34 Best Digital Tools for Small Business Owners

When running a small business, every penny counts, and every second matters. 

So, how can you get more time to make more money?

The secret lies in leveraging technology to automate and streamline your business processes.

Fortunately, you’re running your business in the digital age, and plenty of software solutions are out there to help you skyrocket productivity, simplify operations, and supercharge growth.

Types of Digital Tools for Small Business Owners

  1. Communication and collaboration tools enable team members to collaborate efficiently, regardless of location. They typically include features for direct messaging, group chats, video conferencing, and file sharing.
  2. Accounting and financial management tools help businesses manage their financial operations, including invoicing, expense tracking, payroll, tax calculations, etc. They can automate routine tasks, reducing the risk of errors and saving valuable time.
  3. Project management tools manage projects by tracking tasks, deadlines, and milestones. They can also facilitate collaboration among team members.
  4. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools help businesses manage their relationships with current and potential customers. They centralize customer data and streamline sales, marketing, and customer service processes.
  5. Marketing tools assist small business owners in promoting their products or services, attracting customers, and building their brands. You can use them for various marketing activities, such as email marketing, social media management, content creation, and search engine optimization.
  6. E-commerce platforms provide the tools to create an online store, manage inventory, handle payments, and ship online orders for businesses selling products or services.
  7. Learning and development tools provide educational resources to help team members acquire new skills and knowledge. 
  8. HR and payroll tools streamline various HR processes, including recruitment, onboarding, employee record-keeping, and payroll processing.
  9. Productivity tools help individuals and teams to work more efficiently. They can include time-tracking tools, note-taking apps, task lists, and calendar apps.

Google Workspace (G Suite)

Google Workspace is an all-encompassing suite of productivity apps providing businesses with professional email, shared calendars, online document editing and storage, and video meetings. It unifies the workspace, and its seamless integration capabilities facilitate smooth collaboration and organization.

Key Features:

  • With Google Workspace, you get a custom email for your domain, adding a professional touch to your communication. Plus, it includes Gmail’s robust spam protection and management features.
  • Meet face-to-face with your team, clients, or customers, no matter where they use Google Meet. It’s an effective way to conduct team meetings, client presentations, or webinars.
  • Google Chat allows secure direct messages and team chats, improving the speed of communication and fostering teamwork.
  • Google Calendar is shareable and lets you see your team’s availability at a glance. It can also send reminders and alerts, ensuring no important task or meeting falls through the cracks.
  • Google Drive offers secure cloud storage for your files, from documents to photos and videos. Collaborators can access shared files anytime, anywhere, promoting productivity and collaboration.

Wave

  • Type: Accounting software
  • Website: https://www.waveapps.com/
  • Pricing: Free for basic features; payment processing and payroll services vary by country

Wave is an all-in-one accounting solution perfect for freelancers, consultants, and small business owners. It offers features like income and expense tracking, invoicing, and receipt scanning in a user-friendly interface.

Key Features:

  • Create and send professional invoices, track income and expenses, and generate accounting reports for free.
  • Scan your business receipts directly into the software, simplifying expense tracking.
  • Easy-to-use payroll services, including direct deposit and employee self-service.
  • Accept credit cards and bank payments for your invoices.
  • Generate balance sheets, sales tax reports, and account receivables/payables reports to understand your business’s financial health.

Slack

  • Type: Communication and collaboration
  • Website: https://slack.com
  • Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $7.25/user/month

Slack is a comprehensive communication tool designed to organize your team’s work in one place. It offers real-time team messaging software, archiving, and search functionalities and integrates with tools like Google Drive and Trello.

