7 Office Automation Tools for Small Business Owners

Considering office automation tools for your business? Here we will look at some common and popular automation tools that will increase efficiency and productivity and reduce errors so that your small business can do better.

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Why Automation Works?

Office automation tools take care of many simple and mundane tasks a business needs in an attempt to free up time and space for employees to focus on more complex tasks. So, most office automation tools will help with:

  • Communication like call routing through an IVR system.
  • Administrative tasks such as data entry, math, billing, etc.
  • Appointment scheduling.
  • Email and social media management.
  • One-stop automation solution for all projects.
  • Project and content management, and so on.

The purpose of using automation to complete these tasks is to enable employees to not waste time doing mundane, repetitive tasks. Furthermore, having automation take care of it ensures more accuracy and less human error. This way, your small business can increase productivity and efficiency.

Office Automation Tools Your Small Business Needs

So, what office automation tools can your business and office use to improve the way it functions?

  1. A One-Stop Automation Platform 

You may consider a platform like Zapier and IFTTT that allow you to create automated tasks on all essential applications such as Google Calendar, social media apps, Slack, etc. You can access all your important business communication tools, projects, and files in one place.

  1. IVR System

Set up a call routing system with interactive voice response (IVR) from a cloud-based phone service provider like United World Telecom. This will allow you to organize and distribute incoming calls across different numbers and phone lines. You can add a custom greeting, have the IVR interact with the caller, identify the purpose of the call, and route the caller to the right department through a menu of options. This will help you handle large call volumes. 

And in some advanced cases, the IVR may even assist the caller in completing an action without the help of an employee or agent. For example, helping the caller process a payment or renew a subscription, etc.

  1. Manage Projects Better

Consider project and content management systems such as Teamwork, Slack, Monday, Trello, etc., to create a well-organized space for your office tasks and projects. These platforms help you track your progress, log time, and encourage collaboration between team members. They have access to G Suite, Microsoft, and chat tools so that all your work is available in one place.

  1. Social Media Management

Social media management is essential for many small businesses. In fact, for many, it is the starting point and first means of communication. And so, how you manage your social media content can determine how viewers perceive your small business. Social media management tools like Hootsuite, Social Pilot, Buffer, etc., are easy-to-use office automation tools that can really support your social posting and help you achieve the rankings you desire.

  1. Marketing Automation Tools

Some of the other important office automation tools are the ones that assist your marketing and sales efforts. ActiveCampaign and Leadformly are two such tools. ActiveCampaign combines advanced email marketing and standard CRM tools into one software optimized for businesses of every type and size. 

Leadformly, on the other hand, helps you automate your sales process so you can convert leads to sales quicker by increasing conversion rates. More importantly, it helps you do so without needing to build an entire sales team.  

  1. For Words and Grammar

Businesses, small to large, are leaning on content heavily to make their digital marketing strategies successful. However, not everyone can afford a content writer and, let’s face it, not everyone understands grammar. Praise the almighty for Grammarly, a proofreading tool that identifies basic grammatical and spelling errors. Now, Grammarly won’t transform your writing into the next Shakespearean play but it will clean it up at the very least.

  1. Calendly

Some of the most important office automation tools are the ones that help you schedule and make appointments. Calendly is such an automation tool that is easy and fun to use. Set appointments, update preferences, add links in emails, events are automatically added to the calendar from one’s email, and more. Calendly makes it easy to create and keep track of appointments and meetings with various people.

Automate to Succeed

Office automation tools can really take the stress off of you and your employees as they handle simple, menial, and repetitive tasks. Make your office space more productive and efficient with these tools. Automation is on the rise and there will be more tools available to make our lives easier in the very near future. Be on the lookout!

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