Revenue is ultimately what keeps a business afloat. Without a regular influx of customers, businesses risk shutting down or costing investors their investment. Scaling is almost always the main goal for any business, but there are numerous obstacles. One example is with inventory management.

Manually managing a handful of orders a day wouldn’t be too difficult. But it starts to become much more of a challenge when orders start piling in by the hundreds. Without a system in place it would be difficult to track which orders went out and how much inventory you have left. The same goes for other aspects of running a business, like managing employee timesheets and updating client contracts.

The good news is that advancements in technology make it easier than ever to integrate software applications that scale with your business. Here we’ll look at what umbrella software is and how it can help your business grow.

What Is Umbrella Software?

For any business there are numerous activities going on at the same time: managing customer invoices, tracking client projects, etc. Handling all these tasks at once can be challenging and chaotic.

Business management software aims to streamline such processes. Instead of manually keeping track of client data, a software application has all the information in one easily accessible location, either in the cloud or on your computer.

The problem is that you often need certain software applications for specific tasks. You might have one software to handle payroll, another to keep track of timesheets, and yet another to manage customer data. At some point, it starts to become complicated just to stay on top of things.

Umbrella software aims to address that problem by keeping everything under one application, hence the term ‘umbrella’. So you can easily manage customer data and attach invoices for any completed work based on timesheets submitted by your employees. This high level of integration streamlines administrative work and drastically improves operating efficiency.

Next, we’ll look at some ways that umbrella software can help grow your business.

Streamlining Employee Timesheets

As a business grows, it can be difficult to track what everyone is doing. Timesheets offer a way for managers to track how employees are spending their time and encourage more productive work.

With umbrella software, business owners can set up a system that streamlines this process. Employees can easily complete their timesheets as needed. Managers can then quickly pull up reports to calculate wages or prepare client invoices. Streamlining these tasks makes it possible to improve your company’s efficiency and ensure a positive cash flow.

Better Manage Customer Relationships

The key to gaining a competitive advantage in any industry is to understand your customers. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is software that allows you to manage huge volumes of data about your customers. You can record anything from purchase histories to phone calls and more.

A CRM system helps streamline your sales process from lead generation to email follow-up. Such systems can even create detailed reports so you can identify and capitalise on hidden opportunities.

These are just several examples of what umbrella software can do for your business. Perhaps the most appealing feature is that these software applications can scale as your business grows.