Google Drive was the most used app among small business owners – for both organization and Cloud storage. SurePayroll asked small business owners and entrepreneurs nationwide to rank their favorite tech tools in the categories of Cloud Storage Providers, Organization Apps, Social Networks, Social Media Management, Customer Relationship Management and Email Marketing Software.  

Facebook and LinkedIn were cited as far more useful for business than other social media outlets such as Twitter or Snapchat. Perhaps surprisingly, Google Plus ranked higher as a social media platform for business than Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or Pinterest.

Other important tools included Mail Chimp for emailing marketing, Dropbox, and Salesforce for customer relationship management.

“Our average customer tells us, for example, that they use Mail Chimp to communicate with customers, Google Drive to store important documents and SurePayroll to pay their employees. Those are the building blocks and beyond that upgrading technology becomes costly,” said SurePayroll General Manager Andy Roe. “Small businesses with only a few employees are typically not going to have a lot of resources for extensive technology systems. Fortunately, there are some really beneficial, low-cost tools available.”

Small Business Owners Favorite Tech Tools 2016 Highlights

• Cloud Storage – Google Drive (Note: last year’s winner was Dropbox)
• Email Marketing Software – Mail Chimp (Note: last year’s winner was Constant Contact)
• Organization App – Google Drive
• Social Network – Facebook
• Social Media Management – Hootsuite
• Customer Relationship Management – Salesforce

The full rankings of small business owners’ favorite tech tools is available on the SurePayroll Facebook page.

Small Business Owners’ Top Tech Tools 2016

Social Network

1. Facebook
2. LinkedIn
3. Google Plus
4. Twitter
5. Instagram

Cloud Storage

1. Google Drive
2. Dropbox
3. Apple iCloud
4. Microsoft OneDrive
5. Box

Organization

1. Google Drive
2. Evernote
3. Microsoft Outlook/OneNote
4. Trello
5. Slack

Email Marketing

1. Mail Chimp
2. Constant Contact
3. Hubspot
4. Benchmark
5. Infusionsoft

Customer Relationship Management

1. Salesforce
2. Microsoft Dynamics
3. SugarCRM
4. Zoho
5. Act

Social Media Management

1. Hootsuite
2. Hearsay Social
3. Buffer
4. Sprout Social
5. TweetDeck