Keys to choose a business management software

Choosing a business management software in today's vast digital market is not an easy task. Your choice must meet the most relevant and important needs of your company.

It is proven that companies by adopting a business management software get significant benefits and speed up the achievement of objectives, in addition these solutions facilitate the development of teleworking and compliance with labor regulations.

In fact, many companies use different business management software to carry out most of their business activities, such as talent management and payroll systems, CRMs, project managers, time and attendance software, etc.

What is business management software?

There are different types of business management software but they all aim to boost business performance by optimizing workflows, employee management and data management.

It is a versatile business technology designed to help managers and decision makers explicitly monitor and streamline complex and time-consuming procedures and workflows, thereby greatly improving the overall performance of their organization.

Setting up an effective business management software suite will give you a 360-degree view of vital aspects of the business such as:

In short, business management tools extract daily processes to drive the efficiency of the organization's activities.

Benefits of business management software

Business management software, either in a dedicated form or as a set of integrated solutions, provides a single system for managing the most important parts of a business.

Business management software promotes business growth, cost-effectively, by streamlining processes, reducing costs and improving productivity. To better understand their "raison d'être", here are the main benefits:

They increase performance, saving management time.

Office workers waste time on tasks that could be automated, such as manual reports or approval of applications, contracts, invoices, etc. These tasks do not have to consume the whole day.

When you invest in software you manage to reduce the amount of time your workers spend on manual tasks, it will make them more productive.

Provide easier collaboration

Many companies use task and project management software to assign different work activities to employees and track their progress, including automating the allocation of time spent on specific projects. They also use file sharing platforms to share documents with co-workers in real time.

There are other communication tools that allow employees to post ideas and comments across teams. This allows discussions to take place at all hours of the day and during any work mode, encouraging member participation.

Saves money

Companies can leverage these tools to eliminate additional costs. By reducing the amount of paperwork and unnecessary business processes, you will be able to avoid hiring more people, as with a business management software you will be able to deal with the work overload without problems.

Increase productivity

Business management software focused on measuring work performance allows you to track the productivity of your employees to see which tasks take less time, what else can be automated and where they need help and guidance.

Likewise, solutions such as EffiWork, WorkMeter's productivity measurement software, ensure digital disconnection and compliance with legal regulations. All of its data collection respects employee privacy by fostering a transparent record and promoting trust between the manager and their teams.

Improve decision making

A business management software will collect, manage and control information about various aspects and processes of the business in one place, so you can analyze the results and understand what works best and what does not to make smart decisions and anticipate errors or risks.

How to choose a business management software

We understand that having to choose between the best business management software offered in the digital market requires a lot of time and research. To help you choose the right one, we explain what you should consider before deciding.

Now that you know about the different business management software you can start making a list of the management, planning or measurement software that you consider most suitable for your company and departments. Of course, there are many features to consider, so here are the most important ones:

Standalone vs SaaS software

Standalone software tends to have quite a few limitations. This type of software is paid for only once and then installed on the hardware you own, which is great if you work with sensitive data. However, you will have to buy new versions to upgrade your system, and it can be very difficult to integrate it with other products as it was designed to be used alone.

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a type of software purchased by subscription and hosted by the service provider in the cloud. They generally offer an excellent and easy payment method, based on your company's needs. In addition, it is automatically updated at no additional cost and can usually be easily integrated with other software.

There is also a third option. You can opt for a customized software, where every aspect depends on your business needs. It can be hosted locally or in the cloud, it can have as many different functions as you need and, most importantly, it can be continuously upgraded as your business grows. Of course, it will be a large capital investment, but it will fit your business like a glove.

Free trial

We understand that you don't want to commit to a software before testing its functionalities and confirming that it meets your expectations. That's why it's important that when choosing the business management software providers you are most interested in, you take into account that you can test its functionalities thanks to a few days of free trial.

At WorkMeter we offer a 15-day free trial so that you can get to know the functionalities of any of our business management software.