Key Features:

  • You can create channels for every project, team, or topic. These channels ensure that all related discussions are neatly organized and easily accessible.
  • Slack integrates with over 2,000 apps, from Google Workspace to Dropbox, Zoom, and Asana. This integration makes it a convenient one-stop platform for many business tasks.
  • Direct built-in calls can be made within Slack, reducing the need for external conferencing tools. A bonus is the ability to share your screen during these calls, enhancing collaboration.
  • Files, documents, and links can be shared directly in the conversations and are searchable, making it easy to find and refer back to when needed.
  • Automate routine actions and communications and design custom workflows to suit your needs – all without leaving Slack.

Todoist

  • Type: Project management software
  • Website: https://todoist.com/
  • Pricing: Free for basic use; paid plans start at $4/month

Todoist is a robust and intuitive task and project management software app that helps teams and individuals stay organized and manage tasks effectively. It’s perfect for tracking daily tasks, managing big projects, or planning personal activities.

Key Features:

  • Easily add, view, and organize your tasks and projects.
  • Prioritize tasks with color-coded priority levels.
  • Share projects, assign tasks, and collaborate with your team in real-time.
  • Get reminded about deadlines with notifications or emails.
  • Works seamlessly with tools like Google Calendar, Dropbox, and Amazon Alexa.

Toggl Track

  • Type: Project management tools
  • Website: https://toggl.com/track/
  • Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $9/user/month

Toggl Track is a user-friendly time-tracking business tool packed with features to help small businesses manage their time efficiently. With one-click timers and timesheet editing, it offers cross-device time tracking.

Key Features:

  • Toggl Track allows you to track time on your desktop, browser, or phone, making it easier to log hours no matter where you work.
  • Detailed reports can be easily generated, giving you insights into how time is spent across tasks, clients, and team members. These insights can aid in improving productivity and efficiency.
  • You can assign tasks, projects, and clients to specific time entries, allowing easy project and team management.
  • The Timeline records all your activities to give you an accurate account of your workday. It can be integrated with your calendar for even better scheduling and planning.
  • Toggl Track provides visual reports to help analyze productivity patterns, enabling more informed decision-making for task allocation and project scheduling.

Doodle

  • Type: Productivity
  • Website: https://doodle.com/
  • Pricing: Free for basic use; paid plans start at $7.50/month

Doodle simplifies the process of scheduling meetings, events, or appointments by eliminating the back-and-forth email chain. You propose times, invite participants to indicate their availability, then pick the best time for everyone.

Key Features:

  • Create a poll for potential meeting times that attendees can vote on.
  • Syncs with your calendar to automatically add events and avoid double bookings.
  • The “1:1” feature automatically finds the best meeting times for two participants.
  • Keep your meetings confidential and hidden from search engines.
  • Schedule meetings on the go with the mobile app for iOS and Android.

Canva

  • Type: Marketing
  • Website: https://www.canva.com/
  • Pricing: Free plan available; Pro plans start at $12.99/user/month

Canva is a robust graphic design tool used to create stunning designs without the need for advanced design skills. It offers thousands of customizable templates for any design needs, including social media posts, presentations, flyers, and more.

Key Features:

  • Canva’s drag-and-drop interface makes it user-friendly, allowing anyone to become a designer. It has many built-in design elements like fonts, images, and filters.
  • Canva provides pre-designed templates for nearly every purpose, from social media posts to business cards, infographics, and presentations.
  • Canvas Pro plan allows you to save your brand’s logos, colors, and fonts, ensuring brand consistency across your designs.
  • Publish social media posts directly from Canva, eliminating the need for a separate social media management tool.
  • Collaborate with team members in real-time, get their feedback, make edits, and work together seamlessly.

Evernote

  • Type: Productivity
  • Website: https://evernote.com/
  • Pricing: Free plan available; Personal plan costs $14.99/month

Evernote is an app designed for note-taking, organizing, and task management. It allows you to capture ideas as quickly as they come in the form of text notes, photos, audio, or web clippings.

