Small business consultants are dynamic, problem-solving organizations that are always seeking new software programs to enhance their business processes and help them deliver the greatest possible value to their clients. The best consultants help their clients make good and timely decisions and often rely only software tools to deliver on their client engagements.
Small business consulting software is a unique category of technology in that it includes a variety of subcategories. Utilizing a combination of different types of software can help deliver the best possible engagements and lasting results.
How Small Business Consulting Firms Utilize Software
Small business consulting firm owners look to software programs for such things as helping to ensure effective communication with clients, to pinpointing and reducing time-consuming tasks that can hinder productivity, and measuring the success of new initiatives.
A list of the categories of small business consulting software can include:
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
CRM software tracks client communications and activities and can help determine which of your clients are the most profitable to your organization. A CRM system provides can access to all client details in a streamlined view and can even drive collaboration efforts in support of your client engagements.
Time and Project Management
To be efficient, consultants must manage their time wisely as there is a significant challenge in juggling multiple projects and limited resources. An effective Time Management System helps consulting firms to track the time they spend on billable work and how they are assigning various people and other resources to each project.
Estimating and Quoting
Cost estimating software helps your team to plan and manage the costs of a project and helps ensure that you are always working within a set budget. Quoting software can streamline the process of building and delivering professional-looking price proposals to your clients.
Invoicing
Implementing an efficient software system to generate invoices and track financial information can be a challenge, especially as your consulting firm grows. Paper-based invoicing systems are not efficient and can be create labor-intensive efforts. A good online software system can provide all of the features you will need to streamline and manage invoicing processes.
Learning Management Systems for Consulting Practices
Often overlooked by consulting firms is the value that Learning Management Systems (LMS) can bring to their practice and their clients. LMS software is designed to manage the eLearning process from a single, secure location. Today, many consulting firms are leveraging the benefits of LMS technologies to drive internal employee training programs to make sure their staff is current on the latest technologies and trends in their marketplace.
In addition, consulting firms can utilize LMS software and platforms to create a new revenue stream by building and managing eLearning programs for their clients. In this case, the LMS is used to train the client’s employees as part of a consulting engagement around such things as compliance, workflow efficiencies, new technologies, and more.
LMS Portals for Small Business Consulting
LMS Portals provides a powerful eLearning platform that allows our consulting clients and partners to manage eLearning programs internally (for their own employee training) or externally (to train client employees as part of an overall consulting engagement).
The LMS Portals platform allows you to launch corporate-branded eLearning portals to build, deliver, and track online learning programs. The system includes robust supporting tools for employee onboarding, messaging, analytics, and more.
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