The 15 Best Business Management Tools for Office Managers

With workplaces moving all or part of their operations to an online or remote environment, office managers must adapt to this new way of doing things. They must be armed with just the right business management tools to ensure the business continues to run smoothly and efficiently.

Small businesses in particular need cost-effective business software programs that will help them to streamline their processes and the everyday functioning of the office. Even businesses that have an in-person, physical component like fitness studios or beauty salons have had to adopt remote working tools internally to stay operational amid lockdowns and social distancing protocols.

This includes assistance with things like project and time management, document sharing and collaboration, communication with team members and external key stakeholders, accounting, customer relations, and space management and access control.

All sound a little overwhelming?

It doesn’t have to be. We’ve prepared a simple guide to the best business management tools and best business management software for office managers to consider when making the switch to managing the operations of a remote small business.

What Exactly Are Business Management Tools?

Broadly speaking, business management tools are software solutions that assist companies in managing and streamlining their core processes and procedures. Any application that is equipped to automate processes, reduce errors, collect data, and increase the efficacy of a business’s operations can be classified as business management software and a business management ‘tool’.

These tools are specifically designed to help businesses to operate more effectively, stay competitive, and improve their overall performance with functionalities like resourcing, projects and tasks, document sharing and collaboration, sales and customer relations, and invoicing.

Business management tools and techniques not only assist with the planning, monitoring, and control of various office management activities, they also provide a means of measuring business performance for the continuous improvement practices of any business operating in some form of remote fashion.

These tools are the perfect way to streamline business workflow and to help small businesses and their employees to ‘work smarter, not harder’ and remain successful in today’s economic climate.

Why Are Business Management Tools Important?

Business management tools are reliable, time-saving, and smart digital solutions to improve business processes.

Business management tools help businesses make smarter decisions, gain business effectiveness, reduce operating costs, and increase business revenue by centrally organizing all business information in an accessible and user-friendly way.

These tools give employees a sense of accountability to improve productivity, increase control and knowledge about business procedures, help reduce errors and bottlenecks in data management, coordinate staff communications, and very importantly build customer relations by providing a better overall customer experience.

The automation of essential business procedures with such business management software ultimately also reduces manual efforts and time wastage, freeing up employees to work on higher-level projects and strategy, as well as on core business development. 

How does one select the right tools for their business? That depends on your business’s particular needs. There’s no “one size fits all” answer.

Features and functionalities must be selected strategically and adapted to suit the individual business’ needs. As such, business management software comes in a variety of forms.

We’ll list what we think are the best tools for remotely working small businesses under what we believe are the essential categories of business management operations.

Accounting and Finance

Accounting and finance mostly refer to invoicing and bookkeeping, but can also refer to automated banking, expense tracking, and anything else to do with the flow of revenue in and out of your business. These accounting tools will help you make sure your business stays out of the red and keep the lights on.

Xero

Xero is a safe and secure Cloud-based accounting software solution that is fast, simple, and powerful. It’s conveniently accessible from anywhere, at any time.

Xero centralizes invoices, contacts, and accounts online for easy creation of financial reports, syncing of banking information, real-time collaboration in a remote environment, and can be customized to suit specific business needs.

Invoicing and reporting can also be automated, and daily bank feeds made available, for even smoother financial transactions.

Quickbooks

Quickbooks is one of the best tools for startups or small businesses and is well-suited to the remote workspace through its use of cloud storage. It is an affordable and easy-to-use bookkeeping software with a wide range of features including expense tracking and reporting, and monthly financial statements.

Quickbooks automates features like recurring transactions and bank feeds and enhances collaboration without the headache of version control worries. It also integrates well with a variety of other financial tools, giving you more leeway when managing the various aspects of business accounting processes.

Freshbooks

Managing small business finances with Freshbooks means easy invoicing and effective time tracking. Affordable and intuitive to use, Freshbooks provides simple accounting features for small businesses, including the option of integrated payment processing options.

A dedicated Freshbooks Account Manager is also delegated to assist in customizing the accounting platform to ensure it is aligned with the business’ specific wants and needs.

Productivity and Task Management 

Even small delays or hiccups can pile up quickly and derail a whole team. Deadlines get missed. Expectations fail to be met. Important documentation goes missing out of the blue. Clients and customers are left unsatisfied and unhappy. 

