5 online tools to help you manage your business better

The era of the cloud has brought about many changes to the way we live our lives. Our conversations, our photos, our financial information — all these and more are stored in servers spread across the world.

For small businesses, the cloud can provide great efficiency and capabilities that only used to be available to large corporations. Simultaneous collaborations, instant file sharing, multiple access points — these are features that small businesses can use today for free or a very small fee.

So what are some of the online tools that can help you take your business to the next level? Here are a selection of five tools that you may want to explore:

Dropbox
Forget about emailing files from one colleague to another — Dropbox simply lets you build your own company folders on the cloud. Small businesses that have multiple teams can utilize Dropbox to save time. Best of all, the app lets you set restrictions on specific files and folders, and also provides a log of users who access files, providing a level of security to keep your files secure.

Cost: Free for your first 2GB

Google Docs, Sheets, Slides + Drive
When a project requires multiple teams to work on it, collating and compiling work can be a tedious process. Google removes the complication by letting everyone work on the same document, spreadsheet, or slideshow, complete with logs on who did what, when, and where.

Compatible across mobile, desktop, and tablet, Google takes cloud collaboration to the next level.

Cost: Free

Canva
Need help with marketing? Canva lets you create outstanding graphics and other company marketing materials on the cloud. You don’t need any special software, just a browser and internet connection. With thousands of templates and icons, Canva lets you quickly assemble posters, signs, and other images.

Cost: Free

Trello
Trello allows you to manage your projects individually and as a team. It makes collaboration super easy. Trello allows you to create boards for organizing not just your work projects but also your life projects — errands, to-do's, track due dates and notify team members on comments and suggestions. The best part is you can have as many boards and can have fun with it — add checklists, attach images, colored labels!

Cost: Free

MailChimp
Sending emails has evolved from simple message writing to an art form. With hundreds of emails, and thousands of junk mail, invading our inboxes, it takes a special kind of email to get a customer’s attention. Mailchimp lets you create beautifully designed emails for any kind of business, and lets you track the results of your emails — who clicked what and where. It’s exactly the kind of information a growing business needs, and allows you to see what works and what doesn’t work in your emails .

Cost: Free for up to 2,000 email subscribers