RESOURCES AND TOOLS: TECHNOLOGY
Tools To Go Digital
Technology Tools
Many small businesses that previously relied on face-to-face interactions to operate need to expand their digital footprint to survive through the pandemic. These small businesses need access to a variety of software to make this transition. Provided below is a compilation of resources that can help businesses take the first step in that direction.
Marketing
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free tool to gauge a website’s performance through page visit counts and click-through counts. It can also analyze a visitor's demographics, their location, and which device type they use to access the website.
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Verizon’s Business Maker
Verizon’s Business Maker has a self-service feature that can boost a site’s search rankings and customer awareness by listing it on 70+ business listing directories. Verizon is currently offering a free personalized consultation for a limited time.
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Trend.io
A good remote marketing strategy is to find a micro-influencer to promote your products. Trend.io connects small businesses to micro-influencers who have shown to provide high quality content and high engagement. Trend.io prices per campaign.
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Atlassian Cloud
Atlassian is offering its cloud services for free to teams of up to ten people. The following are included in the offer: Jira Software (for planning, tracking, and shipping software development projects), Confluence (a team workspace that allows for smooth collaboration and project management), and Trello (visual task communication board).
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Automation Anywhere
Automation Anywhere has released a series of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) softwares to help businesses cut down time on processes such as Excel data lookup, periodic updates on Slack, and remote inventory management for free.
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Slack
Slack is a team organization tool that aims to facilitate group communication. Users can create team discussion threads, group chats, and direct messages. The tool is very useful when there are many teams working on the same project.
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Open for Business
Open for Business lists firms that are offering free technology tools to enhance the remote working experience for small businesses. These tools include: communication software, cloud software, and website builders. Many of these firms offer free trials of up to 1 year.
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Box
Box is a cloud service company that offers a 90 days free trial for small businesses. This service has no data storage limit and a 5 GB size limit for file uploads. For small businesses, the cloud is a powerful tool to improve information storage, security, and data analysis.
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Google Cloud
Google Cloud by Google integrates useful tools in the Google Suite such as Google Maps for users to include in their applications. Google Cloud offers $300 worth of free credits for new users upon sign up.
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Dynamics 365 Microsoft
Microsoft Dynamics 365 streamlines the administrative tasks of the sales process and lets businesses focus on providing more value to the customers. Currently, Microsoft offers up to 6 months of free trial of the customer service and remote assist applications to help combat COVID-19.
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Salesforce
For small businesses seeking transition into a digital sales model, customer relationship management may be a difficult, but important task. With Salesforce, businesses can have a better grasp of their brand image and customer sentiment. Currently, Salesforce is offering a 90 days free trial.
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HubSpot
HubSpot offers a free CRM program with unlimited users, data, and up to 1,000,000 contacts with no time limit or expiration date. This program can be used to keep track of all customer interactions, including emails, calls, and notes, and it stores them in a timeline for a streamlined overview.
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Tableau
Tableau is a data visualization and analysis tool. When businesses decide to go digital, they need robust software to process all of the data they collect to make well-informed decisions. As a response to COVID-19, small businesses can request a 3 month free trial of Tableau.
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Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office offers a suite of data analytics tools for small businesses. Microsoft Excel and Access provide versatile options for users to analyze and visualize data. Currently, Microsoft Office offers a 1 month free trial for users.
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Airtable
Airtable is a free online spreadsheet tool for team collaboration and data management. Even though this tool does not offer as much data manipulation options, it is very user friendly and excels at data visualization.
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Swing Buy
Swing Buy is an online marketplace that offers same-day delivery and pickup. Retailers can leave the package outside the store and a driver will pick it up. Although businesses will be charged a 10% sales commission, there is no integration fee to join the marketplace.
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Shippie
Shippie is an online delivery service that helps small businesses deliver products to their customers. This service is primarily aimed towards deliveries of small shipments across a city. This service could be a great tool for local businesses selling small products.
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Gravity Payments
Gravity Payments is an online payment tool that offers alternative methods for companies to receive payment. Gravity Payments offers a free review of a businesses’ credit card statements. It also helps businesses set up an online ordering system and online store.
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Volunteer Developers Against COVID
Volunteer Developers Against COVID is a platform built by YouTeam. It provides a list of software agencies that are offering free website development. The agencies offer service in a variety of programming languages and structures of development.
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Squarespace
Squarespace is an online web development tool for small businesses. The site offers user friendly functions and intuitive interfaces. Currently, the site offers a free trial for small businesses that want to establish their own website.
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Wix
Wix is a free web development tool for coding laymen. The site includes hundreds of pre-built templates and utilizes a drag-and-drop style interface to make the development process simple. The site also includes search engine optimization functions to make the website more visible to consumers.
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