8 of the Best Productivity Apps for Small Businesses

April 19, 2017

Small businesses often struggle with productivity because they tend to have a smaller staff, meaning everyone has to bring their A game to the table. With a smaller staff, it’s important for every employee, including the business owner, to pull their weight. Thankfully, there are several tools available that can help you improve your overall productivity. Here are some of the best productivity apps available today.

Best Productivity Apps For Small Businesses

1. EverNote

EverNote is popular and almost every professional knows about it. It’s a note-taking app that allows you to pen down quick notes and ideas so you don’t have to hunt for a pen and paper every time you need them. EverNote is versatile because along with notes, it allows you to pin articles from the internet, paste pictures of your handwritten notes or drawn diagrams, and other such pieces of data.

It’s essentially a handy digital notebook that you can use to keep your thoughts and ideas organized, and on you at all times. It’s a free download (add it to all devices!) and it’s available on Apple as well as Android.

2. Google Drive

Google Drive is feature-rich, easily accessible, and easy to set up and use. You only need to have a Google ID and you’ll have 15 GB of free storage space and an entire office suite that includes Google Docs, Slides, Sheets and other such software. You can access the drive through any device, which makes storing all of your important documents there convenient.

Files can also be shared through Drive; for example, if your team is working on a single project, you can store the document in Drive and share it with all team members. The document can be edited by any member of the team, and they can even place comments on it or chat with others while working on the project. This allows members from different locations to work on a single project together.

3. Salesforce Mobile

Salesforce is a formidable name in the industry and many B2B companies use Salesforce on a daily basis. The Salesforce Mobile app gives you access to all your desktop Salesforce CRM data and functions available in the desktop software. You have all your CRM data at your fingertips, which is convenient for B2B company owners who are always on the go. Salesforce Mobile is also free for download on Apple and Android systems.

4. LinkedIn Pulse

LinkedIn is a social medial platform where professionals meet, network, exchange ideas and develop connections, both on an individual and business level, B2B. While there is a primary social media app for LinkedIn, Pulse is designed to collect all news and articles connected to your industry and direct it towards you. You can control and personalize your newsfeed, as you want to ensure you get data and content from desired sources. You can also comment, share, and like the content and participate in any discussions that happen on the topic. This allows you to keep up with all the latest industry news and get a glimpse of new ideas, which can be vital in the competitive market.

5. HootSuite

Speaking of social media, every decent marketing campaign has a solid presence on a number of social networking platforms. You might have individual campaigns running in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other such networks. It’s can be difficult to keep track of the content, the views, likes, shares, comments and other such details on every platform separately, especially if you run comprehensive campaigns. HootSuite for Mobile is a great way to monitor and manage all of your social media interactions from one platform. It is one of the most popular platforms of this kind and is widely considered to be highly efficient.

6. Asana

Asana is a popular app that allows you to manage your projects and teams well. It will allow you to keep your team organized and productive and make sure the project stays on track. From this platform, you can assign tasks to individual or collective members of your team through their email addresses and keep them apprised about due dates, notifications and changes. Asana will help your entire team work together and ensure they stay on the same page, which can be difficult to manage without assistance. This app is available in both IOS and Android markets and can be downloaded on desktop computers, as well.

7. Dropbox

Dropbox is very similar to Google Drive, but it works with the Microsoft Office Suite instead of the Google Drive suite (G Suite). You can use MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and other such familiar programs and store all documents your work on in Dropbox. Like Drive, Dropbox is also in the Cloud and provides free 23 GB of space to store all kinds of files that can be accessed from everywhere and from any device. Dropbox also allows you to share files with teammates and communicate through comments and edits, which has a positive impact on overall team productivity.

8. DocuSign

Signing contracts and documents is a regular part of being a business owner. You need to sign contracts and invoices for employees, vendors, clients and business associates. When you’re constantly on the go, you cannot always get physical access to all documents that you need to sign. This is where DocuSign can help. It allows you to use the phone’s touchscreen interface to sign scanned documents. Once you’ve signed, you can send the document back through emails and it’s as valid as an actual signature. This is one of the most useful free tools for your business.

If you look, you’ll find a number of great apps that will help you manage your business better and improve overall productivity. The apps mentioned above are just the most popular ones. There are many hidden gems like Insightly, Zoho Projects, Due, Wave, Producteev, etc., that can help as well.

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