Best Business SW Tools #2

from PC World Magazine 7/13 enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4biz 8/13 Apha listed

5. COLLABORATION: Vyew
With Vyew, anyone can host an Internet session that lets scattered colleagues work together on a project in real time. This Web-conferencing platform gives you a very simple whiteboard where you can upload documents for discussion, share your desktop, or create designs from scratch. You don’t even have to register to use Vyew, but if you do, you get access to VoIP and other audio services. [Ffree for up to 20 live participants; additional services extra]

6. COLLABORATION/Office Suite: Google Docs
If your team members all have Google accounts (and why wouldn’t they?), sharing files, collaborating on them simultaneously & in real-time is a snap with Google Docs. A word processor & spreadsheet are your only choices–no free-form White-boring (er boarding) here–but the service is free and easy as pie to operate. Upgrading to the next Edition brings extra space (a 25GB limit versus 7GB for free) and a conference-room scheduling system. (Standard Edition is free)

7. CRM: SalesForce
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) isn’t just for the Fortune 500. Even one-person or Mom & Pop shops can benefit from a more ordered approach to managing the sales process, tracking leads, and ensuring that follow-ups are done in a timely fashion. Salesforce.com requires some training & patience due to its vastness, but its exhaustive feature set and affordable pricing options make it a business must-have. ($8.25 to $250 per user per month)

8. DATA-BASE: Filemaker Pro (is the way too go)
(sorry I couldn’t resist Wiz4biz) Access is a part of many editions of Microsoft Office, but if you don’t already have that Database program in your toolkit, consider springing for FileMaker Pro instead. This database application is more intuitive than Access, while offering high-end features like live SQL data source support & easy Web-publishing capabilities. Your whole team can access the database via a browser. And its array of pre-built templates helps you get up and running in no time. ($299)

9. E-COMMERCE: Yahoo’s Small Business
You’d be surprised at some of the sophisticated things being done with the simple E-commerce service at Yahoo Small Business. Yahoo provides everything from templates & wizards to credit-card processing & sales-tax collection. If you sell less than 50,000 units, this is definitely one of the easiest & quickest ways to go online. Even better: A small army of third-party developers stands ready to create Web designs that work specifically with the service. ($40/month & up, plus transaction fees)

[ E-mail (T-bird & Zimba), eMarketing, Instant Msg, Invoicing, Remote Access, Office Suite in next Premium Content ]