News Feature | August 22, 2016

Google Drive, Facebook, LinkedIn Named Most Useful Apps For SMBs

Christine Kern

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

Apps For SMBs

Business owners were asked to rank the top tech tools for 2016 in a new poll.

Tech tools are becoming an essential part of doing business for enterprises of all sizes. Small business owners, entrepreneurs, and startup founders are increasingly using technology to be more efficient, cut costs and increase productivity.

Today’s tools can help them to save and share documents, manage customer relationships, communicate through social media, and market through email. A recent SurePayroll survey polled small business owners about their favorite tech tools and apps, and found Google Drive, Facebook, and LinkedIn were among the most useful apps for SMBs. Other important tools named were Mail Chimp for email marketing, Dropbox, and Salesforce for customer relationship management.

The July 2016 SurePayroll Small Business Scorecard Survey was the third annual poll of SMBs. The survey noted the following favorite tech tools by category:

  • Cloud Storage – Google Drive (last year’s winner was Dropbox)
  • Email Marketing Software – Mail Chimp (last year’s winner was Constant Contact)
  • Organization App – Google Drive
  • Social Network – Facebook
  • Social Media Management – Hootsuite
  • Customer Relationship Management – Salesforce

“Our average customer tells us, for example, that they use Mail Chimp to communicate with customers, Google Drive to store important documents, and SurePayroll to pay their employees. Those are the building blocks and beyond that upgrading technology becomes costly,” explained Andy Roe, general manager of SurePayroll. “Small businesses with only a few employees are not typically going to have a lot of resources for extensive technology systems. Fortunately, there are some really beneficial, low-cost tools available.”

The survey also examined how SMBs are using tech tools and apps. The findings revealed 94 percent use at least one social media platform for their business; 40 percent use email marketing software; and 85 percent use a Cloud storage provider. Further, the poll found 81 percent do not use CRMs and 90 percent do not use social media management tools.

What the results tell tech creators is that they need to provide low-cost, efficient, and user-friendly tools in order for SMBs to adopt them. It also reveals opportunities that vendors and VARs can leverage to help SMBs flourish in the increasingly-challenging marketplace.

To see the full rankings, you can click here.