Free Online Tools for Your Business
1. Groove
If you are running a business alone, or with minimal help, you are handling everything yourself – including customer service. Groove is very useful as a desktop organizing software because it gives you instant access to all of your customer service tickets. Since pleasing customers is such a vital aspect of e-commerce, especially for new companies, Groove can help you take a step forward in this avenue.
2. Hootsuite
Being active on social media is so important if you wish to get the word out there about your company, products, or services. And with so many social media network accounts to manage, a program such as Hootsuite is ideal for having all of those accounts managed from one place. Not only is it easy to schedule and stack up against your future posts, but Hootsuite is also ideal for managing the notifications from each social network where you have a company account.
3. Slack
When you are growing your business, you will be partnering with other individuals. Some may have a position at your company while others may be temporary contractors or freelancers. In all of these instances, you will need a method of communicating with people who are not in the same area. Slack is one of the easiest ways to achieve this goal. Slack offers fantastic team chat solutions, along with other tools that help with productivity and communication.
4. Dropbox
When you are coming up with new ideas for the company, sending work to contractors or freelancers, moving files around for printing or other purposes, and attempting to save copies of important documents online, Dropbox provides a fantastic solution. It is completely free, available on all desktop and mobile platforms, and is very easy to configure.
5. Due
If you are searching for a billing and payment solution, Due is a terrific option. It is an end-to-end solution that is 100 percent free and extremely reliable. The features Due offers include time tracking, project overviews, invoicing templates, PayPal links, eCash transaction support, and more. There is no reason to spend a ton of your valuable business finances on productivity and other online tools when there are so many great free options. While you may transition to paid options in the future, starting with free software is a great way to get your startup going on a budget.