Recently, I've added some responsibilities to my role at Smith & Tinker, and have encountered an important point for startups and small companies (again).
The point: There are a plethora of GREAT technology business tools out there for a very low price which can really help you achieve your goals.
These tools all tend to have some key similarities:
- Hosted service using a web front-end. Which leads to...
- Low implementation costs and process
- Highly scalable
- API for integration (and an active effort to integrate into other tools that meet the needs of their customer base)
- LOW price. I'd actually say ridiculously low price.
- The provider is listening to everyone using their product, and they make rapid changes to it; they all tend to be using Agile development methods.
Here are some of the tools I've encountered that fit the bill:
- Zendesk - Helpdesk Ticketing
- Mailchimp - Email Marketing
- Lighthouse - Bug Tracking
There are others, of course. For example, Zoho has a host of business applications including a reasonable ATS for recruiting. And I don't know of any on-line marketer that doesn't use Google Analytics (which is free).
This is great stuff for startups and small businesses. These tools make us ever more able to meet the needs of our business, and they also make us more nimble, too. Not a bad time to be doing the startup thing!
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