The Extreme Freebie for Small Business
| Category: Home Based Business - Marketing | Date: 2003-06-18 |
Its hard to believe what you can get for free on the Internet these days. In terms of killer apps for a small business, you cant do much better than free intranet/extranet solutions.
CNET (http://www.cnet.com) calls these solutions "webware." ZDNet (http://www.zdnet.com) refers to them as "digital solutions." We call them the "extreme freebie."
Even if you had the in-house expertise, building these applications yourself would cost you big in time and effort. With a webware provider, in a matter of hours, you could have your own secure intranet (for internal use) or extranet (to share resources with select business partners).
The process is simple. You sign yourself up, define your organization or work group, then invite other members to join and contribute to your secure and easy to use site. In not much more time than it takes to sign up for a Hotmail account, you can be sharing resources, managing projects, and communicating like never before.
Most webware suites offer some flavor of these applications:
PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Assign tasks, track them to completion, and communicate issues and progress.
CALENDARS: Keep employees, team members, business contacts and key customers informed of important events. Or, keep a personal calendar that only you can see.
DOCUMENT SHARING: Instead of haphazardly emailing those Word and Excel files to interested parties, use a central storage facility so that files are always available to those who need them.
COMMUNICATION: Store information about and communicate with your business and personal contacts. Discuss, brainstorm, and share your thoughts with team members.
Weve either used or researched the five free webware providers described below. Though common features abound, theres probably one provider better suited than the others to your specific needs. Also, keep in mind that some offer even more functionality and/or customization if youre willing to pay a monthly fee.
Your best bet is to tour or demo several providers. Its almost just as easy, though, to sign up (its free, remember!) and take a real test drive to find the provider with the most useful and relevant toolset. Here are a few youll do well to consider:
OfficeClip.com (http://www.officeclip.com):
This site has a very intuitive interface, with easy administration of members, groups and data. Of all the webware sites weve seen, this one is near the top in most categories.
OfficeClip features a strong project management toolset, such as automatic email notification of project task events and reports that are exportable to MS Access and Excel. Check out the unique CRM (customer relationship management) features.
Calendar information can be exported to the Palm Address Book, MS Outlook, ACT! and more. One useful feature is the Time & Expenses tool which allows timesheets to be exported to Outlook.
Intranets.com (http://www.intranets.com):
If your business doesnt need project management resources but would benefit from strong communications and calendaring, youll like Intranets.com. For example, calendars and contact information can be synchronized with your local Outlook and Palm files. Highly customizable online polls are easy to create and use. Discussions, file sharing and even instant messaging are a breeze.
The sites interface is very clean, though an ad banner is always present. The online Intranet Advisor and the monthly newsletter full of helpful tips and new features announcements lend a nice touch.
Editors Note: Intranets.com no longer offers free services.
eProject Express (http://www.eproject.com):
This providers claim to webware fame is its simple, no-nonsense interface. This site wont wow you with fancy features, but its a piece of cake to use.
eProject Express offers basics project task management with customizable email notification. Calendar events can be limited to yourself, opened to specific individuals or to the entire group. Intuitive file sharing and message posting features are also part of the eProjects package.
Microteams (http://www.microteams.com):
This outfit from Singapore is worth taking a look at, if only because theyre a little bit different from the others.
The ability to create and email status reports is a project managers dream. The calendar tool allows you to send first and second reminders a specified number of days before an event.
Theres also a "Web Research Tool" where one user can cut and paste information into a memo (like an online Notepad), and others can comment on it or add to it.
OfficeTool (http://www.officetool.com):
OfficeTool offers the usual suite of solutions, but you might not be thrilled with its look-and-feel. We werent. The administration interface is clunky, and help is hard to find.
One unique feature is its Company News section, where its easy for the admin to post items of interest.
Power Tools (Expense Reporting, Help Desk Management and more) and Unified Messaging (toll-free voicemail and fax, access to existing POP3 accounts) are options available for $9.95 and $4.95 respectively.
Summary
As with anything thats free, youll need to take the claims of these (and any) providers with a grain of salt. We cant vouch for the sturdiness of their business plans. Heaven knows weve seen enough dot.com failures these days to give pause to betting the company store on a freebie site. As you review the offerings of the providers listed here, take a look at their download and archiving capabilities.
If you dont already have your own intranet, you could be doing you, your co-workers and your business partners a great service by taking advantage of one of these service providers.
For a mind-boggling list of other "extreme freebie" (as well as many fee-based) webware providers, browse CNETs Webware site at http://webware.cnet.com.
by Keith Reichley February, 2001
About the Author
Keith Reichley is webmaster for webthejoint.com, the web resource center for small business. Contact Keith at keith@webthejoint.com
keith@webthejoint.com
http://www.webthejoint.com
CNET (http://www.cnet.com) calls these solutions "webware." ZDNet (http://www.zdnet.com) refers to them as "digital solutions." We call them the "extreme freebie."
