With the rate of technological advances becoming somewhat dizzying, it pays to occasionally evaluate whether your current suite of tools is still the best option for your business.
While there’s something to be said about using software that’s familiar to you and your staff, if you haven’t considered changing up for a few years you may be surprised at just what is possible now.
So put down your PalmPilot and add this page to your Netscape Navigator favourites, because we’re about to delve into the best that 2026 has to offer.
Top communication tools for businesses
Slack – best for internal comunication
As a means of communicating internally, slack has become the gold standard. Different channels allow staff members to subscribe only to the conversations that are of relevance to them, making it more user-friendly than some peers.
This is one of the reasons why it’s great for large enterprises. With so much stuff going on across multiple departments, one single channel runs the risk of being ignored if it’s loaded with content that doesn’t involve the user.
Pros
Good free plan
Excellent search feature
Cons
Cheaper alternatives when it comes to paid tiers
Now a market leader, Slack will be targeted more by those looking to steal data.
Google Workspace – best for tools
Google Meet and Google Chat are perfectly competent communication tools on their own, but look beyond them and you’ll find a comprehensive suite of business tools that integrate seamlessly with one another.
MS Office-esque apps such as Docs and Sheets have already been incorporated by many firms sick of paying for basic word processing or spreadsheet creation, and staying within that ecosphere may appeal to some businesses. Meanwhile, newer apps such as Tasks for project management and the AI-powered NotebookLM fill some of the gaps that previous incarnations of Google workspace had.
Pros
Good pricing and excellent free plans
User-friendly
Cons
Chat’s 200MB limit on file sharing means that some files will need to be uploaded to Drive first
Meet’s free plan limits meetings to 60 mins
Loom – best for training
Sometimes it’s just easier to show rather than tell.
Loom’s screen recording tool is perfect for showing others EXACTLY what you mean, making it perfect for those who need to train others. It’s easy to talk through what you’re doing too, which allows complex messages to be sent far quicker than trying to explain processes or problems without a walkthrough.
Pros
Paid plans can remove ‘filler’ words
Automatic storage to the cloud
Cons
Free plan is quite limited
Editing tools are basic
Top project management tools
Wrike – best for scalability
One of the mainstays in the project management sphere, Wrike remains a solid option for any business looking to organise its operations.
It offers plenty of features for both SMEs and large corporations alike, with plenty of opportunity for scaling between the two.
Pros
Easily scalable
Strong reporting tools
Cons
Free version only offers 2gb of storage
Some features are locked behind higher tiers that require significant hikes in price
Clickup – best for automation
ClickUp leans heavily on its AI ‘super agents’ that allow simple tasks such as sending emails and scheduling events to be automated simply.
The gripes some users had about bugs in earlier versions seem to have been cleared up now, and the platform provides real scope for saving time on straightforward but time-consuming jobs.
Pros
Excellent automation tools
Customisable to different businesses
Cons
The dizzying array of different tools should be a boon but tends to clutter the UI instead.
There’s a steep learning curve required to make the most of the platform.
Jira – best for software teams
Those involved in software development really shouldn’t waste their time anywhere else. As a former tech support company, Jira knows its way around this sector, and you can still see some evidence of their former guise in features such as bug tracking, support tickets, and technical problem solving.
Pros
Perfect for tech/software firms
Over 3,000 app integrations available
Cons
Perhaps too ‘techie’ for businesses in other sectors
Lacks the direct collaboration options that others provide
Top finance tools
Quickbooks – best for a comprehensive suite of tools
An all-in-one finance solution, Quickbooks has gained popularity as a means of offering payroll processing, invoice management, inventory tracking, and more under the one roof.
Pros
Intuitive UI
Strong reporting capabilities
Cons
Lower tiers don’t allow more than a handful of users
Occasional downtime reported for cloud users
Freshbooks – best for service-based project tracking
While other accounting software platforms tend to cater for inventory tracking and similar tasks, Freshbooks is made for those selling time and expertise instead. Integrated time tracking and one-click invoicing makes Freshbooks the chouice for most service-based professionals.
