With limited budgets and fewer resources than their big-business counterparts, the owners of small businesses rank software unification at the top of any wish list of technology that would aid in the quotidian management of the business.

The nation’s job creators may now heave a collective sigh of relief, according to a recent report by Business News Daily, which noted that the technology to unify communication, customer relationship management, planning and human resources software is on the horizon.

This sort of software link will finally connect multiple platforms, allowing for seamless operation and communication, the piece read.

“Connecting software to work with other software is hard,” Roy Mann, CEO and co-founder for Monday.com told the online publication. “There is going to be a breakthrough with integration platforms that will allow any software to connect well with any other software.”

He used the example of customer information changing simultaneously across platforms if it’s adjusted in just one.

It’s this unification that can save businesses time and promote internal efficiency.

According to Barry Chignell of CIPH HR Software, unification of software and data improves the overall accuracy of a company’s data.

Duplicating data in several systems leads to reduced accuracy, Chignell wrote on the company’s website.

“Because data is often used to make strategic decisions, it needs to be accurate and consistent,” he said. “If different departments get different data from your systems, and base decisions on this conflicting, inaccurate data, this will lead to confusion and require additional time to reconcile.

“By reducing the need to duplicate data entry in multiple systems, you can also vastly reduce the probability of human error.”

Perhaps the most remarkable outcome from software unification is real-time data visibility.

The faster a business can react to something the better, Chignell said.

The ability to see data in real time allows a company to see what is working well and what needs improvement.

“And, because the data is current, issues can be resolved quickly, while they’re still relevant,” he said. “Conversely, those areas of the business that are working well can be further improved or enhanced.”

Time previously spent on data collection and analysis can be spent improving a company’s service to its customers.

Eliminating the delay between data collection and data analysis helps improve employee productivity, too, Chignell noted.

“Without linked systems, employees have to manually move data from one business app to another,” he said. “This type of exercise not only distracts employees from other business-critical tasks but also increases the likelihood of inaccuracies occurring.”

Employees would be permitted to access data regardless of their location or time of day, without the downtime associated with waiting for the latest data dump and update.