What Software Solutions Are Best Suited To SMB Organizations?
With how much technology has influenced modern society over the last few decades, it is not at all surprising that modern businesses need to be using software solutions to stay ahead in the game. This is especially true for small to medium businesses, who are often dwarfed by their competitors. We discussed the issue with a company that has been providing managed IT services London based SMBs have used for over a decade. The company, TechQuarters, outlined some of the different applications that software has within an SMB – it varies from general daily work, to highly specialised infrastructure management.
What Solutions Do SMBs Need?
When we asked TechQuarters about the different software solutions that small to medium sized businesses need, they had a lot to say about the matter. As an IT support company London businesses have been seeking advice and support from for many years, they gave us their rundown of essential business solutions:
Office Productivity
The first thing that a business is likely need to have sorted out is their ability to achieve their daily tasks, through efficient workflows. This is where office productivity software comes in – this is the software you use to create content (such as documents, presentations, spreadsheets, etc.), communicate with colleagues and external parties, share and collaborate on files, etc.
The solution that TechQuarters would recommend for these purposes is Office 365. This is a business-oriented package from Microsoft which included, among others, Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, OneNote), Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint, and the Outlook email client. TechQuarters are in fact one of the top Office 365 companies in London, and have been using these products themselves since the company’s inception, and according to them it has ensured their work is always optimized.
CRM & ERP
The next thing to bring up are two very important forms of management in business – Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Both are considered by many to be crucial to the success of a business in their own ways.
Firstly, Customer Relationship Management is all to do with how a business optimizes their workflow around customer services. This usually involves cooperation between the marketing department, the sales department. There are many software solutions designed to help centralise all data pertaining to customers, so that the marketing and sales representatives in an organisation can access the data and cooperate with each other efficiently – the intended result is for a business to optimize their relationship with their customers, which can encourage brand loyalty, and even help unlock new business opportunities.
Enterprise Resource Planning is a much broader solution, which concerns the management of all resources across an organisation. This includes (but is not limited to) inventory, cash, and even personnel. ERP software enables a business to manage their business processes to a very high degree, and often in real-time.
According to TechQuarters, there is a software solution that combines the capabilities of both CRM and ERP solutions – known as Microsoft Dynamics 365. It is a platform with 12 primary applications:
- Dynamics 365 Sales
- Dynamics 365 Customer Service
- Dynamics 365 Field Service
- Dynamics 365 Human Resource
- Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations
- Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management
- Dynamics 365 Commerce
- Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation
- Dynamics 365 Marketing
- Dynamics 365 AI
- Dynamics 365 Mixed Reality
For SMBs, there is an app within Dynamics 365 known as Dynamics 365 Business Central which is specifically geared towards ERP for small to medium sized businesses. There are a few advantages to integrating CRM and ERP processes into a single platform – for one thing, it enables a business to manage their operations from a single place, which simplify things. It also means that a business can accrue a wealth of data, all in one place, from which they can gain insights.
If an SMB is already using Office 365, they will find that Dynamics 365 allows them to integrate their workflows very effectively.
