{"id":2661,"date":"2020-04-06T08:00:31","date_gmt":"2020-04-06T13:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/?p=2661"},"modified":"2020-10-05T15:03:34","modified_gmt":"2020-10-05T20:03:34","slug":"how-find-right-tech-small-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/how-find-right-tech-small-business\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Find the Right Tech for Your Small Business"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Commercial technology is constantly evolving, from marketing and lead generation tools to advanced security and management systems to help you run your business. But without cash in the bank or some form of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/business-funding\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">business funding<\/a> like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/equipment-loans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">equipment financing<\/a>, tech investments tend to take a backseat when you have tight margins.<\/p>\n<p>Your small business may not have the budget or manpower to create its own proprietary software, products or other technology to help streamline your business. So when you\u2019re using a third-party product, it\u2019s important to look for usable features that can help your company thrive.<\/p>\n<p>With a limited budget and resources, how do you know where to start? And what can really help your business save time? We\u2019ll help you start small by implementing low-cost and scalable technology. Here\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessbacker.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-tech-investments-small-business\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">how to integrate tech tools<\/a> that help you boost productivity, find leads, market your business and more on a small business budget.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>1. Start With Free Options<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>You might be surprised by the abundance of free small business apps and software available right now. These popular free tools were designed to help you market, improve your website and manage your enterprise more efficiently:<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Email Marketing<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mailchimp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mailchimp<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sender.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sender<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Office and Word Processing Software<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.libreoffice.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Libre Office<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Accounting<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.waveapps.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wave<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/zipbooks.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zipbooks<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Internal Communication<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/slack.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Slack<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Search Engine\/Website Optimization, Page Crawling and Analysis<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hotjar.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hotjar<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/analytics.google.com\/analytics\/web\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google Analytics<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.screamingfrog.co.uk\/seo-spider\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Screaming Frog<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>2. Work to Ease Your Pain Points<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Before you buy into an expensive technology or product, identify your goals or areas you want to improve. Though you might feel like you\u2019re involved at every stage of your company, you might not even be aware of an issue behind the scenes.<\/p>\n<p>Send out a quick survey to your team \u2014 ask for their help identifying areas in which your company can improve. Your employees might also have insight on specific tools or software that work well for other companies.<\/p>\n<p>Look for trends across your business as a whole. What tasks are repetitive, time-consuming or inefficient? Does your hardware operate effectively? Once you can identify pain points and areas of opportunity, you\u2019ll be able to find focused ways to tackle the issue.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>3. Use Platforms That Integrate With Others<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Advanced business software can grow with your company. While there are plenty of free tools available, larger software suites with more sophisticated features typically require a monthly subscription. But if you\u2019re really looking for easy integration across multiple platforms, like POS, accounting and\/or customer management software, these options give you more features and cross-platform capabilities.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re in need of cross-platform integration, research your options and their capabilities. Some of the biggest names in business software can give you a real time-saving advantage:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Salesforce<\/a> is a customer management system that integrates with Google Cloud, QuickBooks, Slack, Jira and more widely used platforms.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/quickbooks.intuit.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">QuickBooks<\/a> is accounting software that syncs with Square, Expensify, payroll management software and many other services.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/squareup.com\/us\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Square<\/a> is a payment and POS app that connects with services like Zoho Books, Xero and Postmates.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>4. Look for Opportunities to Automate Strategically<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Outside of your core business functions, you likely could benefit from a more streamlined or efficient workflow. