The Best Online Software and Resources to Use in 2019 for Any Business

Online software and resources for business are vast and all-consuming. It’s no secret that businesses benefit from the advancements of technology. However, today’s challenge is not the lack of tech but instead the abundance of tech and its tendency to flood the market. Many business owners avoid integrating tech because of the overwhelming decision-making process involved. We certainly understand this challenge. As such we’ve compiled a list of the best online software and resources for business in 2019. Before jumping straight into the list let’s go over a few topics that will help you understand the buyer’s landscape.

Different types of Business Software and Resources

Typically you’ll find that business software online can be broken down into 3 different categories. These categories include:

Self-hosted Software or Applications

Includes software like WordPress and other applications that are hosted internally as opposed to hosted by a company or service provides.

Software as a Service SaaS

Software hosted and maintained by a service provider for a consumer end-user. A good example of SaaS is G Suite , Slack, and many other common web applications.

Custom Builds

Custom software builds is essentially software built from the ground up based on client requirements.

What to consider before buying business software

How do you know you are making a good purchasing decision? Since the internet is filled with 101 business tools it’s always a good idea to set buying standards for your company to ensure you are not making any superfluous purchases. An example of considerations to address before making a software purchase include:

What is the motivation for buying?

• Do you have a real business need for this software?
• How will this software solve a current business need?

Check for stability and reliability

• How long has the platform been around?
• Do they have a solid leadership team?
• Do they display signs of solvency?

Review Feature set

• Does the platform/software have all or most of the features you need?

Get in touch with customer support

• Is customer support readily available?
• We’re you able to ask and receive answers for all existing questions?

See what integrations come with it

• How does the platform integrate with other applications?
• How does the platform integrate with your existing workflow

Learn about their referral program

Compare the price to the value

Judge the user experience

• How easy is it to get started?
• How easy or difficult was the platform to learn or navigate through?

25 best business software in 2019

HotSchedules

A paid scheduling app designed for restaurants. It was recently ranked number 1 in its category based on Summer 2019 statistics. HotSchedules integrates with Fourth and other similar tools. It includes simple employee engagement and scheduling tools. Under 30 employees, you can get it for free.

Hot Schedules is also available at the enterprise level. Yet, at its heart, Hot Schedules was created by two restauranteurs. They wanted to provide innovative tools for restaurant startup challenges.

G Suite

G Suite is the standard name given to Google tools. G Suite includes multiple Google tools including:

• Google Documents
• Google Slides
• Google Keep
• Google Hangouts and more.

All of these tools are powered by Google to handle business functions. Everything from document creation and signing to presentation slides. Google has you covered. Several Google-based tools rank highly in recent 2019-2020 forecasting statistics. The majority of tools provided by the Google Suite are versatile for business users.

Microsoft Outlook

Outlook was created to bring email and calendars into one workroom. The tool helps you to stay on top of all your priority emails. It integrates with Facebook, Trello, Evernote, and others. Categorized as a “productivity” software, Outlook is a powerful tool for any business owner.

Microsoft Word

Until recently, Microsoft Word was one of the most common office tools in place. Today, it has several competitors include Google Doc, Pages, and more. However, Microsoft Word also has a web application called Office Live. It connects with email, phone, or Skype. Although, no longer the only player in the market, it has retained classic value.

Yahoo Mail

Yahoo Mail falls only slightly behind the major email providers Gmail and Outlook on app data ranking lists. Yahoo Mail retains a 4.6-star ranking in the app store based on 2M ratings. It is a fast, safe service for business communications. You can integrate Yahoo Mail with Gmail, Outlook, AOL, and Yahoo accounts. Together, these are sure to keep all your business communications flowing freely.

Microsoft One Drive

One Drive allows for a seamless file share experience with their “cloud” where you can save files. This is also classified under “productivity” and is indispensable to the business owner. One Drive has a 4.7-star app store ranking based on 206.6K ratings.

Grammarly

Grammarly is a useful software tool that is not specifically designed for business. Instead, Grammarly provides a suite of grammar, vocabulary and punctuation services. Grammarly has an MS plug-in and a free plagiarism checker. This makes everything from email communication to content marketing simplified. We added it to this list because it saves so much time for busy managers and business communications specialists.

