The rise of enterprise SaaS solutions has unveiled enormous potential for businesses. It lets them reduce costs, minimize hardware requirements, streamline business activities, and improve employee performance.
No matter if you are a startup or an international collaboration, there is a SaaS solution for almost any aspect of your business, from accounting to sales and marketing.
With an overwhelmingly wide array of enterprise software solutions, we decided to help you cherry-pick essential tools for your business.
- Customer Relationship Management
Misplaced customer information; unhealthy competition between the sales reps that accidentally pursued the same lead; a prospect slipping through your fingers – those are just some of the numerous problems businesses face when managing customer data manually.
Unless exceptional organization skills are your superpower, it is time to smarten your customer relationships up by investing in CRM software.
It is a comprehensive platform that connects your different departments, from sales to customer service. It integrates with a wide range of platforms your company uses, from social networks to phone systems, and collects customer data in a central location. CRM organizes notes, activities, metrics, and customer information, making it available to every member of your organization.
Top-rated CRM systems: Salesforce, HubSpot CRM, Copper, Salesflare, FreshSales CRM
- Project Management Tools
Effective project management is critical for your company’s success. Now, startups and small businesses can use Google Spreadsheets to manage teams and organize projects. However, as your client base grows and your team expands, managing projects manually will only confuse your employees and harm the overall workplace performance.
To boost the performance of your teams and keep your progress on schedule, you will need to equip your team with a powerful project management application.
Cloud project management tools are available on all devices and operating systems, from their web-based platforms to Android, Windows, and iOS. Your team can share insights and upload files in real-time, no matter if they are working side-by-side or remotely.
The main benefit of project management tools is that they give both managers and employees an overview of all active projects. Basecamp, for example, is a typical drag-and-drop tool, allowing you to split your work into multiple projects. That way, you will be able to bring the teams involved in the project together and delegate tasks faster.
Within each project, members can create new to-do lists and tasks, as well as publish announcements, progress updates, and project ideas on the message board. A shared calendar will help them set important dates and stay on top of their tasks. Each employee will have a personal dashboard, where they can track the tasks assigned to them.
Top project management tools: Basecamp, Trello, Asana, ZohoProjects, Wrike
- Online Business Phone Service
Analog business phone systems are expensive, as they require you to install costly on-premise PBX hardware. As your business grows, you will need to buy additional hardware elements to connect your phone devices.
To reduce costs and maximize both internal and external communications, many companies are making a switch to VoIP phone systems. Compared to traditional phone services, VoIP provides multiple benefits.
VoIP uses cloud PBX rather than on-premise hardware components. It allows you to lower costs, minimize business outages, and improve communication with both team members and customers. By installing a VoIP app, your employees will be able to communicate seamlessly, irrespective of their location or the device they use.
Nextiva, for example, includes comprehensive team collaboration features, such as video meetings, online conferences, file sharing, and team sharing, within its team collaboration suite. It also has a customer relationship suite that lets you record calls, automate calls, and analyze phone calls from a single location. Most importantly, it integrates with all third-party tools your enterprise uses, such as your CRM, billing, and customer support software, to enhance productivity.
Top VoIP phone services: Nextiva, Grasshopper, Jive, OnSip
- Marketing Automation Software
As your company grows, your marketing team will grow and your marketing strategy will get more complex. It will include multiple channels, tools, and processes. Your teams already use a plethora of marketing tools, such as social media management, social media monitoring, website analytics, reporting, email marketing, and lead generation tools.
To deliver on-brand and consistent experiences, you need to invest in reliable marketing automation software. These tools allow you to automate communications with your customers across multiple channels, including SMS, email, social media platforms, digital ads, etc. They integrate with other marketing tools you use, letting you segment your lists more precisely and create highly targeted marketing campaigns.
Top marketing automation tools: HubSpot Marketing Hub, ActiveCampaign, Marketo, Klaviyo
- Enterprise Resource Planning
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is one of the most critical enterprise tools. It helps companies manage their day-to-day activities, including supply chain operations, inventory management, project management, accounting, logistics, procurement, risk management, and so forth.
ERP solutions have a centralized database that lets you integrate people, processes, and technologies. It lets you plan your budget more strategically, predict sales and market trends, and report on the company’s financial state.
ERP tools integrate with other enterprise software solutions, including your CRM, accounting tools, inventory management tools, and project management software.
Top ERP tools: Netsuite, SAP, SYSPRO, Microsoft Dynamic, Sage Business Cloud X3
Ready to Choose the Right Enterprise Tools?
When choosing the right software solutions for your enterprise, remember that not all businesses have the same requirements. Assess your business processes and identify ones that need improvement. Most of the tools mentioned above offer free trials, so sign up to test the tool before purchasing it.
Above all, never focus on quantity. Focus on the quality of tools. Your goal is to build a cohesive and integrated enterprise stack that makes data more transparent, eliminates the silo mentality in your organization, and improves the overall performance of your teams.