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/tips-automating-small-business\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Automation<\/a> can eliminate extraneous tasks or processes to give you more time to focus on essential business areas. For example, if you run a seasonal tax preparation company but can\u2019t afford to have a full-time receptionist, an AI customer service assistant can help you focus your resources on essential areas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Commercial technology is constantly evolving, from marketing and lead generation tools to advanced security and management systems to help you &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2662,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[613],"tags":[545,544],"class_list":["post-2661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology-and-tools","tag-small-business-effciency","tag-small-business-technology"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to Find the Right Tech for Your Small Business - Headway Capital Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here\u2019s how to integrate tech tools that help you boost productivity, find leads, market your business and more on a small business budget.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/how-find-right-tech-small-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Find the Right Tech for Your Small Business - Headway Capital Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here\u2019s how to integrate tech tools that help you boost productivity, find leads, market your business and more on a small business budget.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/how-find-right-tech-small-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Headway Capital Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-06T13:00:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-10-05T20:03:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/20-00227_05_USMB_HC-How-to-Adopt-the-Right-Tech-for-Your-Small-Business-HeaderImage-1a01.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1201\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Barbara Davidson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Barbara Davidson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Find the Right Tech for Your Small Business - Headway Capital Blog","description":"Here\u2019s how to integrate tech tools that help you boost productivity, find leads, market your business and more on a small business budget.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/how-find-right-tech-small-business\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Find the Right Tech for Your Small Business - Headway Capital Blog","og_description":"Here\u2019s how to integrate tech tools that help you boost productivity, find leads, market your business and more on a small business budget.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/how-find-right-tech-small-business\/","og_site_name":"Headway Capital Blog","article_published_time":"2020-04-06T13:00:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-10-05T20:03:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1201,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/20-00227_05_USMB_HC-How-to-Adopt-the-Right-Tech-for-Your-Small-Business-HeaderImage-1a01.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Barbara Davidson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Barbara Davidson","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/how-find-right-tech-small-business\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/how-find-right-tech-small-business\/"},"author":{"name":"Barbara Davidson","@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2a7d24c83c64e65baa516eb664059c59"},"headline":"How to Find the Right Tech for Your Small Business","datePublished":"2020-04-06T13:00:31+00:00","dateModified":"2020-10-05T20:03:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/how-find-right-tech-small-business\/"},"wordCount":587,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/how-find-right-tech-small-business\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/20-00227_05_USMB_HC-How-to-Adopt-the-Right-Tech-for-Your-Small-Business-HeaderImage-1a01.jpg","keywords":["small business effciency","small business technology"],"articleSection":["Technology and Tools"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/how-find-right-tech-small-business\/","url":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/how-find-right-tech-small-business\/","name":"How to Find the Right Tech for Your Small Business - Headway Capital Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/how-find-right-tech-small-business\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/how-find-right-tech-small-business\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/20-00227_05_USMB_HC-How-to-Adopt-the-Right-Tech-for-Your-Small-Business-HeaderImage-1a01.jpg","datePublished":"2020-04-06T13:00:31+00:00","dateModified":"2020-10-05T20:03:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2a7d24c83c64e65baa516eb664059c59"},"description":"Here\u2019s how to integrate tech tools that help you boost productivity, find leads, market your business and more on a small business budget.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/how-find-right-tech-small-business\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/how-find-right-tech-small-business\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/how-find-right-tech-small-business\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/20-00227_05_USMB_HC-How-to-Adopt-the-Right-Tech-for-Your-Small-Business-HeaderImage-1a01.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/20-00227_05_USMB_HC-How-to-Adopt-the-Right-Tech-for-Your-Small-Business-HeaderImage-1a01.jpg","width":1201,"height":630,"caption":"4 Tips to Find the Best Business Technology for Your Needs"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/how-find-right-tech-small-business\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Technology and Tools","item":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/category\/technology-and-tools\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"How to Find the Right Tech for Your Small Business"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/","name":"Headway Capital Blog","description":"Your source for the latest news, tools, tips and resources to help your small business succeed.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2a7d24c83c64e65baa516eb664059c59","name":"Barbara Davidson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/07\/babs-150x150.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/07\/babs-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/07\/babs-150x150.jpg","caption":"Barbara Davidson"},"description":"Babs is Lead Content Strategist and financial guru. She loves exploring fresh ways to save more and enjoy life on a budget! When she\u2019s not writing, you\u2019ll find her binge-watching musicals, reading in the (sporadic) Chicago sunshine and discovering great new places to eat. Accio, tacos!\u00a0","url":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/author\/bdavidsonenova-com\/"}]}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2661"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2663,"href":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2661\/revisions\/2663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}