You Don’t Need a Tech Specialist to Get the Right Software for Your Company

In the past, it was normal to hire tech specialists in order to get the right tech support for your company. For instance, it was normal to hire someone that would advise you on how to use your budget on computers, and they recommended you on different types of software that would make your business more productive. Sadly, that mentality still hasn’t been completely removed. There are still advisors and tech specialists that roam businesses giving terrible advice, and sometimes their existence is pretty pointless.

Sure, when it comes to specialised technologies such as security software, it’s a lot more important to get professional help. But making a website for your startup, doing your accounting and using cloud storage is so simple nowadays that you really don’t need someone to teach you how to do it. All you really need is a bit of knowledge and some practice. If you want to learn how to find the right software for your company, then here’s your all-in-one guide.

Know Your Needs

The first thing you need to think about is what your needs are. Everyone uses software for a reason, so make sure you’re not aiming for “industry-standard” tools without having a proper use for them. A common example of this is Microsoft Office 365. This is the standard office suite that people use because it offers decent value, plenty of power and many features. Sadly, most of these features aren’t needed for people that run or operate small and medium businesses. In fact, you could even say that the extra features just complicate things, and it’s not streamlined enough to require zero training which could complicate the employee recruitment process.

First, identify your need. In this situation, you might need a word processing software package to make it easier for you to write physical letters or documents that you’ll share with employees. If that’s the case, then do a quick Google search on word processing software. You’ll come across many free alternatives such as LibreOffice and Google Docs. They cost no money, have plenty of the features that Office 365 does and can easily be integrated into your workflow.

In short, identifying your problem is the first step you take when you want to introduce new software into your company. Getting software just because other companies use it is pointless and only introduces problems. Most companies don’t need expensive pieces of software to run their business, and it could be argued that even medium and large businesses don’t need the extra features either. Identify your needs and problems first, then look for a software solution.

Software to Deal With Problems

But how else can you identify problems? It all depends on what hinders your progress as a company. If you find that managing your employees is becoming problematic on your own, then you might hire a dedicated human resources manager. Fortunately, there’s a much cheaper solution: software. Whether it’s employee absence management that you need to worry about or efficiently assigning work to a team of part-time workers, human resources software can deal with the problem of employee management.

Similarly, if you find that accounting takes a huge chunk of your free time, then you can always hire an accountant. However, the smarter solution for a small company would be to simply use accounting software solutions. Cloud accounting isn’t new, but it’s surprising how few companies use it effectively. While it can’t automate the process of accounting, it can certainly cut down the amount of time you use on sorting out taxes, invoices and other kinds of payments.

Identifying problems sometimes has to be done proactively. If you’re a rapidly growing business, then you might find that you’ve got very little time to deal with customer requests because most of your attention is focused on growth. A common solution to this would be to hire a community manager or public relations manager. However, customer feedback software presents a cheaper and effective solution that can work equally as well.

The common trend here is identifying problems that can be solved by hiring extra employees, then toning down the desperation and resorting to software instead. Hiring an employee takes plenty of time, effort and money that could otherwise be spent on being productive, and that’s when software comes in handy.

Summary

As you can see, it doesn’t take an expert to learn what types of software you’ll need to make your business more successful and operate more smoothly. Take the time to identify problem areas in your business and look for software to treat them.