The apps you choose to use in your small business can have a huge impact on your success. Making sure you pick the right ones is vital to efficiency.
We've compiled a list of our top 7 apps with proven success for Canadian small businesses.
Whatever your business does - we'll help you find the app to do it faster!
1) QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks is the #1 accounting software for small businesses in Canada, and that's no surprise.
With its bank feed feature, transactions are automatically grabbed from your bank and credit card accounts and imported into the software.
From Petro Canada to Tim Hortons, QuickBooks will automatically sort those transactions. This translates to some substantial time savings, eliminating all the hassle of manual data entry.
Intuit Canada, the software company responsible for QuickBooks, is based in Mississauga, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta. Their software is specifically designed for Canadian entities and includes features for transactions unique to Canadian business, such as GST, HST and PST.
The software also comes with a powerful feature for finding third-party apps to integrate with, and the list is ever-growing as tech improves. Their award winning customer service rocks too.
Oh yeah - and you also get an exclusive rate through Simcoe Office Solutions.
2) TSheets (by QuickBooks)
If you've got employees, you've got to pay them. Whether they are hourly or salary, chances are you've had to use a timesheet.
Eliminate the paperwork and upgrade to TSheets. It's super easy to use and also integrates with multiple payroll processors, including QuickBooks, Sage, and ADP.
You can also manage and schedule your employees shifts. Employees are notified of shift changes - so you don't have to go through the headache of conflicts.
GPS tracking gives you a bird's eye view of the employees on the clock and prevents time theft. Only 6% of employees who use GPS tracking for work had a negative opinion of it.
Employees don't use their smartphones for work? Take advantage of the "Crew" feature of the app to have one manager punch in for their team.
Project Tracking not only shows you who is working on what, but it also makes billing your clients a snap.
Try out the Payroll Savings Calculator to see how much you can save by switching to TSheets.
3) Receipt Bank
Another big contender for our top apps for Canadian small businesses is ReceiptBank. We know how quickly the mess of receipts piles up. ReceiptBank will take away all the frustration of filing and entering receipts.
ReceiptBank is your filing cabinet on steroids. No more rummaging through files and drawers, looking for that one receipt.
It's as simple as this: make your purchase. Get a receipt. Take picture of receipt. Done. Oh and don't forget to recycle that receipt.
Nervous about tossing the receipt? Yes, the CRA needs 6 years of records for most businesses, but ReceiptBank's storage is more than adequate per the CRA's acceptable formats.
Don't let their name mislead you - ReceiptBank will also eliminate data entry for bills and invoices too!
4) Plooto
Plooto is a payment processor built for small to medium-sized businesses. And, is proudly Canadian, with their head office located right at the bottom of the CN Tower. Does it get any more Canuck than that?
Plooto will automate the workflows for your AP and AR. It syncs with your accounting software to import bills and invoices, then all you have to do is click to pay/get paid.
Eliminate the insecurity of cheque-printing and have signing authorities approve from anywhere. That's right - no more sitting at the desk approving invoices, signing off a stack of cheques.
They also tackle and simplify CRA payments, including Federal Payroll Deductions, Corporate Tax, GST & HST Payments.
Plooto takes into consideration the huge fees that banks often charge SMBs for small transactions. If you aren't one of the big corporations, you're often low priority. Currently, their rates are more than reasonable at just $25/month, 10 free transactions every month, and just 50 cents for further domestic transactions!
We know security is the number one priority when it comes to your banking and your money - and Plooto agrees. Their platform exceeds national standards for security.
5) Wagepoint
Founded in Nova Scotia, Wagepoint offers a simple solution to payroll processing. It manages everything from remittances, direct deposits and year-end reporting.
Make paycheques a thing of the past with direct deposit and online paystubs. Wagepoint keeps it ridiculously simple to calculate payroll, report to and pay the government. It can even handle wage garnishment.
Got a mix of hourly and salary employees? No problem - Wagepoint can do that, and even pay your contractors and freelancers. It also has powerful onboarding features so that your employees won't miss filling out any of those federal tax forms.
Most recently, Wagepoint has added Luna to track time-off, and Track, the time and attendance app. It also integrates with many other apps including TSheets and QuickBooks.
6) Everlance
If you write off a lot of expenses and mileage on your tax return, Everlance is a must.
Logging your mileage manually is difficult enough. But throw in your shoebox of receipts and well... it makes tax time way more challenging for you and your accountant.
Everlance tracks your trips and automatically categorizes for business or personal, by parameters you can set - like location or time.
And what do you get? A beautiful PDF or Excel report, with graphs, charts and maps!
It also comes loaded with credit and bank feeds to handle all of your expenses and sort by job. This, in combination with the powerful mileage tracker, comes in handy for reimbursing your employees for their kilometres and purchases.
Everlance currently integrates with Xero and Freshbooks, and will expand to other platforms in the future.
7) 17Hats
Now here's an app with a lot of features packed into one. 17Hats is a little intimidating upon first glance, but it's not to be underestimated. Once you see the workload it can relieve you of, you'll be more than intrigued.
17Hats takes on a myriad of your client-facing tasks, from sales and leads, to contracts and invoices. And it's all in one neat little package.
It simplifies the process of client onboarding, from the very first "Contact Us", to the receipt of payment after you've sent their monthly invoice.
It's a versatile platform for any business, and it deserves some delving into. They offer a free 7-day trial, so you can test it out before buying.
After that, you can sign up for just $45/month (which, given the capability of the software, is super cheap), with a 30-day money back guarantee, so you're risk-free for trying it out.
These are our favourite apps for Canadian small businesses. However, we know every business is unique.
While the apps listed above are great across all industries, your business may have specific needs. We can help you find the right apps for your business, to improve efficiency, lighten workload, and promote growth.