Your time is at a premium if you are a small business owner. Managing employees, coordinating customers, and running a business all take time. What if there was a way to keep employee scheduling, communications, and more all in one place? With Slack apps, you can do just that.

If you’ve never heard of Slack before, you're missing out. Slack is a secure business communication service that allows your team to communicate with one another wherever they may be. Unlike other communication apps, Slack channels keep employee communications private, avoiding pesky information leaks. In addition, with Slack apps, you can customize these virtual channels further, including notifications, conversation prompts, birthday reminders, and more.

Let’s take a look at Slack apps as a concept, and then we’ll discuss how they can help business owners manage their employees, coordinate projects, and more, all in one convenient location.

What Is a Slack App?

As we mentioned, Slack is a messaging service perfect for businesses of all sizes. However, you may not know that Slack allows for customization through apps. From creating unique push notifications and polls to meeting scheduling services, and more, Slack apps help you customize your communication network.

Slack is all the best parts of social media optimized for productivity and workplace engagement. Are you interested in checking up on a project? Slack lets you do that. Want to have a one-on-one meeting with a remote employee? Slack lets you do that too. Want to provide employees with educational videos for career improvement? You can do that on Slack too!

While many businesses use Slack as is, adding apps can bring the program to new levels and reduce the micromanagement involved in employee communications. If you're a small business owner, Slack is like having a personal assistant in your pocket at all times, complete with direct lines to all your employees and projects in one place.

How Slack Apps Can Help Small Business Owners

If you own a business, you likely know everything that happens at the office. From finances to face-to-face meetings, you've got your hand on the pulse of your business. However, with a switch to remote or virtual work, small business owners may need help to reach their employees or feel isolated from their team. Using Slack to communicate with employees wherever they are, you can still keep an eye on your business without adding to your management workload.

Slack apps let you customize your Slack experience for your unique needs. For example, slack apps can help you coordinate meetings, deliver assignments, and even act as a virtual water cooler if you have a small business with several remote employees. Think of Slack apps like additional members of your team that you can trust to get the job done.

Instead of wracking your brain to remember employee birthdays or shuffling through your calendar apps to find that meeting, Slack apps can keep your business needs all in one place, so you can focus on growing your business.

Importance of Communication in Small Businesses

Communication is vital in any business, and this is especially true for small businesses. With a small business, every team member is crucial to productivity. When part of your team works remotely or off-site, keeping the entire company in the loop for projects and deadlines can be tricky. Keeping your team in close communication should be one of your top priorities as a small business owner, which is where Slack comes into play.

While you may be tempted to use generic communication apps for business needs, this comes at the risk of leaking crucial customer information. So, keeping your business messages to a single, secure app like Slack keeps you and your customers safer. Plus, prioritizing communication through a single app ensures you don't lose any messages or miss meetings.

Top 3 Slack Apps for Small Business

Now that we've covered how Slack apps can benefit your small business, let's look at our top three picks for best slack apps for 2023. We've considered ease of use, services, and overall effectiveness when compiling this list. So, without further ado, let's review the top Slack apps for small businesses in 2023.

CultureBot

It’s no surprise that CultureBot is at the top of our list. If you're looking for an app that does everything, you've come to the right place. From meeting reminders and birthday memos to employee recognition and wellness software and social engagement prompts, CultureBot is the right app for the job.

As a small business owner, you wear a lot of hats in your company, but thankfully so does CultureBot. This Slack app combines social prompts with HR memos, allowing you to focus on running your business while CultureBot keeps you in the loop. So whether you're looking to jumpstart employee engagement or keep remote employees in the know, CultureBot has got you covered.

This app combines the best parts of management apps with social tools for the perfect Slack add-on for small businesses and startups. No matter your team size, CultureBot keeps your team connected wherever their home office is.

Trello

If you’ve ever done project management, you know about Trello. Trello is specifically made to help you track several projects at once. With checklist features and individual task cards, you can easily track project stages to completion. In addition, thanks to new-and-improved Slack integration features, you can get notifications about project changes on the go.

The Trello Slack App allows you to add projects to boards without leaving Slack, making project management much more manageable. Answer questions, assign tasks, and more, all in one location. If you're looking for a Slack app that's exclusively for project management, Trello is a good option.

Kyber

While we're still determining if Kyber is a direct reference to Star Wars, their scheduling chops are a force to be reckoned with. This app is made for scheduling just about anything. So if you're looking to coordinate meetings, schedule projects, or manage tasks, Kyber makes planning more straightforward than ever.

While Kyber isn't made for socialization, it keeps you on task. Kyber uses several micro-processes to coordinate your workday, from automated notifications to integrated workspaces. You can schedule automated messages and reminders, set meeting times, and more, all within your Slack channel of choice. While this app doesn't focus as heavily on social connections, it does help keep your team in the loop on all the latest project updates and meetings, making it a valuable tool for any small business owner.