Deep down, even in the hearts of the most active, hardest working entrepreneur, lies an ambition to let their businesses run on its own. The ultimate fully automated business. Of course, that dream is beyond the reach of the vast majority of us but there are some neat tools coming out which can automate huge areas of a business.
Accounting - Automate the dreaded invoicing and tax returns
For many business owners, whether in ecommerce or more traditional fields, an inordinate amount of time seems to be spent on accounting. Making sure the records are up to date and correct is an integral part of the long term success of any business so it’s not really surprising that there are new tools being developed to automate everyday accounting and bookkeeping.
The team at Templafy have come up with a great list of excel based programs all designed to ease the accounting process.
- Smartsheet
Smartsheet’s list of Excel spreadsheets is all you need to get started. They have researched the best Excel accounting templates out there and included them in a list ready for downloading. They are divided into categories by purpose, making it easy to get an overview and select exactly the template, you need.
- Business Accounting Basics
Business Accounting Basics offer free Excel bookkeeping templates for many purposes. The list is not as long, but includes all you need to get started. Resources include petty cash, cash books, business expenses, sales invoices and balance sheets. A good resource, if your accounting needs are not very complicated.
- ExcelDataPro
Again, a long list of purpose-categorized Excel bookkeeping templates. ExcelDataPro keeps you on track with your finances and manage your invoices, profit and loss statements, generate salary slips, prepare balance sheets, track accounts payable and receivable etc. More features, but with a great overview!
- Beginner Bookkeeping
If you need some descriptions on what the different templates can be used for, beginner-bookkeeping.com is a great resource for finding your basic Excel accounting templates along with useful descriptions. For instance, what is a Cash Flow Form and how do you use it?
- Themeforest
If you want to crank it up a notch and invest in a low-priced online bookkeeping system with access to more resources than just Excel spreadsheet templates, try looking at Themeforest’s list of accounting systems available online for as little as US$8.
These easy to use and simple programs can really help you to save time on the mundane and tedious task of accounting and allow you to focus on creating awesome products and deliver great service for your customers, which in turn leads to growth in your business.
Marketing - Can it be automated?
The short answer is yes. A lot of this comes down to designing and implementing a coherent marketing strategy. Doing lots of social media posts without any strategy behind it rarely serves its purpose and can often lead to disappointing results. Fortunately, there are tools and apps which can help you get a grip on the marketing strategy.
Quartsoft have come up with a small but high quality list of useful marketing automation apps, including Eloqua, Marketo, Pardot and of course, Hubspot.
Hubspot is the most famous marketing tool, which brings together all the elements of marketing into one platform. It enables the user to track and monitor progress in CRM, deliver automated email campaigns and identify ROI. Businesses who utilise this sort of platform effectively should see strong growth in traffic and revenue generated from online marketing.
Marketo is a sophisticated platform that combines a plethora of elements in marketing including behavior analysis, mobile marketing and social media integration. They have a number of programs which serve any organisation from start ups to big established corporates. This platform seems particularly good for any organization that wants to reach a large, yet relevant audience.
Eloqua is owned by tech giant Oracle, so they also have a huge amount of resources. This particular platform focuses on managing client leads and conversion rates. Using all the channels such as content and videos, Eloqua seeks to personalize the customer experience which leads to better conversions and sales.
Pardot is another marketing platform owned by a large technology company, this time Salesforce. They focus more on B2B marketing through the usual channels. Their big USP is they will integrate with Salesforce, a CRM and cloud based computing system used widely by businesses around the world.
Automation is Possible
As technology continues to develop at pace, automation of marketing, accounting and in other aspects of business is increasingly within reach. It can seem a bit ‘corporate’ for some start ups, who like the personal touch when dealing with customers but even there, automation is making personal service more efficient than ever before. Even so, it pays to be careful when striving for a company to run itself as there are some things that just can not replace the emotional connection between people. Think about how to use automation to enable the people in your company reach out to customers more, not less.