Key Features:

  • Evernote lets you take notes in multiple forms – text, images, audio, web clippings, PDFs, and more.
  • Your notes are automatically synced across all your devices so that you can access your ideas anytime, anywhere.
  • Even handwritten notes are searchable in Evernote, ensuring no idea gets lost.
  • Use Evernote’s extensive library of templates for efficient note-taking, ranging from meeting notes and project overviews to habit trackers.
  • With Evernote, you can digitize and organize your paper documents.

Clean Email

Clean Email is an email management designed to organize your inbox and protect your email privacy. It simplifies email management by grouping similar emails and allowing you to apply actions to entire groups.

Key Features:

  • Unsubscribe from unwanted emails in one click.
  • Automatically categorize and manage your emails based on various parameters.
  • Clean email does not access, store, or analyze the content of your emails.
  • Set up automatic actions for incoming emails.
  • Manage all your email accounts from one place.

Asana

  • Type: Project management tools
  • Website: https://asana.com/
  • Pricing: Free plan available; Premium plans start at $10.99/user/month

Asana is a project and task management tool that helps teams organize, track, and manage their work. It’s designed to improve team collaboration and work management, offering views that suit any working style.

Key Features:

  • Assign tasks to team members, set deadlines, and monitor progress directly within Asana.
  • Visualize your tasks in a way that suits you – list view for simplicity, board view for workflow visualization, or calendar view for time management.
  • Asana integrates with many tools like Slack, Google Workspace, and Microsoft Teams, bringing your work together in one place.
  • Use Asana’s automation features to eliminate routine tasks and reduce the chances of errors.
  • Track team progress and generate detailed reports to gain insights into team performance and project timelines.

BambooHR

BambooHR is a human resources platform that consolidates all of your employee information into a single, accessible database. It can handle the entire lifecycle of HR tasks, from hiring to offboarding.

Key Features:

  • Manage all aspects of HR, including benefits, compensation, and performance, in one place.
  • Simplify the hiring process and make new employee onboarding smoother.
  • Easily manage employee time off, including vacations, sick leave, and holidays.
  • Generate detailed reports about your workforce for better decision-making.
  • Empower employees to update their personal data and time-off requests.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is a powerful online marketing tool and automation platform that helps small businesses with their email marketing efforts. From designing eye-catching emails to managing contact lists and analyzing campaign performance, Mailchimp is a go-to tool for your email marketing needs.

Key Features:

  • Design and send beautiful emails with Mailchimp’s drag-and-drop designer and pre-designed templates.
  • Manage your contact list, segment your audience, and deliver targeted messages.
  • Keep track of customer relationships and their interaction with your business.
  • Measure campaign success with detailed reports and performance analytics.
  • In addition to email, use Mailchimp for social ads, landing pages, postcards, and more.

LinkedIn Learning

LinkedIn Learning, formerly Lynda.com, is an online educational platform offering video courses by industry experts in software, creative, and business skills. It’s an excellent resource for professional development and continuous learning.

Key Features:

  • Access to over 16,000 courses covering many professional topics.
  • Learn from industry experts.
  • Get course recommendations based on your interests, role, and skill level.
  • Quizzes, practice files, and templates enhance the learning experience.
  • Learn on the go with the LinkedIn Learning mobile app.

QuickBooks

QuickBooks is an accounting software perfect for small businesses, providing features like income and expense tracking, invoicing, and online payments. It helps manage your business finances in one place, making it easier to keep track of your business’s financial health.

Key Features:

  • Connect your bank account to track income and expenses automatically. Categorize transactions and upload receipts in QuickBooks.
  • Create and send professional invoices, and accept payments online.
  • Generate financial reports like balance sheets and cash flow statements for better financial management.
  • Maximize your tax deductions by tracking business expenses and mileage.
  • Track inventory, set reorder points, and get stock level alerts.

Trello

  • Type: Project management tools
  • Website: https://trello.com/
  • Pricing: Free plan available; Business Class plan costs $5/user/month

Trello is an easy-to-use project management platform uses a card-based system to organize tasks. Trello’s cards, lists, and boards enable you to manage and prioritize your projects flexibly.

