The Best Back Office Software for Running Your Business. Never have there been more software choices for the small business. The following comparison of accounting software documents the various features and differences between different professional accounting software and personal finance. Last month we told you the best options for front office software. This month we asked the experts to weigh in on back office software to improve your business. Budgeting Software Capterra has helped thousands of businesses find the best budgeting software. Find research, guides, and infographics on our Finance Software. Considering all the information you need to manage, which ones do the best job Should you use separate solutions for different functions, or should you buy an integrated suite that can manage many aspects of your business It depends, say the experts we talked to about back office software on the market today for SMBs. In this guide we present what we hope is a good start for SMBs investigating the best back office software. What is the difference between front office and back office softwareFirst, though, a bit of clarification. The definition of what constitutes back office versus front office software is open for debate. Theres a lot of bleed between what used to be distinct categories, and that trend is being driven by organizations having fewer people doing more functions, and not wanting to purchase four apps when one or two can cover all bases, says Andrew Baker, director of service operations for SWN Communications and expert on the Focus network. To be clear, when we say back office software, were referring to the platforms and applications that dont interface with customers but help you manage core functions such as accounting, human resources, or manufacturing. Enterprise Resource Planning ERP is a term that includes many back office functions. Front office software, which we covered in July as part of our focus on the best software for SMBs, is often related to Customer Relationship Management CRM and is useful for managing sales, marketing, and other customer facing data. We also include things like innovative social media tools, customer service solutions, and more as part of the front office. So, without further ado, we present what we hope is a good start for SMBs investigating their best back office software options. AccountingFinance. It almost goes without saying that Intuits Quick. Books and Sage Peachtree should be on this list. In fact, according to the Massachusetts based research group IDC Industry Insights, more than half of all small businesses use Intuit software. While Peachtree captures a smaller share of the SMB accounting market, it offers similar features and pricingboth range from around 2. Quick. Books also has an online version from 1. Theyre not the only players in the numbers game, however. For estimating taxes, try Outright. Mint is free and as such, very popular with businesses on a tight budget. Expensify is great atyou guessed itexpense tracking, as is Coupa. Financial. Force is an immensely popular Saa. S tool because of its integration with Salesforce, a CRM tool we discussed in our front office software story. It starts at 1. 75 per user per month and like many of these apps, its available on the i. Phone and i. Pad. List of best installation online based billing invoicing software to manage and create invoice. Get free consultation, demos and price quote for invoice software. Job Interview Practice Test Why Do You Want This Job Answer this job interview question to determine if you are prepared for a successful job interview. Intacct, which also works with Salesforce, is a full featured accounting solution good for businesses that have outgrown Quick. Books or Peachtree. Its often sold by CPAs as part of their accounting services for as little as 1. SMBs need to think about since even the smallest firms might have agents representing them in other countries. Companies like Intacct and Net. Suite are very big on being allied with accounting firms, says Brian Sommer, president of Illinois based research group Vital Analysis. The CPA only needs to log into the cloud solution and they can have access to all their customers books at once. Its all secure and all the accountant needs is an internet connection and valid credentials to get into the system. It works really well. Learn More How to Choose Business Accounting Software. Human ResourcesThere are literally hundreds of human resource related products on the marketplace, many of which are available on the cloud, says Sommer. Buying your payroll and HR software separately from an ERP suite is quite acceptable. When a smaller company tries to add employees in other jurisdictions, states or local municipalities, knowledge of the tax and filing requirements is actually a highly specialized capability that big payroll service providers like Paychex or Ceridian are really well suited to deliver. The SMBs we talked to suggested Recruiterbox for hiring, Trinet for benefits management and payroll, Journyx for timesheet tracking, Dice for finding qualified technology employees, Net Temps for finding temporary workers, and of course Monster and Career. Builder for posting jobs. Jobfox, which integrates with Linked. In and Facebook, is a career social networking site thats recently been seeing good traction. However, the best place for finding talent these days is Linked. In Recruiter which can filter its more than 1. More Guides on Human Resources Technology Management. Spiceworks is used by 1. IT pros who like its free network management software and online community. Despite the ads, it definitely is a fast way to bring in consolidated systems, network and event monitoring functions for a technical operations department. I use it to keep track of hardware and software inventory on servers and desktops, and to ensure uptime of servers and networking devices such as firewalls, routers and switches, says SWN Communications Andrew Baker. Baker says Kaseya IT Center is another IT systems management solution that is targeted to the SMB market, with prices starting under 1,0. Not only can it provide inventory, monitoring and software deployment functionality, but it can also provide patch management and encrypted remote access as well as online backups, he says. This is a fully featured solution that is priced cost effectively and will definitely grow with a business. Baker says there are dozens of vendors that can handle email security in the cloud, such as Symantec Message. Labs and Google Postini. For businesses that prefer to keep these functions on premise, there are a variety of commercial appliances from vendors such as Barracuda Networks and Spam Titan, he says, adding that businesses running Microsoft Windows might also look at software from Vamsofts ORF Enterprise Edition which is easy to set up, requires little ongoing configuration, and costs just 2. Electronic discovery, or e. Discovery, refers to the process of searching electronic data with the intent of using it as evidence in a civil or criminal legal case. For companies that may need to do it, Baker suggests Sona. Soft, which offers a robust, hosted email archiving solution for the SMB market that makes it easy to archive your email intelligently if you are using Microsoft Exchange in house.   GFI, maker of many security and management tools for the SMB market, also offers backup, archival and security of email. Whether they choose commercial or open source options, SMBs should evaluate the health of the community around any software application or suite, to ensure that theyll be able to get the help they need in implementing or running it, Baker says. Getthe Latest Technology News. Inventory. Inventory management is a big component of the back office. For our recommendations in that area, we suggest perusing our recent focus on inventory software in which we discussed solutions from the likes of Fishbowl, Acctivate, Number. Cruncher, Aestiva and Wasp Barcode Technologies, to name a few. Dig Deeper Choosing the Best Inventory Tracking Software. File Backup and Sync.