Building the Right Financial Tech Stack for Your Small Business

BUSINESS

Oct 26

You know those days when you feel like you're doing a little bit of everything just to keep your business running? You're updating spreadsheets, chasing down invoices, checking payroll, looking for that one email with the information you need, and trying to remember which system has the latest update.

Individually, none of these tasks might seem like a big deal. But when they start piling up, they can take more time than you realize. And sometimes, the problem isn't that you need to work harder. It's that your systems aren't working together.

That's where building the right financial tech stack comes in. It's not about signing up for every new software tool or finding the most complicated system on the market. It's about choosing tools that fit your bus

💰 Start With Your Financial Foundation

For many small businesses, I'd start with three key areas: accounting, payroll, and spending management.

Each serves a different purpose, but when the systems work well together, they can help simplify financial processes and give you better visibility into your business.

1. QuickBooks Online: Your Accounting Foundation

Your accounting software is where your financial information comes together. It's where accounts are reconciled, transactions are recorded, and financial reports are generated.

QuickBooks Online is a great starting point for many small businesses, but having it doesn't necessarily mean you've covered every financial function your business needs.

Your accounting system should help you maintain accurate records and understand your financial position. The other tools you use should support that process rather than create more work.

2. Gusto: Payroll and Employee Administration

Payroll involves more than paying employees. There's employee onboarding, payroll taxes, and other related administrative work to manage.

I really like Gusto because it's approachable for small businesses and integrates with QuickBooks. Having payroll information flow into your accounting system can reduce the need for manual entries and help keep your records more organized.

Of course, integrations still need to be configured correctly and reviewed. Just because two systems connect doesn't mean everything is automatically set up the way it should be.

3. Ramp: Expense Management and Bill Payments

Ramp is a newer addition to our preferred tech stack at Done By 5, and we're continuing to explore its capabilities.

It offers tools for expense management, corporate cards, bill payments, and spending controls. For businesses with employees making purchases, recurring vendor payments, reimbursement requests, or more involved accounts payable processes, a platform like Ramp may help simplify administrative work.

Not every business needs that level of functionality. A solo consultant with a handful of monthly expenses will likely have different needs than a growing company with multiple employees and a more complex payment process.

The important thing is to choose tools that solve actual problems in your business.

🔄 Your Financial Tech Stack Isn't Just About Financial Software

Here's something small business owners sometimes overlook: your operational systems can affect your finances, too.

Think about how you manage projects, assign tasks, communicate with your team, and keep track of deadlines. If you're constantly searching through email threads, following up with employees, or trying to remember who's responsible for what, that time adds up.

Every hour spent chasing down information or manually moving tasks along is time that could be spent doing something else.

That's why I believe every business should have some kind of task or project management system. It doesn't have to be fancy or expensive. It could be a simple shared task list or a more robust platform, depending on your team's needs.

What matters is having a central place where work is organized, assigned, and tracked. Everyone should be able to see what's happening, what's coming up, and who's responsible.

When responsibilities are clear and information is easy to find, there's less time wasted on unnecessary follow-ups. That's a real operational improvement, and operational improvements can have a direct impact on profitability.

🚩 Signs Your Current Systems Might Need a Refresh

One of the biggest patterns I see is businesses using multiple systems that don't communicate well with one another.

Maybe payroll happens in one place, bills are paid somewhere else, and expenses are tracked manually. Then someone has to spend time moving information between systems, reconciling differences, or figuring out what happened.

Sometimes, the business owner doesn't even realize how much time these processes take because they've always done things that way.

Another common issue is paying for software without using it to its full potential. You might already have features available that could save you hours every month, but nobody has taken the time to set them up.

I've seen this with recurring transactions in QuickBooks, payroll processes, accounts payable, and administrative workflows.

At Done By 5, we're taking a closer look at these opportunities within our own business and our clients' systems. We're exploring ways to automate repetitive work, including recurring transaction categorization and other predictable financial tasks. We're also expanding our experience with Ramp and looking at how it can work alongside QuickBooks and Gusto.

The point isn't to add more software just because something new is available. It's to make better use of the tools you have and identify where a different tool might genuinely help.

📝 How to Build the Right Financial Tech Stack

You don't need to purchase a bunch of new software to get started. I'd recommend reviewing what you're already using and identifying where your current systems could work better.

Here are six steps to help you get started.

1. Make a List of Your Current Software

Start by listing the software and subscriptions your business uses regularly.

Include your accounting software, payroll system, expense management tools, project management platform, scheduling software, communication tools, and anything else you pay for.

You might be surprised by how many subscriptions you've accumulated over time.

As you review the list, ask yourself a few questions:

What does each tool help me do?
Who uses it?
Is it still necessary?
Are we using the features we're paying for?
Does it work well with our other systems?

