calling needs-especially if you place a lot of international calls-Skype is a solid and hugely affordable choice. (free software; subscription up to $9.95 per month for unlimited international plans)
VPN
There's no need to set up complicated VPN (virtual private network) servers to give remote users secure access to the corporate network: Hamachi (which recently became part of LogMeIn) does the job with managed peer-to-peer technology, so no centralized VPN server is necessary. It's easy to set up, easy on the budget, and your subscription gets you LogMeIn's remote desktop system, too. ($5 per month)
Reprinted with permission from PC World. Story copyright 2008 PC World Inc. All rights reserved.
Comments
Great list! I use 99% of these myself for my freelance operations. If I might add one to the pile: TSheets. I use TSheets to track billable hours and to manage my own personal time. Their reporting features are great, and I recently found their app to go along with my shiny new iPhone. Great stuff.
http://www.tsheets.com
For a completely impartial review of your business tariff, speak to the Mobile Advice Bureau, they deal with only the top 5% of mobile phone dealers and the networks themselves to find the best deal for your requirements. You can also stipulate which networks you want to consider (so that you dont get sold anything you dont want). The advice is completely free and impartial and if they cant save you any money whilst using a reputable company then they wont send anyone to see you! Only available in the UK (not US sorry) their web address is www.mobileadvicebureau.co.uk
The major problem with most people who decide to build their internet business is that they do all the worrying after they’ve decided to start their online business. This causes a great deal of stress in their lives and doubt in their choices at first time. If you approach the senior of the business friends and better to read the e books regularly.
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You may also never forget to use a lead tracking software especially if you have leads to maintain. This is very important as you want to make sure that you don't get to lose one potential client or customer simply because you fail to make a follow-up or put a good amount of attention over their interest in what you're offering. With the kind of competition there is on the Internet (it's a dog-eat-dog world out there), you have to keep close watch over your leads. You can read more about what I'm talking about at Lead Tracking Info (http://www.leadtracking-info.com).
The list can be useful, but I think the author should have pointed to other options too. Just name some alternatives for each category. The thing is there're no best or worst tools, they are all imperfect. Each business finds the one that's best for it. Basecamp is a great tool, but it offers its own philosophy that might not suit some companies. Millions of business people use emails today, and email will remain the most popular communication tool. Basecamp does not leverage this fact, but tools like Wrike do.
Another online note-taking/wiki application you might wanna try out is Springnote (http://springnote.com/en). It’s a free hosted service with 2GB of file storage. On top of that, it comes with an easy wysiwyg editor - no need to know markup at all. Just like Confluence, it has search, tagging, page categorization/hierarchy, and file exporting. It’s already been covery by many famous media entities, like Lifehacker, ReadWriteWeb, and WebWorkerDaily. Definitely worth a look!
Don't forget www.tablists.com for online to do lists; and the best addin for Outlook 2007, OutlookTrackit, makes keeping track of emails you send to others a breeze.
If you'd like a tool for managing your projects, you can try this application inspired by David Allen's GTD:
http://www.Gtdagenda.com
You can use it to manage your goals, projects and tasks, set next actions and contexts, use checklists, schedules and a calendar.
A mobile version and iCal are available too.
Hope you like it.
That's a great list of useful tools - but be aware that for $5 a month you will only get the personal version of Mozy (MozyHome). This version specifically excludes backing up business data. MozyPro is the business version and is significantly more expensive.
Another option is to use Angel Backup for your online backup solution. Business data is permitted, it works out cheaper than MozyPro and comes highly recommended.
I think it's an interesting feature...,
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