Technology is definitely a double edged sword. Hacking and the spread of misinformation? Bad. Tech tools for business purposes? Good!
From a business owner’s perspective, technology has also created a global economy, and allowed people who would never have become entrepreneurs otherwise to do so. And that’s also good. Very good.
These apps and cloud based software as a service (SAAS) platforms have allowed virtual businesses like ours to thrive and prosper. And we can hire the best and brightest—no matter where they reside.
We want you to thrive and prosper too. So, since sharing is caring, here are a few of our favourite tech tools for business that we use every day.
Our Top Tech Tools for Business
Collaboration: We might be a virtual company, but our team chats and shares all day long using Slack. This collaboration software allows us to create subject-specific channels and groups, share documents, files and images, and track client work. Heck, we even hold our bi-weekly staff meetings using Slack’s video calling feature! Of all the tech tools for business we use, Slack might just be my favourite.
Email marketing: Email isn’t dead. On the contrary, it can be an integral part of your lead generation and content sharing strategies. Mailchimp is a great email marketing service for sending super sharp, brand-specific emails to your community. It was founded to help business owners grow their business using an easier, cheaper email marketing tool. And allows you to access tons of data from your campaigns, including clicks, opens, subscribers’ social activity, e-commerce habits, etc. Today, Mailchimp isn’t just about email. But they continue to provide an effective, user-friendly platform that we love.
Creative: If you want to make sure those emails are on-brand, look no further than Canva and its simple drag and drop format. Canva provides templates, fonts, filters, and other resources to help you easily craft eye-catching graphics for email campaigns, social media sharing, blog posts, business cards, infographics, and more! Worried that you don’t have a creative bone in your body? Don’t be. They also provide tutorials, and other guidance to help you bring your company’s branding to a new level.
File Sharing: Dropbox is cloud-based file storage and sharing at its best. And it’s one of just a few tech tools for business that received the Electronic Frontier Foundation‘s five-star rating for protecting user information. Dropbox doesn’t just allow you and your team to seamlessly share and store documents, images and video content. It also ensures your files are safe and easily accessed. And depending on how much cloud storage you need, you just might get away with using their two gigabyte free account. However moving up to one TB of storage space only costs a hundred bucks per year. Well worth it if you’re looking for flexible and safe file storage and access, especially if you run a virtual office like we do.
This is just a sampling of what we use every day to keep Spodek and Co.’s motor running. And there are obviously hundreds of other tech tools for business to help you function as efficiently as possible. So now I would love to hear from you. Which tech tools for business are you using? Have you tried some of the ones I listed above? Did you like them, or have you moved on to something else? Please leave your comments below.