Evernote

Evernote is a powerhouse in business productivity. The Evernote system allows you to create a perpetual stream of notes. Including checklists, ideation files, meeting schedules, tags, annotations and more. You can fill entire “notebooks” with ideas and use the share feature to send them to select team members. Evernote’s organization-focus makes it a lifesaver for any attention-strapped business manager. It’s like having a secretary in your pocket.

DocuSign

Powerful for teams onboarding group talent digitally. DocuSign has a 4.9-star rating in the iOS store based upon 119.1K reviews. DocuSign removes the paper trail requirement from your workflow. Instead, you can now establish and sign contracts or required hiring documents digitally. Making paperwork a breeze.

Do-List

Do-List allows you to break your tasks into Today, Tomorrow, and Later functions. This bite-sized strip-down of your business schedule can be versatile. Because it has a “Create your own” column in “Life Lists” a business owner can use this app to prioritize the future of delegated tasks. Do-List has a 4.7-star app store ranking based on 1.5K ratings. The tool comes with a “Life lists” feature that allows you to categorize your priority lists into groups by type. Such as “books to read” or “shows to watch”.

Sign-Now

This service is similar to DocuSign. It doesn’t rank as high in AppAnnie’s most recent stats based on in-store performance. Even so, it has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, NPR, Forbes, ESPN, TechCrunch, Mashable, Lifehacker and many more press outfits for its reliability. Use Sign-Now to handle all of your official e-documents and PDF files. Note: The free app is not customizable.

Scrivener

Scrivener is the it-tool for long-form content creation. It provides a literary stance for content ideation. Creatives love it, but it is also indispensable to brand managers. One critic even called it the “biggest software advance for writers since the word processor”. This tool will be a great level-up for your marketing creatives team if they are in the midst of a mass-output content campaign. It starts as low as $20.

Wix

Wix is a popular self-design web site tool today which includes features like:

• SEO
• App creation
• logo making
• business management tools

Wix has a variety of web and app tools that are specific for certain industries such as restaurants, developers, and real estate.

Collect: Save and Share Ideas

Collect is an idea saving app. It’s used for general media and text like saving and sharing videos, photos, articles, documents, essentially any digital. For a business owner, this on-demand file cabinet is a great tool to have in your arsenal.

Weebly by Square

Weebly is also another self-designed web page platform. The web design tools also comes with some business management tools. Weebly by Square is an iOS app. It has a 4.6-start app store ranking based on 23.6K rankings.

Day Count

This app helps you countdown the days until an event. It is useful for anyone with a busy life. For business owners, it can be used as a tracking tool to build buzz for event campaigns. You could also use it to remind teammates of an important meeting. Day Count is wildly popular in its niche. 145 countries are using it. It has had 1M+ downloads according to stats taken between June 9 and September 6, 2019. It has a 4.6-star ranking in the app store based on 7.2K ratings.

Venmo

Venmo is described as “fun and easy” payment software. Venmo has a 4.9-star rating in the app store based on 6.4M ratings. The purpose of Venmo is to help you pay all of your outsourced talent or in-house teammates on time and without issue.

QuickBooks

QuickBooks is a crowd favorite accounting and budgeting software for many small businesses. It has a 4.7-star rating in the app store based on 112K ratings. There is also an edition of QuickBooks for the self-employed.

Asana

Ranked 1 here based on 4,390 votes from a G2 consumer study. Asana is a team coordination software. It helps scale team efficiency with by-the-book team plan share tools. This software acts as a team walkthrough workshop in a sense. A crowd favorite of small business communications, but can manage teams of any size.

Trello

Rated with 4.4 stars out of my based on 4,824 G2 votes. Trello makes its claim to fame on a “never-ending notification” structure. This system works to keep spread out teams engaged in spreadsheets, emails, and other major deal breakers for a quality team function.

Slack

This is a common team communication application. Slack allows teams to communicate via channels or direct message on desktop, tablet, or mobile device. It’s an excellent platform for team building akin to the modern forum but for work teams.

Airtable

Airtable was rated 4.6 out of 5 stars across a span of 567 G2 votes. It was formed around the belief that software-users should have the final say in dictating how the software works.

Clickup

Clickup was rated 5 out of 5 stars by 789 G2 voters. It is the favorite replacement app for businesses that may have used multiple tools for the same queue of tasks.

Monday

Monday is breakout software that has been taking all the trophies home. It is a work management platform set on transforming the teamwork process. Described as “simple” and “intuitive. It has a relatable feel that can be shared across a span of team sizes and industries.
 

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