YOUR BUSINESS SPRING 2019 - 163

Software
analytics on potential leads and sales forecasting.
Insightly is a reasonably priced option - its basic
plan has many of the features you'd expect, including
built in business intelligence dashboards.
Both of the above have Android and IOS apps,
but for a more comprehensive experience you can
try Bitrix 24. Well known for its CRM capabilities,
it covers everything from multi-channel marketing
- with the first 5,000 emails free each month -
right through to setting up a free customer contact
centre. This incorporates live chats, telephone
helpdesks, emails and social networks.

Accounting on it

Intuit's QuickBooks Online is the veteran
of accounting software but still ticks all the
boxes. It has a real depth of features and covers
everything from expenses and invoice tracking,
to automating payments. UK customers can also
add the GoCardless feature, which allows you to
take direct debit payments for a 1% transaction
fee, capped at £2. The prices start from £18 per
month, although you get a 50% discount on all
of their packages for the first six months.
If your client base is still small and you're looking
for a slightly cheaper option, the cloud-based
FreshBooks could be a useful option. It's specifically
aimed at those business owners who have minimal
accounting experience, and the fact it's cloud based
means there's no need to worry about backing up.

Peak productivity

Microsoft Office has always been the go-to software
for standard productivity features such as emails
and documents. One area they lagged behind
was the lack of a collaboration tool. The likes of
Asana and Slack have been some of the big players
here, allowing users to work together on files and
projects - via desktop or mobile. But the launch
of Microsoft Teams has changed the game. It
offers the same slick features as its competitors,

with the added bonus of being linked with all the
popular Office apps. Like Slack, there is a free
version covering a maximum of 300 users.
Zoho Projects is another option available
on desktop and mobile, encompassing emails,
documents, spreadsheets and more. It also lets
you create a wiki interface so you can share and
organise your pages - almost like an intranet.

Track and trace

If your business is product based, it's crucial you
keep track of orders and inventory in real time.
It's no longer enough to just do stock counts on
a daily basis - information needs to be accessed
instantly. ECOUNT is a programme that is 100%
cloud based and has a dedicated inventory system.
Not only can you keep track of your stock, but you
can also set safety stock levels and alter prices
and customer discounts on the go. It's reasonably
priced as well, at less than £500 per year.
BizAutomation is a similar product that also
includes CRM functionality and project management
tools. These added features are reflected in its more
expensive price point, but it's highly regarded for
wholesaler, distributors and retail businesses.

Easy browsing

As one of the most used pieces of software in any
business, your browser needs to be fast, intuitive and
safe. Google Chrome is still a reliable choice and best
in class. A major advantage is that one login links
your browser, Gmail and Google Drive, so you can
access everything on one device. The only downside
is that Chrome is resource-hungry and may run
poorly on machines that have limited RAM space.
Meanwhile Opera, despite making up a small
percentage of the browser market, is one of the
cleanest ones out there and has a great user
experience. It doesn't allow as many plug-ins
as its rivals, but if being used predominantly
on your phone, that's actually a good thing.

Relate to your customers

Mike Richardson form Maximizer Software on the importance of a reliable CRM system
It's hard to manage data
effectively using spreadsheets
alone. Without a robust data
platform, you're likely to fall
short of regulatory requirements,
customer expectations and
operational best practice.
This is why SMEs turn
to customer relationship
management, or CRM. Advanced
systems put actionable
business intelligence at your

fingertips, bringing newfound
visibility to marketing and
sales processes, empowering
customer engagement, informing
strategic decision-making and
boosting efficiency in all areas.
Maximizer is pioneering an
all-inclusive CRM platform
that covers the system's full
functionality for companywide deployment across sales,
marketing and service delivery.

The right system should be
intuitive, user-friendly and easily
customisable to fit your needs.
Every CRM implementation has a
learning curve, requiring a certain
degree of training and patience.
That's why your provider is so
important. It needs to support
you during implementation
and over the longer term. Start
small, focusing on operational
benefits, then roll out wider.

163
YOUR BUSINESS SPRING 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of YOUR BUSINESS SPRING 2019
