Few tasks are more crucial to a small business than maintaining a schedule. The more workers you have, the greater your need for scheduling software for a small business which is designed specifically for managing shifts, vacations, days off, and other time off in a way that ensures coverage without gaps at all times.
These programs can also help you manage labor costs by enabling you to stay organized with reports that depict staffing needs monthly. As with any type of program management software, there are free options and paid ones available in the marketplace today. Below we created the list of best scheduling software for small businesses available on the market with its pros and cons.
Top 5 Scheduling Software For Small Business
Scheduling Software For Small Business Reviews
1. Best Overall: Square Appointments
Square appointments is a scheduling software for small businesses that have been developed by the Square company. Software to help in scheduling appointments and manage personnel. It allows you to manage your schedule and your team’s work timings. You can also see how you are performing as an individual and the productivity of different members of your company.
Choose from time zone settings; one-time appointment schedules; recurring event schedules such as weekly meetings or monthly employment dates; filters to find all available openings in just one location or time slot; export data into CSV file for further analysis.
This software works on a monthly subscription, or you can download it as a stand-alone and pay for the software on your own.
Features of Square Appointment Software for Small Business
- It is easy to use and simple to navigate.
- Easy integration with mobile app. It is a one-stop solution for all your events.
- It saves time and money for business owners as they do not have to hire third or fourth people for the same task.
2. Best for Service-Based Businesses: Acuity Scheduling
Acuity Scheduling is a multitasking program that keeps meetings, appointments and events separate and organized. Acuity has invested heavily in an intuitive interface to provide scheduling as easy as one-click to offer the best service to our customers.
Acuity is incredibly customizable to meet your needs for any small business or organization, large or small. Work is broken down into blocks that can be assigned to one or more users within the organization. Each employee will be able to share their work schedule with their managers and team members. Schedules are easily accessible from anywhere as long as you have an internet connection.
Acuity has three primary features:
- Employee scheduling.
- Shared calendars.
- Event booking.
Employee scheduling gives an employer the ability to view how many hours an employee has worked, where they worked, and who they worked with (if applicable). Shared calendars are used by multiple team members to share workloads or show support for a coworker. Event booking makes it easy for employees to quickly schedule meetings and appointments while ensuring that only the right people are invited.
Pricing Plans
- Emerging – $14 per month.
- Growing – $23 per month.
- Powerhouse – $45 per month.
All Plans Include
- Client self-scheduling.
- Offer unlimited services and appointments.
- Confirmation, reminder, and follow-up emails.
- Text message reminders (worldwide).
- Offer appointment packages (including payment plans).
- Sell subscriptions, memberships, and gift certificates.
- Automatic time zone conversion for clients.
- Multiple time zones for your different staff/locations.
- Sign BAA for HIPAA compliance.
- Embed scheduler into your website.
- Optionally let clients tip you.
- Easy upsell clients with check-out add-ons.
- Optimize your availability for maximum appointments and fewer gaps.
- Sync with Google Calendar, iCloud, Outlook.com, Exchange, and Office 365.
3. Best for Calendar Customization: Calendly
Calendly is a software product designed to help people schedule appointments easily and effectively. It allows its users to create and manage events to coordinate with others, as well as share views of their calendars. Its features include scheduling, group and private events, reminders, and team collaboration. Calendly is a user-friendly software for effective task scheduling.
Calendly helps users schedule meetings with others by organizing their schedules online, both in average-priced per month packages and in free-of-charge real-time usage packages. The software also allows its users to create their events quickly and make them public or private.
The calendar can then be shared with others to allow them to join the events. The user can also create reminders so that they will not forget about their event. Calendly also offers a team collaboration feature that allows users to view each other’s calendars and share files. It is just a download away from the website and has a simple interface for easy scheduling, making it a convenient option for those planning appointments and meetings.
One of the best things about Calendly is that it is simple to set up and use, regardless of skill level or online experience. Users do not need to have much technical knowledge to use this software product, making it relatively easy for almost everyone who wants to use it to do so.
Pricing Plans
- Basic – Always free – For individuals just getting started with Calendly.
- Premium – $8/mo – For individuals or small teams needing customization and advanced features.
- Pro – $12/mo For teams and businesses with additional scheduling needs.
4. Best Intuitive Dashboard: SimplyBook
Most small business owners don’t have the budget to hire an IT staff, so they struggle to find software that can grow with their needs. The best scheduling app for small businesses is SimplyBook.
SimplyBook helps small business owners stay on top of their work by providing them with a tailored tool for them. SimplyBook can be used as a word processor, spreadsheet, or calendar and is compatible across all devices – from tablets to desktops.
Using SimplyBook, you’ll notice the quick response time and seamless transition between editing and reviewing your content quickly and easily.
With the help of SimplyBook, you’ll be able to:
- Create professional documents like sales orders, invoices, proposals, and letters.