These productivity and task management tools will help your team stay on track and run smoothly and efficiently.

Asana

In theory, business management tools should be able to show you a big-picture view of what everyone on your team is doing; Asana affords you this privilege. Asana lets you view assignments and projects in a list or in calendar mode to give an umbrella overview of priorities and timelines and ensure everyone stays on track.

The beauty of Asana is that it also lets office managers customize and individually track each task within a project.

Remote collaborations are made easy with Asana as it can additionally seamlessly integrate with a variety of third-party apps.

ClickUp

In terms of free business management tools, look no further than ClickUp.

This easy-to-use work productivity app assists users with project and task management, time management, collaboration, and reporting.

ClickUp allows work data and items to be seen in multiple views for greater understanding and tracking by Office Managers and provides ready-made templates that can be customized to suit unique business requirements.

ClickUp offers a free plan with no time limit and is currently one of the most robust free plans for business management tools, providing a wide range of project management features at no cost.

Trello

Trello is a highly adaptable and flexible web-based collaboration and project management tool that allows for small business project planning in a single real-time platform.

Incredibly user-friendly, Trello is a visual tool that uniquely utilizes boards, lists, and cards to give Office Managers a clear view (remotely) of who’s doing what, and what needs to get done, as it relates to project tracking.

It provides small businesses with a great way to visualize goals and manage productivity, as well as encourages lists to keep the tasks organized and delivered on time.

Communication

It’s important to the smooth running of your business that everyone on your team be on the same page at a given moment and that team members are able to communicate with each other if they’re confused, stuck, need login credentials, or just unsure how to proceed. These communication tools help bridge those gaps and make your business a collaborative work environment where knowledge-sharing and the free exchange of ideas are encouraged.

Slack

Slack unifies business communications including voice or video calls, messages, and files into one location, redefining interaction in the remote workspace. Gone are the days when you’d need to play email tag with a coworker or hope to find someone at their desk to ask a question or get the information you need for a project. With Slack, everyone on your team is just one DM away.

It is also an “open platform”, meaning users who are not necessarily employees can interact as part of an open community. That means you can easily bring in clients, contractors, freelancers or people from other departments or teams with few if any communication barriers. On the flip side, Slack also essentially allows for private channels for the sharing of confidential business information. 

Slack is easy to integrate with other apps including HubSpot, Google Drive, Dropbox, Trello, and Google Calendar to allow more seamless business operations and syncs across mobile, web, and desktop.

The biggest selling point for Slack is its ability to adapt and customize according to particular business needs. There is also a free version available.

GoToMeeting

GoToMeeting is an affordable web conferencing tool that facilitates easy collaboration and communication with remote team members. GoToMeeting is widely thought of as the easiest-to-use collaboration tool on the market.

Small businesses can host online meetings in high definition of up to 250 external participants and invite remote colleagues on any internet connection. 

GoToMeeting enables the updating of documents in real-time, access control, meeting recordings, screen sharing, as well as online presentations and live demonstrations to assist with all manner of business development ventures.

Zoom

Zoom is one of the most popular business management tools for remote workspaces and conveniently supports both desktop and mobile users. This cloud-based video conferencing service is very easy to use and offers a wide range of services to accommodate any business’ needs. 

It’s not just useful for staff meetings and internal communications. Zoom’s range of features includes video and audio conferencing, external collaboration, chat, and allows for the hosting of a variety of virtual events such as webinars and presentations through its support of large audiences.

However, despite this large hosting feature, there is good news for small businesses who wish to use Zoom as part of their suite of business management tools. There is a free version of Zoom with unlimited meetings capped with a 40 minute meeting time limit – just perfect for small businesses and startups!

Zoom is also fully compatible with Google Calendar and supports social media integration like Zoom Live on Facebook.

Google Workspace

Google Workspace is ubiquitous in the tech sector and is the most widely-used office suite with 59.41% of the market share, with Microsoft Office coming behind at 40%. Google Workspace offers a complete suite of communications and business management software promoting secure integrated Cloud-based team collaboration and information sharing. 

It is comprised of all the recognized Google apps and tools for every conceivable workplace function including Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Docs, Hangouts, and Meet, just to name a few. 

Small businesses will benefit from a more professional-looking business email, unlimited storage space for photos, files, and documents, enhanced data security, integrated online calendars, and more with Google Workspace as their primary business management tool.

