Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Free or Almost Free Software to Run Your Business



It is a challenge these days to start a small business and get it up and running. This article provides information and links to vendors who provide free or almost free cloud based software.
Many vendors are using a pricing model where they provide software free or almost free for small teams. The hope is that the firms and teams will grow and need to add seats to the subscription. Larger teams typically pay more per seat than small teams do but as they grow the extra cost can be justified. Most of these vendors also have a free trial period.
The focus of this software is professional services and consulting type firms but much of the software discussed here will be useful to other firms. My belief is that this software is so inexpensive there is no reason or excuse not to use it.
I have used or am using each of the solutions mentioned in this analysis so I have real world experience with the software.

Type
Description
Vendor
Cost
CRM
If you manage or sell to any type of customer, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is useful. You manage leads, convert them to opportunities and manage accounts and contacts. Everything is in one place.
Free – Leads, Accounts and Contacts for 3 users. Provides basic sales services.
$12 / User / Month – adds forecasting, document storage and dashboards. Indented for small business.
$20 / User / Month – adds workflow, email integration and role based security.
$35 / User / Month – adds territories, advanced workflow and call centers.
Web Site
Every firm needs a website. There are many solutions for this. Squarespace is the best I have seen and is the product I use.
Prices are for annual billing
$8 / Month – 20 pages, 500gb bandwidth, 2 GB storage, 2 Contributors
$16 / Month – Unlimited
$24 / Month – adds eCommerce
Wiki
It is common to have a need for documentation and collaboration. A wiki is a great solution for this.
The best wiki I have seen is Confluence by Atlaassian.
Pricing is per groups of users. A license seat is not required to view content.
$10 / Month – 10 Users
$50 / Month – 15 Users
$100 / Month – 25 Users
$200 / Month – 50 Users
$300 / Month – 100 Users
$500 / Month – 500 Users
$1000 / Month – 2000 Users
Task and Project Management
Jira is a task and issue management tool. You may manage tasks, defects and workflow for many business needs and process.
$10 / Month – 10 Users
$50 / Month – 15 Users
$100 / Month – 25 Users
$200 / Month – 50 Users
$300 / Month – 100 Users
$500 / Month – 500 Users
$1000 / Month – 2000 Users
Agile Delivery
Jira Agile is an add-on for Jira. It is a full featured agile tool that supports Scrum and Kanban. It requires Jira.
$10 / Month – 10 Users
$50 / Month – 15 Users
$100 / Month – 25 Users
$200 / Month – 50 Users
$300 / Month – 100 Users
$500 / Month – 500 Users
$1000 / Month – 2000 Users
Kanban
Kanban is a great way to manage workflow and work Items. I use this to manage my open items is in very easy manner. See my blog Personal Kanban.
Prices are for annual billing
Free – 10 users and 3 Kanban Boards.
$15 / Month – unlimite3d boards, unlimited users, Taskboards.
$19 / Month - Unlimited Users, Unlimited Boards, Role-based Security, Advanced Metrics, Advanced Taskboards, Portfolio Dashboard


1 comment:

Michael Richardson said...

A few additional free tools that I use that may be worth your review:
- http://www.ideaboardz.com: Great for simple collaboration; we use it for retrospective ideas.
- Trello: https://trello.com; it is similar to the Kanban board that was included in your review. I personally use Trello because it has a good mobile app and use it for 'personal' stuff (e.g. grocery shopping lists).