Best Technology Stack for Businesses

It can be hard to find the best tech stack for small businesses. With so much software out there it can be really difficult to know what to look for and which one to use.

A tech stack can look different for every business depending on its needs but there are some basics that every business should invest in.

CRM Software

This is arguably the most important of the Technology stack for a business. Every business needs a way to manage the interactions with their customers

A good CRM or customer relationship management software provides you with a way to keep track of your customers.

There are a lot of benefits to good CRM software and here are just some of them.

Ability to store customer data and contact information
Keep track of all potential estimates or quotes sent out and what the next step is.
A good CRM system will give you some sales forecasting ability
Ability to keep track of conversations and critical sales data.
Ability to share information with the whole team and a database that anyone can access.
Have systems in place for creating sales orders and creating quotes
Ability to track individual sales staff efforts
- How many new contacts are they making each day
- How many sales proposals are they sending out
- How many sales are being closed

Some of the best CRM software I have used are:

Hubspot
Salesforce
Monday
PipeDrive
FreshSales

Accounting software Technology

This is another critical piece of the technology software stack. An accounting system is only as good as the data that goes into it and the best ones connect to all your other software.

Good accounting software should be able to show your

How profitable you are on a daily basis
forecast trends and cashflow
a readable profit and loss statement
tax preparation software
Payroll software
invoicing capabilities
asset and liabilities list

Each one of these will give you the ability to spot a trend before it becomes a problem.

Cash flow is one of the biggest reasons businesses fail, most businesses are profitable at the end of the day but cash flow is always the biggest issue. You are trying to buy the product before you can sell it and when the money comes in it’s already marked for the next round of buying the product or payroll. It can be a vicious cycle if not managed correctly.

Best accounting software I have used

Sage
QuickBooks
FreshBooks (my favorite so far)
Wave (best free option)
Bonsai
Zoho

Email Software

This is by far the most common software in every business even though in my opinion it is one of the biggest time wasters. Although I have yet to see a good alternative to email. I still keep hoping something will come out that will allow the communication to get more specific, and there are not just a bunch of emails in your inbox that someone wanted to copy you on just because.

Email Outreach Software.

This software can be very useful for sales staff and general outreach. While using this software does seem to be getting harder due to the algorithms blocking a lot of the emails that are considered spam. I still think there is a place for this tool in a sales team.

The Email Marketing tools I like so far are:

Mailshake (my favorite)
YAM (yet another mail merge)
Pitch box
Woodpecker

Email list builders

Email list building is critical if you have a website and you want to build and audience with.

A strong email list can make you a lot of money if you monetize it right.

My favorite List building Tools are

ConvertKit
MailChimp
ActiveCampaign

Social Media Software

Social media is a necessary part of any business these days and with regular posting, you can see nice brand engagement and awareness.

The best social media software allows you to create a system that automatically posts for you on a schedule you create like daily or weekly.

Collaboration Software

Good collaboration software allows you to stay connected with your whole team. You can share files and information instantly and it allows your team to communicate quickly and efficiently.

Team members can send messages, coordinate tasks, and delegate responsibilities to each other.

Telephone Software

the best telephone software allows you to manage all your CSR’s and track who is answering how many calls and what calls are coming into what number.

You can see when your busiest times are where the majority of the calls are coming from if when your marketing is targeting different areas of the country.

A good phone system will also give you the opportunity to have conference and video calls with your remote workers. This allows everyone to stay on the same page and feel part of the team.

These are the most common software stacks I see in most businesses but there are always some unique ones out there.

Let me know what your favorite tech stack is that you have seen in a business.

Landing Page Builder

If you have a website a landing page builder is a must. This is one of the best ways to test copy and turn visitors into customers.

A good landing page builder should be easy to use and set up. And have plenty of templates available. This way you can just use what is considered best practices for the design.