Small and medium-sized businesses, in contrast to large organizations, do not have infinite resources for technological innovation. Because of this, they frequently lack the funds to purchase pricey business software. Instead, they must choose different routes to business automation.
Due to the intense competition in the commercial software sector, free and open-source software, the concept of software as a service, and falling software pricing are all helping small firms. In this post, we’ll show you some free and inexpensive business software options that can help you run your company more efficiently.
LibreOffice
For many different enterprises, LibreOffice word processing software is essential. The top open-source word processor should be used if you wish to avoid paying a monthly subscription fee for MS Office 365. You can use LibreOffice to:
• Write documents with LibreOffice Writer;
• Create and fill out spreadsheets with LibreOffice Calc;
• Create presentations with LibreOffice Impress;
• Draw vector graphics and flowcharts with LibreOffice Draw;
• Create and organize databases with LibreOffice Base;
• Create and edit math formulas with LibreOffice Math;
Of course, all of this is free, and you can also get a lot of free extensions that will give your LibreOffice bundle some extra capabilities. There are also thousands of free document templates available in 110 different languages. In addition to the standard MS Office.doc format and file formats from other significant Office packs, LibreOffice also supports the OpenDocument file format (.odf).
Photo by Myriam Jessier on Unsplash
Wave Accounting
Small business owners and organizations with 2 to 9 employees can benefit greatly from using this open source accounting platform. Wave cannot be upgraded, so what you see is what you get. Ads that users see help to pay for the program.
If you wish to carry out these procedures in real time, you can connect the platform’s integrated invoicing and payroll tools with your bank. As Wave Accounting is a basic platform, you’ll undoubtedly require some accounting counsel, especially if you don’t have any prior experience in this area. Before they have access to the new software, many businesses are eager to provide small business owners with expert accounting services.
Trello
Small firms frequently need to engage competent freelancers and outsource their job. Trello, a collaboration tool, can help you manage your business operations and keep in touch with all of the freelancers you’re working with. The Kanban scheduling idea, created by Toyota’s engineers, serves as the foundation for Trello. Individual assignments are represented by cards.
Although Trello is not an open-source program, it does provide a free pack with the following features:
• An unlimited number of boards, cards, and lists;
• One Power Up per board;
• Interactions with DropBox and Drive;
• Attachments up to 10 MB;
At $9.99 per month, a premium version called Business Class is available.
Google Analytics
This is a number one freemium analytic app. The free edition of Google Analytics includes a few paid features, such as Pixel, which lets you determine the conversion rate of a website or an ad. By including a page tag (a little piece of JavaScript code) in the header area of your website or on each page you want to track, you may activate Google Analytics for that page.
Because the app is integrated with AdWords, you can monitor the effectiveness of your landing pages and conversion rates for different objectives if you are conducting this kind of online marketing campaign. Sales, lead generation, file downloads, page views, and other objectives are examples of goals.
Several Fortune 500 corporations as well as thousands of small business owners that wish to evaluate the effectiveness of their websites utilize Google Analytics. According to Alexa ratings, this technology is utilized by more than 49% of the top 1,000,000 websites, according to several market share analyses.
Small business owners have been able to conduct their operations more effectively and automate a great deal of tedious and taxing chores thanks to software development firms that adhere to open-source and freemium ideals. Since the success of your firm depends on reliable and diligent software developers, you should at least partially pay them back by making donations or purchasing a premium version if your business expands.
