6 Tools Your Business Should Invest in for 2014 Software and platforms make it cheap and easy for your business to address everything from marketing, to brand management to human resources.

Q: What tools should my business invest in for 2014?

A: Start with a shopping list like one you'd scribble down for the grocery store. On this list, you've got your weekly staples, plus the items you'll need for a dinner party three days from now.

For a business, staples include maintenance and support payments on existing software licenses; subscriptions for cloud software apps; computer hardware support and maintenance fees; network and internet-access costs; and scheduled computer and phone upgrades.