According to research by Money.com.au, there are around 2.66 million businesses in Australia, which is just a smidge under one business for every ten people in the country.
Of them, a whopping 97.2% are defined as ‘small businesses’, as they have between 1 and 19 employees working in them.
As anyone who has ever done so will tell you, it can be incredibly tough to run a small business, and the likelihood of failure is great.
Just under 25% of all ventures fail within the first 12 months of launch, and around 60% will fold within three years. It sure is a competitive landscape out there!
So, how can you give your small business a fighting chance of not only surviving, but firmly establishing itself in the marketplace?
Here are 7 tools that can help you to boost efficiency and ultimately improve your bottom line.
- Install Digital Payment Solutions
To remain sustainable, every business needs to make regular sales. Therefore, it is within your interests to process the ones your customers want to make as securely and efficiently as possible.
If you have a physical storefront, an EFTPOS machine like the Smartpay terminal is essential, because it satisfies your customer’s desire to pay for their purchases quickly and conveniently. It also ensures you, as the vendor, gets your money quickly, which will help to improve your cash flow.
Depending on your industry and the nature of your business, you should integrate other methods into your payment suite, including PayPal, Stripe, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), and even Bitcoin.
- E-commerce Platforms
You might be surprised to learn that despite there being over 2.6 million businesses in Australia, only around 97,000 of them actively sell their products through an e-commerce store.
Given how many great platforms are out there, including BigCommerce, Shopify, and WooCommerce, this is a missed opportunity for many small ventures.
These platforms enable you to run professional and user-friendly stores in a much cheaper way than opening up another physical location.
Additionally, selling products online not only provides you with another sales channel but also enables you to target a wider audience than you otherwise would be able to.
- Project Management Tools
When you run a small business, there are always a million and one things to do, which is why it is very important to be organised. Thankfully, project management software, such as Trello, Zoho, and Monday, provides you with the capability of juggling several different tasks at a time.
These tools can be configured to automatically send you reminders of forthcoming events and tasks, which can keep all team members updated on what tasks need to be performed and by whom.
This, in turn, creates more transparent workflows and makes it easier to track how well a project is progressing.
- Communication Software
Any business with multiple employees needs to be able to communicate well, particularly if they work remotely. That is why they need to embrace the different technologies that enable better collaboration between your team.
Microsoft Teams is an excellent platform to connect co-workers, as it offers screen and data sharing functionality and video conversations in real time.
Between them, other tools like Skype, Whatsapp, and Zoom allow for the exchanging of instant messages, files, videos, web links, and video conferencing.
- AI-Driven Customer Service
Providing good customer service is imperative for any company, but it is something small businesses can excel at thanks to AI-driven tools like Zendesk, Freshdesk, and Intercom.
These tools can help you to provide your customers with 24/7 support through chatbots and virtual assistants.
They can also help you to answer questions that buyers frequently ask, manage enquiries, and even make recommendations to shoppers based on what pages of your website they have looked at before.
- CRM Systems
One of the traps many small businesses fall into is that they focus too much on acquiring new customers and do not tap into the potential for repeat sales from those who have previously bought from them.
CRM Tools like Salesforce, Zoho, and Hubspot provide you with an excellent way of doing this thanks to their built-in AI capabilities, which enable them to analyse how a customer has interacted with your business over a specific period of time.
In doing this, they can help you to better manage enquiries and leads and personalise sales promotions and recommendations to them.
- Data Analytics
Every small business has a wealth of data at its disposal, which can help owners to make savvier and more strategic designs to improve their overall efficiency.
Unfortunately, many owners do not understand or use the data as effectively as they can because they are not using applications like Google Analytics 4, Tableau, or Looker.
These tools can help you spot trends more easily in things like customer actions, sales, and your company’s overall efficiency.
More importantly, they can also help you to identify areas and devise plans to improve your customer’s experiences, boost the results of your marketing campaigns, and even save money.
With over a decade in the tech field, Bogdan blends technical expertise with insights on business innovation in technology.
A regular contributor to TMS Outsource's blog, where you'll find sharp analyses on software development, tech business strategies, and global tech dynamics.
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