The entrepreneur's software toolbox
Are you the head of a very small business (less than ten employees)? Or an entrepreneur just starting out? What do you need on a day-to-day basis, and what enterprise software can help you manage your business? Read all our advice on customer relations.
Your day-to-day needs
Your core business needs
What's on your to-do list? You have objectives to achieve, an action plan to implement. What are the main points?
- Canvassing: as you know, it's your customers who keep your business going. So finding them is a priority.
- Loyalty: once you've got a customer, you need to keep them. This is a sine qua non for growth. One-shot sales are short term, powerless to sustain your business.
- COMMUNICATION:
- firstly, operational: a professional mailbox is a basic requirement,
- then promotional, to develop your customer relations, communicate more widely on your news, your image... and gain visibility and legitimacy with prospects, current customers or potential partners.
- Invoicing and collection: you may have customers, but are they paying you as expected? You need to keep track of payments, and follow up where necessary.
These four points are directly linked to your core business. But they are followed by indirectly related actions that are no less important.
Indirect needs
More related to the environment in which your company operates, there are also the associated risks. The structure may be small, but their impact is no less great.
- data backup: a sudden loss of information, such as customer files, databases or accounting records, would be dramatic. It would not only mean wasted time and energy, but also damage your image and affect your credibility with customers and partners.
- protecting your data: hacking doesn't just happen to other people. Malware (viruses) abound. What should you do if a hacker corrupts your system or demands an astronomical ransom? It's best to protect yourself in advance.
The right management tools
With this check-up in mind, let's take a look at the SaaS-based management solutions that can make your day-to-day life easier.
Zimbra for your mailbox
Having a professional e-mail account is, of course, essential. But which mail server should you choose? There are several, at different prices. Zimbra is one of the most popular, both for businesses and for organizations and associations. Open source, it is customized by Ovea and hosted in France. Its availability and the quality of its associated services make all the difference. Synchronized on all devices, it lets you work on the move, always having your mailbox, contacts, calendar and even work documents with you. And because Zimbra is more than just a messaging system, it's also a suite of collaboration software for greater efficiency, productivity and responsiveness.
TigerPro for prospecting, building loyalty and even invoicing
CRM is your tool for prospecting, building customer loyalty and managing customer relations. It can also be used to manage the administrative side of sales, as with online sales management software. Like TigerPro: software that lets you :
- create differentiated pricing grids,
- send quotations to prospective customers, just like with quotation software,
- automatically transform quotes into invoices,
- track payments and set up reminders procedures to keep your cash flow healthy.
With these workflows within the same tool, TigerPro expands the notion of CRM and offers an embryonic ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solution, invaluable for start-ups and small structures destined to grow (a dedicated ERP could cover different needs and processes such as purchasing and inventory management, for example). For more advanced accounting management (general accounting, entry of accounting entries, tax returns, etc.), it is advisable to turn to dedicated online accounting software such as EBP Compta.
Send up to communicate
Now, how do you communicate? With CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software such as Send up. This multi-channel communication solution enables you to carry out marketing campaigns:
- by e-mail: via an intuitive drag & drop interface, responsive templates, scenarios and landing pages are available. Once the campaign has been sent, a detailed report with sales analytics and dashboards enables you to assess its impact in real time, and steer actions to optimize your campaigns,
- by SMS: you can send push SMS messages to your customers or prospects with a specific message,
- by fax: still useful in more old-school sectors! Your campaign is exported as a pdf file and sent to you.
Send up also enables you to conduct market or satisfaction surveys by sending forms or polls.
Oxibox to safeguard your data
Data is invaluable for all companies (small, medium and large): the database, the contact book, but also the associated history of exchanges and work carried out. The question of how to safeguard this data should not be overlooked. It would be unconscionable to leave yourself open to the possibility of losing everything in the event of a crash. What's the best thing to do? Local backup? Cloud? For added security, the Oxibox solution offers you both, with a simple restoration guarantee and the support that goes with it. Data is hosted in France, and insured for up to eight million euros... reassuring!
Bitdefender to protect your data
Backup is one thing, protection is another. You use professional devices: computers, tablets, smartphones; specific applications: e-mail, portals, software... These are all entrances to your information system that need to be protected from malicious attacks. BitDefender's Cloud Administration Console lets you set up and deploy a complete cybersecurity system, protecting you both locally and in the cloud.
A company, however small, has incompressible needs. Those linked to its business, of course, but also those linked to the associated risks. Various management software packages exist and are designed to be both accessible and adapted, so it's up to you to pick and choose what you're looking for to simplify and control your day-to-day activities.
Article translated from French