We are halfway through this excruciatingly long year and I think we can agree that it has been quite difficult. The pandemic has impacted our personal and professional lives. While some people have faced pay cuts and job losses, others have had to adjust to the new normal of remote working.
Summary6 Best Startup Tools to Run Your Business Post-Pandemic in 2021Asana – Project ManagementKey FeaturesPriceKissmetrics – Personalization and Consumer BehaviorKey FeaturesPriceGusto – Payroll ManagementKey FeaturesPriceIntercom – Customer SupportKey FeaturesPriceThe global pandemic and constant lockdowns have caused at least 114 million people of losing their jobs in 2020 and the numbers are still adding to these statistics as the world experiences the 2nd and 3rd waves of the novel coronavirus.
On the other hand, according to a Gartner survey, more than 80% of employers plan to let their employees work remotely on a part-time basis and more than 47% of them are ready to be completely remote.
This new normal and the emerging work of the home economy is redefining the way businesses operate. For example, from the start, employers have focused more on hours spent working versus actual work performed. This has taken a complete 360 degree turn in remote working – their focus is more on the quality of work done than vanity metrics of hours spent working.
Likewise, massive changes have taken place for employee engagement, performance management, team productivity, project management, and more. To handle the new era needs and demands of your employees, customers, and your entire business, your old tools need an upgrade, ASAP.
But choosing the right tools is not child's play. It is a long process involving gap analysis, requirements gathering, research, trial of demonstrations, evaluation of various options, cost-benefit analysis, etc.
So, we decided to share our top 6 picks from the lot that can help you run your business smoothly and efficiently after the pandemic.
Asana is a project management tool that can be used to manage projects, tasks, and teams. It gives you real-time insight into your team's current workload, project and task progress, and more.
Release – For teams and individuals just getting started, Asana offers a free version with the basic tasks needed. That's why it's the perfect project management tool for startups.
Basic – This plan will cost you $13.49/per user/per month with additional features like timelines, dashboards, forms, etc. Perfect for growing startups.
Premium – This plan will cost you $30.49/user/per month and includes all the features of the basic plan with additional features like workload, goals, portfolio management, advanced rule builder, and more. Perfect for startups trying to sustain growth and like to reach maturity stage.
Other project management tools: Trello | Monday.com | Jira for Developers
Kissmetrics is a behavior analytics tool widely used by marketers around the world to understand customer behavior throughout their journey. Marketers use this information to provide personalized website experiences and send personalized messages that can lead to better conversion rates.
Silver – This plan will cost you $299/month for three user seats and a customer tracking limit of 10,000 with additional features like funnel report, activity report, user research, and more.
Platinum – This plan will cost you $499/month for 10 user seats and a customer tracking limit of 25,000. This plan includes all the features of the Silver plan with additional features such as revenue reports, cohort reports, data retention for 24 months, etc.
Other marketing and personalization tool: Sumo | AnswerThePublic | Selling practice | HootSuite | Google Analytics
Team members are some of the most valuable assets and it's important to invest in tools that will enable you to provide smooth onboarding, timely payouts, benefits, and maintain a positive experience for all. your employees.
Gusto charges a base price during initial setup, then on a monthly basis per employee. Here is a brief overview of Gusto's prices and offers.
Intercom is an all-in-one customer support and engagement tool that offers solutions such as conversational engagement to onboard, activate and re-engage customers and conversational marketing to convert website visitors into paying customers.
Start – This plan includes basic live chat, integration with slack, customer data platform and shared inbox. Allows single person access .
Grow – This plan includes Start plan features plus outbound and inbound emails, lead verification bots, conversation rating, smart article suggestions, help center, and integration with HubSpot and GitHub. Allows access for five people.
Accelerate – This plan includes the features of the Grow plan plus custom bots, conversation management features, multilingual help center, team performance reports, and integration with Twitter, Zendesk Support, Facebook, and Salesforce. Allows access for ten people.
Scale – This plan includes the features of all other plans plus advanced security and workload management features.
They also have a plan for very small businesses:
Other customer support tools: freshdesk | Zendesk | Sprout Social for Social Media
These tools should help you digitize your operations so you can empower your remote teams and work more efficiently post-pandemic.
Apart from these 4 tools, every company needs a CRM and a communication tool for their daily tasks. Here are our suggestions:
noCRM.io – Lead &Customer Management – a perfect CRM for startups just starting out with necessary features such as built-in lead capture, customizable sales pipeline, activity loop, etc.
Slack/Microsoft Teams – Communication &More – these tools need no introduction. This is where the work and collaboration takes place.
