7 Technologies to Adopt to Save Time and Costs

Time and costs are your most precious resources, and you can save a lot of both if you implement the right technologies. No matter what your business, there are many processes you could automate once you know the right software and platforms to use.

Automation can improve your overall efficiency and productivity and reduce the hours your employees waste on repetitive manual tasks. Why not focus their efforts and your resources on something more important, like helping your business grow?

Here are some technologies that can reduce the time and costs you invest and take you to the next level.

1. Project Management Tools

Project management software, such as Trello or Jira, can help you in many ways and improve numerous aspects of your business. For example, your team collaboration efforts will get a tremendous boost since everyone will be on the same page about each project. Plus, you can keep track of multiple projects simultaneously without missing a beat.

You get an organizational system that requires little effort and attention from project managers and allows for few to no mistakes. Everything is predetermined, and the system alerts you about deadlines and errors, so you can relax and focus your attention elsewhere.

PM software can also help you save costs by providing accurate pipeline forecasting and smart distribution of resources, thus preventing waste. It’s an all-around useful tool that makes your team a well-oiled machine.

2. Data Storage and Sharing

Instead of having dozens of files stacked in offline folders, you can use cloud-based solutions, such as Dropbox and Google Docs, to keep your documents organized and streamline internal and external communication.

You don’t have to send individual files to individual people because you can simply post any documents, share them with whomever you want, and give different levels of editing rights to each person who can access them.

This can work for other types of files as well, such as those too large to be sent via email. For example, if you want to share a video, you can simply upload it to the cloud and share it with anyone. This way, they can see it, but they don’t have to download the large file to their computer.

3. Cloud-Based Printing and Mailing

There are some kinds of correspondence that still require you to mail documents, i.e., deliver them in physical form. If your business deals with a lot of mail, you could benefit from a cloud-based mailing solution that allows you to send mail without having to go to the post office.

DocuSend is a comprehensive mailing solution that makes your document delivery process quick and easy. It integrates with your accounting software and other platforms for much more efficient transfer.

The software is extremely simple to use. You just upload the documents you want to send, and the DocuSend team takes care of everything afterward and makes sure your mail gets sent out in no time.

4. CRM Software

Customer relationship management (CRM) software is a tool that allows you to manage your contacts and customer and prospect relationships, all from a single platform.  This type of software can take your sales through the roof and boost your ROI significantly, as it allows you to take care of your customers’ needs in the best possible way.

With CRM software, you get amazing insights into your target audience and existing customers, which allows you to give them what they want and keep them happy.

If you have a large customer base, it’s impossible to take care of all interactions manually. A unified platform allows you to keep track of your customer relationships while saving you time and increasing sales opportunities.

5. Marketing Automation Software

As many as 84% of marketers report a significant increase in quality leads thanks to automation. Lead generation is the first step in acquiring new customers and building lasting relationships.

Marketing automation can also help with conversions, building brand awareness, lead nurturing, and much more. Instead of reaching out to prospects manually, there’s now a variety of marketing tools you can use to automate the entire process and save tons of time and costs.

One of the most popular tools is email marketing software, which allows you to keep in touch with your customers and interested parties with personalized content. You can also use social media management tools, such as post scheduling software, which automates your output and frees you up for other tasks.

6. Accounting Software

If you’re still using spreadsheets to keep track of your finances, it’s high time for an upgrade. Getting accounting software will make your bookkeeping and accounting processes much more efficient. You can get back hours every week by automating these processes, and you’ll save a lot of costs by reducing errors, streamlining tax filing, and more.

Businesses that use Xero, for example, can monitor their financial affairs at a glance, use smartphones to scan and update documents, and get real-time reports. This tool is one of the leading cloud-based accounting software packages, and it will help you stay on top of your financial transactions without wasting your time.

With this type of software, you also don’t have to update numerous data points manually and risk making major and costly mistakes.

7. Recruiting Software

The hiring process can be long and tiresome, as well as taking up a lot of your HR department’s time and energy. They need to reach through to the right kind of candidates, select the best among the applicants, assess their abilities, and pick the best of the best, then initiate them into the company’s processes.

However, there are now applicant tracking systems (ATS) and AI-based recruitment tools, which can make the process much shorter and better. These kinds of tools can tap into wider candidate pools and make the first selection of applicants for you based on their resumes. So you can automate the parts of the hiring process that take up most of your time.

There are various technologies out there that can make your processes much more efficient. Just think about your specific needs and adopt the ones that could help you the most.