Even if you had the in-house expertise, building these applications yourself would cost you big in time and effort. With a webware provider, in a matter of hours, you could have your own secure intranet (for internal use) or extranet (to share resources with select business partners).
The process is simple. You sign yourself up, define your organization or work group, then invite other members to join and contribute to your secure and easy to use site. In not much more time than it takes to sign up for a Hotmail account, you can be sharing resources, managing projects, and communicating like never before.
Most webware suites offer some flavor of these applications:
PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Assign tasks, track them to completion, and communicate issues and progress.
CALENDARS: Keep employees, team members, business contacts and key customers informed of important events. Or, keep a personal calendar that only you can see.
DOCUMENT SHARING: Instead of haphazardly emailing those Word and Excel files to interested parties, use a central storage facility so that files are always available to those who need them.
COMMUNICATION: Store information about and communicate with your business and personal contacts. Discuss, brainstorm, and share your thoughts with team members.
Weve either used or researched the five free webware providers described below. Though common features abound, theres probably one provider better suited than the others to your specific needs. Also, keep in mind that some offer even more functionality and/or customization if youre willing to pay a monthly fee.
Your best bet is to tour or demo several providers. Its almost just as easy, though, to sign up (its free, remember!) and take a real test drive to find the provider with the most useful and relevant toolset. Here are a few youll do well to consider:
OfficeClip.com (http://www.officeclip.com):
This site has a very intuitive interface, with easy administration of members, groups and data. Of all the webware sites weve seen, this one is near the top in most categories.
OfficeClip features a strong project management toolset, such as automatic email notification of project task events and reports that are exportable to MS Access and Excel. Check out the unique CRM (customer relationship management) features.
Calendar information can be exported to the Palm Address Book, MS Outlook, ACT! and more. One useful feature is the Time & Expenses tool which allows timesheets to be exported to Outlook.
Intranets.com (http://www.intranets.com):
If your business doesnt need project management resources but would benefit from strong communications and calendaring, youll like Intranets.com. For example, calendars and contact information can be synchronized with your local Outlook and Palm files. Highly customizable online polls are easy to create and use. Discussions, file sharing and even instant messaging are a breeze.
The sites interface is very clean, though an ad banner is always present. The online Intranet Advisor and the monthly newsletter full of helpful tips and new features announcements lend a nice touch.
Editors Note: Intranets.com no longer offers free services.
eProject Express (http://www.eproject.com):
This providers claim to webware fame is its simple, no-nonsense interface. This site wont wow you with fancy features, but its a piece of cake to use.
eProject Express offers basics project task management with customizable email notification. Calendar events can be limited to yourself, opened to specific individuals or to the entire group. Intuitive file sharing and message posting features are also part of the eProjects package.
Microteams (http://www.microteams.com):
This outfit from Singapore is worth taking a look at, if only because theyre a little bit different from the others.
The ability to create and email status reports is a project managers dream. The calendar tool allows you to send first and second reminders a specified number of days before an event.
Theres also a "Web Research Tool" where one user can cut and paste information into a memo (like an online Notepad), and others can comment on it or add to it.
OfficeTool (http://www.officetool.com):
OfficeTool offers the usual suite of solutions, but you might not be thrilled with its look-and-feel. We werent. The administration interface is clunky, and help is hard to find.
One unique feature is its Company News section, where its easy for the admin to post items of interest.
Power Tools (Expense Reporting, Help Desk Management and more) and Unified Messaging (toll-free voicemail and fax, access to existing POP3 accounts) are options available for $9.95 and $4.95 respectively.
Summary
As with anything thats free, youll need to take the claims of these (and any) providers with a grain of salt. We cant vouch for the sturdiness of their business plans. Heaven knows weve seen enough dot.com failures these days to give pause to betting the company store on a freebie site. As you review the offerings of the providers listed here, take a look at their download and archiving capabilities.
If you dont already have your own intranet, you could be doing you, your co-workers and your business partners a great service by taking advantage of one of these service providers.
For a mind-boggling list of other "extreme freebie" (as well as many fee-based) webware providers, browse CNETs Webware site at http://webware.cnet.com.
by Keith Reichley February, 2001
About the Author
Keith Reichley is webmaster for webthejoint.com, the web resource center for small business. Contact Keith at keith@webthejoint.com
keith@webthejoint.com
http://www.webthejoint.com
Copyright © 2005-2006 Powered by Custom PHP Programming