Running a business online is becoming more prevalent in recent years, and any digital business will need online tools to help provide the best service and products to customers and clients.
There are certain tools that are essential to any digital business and can make all the difference when it comes to branding, productivity, marketing, and communication, ensuring that colleagues can collaborate even over long distances.
Whether your business makes and sells physical products, provides an online service like marketing, or any number of different things – there are software products and tools that are designed to take some of the effort and energy out of making your business work better and more efficiently, solving problems for a more connected business model.
What tools should you use for your digital business?
Communication
In the office-based workplace, communication can be simple and straightforward – but if you are a digital business then you have to think outside the box to make sure that employees are able to talk to each other, collaborate on projects, and develop relationships.
Emails and phone calls are one thing, but instant messaging is a great way to get comments and conversation flowing, both work-related and water cooler talk.
There are many different online communication tools, but the most popular is Slack – it allows for data sharing and instant communication over different channels, plus it integrates with other digital business tools for seamless productivity.
Document Creation and Editing
Whether it is contracts that need to be customized, or bespoke PDFs that need to be collaborated on, making excellent documentation that is on brand and useful for the business and the customers is essential to an online or digital business. PDF.Live enables users to merge PDFs so they’re all readily available in one document. It is encrypted, fast and easy to use. They also offer free conversions.
When colleagues need to collaborate on design or edit documents, PDF.Live is a simple and easy to use tool that is considerably cheaper and more user-friendly than other PDF editors.
Using templates is a great way to ensure that a seamless service is provided, and with editing capabilities available, so much can be done to make them more personalized.
File Sharing and Storage
Geographically remote businesses – and even those that work in the same building – need effective and efficient ways to store important documents and share them effectively.
A system architecture designed with sharing in mind means that different people can work on the same spreadsheet or document in real time, making it faster and more efficient.
The Google Workspace is a cloud-based storage and sharing system that is similar in function to the Microsoft 365 office suite; allowing access to document and spreadsheet creation, slide shows and emails – and because it is cloud-based, storage is safer and easier to access, and there is no need for giant storage rooms.
Team and Project Management
Managing the workload of employees and colleagues, whether it is only on one project or several at once, might seem overwhelming – and while some businesses are trying to keep track of what is happening with a series of emails and spreadsheets, tools like Asana can make it much easier.
Asana (and other project management tools) allow employees to see exactly what needs to be done, by whom, and when it needs to be done by on every single project. Managers can see what has already been completed, employees can share updates, and everything is in one place – and integrated with Google, Slack, and other business software essentials.
Website
Online businesses will probably need a website – whether that is to allow for customers to buy physical products online with an eCommerce shop, or a display window to show people what services your business offers.
Of course, you could employ a developer to build a website for you – but there are several different content management software options available that can make it easy for you to do it for yourself.
WordPress is the most popular, with both a free option and a paid-for service, and you can build add-ons into the system for things like analytics, SEO, and an online shop.
