There used to be a time when the main apps for business were word processing and accounting software, and not much else was available. But, the march of technology and cloud-based applications have opened up a whole new world of business technology tools.
Now, you can find an app for every area of your company, and those that bring all your workflows together into one place and make them accessible anywhere by hosting them in “the cloud.”
By 2019, 9 out of 10 companies will have a part of their business applications or infrastructure in the cloud. (InfoWorld)
Cloud-based applications are becoming the norm because of the flexibility, collaboration, and mobility they offer. Why be locked into having a software on one computer only, when you can access what you need from any device.
Technology Visionaries stays abreast of all the hottest cloud-based business apps, so we can let our clients know which ones are worth using and which aren’t. We offer top-notch cloud computing services in New Jersey which are scalable and very affordable.
Which cloud-based business apps will give you the most value and help you save time and supercharge productivity? We’ve got our top 6 list for you below!
Gain Efficiency, Boost Productivity, and Save time with these 6 Best Cloud Apps for Business
Why is cloud computing so popular? Cloud-based applications are really the future of how companies will do business because they offer so many advantages over the old way of doing things.
The “old way” being that for every employee computer you would need to license your business software and it would have to be downloaded and updated on each one individually. It also could only be accessed from that computer.
The benefits of cloud-based applications are many, and include:
- Accessibility from anywhere
- Reduced IT costs
- Easy to scale up or down
- Business continuity in the event of a natural disaster
- Collaboration between staff and 3rd parties
- Security and automatic updates
No matter what your business size, the following cloud-based applications offer a lot of bang for the buck and can totally revolutionize your business.
Office 365
If you’re still using the Microsoft Office suite of products offline, you’re missing out! Office 365 has all your favorites, like Excel, Word, and PowerPoint, but includes time-saving team collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams, plus the ability to comment and work together right inside the MS Office programs.
And no longer does a crashed computer mean a loss of the documents being worked on. Office 365 includes file storage application, OneDrive, which can autosave your staffs’ work to the cloud as they’re working in any of the Office applications.
Slack
“Can you slack me that?” has become a common phrase around many offices due to the popularity of this instant messaging and file sharing tool. Slack is set up to allow separate “channels” of communication and greatly cut down on all the emailing back and forth that can be inefficient.
You create separate channels and invite the pertinent staff, for example:
- Marketing channel
- Sales channel
- Company-wide Announcements channel
Anyone you’ve enabled can communicate via instant message on that channel, which is much more efficient than all those emails. Files are also easily dragged and dropped to be shared, and you can even set up channels specific to vendors or customers to more easily communicate with them.
Zoom
There are a lot of different video conference software options out there, but we’ve found Zoom to be one of the smoothest. It has excellent video and sound quality and works from computers, tablets, and smartphones. It includes screensharing, chat messaging, video webinars, and more.
Sharing a link with others is smooth and you don’t run into the hassles with people not being able to login that seem to plague other online meeting apps.
Trello
Have trouble keeping everyone on the same page? Do your projects get stuck because no one knows who’s input is due next? Trello is a visual board-based project management application that lets you set up project cards that can be moved along a pre-set path, so you know just what’s going on.
Team members can comment within the project card and even share files within it. Once a task is completed, the card is moved over to the next step (for example from “review” to “ready to print”) and everyone is on the same page. Trello also cuts down on tons of inefficient back and forth emails.
Pipe Drive
Looking for a sales and customer management software that doesn’t have a steep learning curve? We find that some clients find the popular app, Salesforce, a little tough for their sales people to adopt, and for them Pipe Drive offers and easier to use alternative.
The sales pipeline is easily automated so your team knows when a lead needs to be followed up with by receiving alerts. The interface for both desktop and mobile devices is also very user friendly with a graphic-based interface.
QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks is another well-known office favorite that’s been in desktop form for decades and has made the move to the cloud. Mac users will especially appreciate the easy to access interface that eliminates all the past problems of using the desktop version on an Apple iMac.
Sharing files with your accounting team is also made much easier, and no more hours of backing up large accounting files to a flash drive or disk so the boss could take them home to review over the weekend, now your accounting files can be accessed from any computer or mobile device from anywhere with an internet connection.
Find Out How Cloud Computing Can Revolutionize Your Office
Technology Visionaries offers free cloud-computing consultations where you can find out exactly what type of time and cost savings moving to the cloud would mean for your business.
Don’t wait any longer! Schedule your meeting today by calling 732-587-5960 or making a request online.