Key Features:

  • Trello’s unique system instantly lets you see everything about your project. Its customizable setup is adaptable to any project.
  • Collaborate with your team in real time. Assign tasks, add comments, and attach files to the cards.
  • Automate your Trello board with rule-based triggers, calendar commands, and custom card buttons.
  • Trello integrates with apps like Google Drive, Slack, and Evernote, bringing your work into one convenient location.
  • Trello is available on various platforms, including iOS and Android, allowing you to stay productive on the go.

Stripe

  • Type: Accounting software
  • Website: https://stripe.com/
  • Pricing: Pay as you go, 2.9% + 30¢ per successful card charge

Stripe is a powerful online payment processing platform for internet businesses. It supports businesses of every size, from startups to large enterprises, with a suite of payment APIs that powers commerce for companies worldwide.

Key Features:

  • Accept payments from anywhere in the world.
  • Automate your recurring business model with Stripe’s subscription tools.
  • Get quick access to your funds with next-day transfers.
  • Accept over 135 currencies and various payment methods.
  • Stripe is certified as a PCI Level 1 Service Provider, the highest security certification in the payments industry.

Zoom

  • Type: Communication and collaboration
  • Website: https://zoom.us/
  • Pricing: Free plan available; Pro plans start at $15.99/host/month

Zoom is a video conferencing software for remote communication and collaboration. It’s known for its high-quality video and audio and robust feature set, including recording, screen sharing, and in-meeting chat.

Key Features:

  • Experience crystal clear audio and video in your meetings, along with features like virtual backgrounds and touch-ups.
  • Share your screen with participants for presentations, training, or reviews.
  • Record your meetings locally or save them to the cloud, along with transcriptions. Useful for revisiting important discussions.
  • Split your meeting into separate breakout rooms for smaller group discussions, then bring everyone back together when ready.
  • Zoom integrates with apps like Google Calendar and Outlook, making scheduling and joining meetings a breeze.

Xero

Xero is an online accounting software that simplifies business processes. It’s designed to meet the needs of small businesses, offering various accounting tools used for invoicing, inventory tracking, and payroll.

Key Features:

  • Customize your invoices, send them online, and get updated when clients open them.
  • Connect Xero to your bank and get daily updates on your cash flow.
  • Keep track of stock levels in real-time, manage inventory items, and see the profitability of your inventory.
  • Run payroll, and manage employee leaves and expenses effortlessly.
  • A visual snapshot of financials such as bank balances, invoices, bills, and expense claims.

DocuSign

DocuSign is a digital transaction platform that allows businesses to manage electronic agreements. With DocuSign, you can sign, send, and manage documents anytime, anywhere, from any device.

Key Features:

  • Sign documents electronically with a legally binding e-signature.
  • Collaborate on documents with comments and secure instant chat.
  • Integrates with many other services, including Google Drive, Salesforce, and Dropbox.
  • DocuSign meets some of the most rigorous global security standards.
  • Mobile App: Use DocuSign’s mobile app to sign documents on the go.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams combines chat, video meetings, file storage, and application integration. It’s part of the Microsoft 365 suite, making it a solid choice for businesses already using Microsoft products.

Key Features:

  • Have real-time conversations with your team in group channels and private messages.
  • Host audio and video meetings with screen sharing.
  • Share and edit files through seamless integration with Microsoft 365.
  • Microsoft Teams integrates with both Microsoft services and third-party applications.
  • Microsoft Teams is built on Microsoft 365’s hyper-scale, enterprise-grade cloud for superior security. 

Buffer

  • Type: Marketing
  • Website: https://buffer.com/
  • Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $6/month/channel

Buffer helps small businesses achieve meaningful engagement with their audience. With Buffer, you can easily manage multiple social media profiles and schedule content in advance.

