This morning I woke and picked up my phone, opened my Gmail, checked Facebook, checked my cash flow and bank balance, used Pexels photo app, used Wordswag design App, tagged some contacts in Insightly CRM app, replied to some WhatsApp conversations, changed some meetings on my calendar, uploaded a video to YouTube, wrote this WordPress Blog and added  some actions to my Notes App.

 All within 15 minutes of opening my eyes. My day started organized, productive and on top of the things I need to do.

While I was boiling the kettle for my tea, I laughed at myself and counted these Apps up. It wasn’t even 6.30am and I had already used 11 SaaS applications (Software as a Service). They had saved me hours of time and enabled me to reach potentially thousands of people, build my brand, serve my community, manage my cash flow and maintain my diary and task list.

This now means I can get on with my day, knowing I am in control, networking online and ready for my meetings and while on the move I can stay up to date with all the things I have set in motion.

Technology really is amazing for small business. I have been the Marketing Department, Sales, Finance and my own PA. I bet this is very much like you.

So, today my thought is about Software as a Service (SaaS) and how well we all use it. This industry is vast. CRM App use is predicted by Gartner to reach $36billion this year in its own right. They predict that as small businesses we use 3 SaaS applications on average now, but by 2020 we will depend on 7 in our daily lives to run our business processes.

 The growth in this is expected to be from vertical markets, specialist software serving specific markets, such as healthcare, education, fintech and retail, where we will have a package of software tools that are dedicated to the sector we serve.

What fascinates me is which ones do you pay for. When I look at my subscriptions I pay monthly for Google for Business, Insightly, WordPress and Xero. I also paid a one off for Wordswag. All the others that I am growing to depend on are free, for now, like a drug dealer, they will get me hooked I imagine. I don’t pay for Facebook, Pexels, LinkedIn, WhatsApp etc etc.

What about you, what do you use that would be your desert island software?

What software is your business becoming reliant on in your business processes? Do you pay for it, would you pay for it?