need to be able to track, transfer, and streamline your communication in every department of your business. The best way to accomplish this is with communication software, which provides various tools for company communication. A quality communication software will have private and group messages, along with chat features, collaboration tools, and access to reports for users. You will also want to find one that helps to streamline the workflow process to help your business run smoothly and be successful.

File Recovery/Backup Software

Just like communication is key to business success, so is the ability to retain your important files and documents. Using file recovery and backup software gives you peace of mind that your files will be safe in the case of unforeseen technical problems. Hardware failure can happen, your business could get infected with malware, or some poor schmuck may accidentally delete a whole section of files. Having a file recovery and backup software will ensure that you can create as many backups as you need, as well as recover lost files in these cases. It will also keep your data securely stored and easy to get to.

Social Media Managing Software

In today’s age of technology and social media, maintaining a social media presence is a great idea for businesses. Having that presence allows your business to interact more fully with customers and gain a bigger audience, not to mention giving a leg up on the competition. Using social media managing software will help take on most of the work that having a steady and engaging social media presence requires. This includes things like tracking keywords and hashtags, following trends to keep up with customer engagement, etc. Sure, you could hire a person to do all of that by hand for you, but when there is the option to have that person work in tandem with this software why not take advantage of that? This will provide a better result and most likely a happier employee.

Website Building Software

Does your company have a website or need a website? Look into website building software! Using website building software will help your business to create a beautiful and professional-looking website, even if you are a complete newbie to website building. This software will help you edit and create a website that will work smoothly and intuitively, look nice to visitors, and bring in more traffic to your business. Unless you have a tech wizard on your staff with plenty of free time, you can use this type of software to help build up your website and set yourself apart from your competition.

Transaction Software

Assuming that your business involves payments, utilizing transaction software will be a great addition to your collection of software. This type of software will help automate your payment transactions, streamline the process of doing so, and help make the billing process super simple. This software will also help keep track of customer payments and let you know if anyone is behind on payments. This comes in especially handy when you offer any subscription-based services. You can also use this software to allow customers to set up auto-payments for their own convenience. However, we will say that the usefulness of this software will depend on how you bill and process payments. For example, if everything you do is customized for each customer then you can’t really automate that since each invoice will be unique. Your business, your choice!

PR Marketing Software

This is a GREAT tool to have in your toolbox of software. PR and marketing are a crucial part of business and using software to help manage all of the aspects of marketing can help streamline the process and minimize your stress. This software will help analyze all of the marketing data, look at trends in marketing for companies like yours, and help formulate the perfect marketing and PR plan to boost your business’s visibility. A good PR Marketing software will also include email marketing software, which will help manage your inbox and handle your email marketing to customers.

Let’s recap what we’ve learned! Your business will probably need most of the software on this list, but keep in mind that some may not benefit your company as much as others. PR, communication, project management, and accounting software will absolutely be necessities, the rest would be great to have on board but can also be done on a non-software scale. We hope you learned some useful tips today, and we’re wishing you the best of luck with your business!