BizBest » 30-Second Solutions

7 Free Cloud Services and Software for Small Business

Daniel Kehrer — Tue, 31 May 2011 01:06:48 +0000

Here are 7 BizBest picks for top cloud services and software that’s free for small business:

1. Home Office Suite: For many home computer users, the $279 Microsoft Office software is overkill. As a free yet powerful alternative try OpenOffice.org from Sun Microsystems. You can download for free, and it comes with word processing, spreadsheet, a draw program, database program and presentation software.

2. Share Large Files Easily: Sending large computer files can be a pain and an expense if you jam your email software or pay for special devices and services to help out. Dropbox is a better way – a private file sharing solution that’s free and easy. Use it to privately share your files and collaborate in real time by web, email and mobile.

3. Free Invoicing for Freelancers: BillingBoss.com is a free online invoicing tool designed for small business owners and freelancers to create, send and track invoices. It’s easy to use and you can create your first invoice within minutes of signing up. If you’ve been getting by with spreadsheets, or use complicated accounting software only for its invoicing tool, BillingBoss might be for you. Unlike some free services, there’s no limit on the number of invoices you can create or send with Billing Boss. You can also set it up so customers can pay you online through Billing Boss. There’s also comfort in knowing this service is run by one of the world’s leading business software companies, and that your information is encrypted and securely stored.

4. A Virtual Office Online: Microsoft Office Live (http://officelive.com) is a free password-protected online workspace where you can store and share files and access your work from anywhere, even from other computers. Its companion site Office Live Small Business is a terrific, affordable place to build a professional-looking online presence, and get a free website and marketing help as well.

5. Customize Your Own Free Software and Tools Package: Google Pack (http://pack.google.com) is new from the global search giant. It lets you customize and download you own set of free software and web tools that includes everything you need to work more effectively both online and off. Dozens of choices – all free – include:

Email, calendar and document creation applications.
Anti-virus and spyware protection.
Photo editing and sharing tools.
Skype for making free voice and video calls via the Internet.
Adobe Reader to view, print and search PDF files.
Google Talk to connect with friends via instant messaging (IM) or free voice calls.
A media player that lets you play and organize your music and videos.

6. Manage Customers for your Small Business: FreeCRM.com is a great tool for small business contact and lead tracking, sales and contact management, sales forecasting, customer service and business management. The free version is self-service, allows unlimited users and provides up to 10 MB of storage. If your customer base is not particularly large, it can be a quick and easy way to automate your sales, do a better job of tracking leads and even manage email and call campaigns.

7. Free Bookkeeping: Wave is a free online accounting application for small business. Wave cuts the time-wasting parts of bookkeeping and accounting. No more manual entry. No more confusing steps. By using smarter tools and new technology, Wave is reinventing the way small businesses stay on top of their financial information.

A Better Way to Carry Cash Overseas

Daniel Kehrer — Tue, 31 May 2011 00:04:18 +0000

If you’re traveling overseas on business, here’s a better way to carry local currency: Pre-loaded, security protected, foreign-currency debit cards good at millions of locations that accept Visa or MasterCard worldwide. Two dominant players are the Cash Passport Card (www.cashpassportcard.com) and TravelMoney card (www.visa.com), which carry the MasterCard, Visa or other name brand labels and are issued by various banks, global companies such as Travelex and organizations such as the American Automobile Association (AAA).

Travel money cards are a secure way to carry cash when traveling. The card is PIN protected and if it’s lost or stolen, just notify the issuer for a replacement or refund. Some provide zero liability coverage. Under Visa’s policy, for example, you have 100% protection from unauthorized transactions made with a lost or stolen card.

They are also hard to beat for convenience. Instead of jumping through hoops to cash a travelers’ check at a bank, store or other location, these cards are readily accepted worldwide, and let you get cash in local currencies from an ATM 24/7. And since these are pre-paid cards, you won’t be facing any surprise credit card bills when you return from your trip. If there’s money left on the card, just bring it back for a refund or take the remaining funds from any ATM.

A Cheap and Easy Time and Attendance Solution

Daniel Kehrer — Wed, 04 May 2011 18:27:36 +0000

Small businesses that use remote workers, independent contractors or other off-site employees need a time and attendance or time clock service that they can log into at any time and see when their workers punched in for the day. Labor Time Tracker (LTT) is an easy-to-use, web-based (cloud computing) employee time and attendance service that uses either plain old phone punching (regular telephone service) or an Internet-connected PC to track time for a small or medium sized business.

LTT replaces hand written timesheets and helps decentralized (mobile) employees punch in their time using a standard phone or any internet enabled device. It’s a fast and smart way to track employee or contractor time for job costing as well as payroll. Types of businesses and organizations using Labor Time Tracker vary widely, from farms in Iowa to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

Labor Time Tracker is a great “time clock” for field labor and other employees in industries such as healthcare, construction, government, janitorial and security guards services. What’s more, the system is in both English and Spanish.