Lead and Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Your customers are the lifeblood of your business. Your continued growth depends on not just attracting customers but to keep them coming back. For that, you need a system to document how they’ve interacted with your brand, whether they’re new or repeat customers, what support issues they’ve had, and how positive their interactions with you have been.

CRMs like these let you interact with your customers the same way you would with people in real life, humanizing your brand and earning the trust of your audience.

Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM is a simple and easy-to-use Cloud-based tool that features painless migration from spreadsheets and other CRMs, real-time access to sales cycle monitoring, and can be configured to automatically create contacts from website forms to ensure no lead ever slips through the cracks.

It allows for the easy implementation of integrated and targeted email marketing campaigns aimed to increase sales and drive business development.

The best part? Zoho CRM is perfect for small businesses – basic Zoho CRM is FREE for up to 10 users.

Constant Contact

Constant Contact is another all-in-one marketing platform that can help any small business with their email marketing.

It offers features to boost a variety of marketing campaigns, but its real strength lies in extensive support for email marketing – a must for any remote and developing small business.  

Constant Contact provides customization tools and templates, lists segmentation, and allows for integration with other complementary platforms (particularly eCommerce platforms) for smoother implementation, real-time tracking of email campaigns, and assist in driving leads into sales.

This business management tool is known for its interactive and engaging marketing campaigns with options like events management, fundraising tools, surveys and pools, sign-ups, and forms to make it easier to engage with targeted audiences and nurture customer relations. Constant Contact makes it easier to plan demand generation campaigns that are fun and engaging.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is a well-known all-in-one marketing automation platform and email marketing service.

It helps small businesses with A.I-powered user-friendly tools and the ability to create multichannel campaigns that are easy to build and launch, as well as analytics features that give them valuable insights into their audience. Mailchimp also provides attractive and visually appealing drag and drop templates and content support to assist with professional-looking content that remains true to the brand.

These tools primarily assist small businesses to manage mailing lists and create automated email marketing campaigns however its sales and eCommerce tools also can turn audience insights into personalized marketing and further foster CRM.

Not only that, but it’s FREE for up to 2000 subscribers!

Apptivo

Apptivo is another cloud-based CRM solution and web-based business management tool, best suited to the growing sales and marketing needs of a small business.

Its comprehensive set of features and customization elements can integrate sales, project, and financial data in a single platform, helping small businesses to grow with in-depth analytics and customer engagement tactics. One major benefit is its ability to prioritize and manage clients, distribute sales resources effectively, and create a streamlined process to both capture and target winning leads.

Apptivo is an affordable and intuitive way to manage customer communications and support existing relationships for small businesses across the board.

Space Management and Access Control

Pivoting to remote workflows is all well and good if you’re a startup or an eCommerce store, but what are you supposed to do if you have a physical location that depends on people visiting it to stay cash-positive? Abandoning your physical location and going straight to a digital storefront just isn’t realistic or desirable for everyone.

Luckily, space management tools exist that can help you control access to your space and keep an eye on the people going in and out of it. 

Nexkey

As wonderful as these tools are, it’s not feasible for every business to transition to a remote environment - at least, not all at once. Office spaces and stores with brick-and-mortar locations still need a way to monitor the flow of people in and out of their space - especially given that the pandemic is still ongoing. If you need a space management tool that can be operated remotely, Nexkey has you covered.

Nexkey’s unique smart access control and security system allow keyless entry to office spaces with any type of door and any kind of lock, simply by using a smartphone.

Keeping track of physical keys and keycards can put a dent in your monthly expenses and be extremely difficult to manage, even for experienced office managers. Office managers can spend as much as 20% of their day on key management alone - time better spent finding more clients or members to grow your business.

Nexkey is a cloud-based smart access control system that uses your smartphone as your key. Nexkey is easier to install and more secure than its market alternatives. Access control has come a long way since it was first rolled out, and Nexkey uses access control 2.0 which is easier to install and more cost effective. It also gives you a monitoring dashboard allows for the remote locking and unlocking of doors, the scheduling of user access, and workspace analysis. It enables you as an office manager to see people coming and going from the office in real-time. 

What Are You Waiting For?

As more businesses operate from a variety of locations or in a semi-remote capacity, it will become more important to ensure access to a core central location is effectively managed.

That’s where Nexkey comes in.