Learning curve

It is important to keep in mind that, depending on the software, you will have to train your employees on how to use the program, its functionalities and benefits.

If the new system seems too complicated and difficult to use, it is not a cost-effective solution. Good software is usually intuitive and easy to learn. Of course, you won't be able to skip a basic training course for your employees, but it will be better than huge manuals and endless courses on the functionalities of complicated software.

Source code

You can skip this, if you need a quick fix and don't plan to customize the software later on. But it's important to keep in mind that some products come with open source code, which means you'll be able to add some iterations when the time comes.

In the case of closed source, you won't be able to change it or even take a look at its appearance. If the software with a closed source code would no longer meet your needs, you will have to change it.

Integrations

Carefully studying the integration opportunities of the business management software suite in question will help mitigate the risks of having to switch from one product to another. You will be able to connect other necessary systems seamlessly and centralize all your business information on a single platform.

Provider

When choosing a vendor, it is best to carefully consider their knowledge and experience, as well as know the client companies that are confirmed by their reputation.

Types of business management software

The huge role of new information technologies and their growing presence in various spheres of modern business increasingly entails the presence of software applied to the business management of organizations.

Nowadays, information technologies play an important role in business strategies, as they are changing the way companies carry out their processes. Information systems allow companies to achieve competitive advantages in different ways: by coordinating valuable activities in locations that are located in a wide geography, or also by creating new interrelationships between businesses, expanding the scope of industries. It also helps companies to support their competitive strategies, either to stay one step ahead of the competition or to reduce competitive advantages.

Business management software is a type of program designed to support a segment of the business. Almost all common functions of an organization (customer databases, payroll, accounting, etc).

You should know that there are many types of business management software created to cope with the different tasks of the areas and departments of a company. Here is a list of the most common ones:

This list, in turn, exposes a series of essential systems for the digitization of your company's processes and the optimization of business performance, within the current business management dynamics. Systems worth specifying.

Workday registration software

Since 2019 companies must comply, by law, with the time recording of the working day of each employee and the aim of meeting this need are born the systems dedicated to the time control.

Within the great functional variety of these systems, better known as time and attendance software, there is a differential factor that is the automation of the record, a feature that few programs have, since the employee usually has to manually record within the program the time of entry and exit, including breaks and breaks. This can represent a waste of time and a risk of inaccuracy.

However, there is time and attendance software such as Time@Work (SaaS), where data recording is fully automatic and objective. Employees do not have to clock in, the recording is done once employees are logged into their work computers. It also records break and rest times or offline work, such as calls, meetings, business visits, business trips, etc. All in one click, workers don't have to calculate times, this will be done by Time@Work, and HR managers will have the reports of daily working hours and overtime, per employee, in real time and from anywhere.

ERP: enterprise resource planning systems

Nowadays, business software encompasses as varied needs as possible, facilitating the management of the company's management information. ERP is a robust solution for companies looking for a universal solution to centralize their information.

ERP is a comprehensive business management system that is designed to model and automate most of the company's processes (finance, sales, logistics, production, etc.). Its mission is to facilitate the planning of all company resources.

"ERP" stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. In English, Enterprise Resource Planning. In the past, ERP systems were used by large companies to unify and organize all the information concerning their customers: purchases, sales, collections, shipments, inventories, deliveries, current accounts, etc.

Today, an ERP can work in practically any modern company. All the activities of all the sectors of a company involved in the activity with customers can be managed through an ERP.

The main objectives of an ERP system are:

CRM: Customer Relationship Management

A CRM will allow you to connect with your potential customers easily, it is a software for customer relationship management.

A CRM unifies the spreadsheets, databases and applications that many companies combine to track customer data. Thus promoting business organization and efficiency, as well as better time management and satisfied customers.

Customer management systems, such as CRM, connect all the data about your services and products with the people interested in their purchase or investment, all in one place. It consolidates all communications and documents involved; forms, calls, emails, text messages, documents, quotes, purchases, comments and tasks, with each prospect and customer.