This gives you a clearer picture of what you already have before you spend money on anything new.

2. Identify Where You're Spending Unnecessary Time

Think about the tasks you or your team repeat every week or month.

Are you manually entering the same information in multiple places? Chasing down receipts? Following up on invoices? Searching through emails to figure out the status of a project?

These are good places to look for improvements.

Sometimes, the problem isn't that you need a new platform. You might simply need to adjust an existing process, set up an automation, or make better use of a feature you already have.

The goal is to identify what's taking up time and determine whether there's a practical way to simplify it.

3. Check How Your Systems Work Together

Ideally, your tools should share information where appropriate so you're not constantly duplicating work.

For example, payroll information from Gusto can flow into QuickBooks, reducing the need for manual entries.

But integrations still need to be configured properly and reviewed. If information isn't flowing correctly, or if something is mapped incorrectly, you could end up creating more cleanup instead of less.

Don't just ask whether two tools integrate. Ask whether the integration is set up correctly and whether it's actually making your process easier.

4. Consider Whether You Need Better Expense Management

If your business has employees making purchases, recurring vendor payments, reimbursement requests, or a more involved accounts payable process, it may be worth exploring a platform like Ramp.

A tool like this may help organize spending, manage payments, and give you better visibility into expenses.

However, not every business needs a dedicated expense management platform. Consider the complexity of your current process, the time it takes to manage, and whether the potential benefits justify the additional cost.

Choose a tool because it addresses a real need, not because another business happens to use it.

5. Implement a Task or Project Management System

This is something I recommend for just about every business.

Whether you use a simple shared task list or a more robust project management platform, find something that works for your team and actually use it consistently.

There should be a clear place to see what's happening, what's coming up, and who's responsible for each task. This helps reduce the time spent searching for information, chasing updates, and figuring out what needs to happen next.

You don't need an elaborate system to get started. You need a process your team understands and will follow.

6. Don't Try to Change Everything at Once

This is probably my biggest piece of advice.

Once you start reviewing your systems, you might discover several things you'd like to improve. It's tempting to tackle all of them at the same time, but that can quickly turn into an overwhelming project.

Instead, pick one process that's causing frustration or wasting time and improve that first. Get comfortable with the new process before moving on to the next one.

Technology should make running your business easier, not give you another project to manage.

⏱️ What Is the Cost of Doing Nothing?

It's easy to hesitate over adding another software subscription. An additional monthly expense might not seem worthwhile, especially when you're trying to keep business costs under control.

But it's also worth considering how much your current process costs in time and effort.

For example, imagine a tool costs $30 to $50 per month. If it genuinely saves you several hours of administrative work each month, it could be a worthwhile investment. Of course, those time savings need to actually happen, and the tool needs to be a good fit for your business.

The same idea applies to processes that don't require new software. If improving how tasks are assigned or how financial information moves between systems reduces repetitive work, that improvement has value, too.

The goal isn't to spend more money on technology. It's to understand the trade-off between the cost of a tool and the time, effort, or unnecessary work it could help eliminate.

Sometimes, the best investment is a new tool. Other times, it's simply taking the time to improve the process you already have.

🤖 Where AI and Automation Fit In

We're entering an interesting time for small business technology, especially as AI and automation become more accessible.

There are more opportunities to simplify processes that once required a lot of manual work. At Done By 5, we're continuing to learn, experiment, and improve how we use technology ourselves.

But I also think business owners need to be thoughtful about how they implement these tools.

Not everything needs to be automated, and not every new piece of software is going to be the right fit. Sometimes, a simple process that everyone follows consistently is more valuable than an expensive platform nobody knows how to use.

And automation doesn't eliminate the need for oversight. Whether we're talking about bookkeeping, payroll, expense management, or task workflows, someone still needs to make sure things are working correctly.

As your business grows, your needs will change, and your systems should evolve with you. Your tech stack doesn't have to be perfect or complete from day one. It should support the business you have now while giving you room to improve as you grow.

🎯 Build a Tech Stack That Works for Your Business

The right financial tech stack isn't about having the most tools. It's about having the right combination of systems to help your business run more smoothly.

That might mean using QuickBooks Online for accounting, Gusto for payroll, and Ramp for expense management. It might also mean improving your task management process, setting up a few automations, or finally connecting systems that have been operating separately for years.

Your ideal setup will depend on your industry, the size of your business, your team's needs, and the complexity of your processes. A construction company will have different requirements than a solo consultant or a small creative business.

Start by reviewing what you already have, identifying where time is being wasted, and choosing one improvement to focus on first.

Efficiency isn't just about getting more done. It's about spending less time and money on things that don't move your business forward, improving visibility into your finances, and creating more consistent processes.

At Done By 5, we believe your financial and operational systems should work together to support your business—not create more work for you.

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