Survey: Cloud storage, email marketing top small business tech tools

GLENVIEW - Small business owners have ranked their favorite tech tools and apps in SurePayroll's third annual favorite tech tools survey, part of the July 2016 SurePayroll Small Business Scorecard.

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