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
|