Features of this low-cost system rival those of more expensive time and attendance solutions and software used by big companies. It was built for the web from the ground up, so it’s super fast. Ogther features include these:

Unique in/out board lets you know where employees are and when they will return
Can be used for 1 to 10,000 employees
Can accommodate multiple locations
Offers multiple access levels and security features
Auto-adjusts for daylight time
Supports all US and international time zones
Employees and supervisors can digitally sign and approve timecards and export to accouinting or payroll
Notice posting lets you send messages to individual employees or entire groups
Allows punch-in from any computer, or via cell or land line phone
Rounds punches to nearest minute, 10^th or quarter hour
Prevents workers from punching outside schedule
Automatically deducts lunch minutes from a timecard and/or adds payable break minutes to timecard
Accommodates multiple in/out punches daily
See a complete list here

The cost is $4.95 per employee, per month. And since it’s cloud based, there are no setup fees, license fees, training fees, support fees or contracts. A free trial is available at the website.

A Great US Economic Indicator for Small Business

Daniel Kehrer — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 17:07:05 +0000

Small business owners don’t generally follow broad based economic indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP), industrial production, national unemployment or hundreds of others produced by the federal government. But there’s a new kid on the economic forecasting block that’s worth checking out for an accurate view of where the economy is likely headed.

The Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index – or just PCI for short – is a first-of-its-kind, real time measure of the flow of goods to U.S. factories, retailers and consumers. This privately-produced index is a way to see what’s happening much earlier than government data that can lag months behind and often undergoes numerous subsequent revisions.

Unlike survey-based indicators, or those that rely on estimates (or outright guessing), PCI is based on actual fuel purchases by trucking companies as they happen. Speed of data collection is key. This could not have happened in the past before the age of fuel cards that get swiped thousands of times daily coast to coast. Each time a trucker buys diesel, the information is captured. Collectively, these purchases have proven to be a highly accurate indicator of what’s really happening in the economy ahead of anything else.

The tale being told right now by the PCI is positive. The latest report showed a 16^th consecutive month of year-over-year growth. The PCI has been growing since it first turned positive in December 2009. In short, the PCI says the U.S. economy is fundamentally healthy, and continuing to improve, albeit slowly.

The complete latest report, regional analysis and additional commentary are available free at www.ceridianindex.com or by contacting index@ceridian.com. The site also offers further details such as index graphs and downloadable data, video commentary and background information with options to receive updates via e-mail and RSS feed.

Global Fulfillment for Small Business

Daniel Kehrer — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 22:46:49 +0000

If your retail business is growing but storage, shipping and fulfilling orders have you running in circles; an under-the-radar site that caters to small businesses has your back. With a few clicks at up-and-coming Shipwire, you can send inventory to their warehouses, integrate with your own website and start fulfilling your customers’ orders in real time. Shipwire handles the storage, the packing, the shipping and other logistical details from warehouses in the U.S., Canada and Europe, with more coming worldwide.

Don Chernoff credits Shipwire with helping get his firm Skyroll rolling. Skyroll makes lightweight, compact luggage. But Chernoff was frustrated because he was spending so much time on shipping and fulfilling orders himself. ShipWire took those tasks off his plate so he could concentrate on selling. Similar services wanted long-term contracts, big startup fees and volume commitments. Chernoff needed something simple to get his Internet operation off the ground. The Shipwire service lets businesses of all types — from garage startups and web entrepreneurs to seasonal businesses and importers — have multiple warehouses and automated order fulfillment at their fingertips.

Free Online Desktop Sharing

Daniel Kehrer — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 22:37:22 +0000

The award-winning innovators at LogMeIn have created JoinMe – the simplest way yet to share your computer screen with somebody else. For fast-moving small businesses, JoinMe could be a terrific timesaver. Tech nerds and IT consultants already know about LogMeIn, which offers services such as remote tech support and desktop control. But as a businessperson, how many times have you been on the phone telling someone where to go online, or wishing you could quickly show them a document, photo, spreadsheet or presentation right then, without having to email it or get them to correctly type in a URL? JoinMe is the answer.

Think of it as an impromptu meeting that can happen anytime or anyplace, allowing you to get a second (third, fourth, fifth, etc.) pair of eyes on your info or ideas from across the hall — or across the ocean. It’s sharing your screen instantly with anyone to get stuff done quickly.

At JoinMe you have two choices: Share or Join. Click “share” to download the necessary application (it’s small and quick) and you’re all set. Give the access code to the others whom you want to join. That’s about it. The service is free and works like a dream.

Easily Manage Expense Reports Online

Daniel Kehrer — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 22:29:06 +0000

Expense reports are a pain – for you, your business and your employees. But new services that let you manage the process online are changing how expense reports happen — and saving small business owners time and money. Expensify, which bills itself as “Expense reports that don’t suck,” is an up-and-comer in the online expense report space.

