8 best online business platforms for consultants in 2023

Managing a consultancy business is challenging. A study from Consultancy.UK highlighted that consultants often clock in 50 to 80 hours weekly to meet their job requirements. However, there are online tools designed to simplify and enhance your work.

After closely studying the workflows of our consultant clientele, we've identified solutions that can elevate your efficiency and drive business growth.

If you want to expand your consulting business, these online platforms are a move to consider. Dive into this article as we explore the top 8 online platforms for consultants in 2023.

What are online platforms for consultants?

Online platforms for consultants are web-hosted tools, mostly websites that can help consultants work more effectively. They streamline and optimize consulting operations, saving time, energy, and money. 

Typically, these tools assist with accounting and project management, invoicing, finding clients, running projects, and providing custom solutions. By leveraging the right platforms, consultants can focus on providing high-value services to help their clients succeed.

8 Best online platforms for consultants in 2023

Below are the best online platforms for consultants you should consider.

1. Workee

Workee is an intuitive software tailored to streamline consulting tasks, making work processes more efficient. Each feature within Workee is crafted to automate repetitive tasks, enhancing client relations and overall business management. The software includes a range of tools, from a website builder and scheduling system to job and project management, finance oversight, a dedicated workspace, video conferencing, the innovative Workee AI, and seamless integrations with other third-party tools.

Key Features:

1. A no-code website builder that uses expert templates and SEO optimization to create a professional, visually appealing website.

2. Client Management: Workee simplifies client communication by keeping all their contact information in one place.

3. Appointments & Scheduling: The app facilitates direct client appointment bookings that sync with your calendar.

4. Integrations: Workee's seamless integration with tools like Google Auth, Google Suites, Zoom, and payment platforms eliminates constant application toggling.

5. Customer Support: With a robust support team and knowledge base, Workee ensures effective resolution of client issues, enhancing satisfaction.

6. AI-powered Assistant: Workee's AI streamlines tasks like generating meeting notes.

7. Marketplace: Workee's digital marketplace connects you with other professionals and potential clients.

Pricing:

• Workee Starter: Get started for free(5% transaction fees)

• Workee Pro - $29/month and $290/year

2. Proposify

Proposify is online consulting software with quality templates and tools to create professional business proposals and other sales documents online. Also, Proposify has an online signature feature that allows easy signing of proposals and contracts, thereby quickening the contract signing process. Thus, Proposify is an efficient platform for fixing consultants’ client management needs.

Key Features:

• Create, manage, and send proposals online 

• Many customizable templates

• Client e-signatures functionality 

Pricing

• Free plan but with limited features. 

• Team plan: $49/user/month (traditional/basic features).

• Business plan: $590/month (additional premium features).

3. Hubstaff

Hubstaff is one of the prominent web apps for online consulting that helps with this. This tool helps complete monthly timesheets painlessly and efficiently track individual and team activity. It offers integrations to work seamlessly with other platforms for top-notch performance.  Also, the tool has an automatic payroll feature that helps with time tracking and allows users to use GPS to record time spent traveling between meetings.

Key Features:

• Time tracking with automated timesheets

• GPS tracking of meetings and travel

• Team monitoring and productivity optimization

Pricing:

• Desk Free - Free

• Desk Starter - $7/month

• Desk Pro - $10/user/month

• Enterprise – Custom

Tip: you may want to start with the free plan to learn about the tool's features and know if it would suit your business or if you should look for an alternative.

4. Consultport

Consultport is an online consulting platform for companies to hire independent consultants and experts on demand. The platform helps pre-screen consultants to validate skills and experience and provide clients with the most qualified consultant(s) to do the job. The platform is robust and handles major administrative tasks, like contracts, billing, and quality assurance, for the duration of a project. Consultants can select projects suited to their interests, set their rates, and get support from Consultport.

Key Features:

• Consultants pre-screening and validation

• Business administration and automation tools

• Open pricing system

• Quality support

Pricing:

• Varies

5. Drip

Email marketing is highly effective in promoting consulting services and growing your audience. Drip is a web app for online consulting that makes managing email campaigns intuitive.

You can match the style of your emails to your consulting brand, whether you prefer colorful and playful or serious and professional. Segment your subscribers into groups and update your email database automatically.

See exactly who opens your emails to gauge engagement and interest in your services.

Key Features:

• Email campaign creation and management

• Subscriber segmentation and automation

• Open and click tracking for analytics

Pricing:

• 14-day Free Trial

• $19/month for 500 contacts

6. Evernote

Evernote helps with organizing notes and critical information in one place. With its varied features, Evernote makes note-taking easier and more efficient. Save files and project details alongside notes to keep everything together. Integrations with other online consulting platforms cut out manual work. Useful features include clipping web content, syncing notes across devices, scanning documents, and using templates.

Key Features:

• File attachment and project info storage

• Note syncing across devices

• Web clipping and document scanning

• Integrations with other consulting platforms

Pricing:

• Evernote Free - Free

• Evernote Personal - €6.99/month

• Evernote Professional - €8.99/month

• Evernote Teams - €13.99/user/month

7. Qwilr

Qwilr helps you quickly design polished, professional proposals without extensive design expertise. Leverage modern templates that help your documents stand out. Automatically generate proposals by integrating with popular CRM platforms. Get notifications when clients view your proposals so you know they've seen your work.

Key Features:

• Modern proposal templates

• CRM integrations for automation

• Web-based proposals.

• Email notifications.

Pricing:

• 14-day Free Trial

• Business - $66/month

• Enterprise - $490/month

8. Pipedrive

Although there are many web apps for online consulting, Pipedrive helps streamline and optimize the sales pipeline much better than many alternative solutions. Gain complete visibility into deal status, customize pipeline stages, and intuitively add deals, activities, and contacts. Integrate email to sync communications across accounts.

Key Features:

• Deal pipeline customization and management

• Email integration and syncing

• Lead generation and sales analytics

• Task and deal tracking

Pricing:

• Essential - €12.50/user/month

• Advanced - €24.90/user/month

• Professional - €49.90/user/month

• Enterprise - €99/user/month

Conclusion

Online business platforms take the hassle out of managing an online business. Our top pick is Workee. It has excellent user-friendly features, support, top-notch expertise, and a good reputation in the online business management space.

Workee does everything for your business, from booking & scheduling to seamless integrations with other third-party tools. Giving you all the time you need to focus on your work, Get started for free today.