Do you feel like your business has not been keeping up to date with the recent industry standards? Keeping yourself well equipped with the latest tech is essential, but what is even more subject to regular change is the kind of software that is used to run businesses around the world. New and improved software with the newest features and quality of life improvements gets pumped out by the truckload for a good reason, it is still a growing market, and everyone wants to be the next best thing. From the perspective of a business owner, you should take full advantage of this, if you have not already, and provide both yourself and your staff with the most up to date software to maximise their efficiency. Not to mention, often make it easier for everyone involved. Let’s have a quick look at some of the more recent software that could easily improve your

Office tools

Even if your business does not have any necessity for everyday office work, chances are you’ve heard of Microsoft Office before, or even use it yourself at home. Just about every establishment uses some sort of text formatting software other than notepad, mostly Microsoft Word, same goes for Excel. As you probably already know, spreadsheets and Excel go hand in hand, and spreadsheets are a common method of storing data in businesses. Be it customer info, upcoming tasks, or stock levels, they have been doing a good job for many a year. In order to provide yourself or your staff with the best tools for the job, keeping up with the Microsoft Office releases is very helpful. With the somewhat recent release of Microsoft 365, you are now able to use online versions of the long-running desktop programs you’ve come to love over the years. Powerpoint, Word, Excel, Publisher and many more, now have their own web-based counterparts making them useable on more or less anything which uses a browser. Definitely something worth upgrading for, if you weren’t too sure about it beforehand.

Communication

If you happen to work in a team of people, or your company comprises of a few groups which work closely together, sometimes e-mails just are not enough to stay in touch and on top of everything. E-mails are slowly starting to show their age as they are still relatively clunky and “rigid” compared to newer instant messenger clients. Many exist, but one which easily stands out and especially for businesses, is Slack. Slack is a wonderful piece of software which manages to create a workflow like no other. Features such custom channels for discussing specific topics, file uploading, app integration, quick and effective search, voice calls as well as text chat. It really is  as great as it sounds, and best of all, you can start using the free package for as long as you like, and as many people as you like, even now. That’s enough gushing about Slack for now, but it is genuinely a great communication tool and definitely deserves your attention if you want to improve your staff’s workflow.