Key Features:

  • Buffer lets you plan and schedule your posts in advance, ensuring consistent content across all your social platforms.
  • Get insights into your social media performance to optimize your strategy.
  • Manage all your social media accounts in one place, making maintaining a cohesive brand image more straightforward.
  • Plan and coordinate your social media content with your team.
  • Monitor and respond to social conversations, comments, and messages in one inbox.

ZenDesk

Zendesk improves customer relationships through better communication, providing you with the tools to deliver excellent customer support.

Key Features:

  • Offer support via email, phone, chat, and social media from one central hub.
  • Automate tasks and processes to speed up support delivery.
  • Create a comprehensive help center or community forum for customer self-service.
  • Monitor and analyze your customer service performance.
  • Customize your support portal to match your brand.

Hoot Suite

Hootsuite supports social network integrations for five major social media platforms in a single dashboard to manage all your social media activities.

Key Features:

  • Save time, and stay organized in your marketing efforts. 
  • Schedule posts in advance and automatically publish them at the best times or times you choose.
  • Measure your social media performance, gain insights, and improve your results.
  • Find and filter social conversations by keyword, hashtag, and location to hear what people say about your brand or industry.
  • Assign tasks, approve posts, and manage your team in a shared calendar environment.

FreshBooks

FreshBooks is an all-in-one invoicing and accounting solution designed for small businesses. It simplifies tasks like tracking time and following up with clients in just a few clicks.

Key Features:

  • Customize and create professional invoices, set automatic payment reminders, and accept card payments online.
  • Track your expenses and categorize them for easy tax filing.
  • Keep track of your time spent on projects and bill clients accurately.
  • Access detailed financial reports to better understand your business health.
  • Accept credit cards on your invoices and get paid quicker.

ConvertKit

  • Type: Marketing
  • Website: https://convertkit.com/
  • Pricing: Free for up to 1,000 subscribers; paid plans start at $9/month

ConvertKit provides the tools to grow your audience, promote your work, and build your online business.

Key Features:

  • Design professional emails with the drag-and-drop email designer.
  • Automate your email marketing with simple, visual automation interfaces.
  • Use tags and segments to personalize your emails based on subscriber behavior.
  • Create custom landing pages and forms to grow your subscriber list.
  • Seamlessly integrates with other platforms like Shopify, WordPress, and Zapier.

Gusto

  • Type: HR & Payroll
  • Website: https://gusto.com/
  • Pricing: Plans start at $40/month + $6/person

Gusto is a full-service payroll service with an intuitive interface and excellent support. It includes automated tax payments and filings, direct deposit, and more.

Key Features:

  • Gusto automatically calculates, pays, and files your federal, state, and local taxes, and handles W-2s, 1099s, and new hire forms.
  • Apart from payroll, Gusto lets you manage benefits and other HR tasks. You can administer health benefits, 401(k)s, and more.
  • Track and approve employee hours directly from the platform.
  • Gusto helps you stay compliant by sending relevant legal updates and maintaining proper records.
  • Employees can access their paystubs, tax forms, and benefits information on their own through the platform.

Google Drive

Google Drive allows you to save files online and access them from anywhere via the cloud. It’s highly integrated with Google Workspace, making it an excellent choice for those already in the Google ecosystem.

Key Features:

  • Store your files in the cloud and access them from any device with an internet connection.
  • Share files and folders with others, controlling whether they can view, edit, or comment on your content.
  • Collaborate on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations across devices.
  • Find your files quickly with Drive’s powerful search feature. You can even search for content within images and scanned documents.
  • Google Drive integrates seamlessly with popular business apps like Slack and Salesforce.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics provides analytical tools for SEO and marketing to help you understand your website traffic and user behavior to improve your online marketing strategies.

