Software for Small Business

The typical small business owner has a host of IT and computing needs to meet, and, let's face it, there are a multitude of products and so much information out there that it can be difficult to choose the solution that best meets your needs.  Let Solertium help! 

Our expert staff members have years of experience serving and supporting the small business market.  Some of us have been small business owners ourselves, and have even grown those businesses into large, multi-million dollar operations.  We know what it takes to run a small business, and we also know what your larger competitors expect of their technology in terms of functionality, flexibility, and reliability (and how much they are willing to spend to get it).

We've applied our knowledge, expertise, and voracious appetite for reading about and reviewing & testing technology products to help guide you in your choices.  When we find a product that we feel offers the best value for the small business owner, we will either promote it or, if possible, establish a relationship to be able to offer you the product directly.  And if, after reviewing the market, we feel that the best product hasn't yet been built, we'll probably go off and build it ourselves! 

Our current picks:

Fast Small Business Invoicing Pick:  FreshBooks

Here at Solertium we're just like you - we want to be able to efficiently track our time and invoice our clients, and especially make it easy for them to pay.  Come on!  Would you want to continue purchasing products or services from a company that tortured you when you were opening your wallet?

That is why our pick this Spring is for FreshBooks, an online invoicing and time tracking service.  What initially caught our eye was their tag line - "Painless Billing" - and they definitely deliver on this!  Round trip, billing is truly painless.  From entering in customers, projects and tasks to logging time to invoicing, it is a smooth, easy process for you.   Your customers can receive their invoices via email or ground mail, follow a link and pay.  Pretty much painless for them. 

Features include:

• Easily create, send and manage invoices
• Track time (for you and your staff) Totally Redesigned
• Send invoices by US post or email
• Accept payment with PayPal, Authorize.Net, & more
• Automatically send invoices & late payment notices
• Create robust reports and import/export your data

FreshBooks' pricing is based on a combination of the number of active clients, number of invoices you can send, and the number of staff who can access the account.  Their free plan (or "Moped" - we love it!) allows 3 clients, unlimited invoicing and 1 staff member (in addition to the administrator).  In exchange for it being free, they brand any emails sent by you from the account.  The next plan up is only $14/month.  You pay on a month-to-month basis and can cancel any time.  Plus they offer a 30-day money back guarantee - no questions. 

Check out FreshBooks today!

Small Business Hosted CMS Pick:  EGO Web

EGO Web is a hosted web site content management solution with the needs of both the site owner and developer in mind.  A browser-based solution, site owners can log in, surf their sites, and update content with a WYSIWYG editor.  EGO offers built-in support for image resizing and rotating, a step that often confounds non-technical users.  Advanced features like versioning and rollback are also a part of EGO, and are generally found only in expensive enterprise products. 

Keeping the needs of the developer in mind, EGO is also a template system with multiple plug-in template languages, which web developers can use to produce reusable and customizable site architecture and functionality.  Its theme system based on Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) can be used to produce a reusable and customizable site look and feel. 

We've partnered with Rackspace for hosting, to provide our small business customers with the confidence and security that their site will be available and reliably backed up.  Experts in hosting, Rackspace is also known for their unique philosophy of Fanatical Support™, which guides them to go above and beyond customer expectations when managing mission-critical hosting environments.  And, let's face it, your web site is pretty mission-critical.

Prices start as low as $9.95 a month. 

Order now!  Contact us at +1-757-345-5445, email us at info@solertium.com, or Skype "Solertium".

Free Basic Office Computing:  OpenOffice.org

OpenOffice is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use, and distribute.  OpenOffice contains the following programs:

• Writer (wordprocessor)
• Impress (presentation program)
• Math (mathematical function creator)
• Draw (vector drawing tool)
• Calc (spreadsheet)
• Base (database)

Download now for free!  Visit OpenOffice.org, download, and start reaping the benefits!

© 2006 Solertium Corporation