Top 5 Software Businesses Need in 2021

Business software can improve efficiency, enhance time management, and reduce administration overheads while maximizing resources for increased profit

11:26 24 June 2021

According to a McKinsey report, 45% of business activities handled by employees can be entirely performed by business software, saving businesses money on human resources--totaling to more than $2 billion.

 

Covid-19 disruptions made business software even more essential. Working from home meant business activities like sales, customer support, data reporting, hiring processes, and training relied on software. As the world slowly wins the war against the pandemic, there’s no denying the fact that the business environment has forever changed. Companies will have to use these five software in 2021 to streamline operations and meet the needs of customers post covid-19.

 

1. Project Management Software

 

The success of a project pegs on finding a link between team productivity and project management. The team has to see the bigger picture and perform tasks geared towards successful project completion. But as many project managers will tell you, the real struggle is scheduling tasks, keeping track of everything, and ensuring each task contributes meaningfully to the project. Project management software bridges the gap between project planning and project implementation.

 

In a nutshell, project management software puts every project aspect in one place. You can use different features in the software to map tasks, allocate them to team members, track deadlines and status reports, and perform team collaboration tasks like file sharing.

 

The project achieves some level of automation as processes become more cost-efficient, error-proof, transparent, and streamlined. And to top it all, project management software offers cloud-based services. Everything happens online through cloud computing to eliminate location limitations and enhance flexibility and scalability.

 

2. Office Suite

 

Office Suite supports core business operations. Even basic Office Suite packages feature document creation software, data presentation software, spreadsheets software, and project management software. Every organization needs Office Suite for file creation, filing, storage, and information sharing.

 

With this software, you can create text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, worksheets, charts, and more. And since cloud services are integrated into most Office Suite packages, employees can perform any task from any part of the world, as long as they have authorization and an internet connection. More importantly, workers can work on the same document simultaneously. The software’s enhanced file sharing and team collaboration capabilities keep critical business activities running smoothly.

 

3. Video Conferencing Software

 

Video conferencing was relatively popular even before Covid-19 hit the globe, but worldwide restrictions made it more popular. And it has proven effective for meetings in the wake of remote working. Thanks to Video conferencing software like Zoom and Skype for Business, meetings became possible amid the restrictions, while online classes became typical for students.

 

According to a recent survey, 76% of workers are willing to remain in their current organizations if the option of working from home remains. 75% of workers prefer remote working because they are less distracted than in an office setting. While 44% of companies globally have a “No Remote Working” policy, they are losing out on the cost savings and productivity that come with letting workers operate from home.

 

Video conferencing software enables near face-to-face meetings and eliminates the time and travel costs related to physical meetings. There is a stronger bond between the employees as they can interact freely. And with more top talent considering remote working an important job factor, every business will soon need video conferencing software to attract and retain top talent.

 

4. Workflow Software

 

Workflow software is similar to project management software but has a slightly different end goal. It's used to define tasks and manage processes for smooth intra-departmental and interdepartmental workflows. Its goal is to enhance collaboration between teams and departments to eliminate complexity in business operations.

 

With Workflow Software, managers can customize tasks for teams, create workflows, define task dependency within the workflow, and automate task scheduling and deadline tracking. Imagine having all your tasks predefined and scheduled, getting frequent alerts on your pending tasks, and automatically taking care of repetitive tasks. Wouldn’t that be great?

 

You wouldn’t have to remember everything you needed to do as the system would take care of everything. That's the power of Workflow software. It tracks employees' performance and develops actionable analytics to help improve productivity.

 

According to research, entrepreneurs spend 68.1% of their time performing daily business tasks like administrative duties, and 31.9% of their time on business activities such as long-term planning and strategy. This has proven counterproductive because time is wasted on tasks workflow software could handle effectively. Workflow Software frees up time for business leaders. They can work on the most important things--those that guarantee business continuity.

 

5. Objective and Key Results (OKR) Software

 

As the name suggests, Objective and Key Results software allow businesses to set, communicate, track, and measure short-term and long-term goals and results. Through OKR software, management can monitor individual and team performance and communicate goals more effectively. Also, teams can record their progress, project blockers, and completed goals in a specific and centralized place.

 

OKR software combines task management software with performance management systems, aligning daily business tasks with the overall team goals and, by extension, company goals. Other benefits of OKR software are:

 

• Users can create, categorize, and prioritize goals.
  
  
• Team leaders can check-in and get updates on the progress.
  
  
• Management gets actionable feedback and progress updates for productivity measurement and improvement.

 

The business environment changed almost overnight, and OKR software is a must-have for businesses in 2021. It gives organizations a true picture of their progress and helps them plan for the future.

 

Get Business Software

 

The future of work will either be purely remote or hybrid. Businesses must prepare by adopting technologies that will help them remain relevant in the new environment. Organizations should identify challenges as they crop up and get the right software solutions. Adopting business software helps increase workers' productivity and cut costs. And no business doesn’t want to be more productive and cut costs.