Key Features:

  • Google Analytics provides information about your audience, including their location, the device they are using, their interests, and more.
  • Get detailed reports on how visitors find and use your website, including your top traffic sources.
  • Set goals to track actions you want users to take on your websites, such as filling out a form or purchasing.
  • Google Analytics integrates with Google Ads and Google Search Console, providing a complete picture of your online presence.
  • Real-time reports show who is on your site right now, what pages they view, and what actions they take.

Shopify

Shopify enables small businesses to create online stores and sell products. With a user-friendly interface, extensive customization options, and robust functionality, Shopify makes online selling a breeze.

Key Features:

  • Build a fully-functional online store with a drag-and-drop store builder.
  • Manage all your products and inventory from one place.
  • Shopify integrates with multiple payment gateways for secure and flexible payment processing.
  • Use SEO tools, email marketing, social media integration, and more to reach your target audience.
  • Understand your sales and customers better with detailed reports and analytics.

SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey is a powerful online survey tool that enables businesses to create and conduct surveys for market research, customer satisfaction, and employee feedback.

Key Features:

  • Create custom surveys using question formats like multiple choice, dropdown, star rating, and more.
  • Share your surveys via email, social media, or embedded on your website.
  • Use built-in analytics tools to find patterns and trends in your survey data.
  • SurveyMonkey uses SSL encryption to ensure data is securely collected, stored, and processed.
  • Integrate SurveyMonkey with tools like Mailchimp, Eventbrite, Salesforce, and more for comprehensive insights.

Salesforce

Salesforce brings companies and customers together. It’s integrated, customizable, and packed with features to manage sales, marketing, customer service, and more.

Key Features:

  • View and manage customer information and interactions in one place.
  • Track your sales opportunities and detailed customer activity history.
  • Collaborate across departments with Chatter.
  • Access Salesforce from any device with a secure, mobile-friendly design.
  • Create detailed sales forecasts and reports for better decision-making.

Zapier

  • Type: Automation tool
  • Website: https://zapier.com/
  • Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $19.99/month

Zapier is an online automation tool that connects your favorite apps, such as Gmail, Slack, Mailchimp, and over 3,000 more. You can automate repetitive tasks without relying on developers for implementing integrations.

Key Features:

  • Create workflows between apps and automate routine tasks.
  • Connect to more than 3,000 apps for a seamless workflow.
  • Build powerful automated workflows with multiple actions and conditional logic.
  • Keep track of every task and troubleshoot with ease.
  • Collaborate on workflows with your team using shared folders.

Calendly

  • Type: Productivity
  • Website: https://calendly.com/
  • Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $8/user/month

Calendly is a simple, easy-to-use scheduling tool perfect for businesses that schedule meetings, consultations, or other appointments.

Key Features:

  • Set up different meetings with customized durations, such as 15-minute phone calls or 60-minute demos.
  • Sync with Google, Office 365, or Outlook calendar so you’re never double booked.
  • Automatically detects the invitee’s time zone for hassle-free scheduling.
  • Schedule group events like webinars or training with ease.
  • Send confirmations, reminders, and follow-up emails to improve no-show rates.

WordPress

  • Type: Website building
  • Website: https://wordpress.com/
  • Pricing: Free for basic use; paid plans start at $4/month

WordPress is a versatile platform that allows you to create anything from a simple blog to a full-fledged e-commerce site.

Key Features:

  • Thousands of themes are available for customization to make your website unique.
  • WordPress is optimized for SEO out of the box and also supports various SEO plug-ins.
  • All WordPress themes are responsive, meaning your site looks good on any device.
  • Easily upload and manage multimedia content like images and videos.
  • Extend your website’s functionality with thousands of plug-ins for everything from contact forms to e-commerce.

Final Thoughts

Even with top-of-the-line software on your side, being a small business owner involves much more than mastering the tools of the trade. Sustainable growth comes from a holistic understanding of business dynamics and top-notch leadership skills. 

By working with an experienced business coach, you tap into a wealth of real-world strategies and long-term learning that can help you navigate the complexities of running a small business.

Contact Catalyst Group ECR to get started!

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