25th Jan, 2022
It’s no secret that digital ways of working make life simpler for business owners and employees. Saying goodbye to paper can increase efficiency, save time, and boost productivity, as well as having the added environmental benefits.
Having the right technology to go digital is essential; you need apps that are user-friendly, collaborative, and efficient. They need to complement your existing digital processes or act as the foundation for digital transformation.
Most businesses will use different apps to do different things, all of which help to run their business on a day-to-day basis. It’s therefore important that they work together and share information to avoid your processes becoming siloed.
So, if you’re looking to transform your processes in 2022, here are some of the most popular business apps to help you stay organised, keep everything digital and improve processes across your company. So, let’s dive right into our top 10 apps.
Many businesses are powered by documents. Whether internal or external paperwork, creating, sharing, storing documents is an essential part of the day-to-day running of a business. Your business will therefore need apps that make managing your documents easier.
Microsoft 365 bundles together all of Microsoft’s most popular applications, providing everything you need to create and manage your business documents on a day-to-day basis. Create documents in Word, store them in SharePoint and share them over Teams. Microsoft Word even allows multiple parties to view and edit the same document at once, perfect for joint projects and group work.
One of the best things about Microsoft is how well integrated all the individual applications are. This makes working efficiently a lot easier, allowing you to create processes that work for your employees and business. Businesses can also make use of Power Automate to add simple automation to their workflows.
Dropbox is a popular cloud-based storage system that allows users to store and share documents and files. As it’s based in the Cloud, Dropbox allows you to access these documents from anywhere, as they’re not tied to one device. These days, cloud storage is becoming increasingly popular with businesses; it’s a more flexible way to share and manage documents.
Dropbox also makes sharing documents and folders easier; simply type in the email address or group you’d like to share with and you’re good to go. Like Microsoft, it also integrates well with other applications, allowing you to manage documents between workspaces better.
An electronic signature and document management platform, E-Sign provides all the tools a business needs to e-sign documents and complete transactions. To keep your documents digital, you need a digital signature to match. This eliminates the need for printing and removes unnecessary steps from your document processes.
Use E-Sign to easily create documents and add editable fields for customers to fill in, as well as an e-signature box. Our platform also enables you to add a payment tag to request a payment from clients. To ensure your transactions remain secure, you can even password protect your documents, as well as enable instant ID verification.
For better team management
Managing a digital workload and an increasingly remote team requires the right organisational apps. Project management apps help to keep your team organized and ensure everyone is on the same page, while collaborative platforms promote better communication between individuals and teams.
A project management app for mobile and desktop, Asana is designed to help employees stay organized and connected. It allows users to break down larger projects into tasks and subtasks. The project owner can assign employees to these individual tasks, add a due date/time, as well as provide additional information through comments or by uploading documents.
Once projects have been created, it provides employees with an at-a-glance overview of daily, weekly, or monthly tasks, along with their deadlines. This makes it easier for employees to manage their own workload and also helps project managers to keep track of progress.
Microsoft team is a collaborative platform designed to improve communication between colleagues. Providing one centralised app for multiple types of communication styles, Microsoft allows users to create ‘teams’ for different departments or projects, with options to create a dedicated ‘channel’ where members can post information, links and documents.
Teams also offers an instant chat function complete with gifs, emojis and praise badges to encourage informal discussions and teamwork. You can voice and video call individuals or groups of colleagues for free over the Internet, perfect for virtual meetings and remote discussions. If your business wants to promote remote working, MS Teams should definitely be an app you consider.
Slack is a popular collaborative platform that helps to keep your employees collaborating and communicating. The instant messaging aspect of the platform provides a less formal communication option, allowing colleagues to chat to one another quickly and informally, separately from lengthy email chains. You can set up ‘channels’ where you can message groups of colleagues or direct message individuals.
The informality of slack is definitely part of its appeal. The instant messenger function is easy to use and casual; you can even send emojis to colleagues. Slack also integrates well with other apps, ensuring it complements your other business software and existing processes.
For streamlined customer communications
HubSpot centralises your marketing, sales, and customer interactions into one platform, offering the tools you need to streamline your business communications. HubSpot has three ‘hubs’ for marketing, sales, and customer services. These can be purchased separately or together, with the ability to interact with each other and share information.
Having ‘hubs’ that can work together encourages better collaboration between your departments. It allows businesses to track every stage of the customer journey, from first contact to lead conversion, empowering employees to provide an exceptional customer experience, as well as helping your business attract, convert and retain customers.
Salesforce is a CRM platform designed to help businesses manage marketing, sales, commerce, service and IT team from one centralised place. Having all your business data in one dashboard makes keeping track of your success easier; you can even use Salesforce to generate easy-to-read metrics and reports.
Salesforce also helps you establish efficient processes in each of these departments, whilst promoting a collaborative atmosphere across your business. You can even use the workflow rules and the process creator to add automation to your operations, without the need for coding. With so many features to make managing customer communications easier, Salesforce can be tailored to suit the needs of your business.
For better financial management
QuickBooks is accounting software designed to help small and medium-sized businesses manage their finances better. The software offers various features you need to manage the financial side of your business such as managing payroll, creating/tracking invoices, recording expenses and more.
Part of its appeal is how simple it is to use, even if you have limited experience in accounting/financial management. QuickBooks is a cloud-based software that can be accessed online or via an app, allowing you to track your finances from anywhere, perfect when you’re on the go.
Xero is accounting software that helps businesses better manage their financial transactions. Perfect for small business owners, Xero can be viewed on the go via mobile, allowing an at-a-glance overview of your finances anytime, anywhere.
Xero offers all the tools you need to run the financial side of your business, including tracking and paying bills, claiming/reimbursing expenses, tracking the cost of projects and more. With the ability to manage all your finances in one place, Xero empowers you to take control of your accounting and improve your cash flow.
E-Sign… So Much More than an E-Signature
Our name may be E-Sign, but we’re so much more than just an electronic signature. With a complete digital toolbox at your disposal, you’ll have everything your business needs to manage your documents and business transactions in 2022. Along with our electronic signature, you’ll also have access to:
Allow customers to fill in and e-sign documents on your website, app or via email, collecting all the information you require in an easy and signable format.
With our embedded ID Checker, you can verify the identity of your e-signers to minimise the risk of fraud and ensure your transactions are secure.
Ensure strong, uniformed branding across all your communications and send documents for e-signature in a personalised email
Use E-Sign’s verification tools, anytime, anywhere to ensure your transactions are secure and fully verified.
Integrate E-Sign’s API e-signature software into your website today for a smoother digital experience for you and your customers.
E-Sign is a leading provider of digital transaction management solutions, supplying professional services including Electronic Signatures, Web Forms, ID Checker, Verification Tools, Personalised Emails, API and Payment Processing to businesses of all sizes across the UK.
To find out more about our E-Sign solutions and how they could transform your business, get in touch with us today.
