Four pieces of software my small business couldn’t live without

There are some fantastic pieces of software out there at the moment for small businesses. If you get software that also integrates into one another it can save you so much time. Below are four of my favourite pieces of software to use and now couldn’t run my business without.

Dubsado

This has been a game-changer for my business. The typical accountancy CRM systems just weren’t cutting it for me in terms of automation & client journey, so I took a leap of faith and jumped in with Dubsado.

I invested in getting it set up by an expert because I knew I didn’t have the time to do it myself. This was the best decision I made. Emma from Noted PA did the set-up for me, and the time I now spend on client onboarding has more than halved, whilst clients have a much better customer journey than they used to. Safe to say I couldn’t live without Dubsado now!

FreeAgent

There are multiple accountancy software systems but I wanted to highlight FreeAgent as it’s not discussed as much as the bigger companies (Xero & Quickbooks).

One of the best things about FreeAgent is that you can get it free if you have a Mettle, RBS or Lloyds business bank account!

Unlike Xero & Quickbooks it’s been set up with the non-financial literate business owner in mind. Instead of having lots of accounting terms, it talks about your money, your work, your bills etc.

I now recommend this to my clients over Xero & Quickbooks. You just need to check it’s got the integrations you need with other platforms.

Accounting software if kept up to date will give you real-time information about your business finances such as profit & sales figures! This can save you money, time & tax in the long run so it’s definitely worth thinking about.

PLUS with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax coming in in April 2024 more and more of us will need to use software to submit figures to HMRC.

Dext

Dext is a game-changer for most accountants & bookkeepers. But it’s also incredibly useful for business owners if you’re planning on doing your own bookkeeping.

It’s a receipt management system. You send your receipts or invoices into Dext (via email or taking a photo on an app) and it will read the receipt, turn it into an electronic format and sync it in with your accounting software.

Not only does this mean all your receipts are stored in one place (and you can bin the paper receipts once you’ve snapped the photo) but also it’s saving you the time typing out the receipt information to get into your accounting software.

Dext saves me SOOOO many hours, so again it’s a no-brainer in my business.

ClickUp

I use ClickUp for project management. I’m still getting to grips with it but it keeps me on top of all my client’s various HMRC or Companies House deadlines (of which there are many!)

I definitely don’t use it to it’s full capabilities – mainly because I still love a paper to-do list but I’m integrating it slowly.