- Schedule meetings and appointments (users can save up to 100 meetings) and track them on your calendar using their GPS-enabled devices (iPhone, Android phone/tablet) or the desktop application. Users can also email notifications of event changes to colleagues.
- Track all business activities: email invoices, track expenses, create expense reports using SimpleExpense mobile apps (iPhone/iPad; Android phones/tablets), and import/export QuickBooks data files.
Pricing Plans
- Free – $0.
- Basic – $9.9/month.
- Standard – $29.9/month.
- Premium – $59.9/month.
5. Best for Payment Integration: 10to8
Every small business owner knows that balancing work and family life can be difficult. To make the task easier, many people choose to outsource some of their tasks – such as payroll, invoicing, or project management – with a third-party provider like 10to8.
For those without any experience using this type of software, it can be hard to know what to look for in a provider. This article will outline some of the key considerations for a small business owner looking to find the best project management application for their organization.
Ease of Use
The most significant advantage to using 10to8 is that it’s easy to use. This is important because a business owner who uses this type of software shouldn’t need to spend all their time learning how it works; instead, they should configure the software and start using it right away.
It’s also important for a user to customize how they view the information to allow for better efficiency. Because someone who uses 10to8 is generally not going to spend all their time working with project plans, and effective way to handle information visualization is required.
Cost of Use
One of the things that business owners who use this software have to consider is how much it’ll cost per month. For example, one might need a certain amount of tasks done for payroll, and a larger provider might charge less per month for their services. However, smaller organizations sometimes have more work than they can afford. That’s why it’s important to do some research and find the right fit.
There are many ways to save on project management software, including through a discount or promotion.
Pricing Plans
- Small Business – Forever Free.
- Basic – $9,6 per month.
- Grow – $20 per month.
- Bigger Business – $40 per month.
Buyer’s Guide
Small business scheduling software can help ensure that there are always enough employees to cover shifts, vacations, and other time off. To keep your labor costs as low as possible, small business owners need to find a program that provides reports that detail monthly staffing needs.
The availability of booking tools for small businesses allows employers to easily find someone who can fill in for them, which is useful when they need to cover a shift or when someone is delayed on a plane, train, or bus. But before we deep into scheduling software benefits, let’s know more about this software type.
What Is Scheduling Software For Small Business?
As the name implies, scheduling for small businesses is software designed to help small business owners schedule shifts and organize workers while keeping them informed. In addition to scheduling tools, this category of small business software also includes apps with features such as an employee roster, time-off tracking, and more.
If you need to update your schedule easily or better understand what hours each of your employees is working, scheduling software could be a valuable time-saving tool.
Benefits Of Scheduling Software For Small Business
Scheduling software can help you take charge of your employee’s shifts by making it easy for you to keep track of who is working when and where. This also gives you the tools needed to create schedules and send notifications on changes. Read the top 5 benefits it has for small business owners below:
Cost Saving And Easy To Use
Scheduling software can help with labor cost saving by enabling you to stay organized with reports that depict staffing needs monthly. While this might not be something you need for the day-to-day running of your business, it can help you manage labor costs by enabling you to stay organized with reports that depict staffing needs monthly.
Helps You Manage Workers
Scheduling software for small businesses allows you to easily track who is working when and where, which can help ease communication issues between employees and employers. If you operate a small business, you are probably working with many people, so having to communicate via phone or email constantly can become very frustrating.
Save Time
Not only does scheduling software for small business save time because it is easy to use but was also designed to be accessible by all employees – not just managers. Using this program will allow employees to easily log on and see how their schedule looks and if changes need to be made at any point in time.
Allows For Flexibility
Many small business owners are faced with the problem of not knowing how many workers they have depending on how many hours they are working. Using scheduling software for small business tools, you can quickly get a hold of this information and make sure that your staff is working full-time or part-time for your small business.
Easily Manage Staff
Working with employees can be very difficult, especially if you are a small business owner that has just started working with someone. One of the best things about scheduling software is that it makes it easier to track people and ensure that they show up for work on time.
FAQ
What Is The Best Software For Scheduling?
The best software for scheduling is accessible, understandable, and user-friendly. If you’re looking for software that will make your life more productive and save you time in the long run, then there’s no better option than Freshsales. Freshsales comes with advanced features like document sharing and approvals.
Does Microsoft Have A Scheduling Tool?
Microsoft has several different scheduling tools for various industries and students who are enrolled in certain schools, like Harvard, which include those related to classrooms. They are accessible online through the Microsoft Student Partners website or through their mobile app called Office Lens.
What Scheduling Software Does Small Business Use?
There are many scheduling software options out there for small businesses. Daylite is a popular choice among those with limited budgets. At the same time, Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook are better suited for those who want to track and share calendar activities on mobile devices.
Cozi offers free family calendars that can also be used by groups of friends or coworkers, while Zoho Schedule offers larger organizing tools like project management and billing features.