What software do I need for a small business?

When starting up or running a small business we generally try to be as efficient as possible. This is to ensure that we don’t burn our wallet while we are trying to fill it. To meet this goal technology can do wonders and below I wish to share some ideas on how to leverage technology and software for your benefit. If your business is in a start-up phase then read on, as there may be a few gems you can leverage to your benefit. As a preface we won’t be looking at financial or tax software as it varies depending on the region you are operating from.

 

Think Cloud

No, it has nothing to do with weather, and by now most people would be aware of it to some extent. Cloud computing/services indicates that we are managing data or running programs via the internet, and not on our PC. The best way to describe it is instead of having your computer do everything such as storing or managing files, running applications and processing data, we only use the computer to access those files and applications via the internet.

The benefits come from a simple concept called economies of scale. It’s the basis of bulk buying. Individually an item might be expensive, but if you buy in bulk, the individual cost becomes cheaper. The same goes for cloud services, the companies that provide the service do it at such large scale and so the individual cost to you ends up being fraction of the cost if it was to be purchased separately.

An example of how this works. Back in the day, photography software had costed over $1,500 for a once off desktop version. Now a cloud version of it costs $15/month, which equates to around $180 per annum, you also get regular updates, and additional features too, something you didn’t before. If you ran a photography studio, then you would be saving over $1300 in your first year alone.

 

So what do you need?

Before going any further, it is important to note this is our opinion, and in the end we recommend an individual evaluation as to whether the approach is right for you. We are not affiliated with anyone we mention in below sections and therefore get no benefit for mentioning them. We will be focusing on some of the key elements businesses need to be successful.

Domain & Website

A website can provide the first impressions of a business for a person. These days you really need one, even if it is just a simple page with your business’s contact details and logo.

A domain is what your website needs in order for someone to access it. Think of it as the equivalent of postal address for internet. Domain names come in variety of formats e.g. site.com, website.com.nz, digitallyinspired.io, company.biz etc.

A hosting service is what runs your website on that domain. Without it you won’t be able to have a functioning website.

You can either manage each of the above services individually however, for this purpose, I recommend focusing on a provider that offers all 3 services in one package. In our opinion we have had the best experience at a lowest rate with Dreamhost, and we were able to get our website up and running rapidly with an average cost of about $4/month.

You can check them out here.

Approx. annual cost: $ 48 for domain and hosting of the website

Note: A website design can be free if doing yourself, or as expensive as you want it to be, if you have a limited amount of time we recommend you use standard templates to start the design to save on time. Otherwise plenty of simple sites can be done for about $500-1000 depending on what you want it to do.

Office Software Suite

When we say office software suite we mean the ability to create documents, calculations, plans, store files. You can use the free tools on your computer such as Wordpad, but to be honest you won’t get very far with it as the functions available are limited compared to the paid versions.

Microsoft Office has advanced in leaps and bounds, and the latest iteration of the offering Microsoft 365 Business Standard ticks all the boxes at about $17/month. You get all of your office suite, both for desktop and online, as well as a decent amount of storage space on cloud (very important, will cover later). You can also link your domain so your emails go through Microsoft and can be accessed via Outlook online, essentially making Microsoft 365 a one stop shop.

This is important because you can access any and all of your files from a tablet, or phone, or even another computer altogether in a completely different country.

Check it out here.

Approx. annual cost: $ 204

Cloud Storage

Microsoft 365 offers 1 Terabyte of data storage as part of the subscription which can be stored and accessed via the OneDrive application. Let’s assume you average file is 5 megabyte in size , that means you can store about 200,000 files on your cloud drive.

Now being a cloud service, you can access that same data, via variety of devices (mobile, tablet, desktop etc.) from anywhere in the world at anytime, with the previously mentioned services.

All you have to do is save the data on OneDrive (here is a link on how to do this simply for those keen to know).

Approx. annual cost $ 0 (it is part of the existing Office Software Suite cost).

CRM

This type of software focuses on helping you manage customer data and information. At a bare minimum it helps you consolidate their contact information, however it is commonly used to help define customer strategies relevant for your line of business.

Hubspot has been around for a while now, and I have to admit to get the ball rolling it is simple enough, and at the time of writing is free for simple CRM activities such as contact management and planning.

If you interested in checking it out please go here.

Approx. annual cost $ 0

Video Conferencing

Microsoft 365 has Teams already as part of package that does this fairly well, and furthermore should you choose to, you can associate a phone number that people can dial in with instead of the Teams apps. Be mindful that this service varies based on your location, and it may not be available at all locations.

Video conferencing is now a key communication’s medium for many businesses wanting to keep in touch with their existing and even prospective clients no matter their location.

Teams, Zoom and Webex tend to be close industry leading software types available, with Zoom considered number 1 in the market place and Teams close second. Keeping efficient, the recommendation is to run with Teams, for few reasons but the most important one is the integration with rest of the Microsoft office product suite. That is, you can easily share the word file you just put together, via Teams chat or while on Teams video you can present directly.

Approx. annual cost $ 0 (it is part of the existing Office Software Suite cost identified above)

So what do the costs look like?

Using some very simple tech services at a low cost, based on the above we calculated overall annual cost to be approx. $ 250 per annum, assuming you use a template website and tweak it yourself. The other really important thing is that most of the costs is spread across 12 months and not a lump sum payment upfront, which makes it more favorable when starting up.

Important: Why is it crucial use cloud services?

If you choose not to rely on the cloud and lock yourself to a device, lets say a computer in this case, and you have everything on that one location, that device becomes a single point of failure for your business. If there was a natural disaster, or theft, or you just couldn’t reach that device for some reason, you will be extremely limited in operating your business.

This limitation became more evident when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Businesses that weren’t cloud ready; meant they weren’t flexible enough to deal with the changes being forced upon them. Unfortunately, some that couldn’t manage the change quickly enough, disappeared.

However, those businesses who had model supported by cloud services, while still impacted to some degree, were able to rapidly move to remote working, and start exploring other means by which to conduct their business.

Summary

In summary we have identified what key services are available for use to help a business be efficient, resilient, and flexible. We hope the above has provided an insight on how you can tackle some of your challenges, and how simple it can be to be cloud ready. We would like to hear from you and get feedback on the above and your experiences.