It’s an app and a website service that makes expense reporting totally digital. For example, it lets users import expenses directly from credit card accounts. You can also import expense info by mobile phone or email. Snap pictures of your receipts with your camera phone and send them to your file. Once all of your info is there, you can quickly assemble the expenses on the website. All of your imported, uploaded and logged business expenses are stored digitally and available 24/7. Reimbursements can be made easily online using QuickBooks and direct deposit.

Submitting reports is free for everyone in your business. Up to two can be approved and reimbursed each month for free; after that, there’ a monthly fee of $5 for each submitter who is reimbursed. You can download the Expensify app from the Intuit Workplace App Center (a great place, by the way!).

Low Cost Video Surveillance

Daniel Kehrer — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 22:22:30 +0000

Video security and surveillance for small business may never be the same. GotoCamera, a new web-based service, makes it easy and affordable for even non-techies to watch over your bar, retail store or any other business by using your Internet connection and low-cost webcams you may already own. Conventional systems require costly equipment and can be challenging to set up and operate. GotoCamera is a simple (“built for the average Joe”) web application you connect to with standard USB and webcams, including those built into your laptops and PCs.

It works like this: Register at GotoCamera. Download and install the GotoCamera client (program). Launch the program (password protected), choose a name for your camera(s) and the picture quality you want, and hit OK. When you log in to your account at GotoCamera, you’ll see your cameras listed under My Cameras. Click on the camera icon to see a live image from one camera; the multi-image icon for a series of auto-refresh live images; the video icon for a 10-second video clip recorded on demand; or the stream icon for a live stream. You can set up a recording schedule, share your camera and view archives.

There’s a free trial until the end of September, and then there will be a free basic service that handles one camera. The intro price for full service will be only $29.95 per year, which includes up to four cameras, streaming video and additional storage. You can also get alerts on your mobile phone.

GotoCamera is also introducing a free mobile app that will let you repurpose old mobile phones into video surveillance devices. You can place the device in a key location, connect to a Wi-Fi network and check in on what’s happening at any time.

How to Take Your Training Online

Daniel Kehrer — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 22:08:57 +0000

Mindflash is a new online tool that can make employee training easier than ever for anything from how to use your phone system to sales methods and company policies. Whether your business employs forklift operators, sales reps or cashiers, you probably have a need for training of some kind. Mindflash is super flexible. Employees can learn on their own schedule and at their own pace. Also, the information is there for everyone whenever they need it.

The site can turn almost any type of materials you have – PDFs, Word files, PowerPoint, videos and more – into online training with intuitive tools that make using the site simple. Automated emails make it easy to invite, enroll and remind your new hires and other employees. All you have to do is build (or upload) a list and Mindflash does the rest. You can even build in quizzes and use Mindflash’s built-in reporting tools to see who viewed the training and how they did on your tests.

The folks behind Mindflash are no flash in the pan themselves. CEO Donna Wells formerly helped run the super-successful personal finance site Mint.com and now has her sights set on transforming the boring, outdated e-learning industry.

Boost Biz with a Wireless Photo Memory Card

Daniel Kehrer — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 21:02:42 +0000

Local businesses – from doggie day care to flower shops – are gaining an edge over “the big guys” with a new wireless photo delivery device that lets them share images instantly with customers by using a digital camera in a different way. Eye-Fi is being billed as the first-ever wireless memory card. Eye-Fi looks just like any memory card you pop into your digital camera, except this one comes with built-in Wi-Fi that uses your wireless network to transfer photos and videos to your PC, website, and photo sharing services or just about anywhere you want. Photos and videos can land in selected folders too, so your images are organized effortlessly.

Here’s how three local business owners are using Eye-Fi’s wireless uploads, endless photo storage and (almost) universal digital camera compatibility to help run their businesses better:

Joseph Gianni’s passion for animals inspired him to open his doggie day care business in Chicago. He uses his Eye-Fi card to take pictures of people’s pets and wirelessly upload them to his site so customers can see Fido having a great time while they are at work or enjoying their vacation.
Phoenix business owner Scott Overman travels from street festivals to grand events for his custom T-shirt printing business called Wear it Now! At each event he uses his Eye-Fi card to snap pictures of people to go on a shirt. The photos travel from his camera to his computer for the customer to view and approve the image on the spot, allowing him to sell more shirts and gain new customers.
When Pennsylvania florist shop owners Rich Dudley and his wife found out they were having a baby, they worried about running the shop and caring for their newborn. The Eye-Fi card is helping them do both. Rich snaps a picture of the flower arrangement he’s working on and by turning on his camera the images fly directly to his wife’s computer at home, where she’s able to share her feedback.

Eye-Fi cards come in different versions starting at $49.95.