7 Online Tools For Small Business Owners

October 9, 2017 4:00 AM  Sponsored By ComEd

Small businesses typically do not have the expansive capabilities and organizational structures found in large corporations. Without the resources to hire large teams, small business owners and employees often need to wear several hats at once. A way that this is made manageable is through the use of online apps and other technologies that address and resolve day-to-day operational needs and financial issues. Below is a list of applications that can help you become more efficient and do more with less.

ComEd My Account

When you establish a ComEd online account at ComEd.com/MyAccount, you can:

• View your company’s energy bill online

 

• View your company’s billing history

 

• Sign up for paperless billing

 

• Set up automatic payments

 

• Track energy use month-to-month

With My Account and a ComEd smart meter installed at your business, you have access to excellent tools to improve energy management and help reduce energy costs.  By logging into ComEd’s My Account on a regular basis, you can take timely action based on up-to-date energy-usage information to make important energy decisions and help reduce your company’s bottom line.

​Quickbooks

Quickbooks is a suite of software solutions that can help you manage your business’s payroll, inventory, sales and other needs. Quickbooks also includes marketing tools, training solutions and other valuable resources. Online mobile apps are available for iPhone, Android, Mac and Windows.

Skype

If your business does a lot of video conferencing, Skype can’t be beat. In addition to instant messaging, Skype users can communicate over the internet by voice using a microphone or webcam. Skype-to-Skype calls to other users are free of charge, and users can purchase unlimited minutes to make local and international calls. This app helps reduce the traditional cost of communications, both within the company and with clients.

Slack

Slack’s aim is to lessen the amount of time spent on sending internal emails and scheduling and partaking in meetings and conference calls. Like Skype, Slack is an online  platform that allows you and your employees to send direct instant messages to one another, but it also allows you to organize your group conversations into private or public chats, and makes sharing and downloading files a breeze. There’s no limit to how many users you can add to the platform, so this is an application that can grow with your small business. Slack offers both a free option and two additional pricing optionsbased on the amount of users.

PayPal

PayPal operates a worldwide online payments system that can be easily linked to your business’s various bank accounts. PayPal offers an app for your small business’s iPhone or Android phone or tablet that can be used at checkout in place of a traditional POS system at a cost of 2.7 percent per swipe.

DropBox

DropBox is a file hosting service that offers cloud storage, file synchronization (dubbed Smart Sync) and file sharing. The platform makes it easier for your teams to share large files across different business units or with clients. DropBox provides a cost effective solution to file sharing without incurring the IT costs to perform the function internally, with business plans starting at $12.50/user/month.
Salesforce
Salesforce is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software tool that helps your sales team track sales opportunities from initial identification through contract closure. Salesforce provides disciplined tracking and progress monitoring across the company.
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