Pros
Simple invoicing
Great time/expense tracking functions
Cons
Not as much scope for customisation as there is with competitors like Quickbooks
Lacks the in-depth reporting features that some may require
Xero – best for scalability
Designed to grow alongside a company all the way from startup to enterprise, Xero offers as little or as much as you need as your business scales up. Add to that the integration with over 1,000 different apps such as Shopify and Stripe and you can see how Xero has become a major player in accounting software.
Pros
Unlimited users on all tiers
Integrates with almost any app you can through at it
Cons
Users have reported frustrations with online customer service and can struggle to speak to a real person
No built-in debtor chasing facility
Top marketing tools
Klaviyo – best for Shopify integration
Klaviyo is a very capable email marketing tool in and of itself, however, if your business is based around a Shopify model, Klaviyo quickly becomes indispensable. One-click integration syncs everything you could need over. Real-time customer information such as browsing history and purchases is shared with Klaviyo to allow hyper-personalised mail.
Pros
Great integration with Spotify
Strong inbox placement rates
Cons
Email templates can be clunky
Reviews suggest that customer support could be better
Canva – best for simple graphic design
The saviour of non-Photoshop users everywhere, Canva continues to be an essential tool in many marketeers’ arsenals. Professional-quality images can be created with little effort thanks to its wide range of templates covering many different styles.
Pros
Intuitive interface
Brand kit allows users to make designs their own
Cons
Graphic designers may get frustrated with limitations for more advanced work
Its popularity means that templates and fonts may be picked up by many different businesses at the same time
Profound – best for GEO
Is SEO dead? Maybe not quite, but the influence of Google’s old ‘ten blue links’ model is certainly waning. With AI doing the searching for users now, the race is on for companies to feature in the answers it returns to users. Profound has quickly moved itself into position to be one of the big names in monitoring and improving brand visibility in AI LLM platforms.
Pros
Deep reporting and analytics
Actionable insights provide scope to improve visibility
Cons
With the ‘Lite’ plan starting at $499 a month, it certainly isn’t cheap
No free trial. The most basic option that only looks at ChatGPT is $99 per month
Top AI tools
Fireflies – best for transcription
It still feels like we’re searching for useful applications of AI. While lots of vague ideas continue to cloud the AI space though, simple use of it in things like note taking make perfect sense. Unlike other ideas, the technology is already at a stage where it can perform tasks like this brilliantly, saving hours of manpower.
Pros
Great free plan
Very accurate transcripts and good meeting summaries
Cons
Lack of an auto-language detector seems an obvious misstep
Doesn’t work so well in noisy environments
Zapier – best for automating tasks
Zapier aims to bring the convenience of automating digital tasks to those that aren’t so digitally savvy. Simple requests written in normal language are interpreted by an AI agent that creates workflow automations for you.
Pros
Integrates with over 7,000 different apps
Simple UI plays to its audience
Cons
Expensive
Manual automation coding still wins out on more complex tasks
Descript – best for video production
An AI video editor that promises to cut the time it takes to create sharable videos, Descript boasts a few interesting features. Chief among them is the ability to delete parts of the transcript and have the corresponding video clip disappear at the same time. It automatically alters the timeline of the video to fit the script.
Pros
Automatic removal of filler words and ‘umms’
Easy to share and collaborate with other users
Cons
Lacks the professional-grade tools of non-AI rivals such as Final Cut
Reports of transcription struggling with heavy accents.
Other tools
Tools that don’t necessarily fit in the categories above.
Dropbox- Best for sharing large files
Brevo – Best free platform for email automation
WordPress- Best for creating websites or blogs
Calendly- Best for scheduling meetings
ZeroGPT – Best for exposing AI-generated content in text
Claude – Best for AI coding tasks
Looking for ways for your business to evolve?
SaaS has allowed many businesses to experience game-changing solutions that skyrocket their productivity and saves countless hours of work. This, in turn, provides a great starting point for growth plans.
We have specialists on hand that can help you to create and implement effective growth strategies that take your business to the next level. Call us on 0800 060 8505, or email advice@forbesburton.com for a free consultation.
