I
have been meaning to write about the software that I use for sometime. I am only going
to write about things that are good and useful to a startup so don’t worry. I
have found that software can be used to greatly improve my effectiveness. So my number
one piece of software is…
-
Not a piece of software at all.
My Blackberry
8700c. This thing is a life saver. If you can afford it I have found that
the ability to work in airports, in peoples reception areas while you are waiting
for them, just about anywhere to be indispensable. Your contacts, calendar and tasks
are always synced. Now RIM has released Blackberry Enterprise Server Express which
is free for one user. -
Plaxo.
I want everyone in the world to use Plaxo. Incase you don’t know Plaxo is a contact
management tool that integrates with Outlook. If you and I both use Plaxo we can exchange
contact info without any user intervention. It allows you to request that people in
your address book update their contact information. Everything syncs to the server
out on the web so your calendar, contacts, tasks and notes are stored in a safe place.
This also allows it to sync to multiple computers. It also can sync to Yahoo! Mail
so your contacts can be used from a Yahoo account also. Your information can always
be accessed simply by logging into a website. -
Salesforce.com.
I thought SF was complicated at first but I have found it to be very easy to use.
It has some functionality that overlaps with Plaxo such as contact management but
has many more powerful features for managing customers, partners and competitors.
I like the ability to create organization charts that shows who reports to who. It
also has an awesome reporting package, not that at this point in time I have so much
information that I need it. They offer a free account for one user so give it a try. -
QuickBooks
Online. I didn’t want to buy QuickBooks and install it at home so I was
overjoyed to find a hosted version. It has all the functionality that I need to mange
the books for iVirtuoso as well as create invoices and manage time for a project.
I would caution that this tool does not replace knowing how to keep good books. The
documentation is also sketchy on how to do anything other than the basics. All in
all I like and will continue to use. In the future I will link salesforce.com and
QuickBooks online together. -
Basecamp.
Basecamp is a project management tool that focuses on communication between team members.
It is very simple, but that should no be confused with lack of utility. It focuses
on the things that projects, both large and small need, communication, milestones
and tasks. I encourage you to give it a look. It is possible to integrate this with
outlook. -
Microsoft Outlook. Almost everything
previously mentioned integrates with Outlook. Outlook is definitely the my hub of
communication. If you have not used outlook 2003 give it a shot. Chances are though
you already use it.
Notice that everything
I use ties together. This is by design. The first thing I ask myself when looking
at a new piece of software, no matter how cool is how can I integrate this into my
current technology stack. That is something that you should do too.
This weblog is sponsored by iVirtuoso, Inc.
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