The 5 Types of Systems Every Business Needs

Running a business, team or project without the right systems is possible but it usually isn’t pleasant.

As you begin to grow, your systems will need to grow along with you. Choosing systems that support the core functions of your business today, while also giving you the option to change or expand systems in the future is critical to avoiding having too many systems or systems that cost too much.

While every business or team will differ in what they need to deliver the best results, these are 5 common business systems that every business needs:

Marketing, Communications & Collaboration

These systems enable you to communicate both internally & externally. They are how you market your products and services to new customers, how you stay in touch with previous customers, and how your employees and partners communicate with each other.

Includes: Email, Social network, Intranet, Website, Social Profiles, Web Meeting & Collaboration Tools

Examples: MailChimp, Microsoft 365, Wordpress, YouTube, Slack, Zoom

Relationship Management

These systems help you keep track of all the information and interactions you have with your customers, employees, partners, donors, sponsors, etc. These systems help you better understand and manage those relationships.

Includes: CRM, ERM, PRM

Examples: Salesforce, Honeybook, Hubspot

Product / Project or Service Management

These systems track all of the information related to the creation and delivery of your products, projects or services. They can include product specs, features, and images, project tasks and deliverables, or service descriptions, quotes and job aids.

Includes: project management, case management, customer management,

Examples: ServiceNow, Workboard, Salesforce, Asana

Accounting & Financial Management

These systems help you process incoming and outgoing payments and track and categorize your income and expenses. They also help you manage your assets and their value over time.

Includes: Payment processing, accounting & bookkeeping, budgeting,

Examples: Quickbooks, SAP, Paypal, Stripe

Executive Management

These systems help you set and measure objectives, goals and targets. They enable you to understand how one or more aspects of your business is performing and to gauge the overall health of your core business functions.

Includes: KPIs, dashboards, reports, graphs

Examples: PowerBI, Workboard, Salesforce, Hubspot, Google Analytics

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